NICKEL CADMIUM BATTERIES IN AIRCRAFT APPLICATION

Larry Howell and Paul Scardaville

Marathon Power Technologies Co., P 0 Box 8233, Waco, TX 76714-8233

ABSTRACT
The history of Ni Cd prismatic cells in Aircraft appreciations is reviewed. The influence of the U.S.
Military on cell material selection, and cell design is noted. The call for reduce maintenance costs, and
the two current technologies that answer the call are noted.

L Historical Review 1.0 Plate Types

The nickel cadmium system did not evolve into a
form with an energy and power density suitable for 1.1 Sintered Plate:
aircraft use until 1928, when a thin, rugged This is still the most common form of plate
electrode based on a highly porous sheet of by technology for aircraft use. The sintered plate is
sintered nickel powder, was patented in Germany. manufactured by applying a filamentary nickel
Not suprisingly the first aircraft to use the sintered powder in slurry form to a current collecting
plate Ni-Cd cell were flown by the Lufhvaffe during substrate, drying it and, by a W s i o n bonding
World War 11. The technology was acquired by the process (sintering), it becomes a porous nickel sheet
Allies at the end of the war. The final stages of supported by the conductive substrate. Nickel or
WWII also saw the advent of turbo jet aircraft. The cadmium nitrates, are loaded into the pores of the
demands of starter motors for these turbine engines nickel sheet by a multistep chemical or
provided the impetus in the U.S.A. for the electrochemicalimpregnation process, and then
development of Military Specificationsfor Ni-Cd converted to the corresponding hydroxides.
aircraft batteries. So great was the perceived need
for Ni-Cd batteries during the Korean War that the 1.2 Fiber Plate:
Army Corps of Engineers built a plant for Ni-Cd There have been some limited inroads of this
battery production in Cold Spring, New York. It technology into the aircraft battery market. The
was operated under contract by the Sonotone most prevalent plates are formed from fine nickel
Corporation. Sonotone later bought the plant from plated fiber polypropylene fiber mats or sheet
the government. Through many twists and turns of without a supporting substrate.
ownership, Sonotone evolved into today’s Active materials may be loaded into the interstices
Marathon Power Technologies Co. located in between the
Waco, TX. Marathon’s commercial aviation fibers by the same methods used with sintered
batteries currently in production are descended plates. However, loading is most often
from the original SonotoneMil Spec batteries. accomplished by forcing wet or dry nickel
Nickel Cadmium aircraft batteries are hydroxide or cadmium hydroxide (or Cadmium
manufactured world wide in Germany, France, the Oxide) into the pores, followed by a compacting
United States, Japan, China, and Russia. operation to attempt to lock the powder in the
place.
IL Nickel Cadmium Cell Technologies in
Aircraft Use 1.3 Pasted Plate:
This method of plate manufacture is presently used
The cell technologies are distinguished physical only for manufacturing negative plates for aircraft
form by the plate type,and by the manner in which batteries. In this process, a paste of cadmium
the cell is designed to deal with gases developed hydroxide or cadmium oxide, usually containing a
during overcharge. This paper will be restricted to polymeric binder, is spread uniformly on a
prismatic cell types and will not cover cylindrical conductive substrate, such as woven wire screen,
cells. perforated foil or expanded metal, dried and

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 compressed. This technique is not yet suited to The o-ring seals of the vent valvdfiller cap and
positive plate manufacture the because of the the terminal posts are designed not to leak at
volume changes the positive active material internal pressures of 40 to 60
undergoes in cycling and the poor conductivityof psi. The nylon cell jars used in aircraft vented will
the positive active material. Even with such bulge on the wide faces even at 2- 10 psi if they are
additives as graphite or carbon black, the not supported. The battery can containing the
performance of pasted positive plates has cells is usually fabricated from thin gauge steel
remained poor in comparison to sintered or fiber and restrains the cells from expanding.
plates. Pasted negative plates, on the other hand,
quickly establish a conducting network of 2.2 Valve Regulated Cells:
cadmium metal and can, when properly designed,
provide p e r f o m c e equal to or better than Valve Regulated (VR) cells employ vents that are
sintered or fiber negatives. intended to operate only in case of abuse or
mishap. In general, their vent pressure is set at 2
2.0 Classification by Gas to 3 times the expected normal operating pressure.
Handling Strategy These cells are designed to encourage
recombination of oxygen on the negative plates
There are three general classifications of cells and/or on auxiliary, negatively biased,
based on method of handling gases: Open, Vented recombination structures. Therefore V.R cells
and Sealed. Open cell tn>es are used in ground cannot have a gas barrier membrane and must
applications and do not have use on aircraft. This operate in an electrolyte-starved condition in order
tn>e of cell is free venting and does not build up to promote the recombination reactions.
any internal pressure. Vented and Sealed Depending upon the cell design, the recombination
classificationsare misleading, since both vented process can handle charge rates up to 2C without
and sealed cell types used on aircraft are fitted build up of excessive pressure.
with vent mechanisms that open to relieve internal
cell pressure. “Valve Regulated” is the more 2.3 Consequences of Vented vnV.R Cell
current term for “sealed“ cells. Designs

Ni-Cd cells normally have long cycle lives but this

2.1 Vented Cells is a function of, among other things, the operating
temperature. The Ni-Cd cell electrochemistry is
Vented cells are designed to release the H2 and 0 2 such that the discharge reaction is exothermic.
evolved during overcharge by virtue of a vent During discharge, in addition to IZR, the heating
valve that opens at a given pressure then reseals as due to the exothermic reaction of discharge is
the pressure falls. . unavoidable.

These cells employ a vent that operates in the In general terms, for a given materials are called
range of 2-10 psi, in compliance with Military out in discharged capacity, vented cells whose
Specificationsthat are also invoked in most designs include a relatively large amount of
commercial aircraft manufacturer’s battery electrolyte do not get as hot as the equivalent Ah
specifications. size, electrolyte starved Valve Regulated cells.
This is due to the high specific heat of the water
Vented cells are designed to prevent contained in the Vented Cell electralyte.
recombination of oxygen and thus avoid thermal
runaway. This is accomplishedby: (a) the use of Further, on overcharge, vented cells do not heat as
a gas barrier membrane; and @) providing much as V.R.cells since the overcharge current is
sufficient electrolyte reserve above the plates to performing electrochemical work in producing H2
avoid exposing the plate tops to the oxygen above and O2by hydrolysis of water. V.R. cells,
the plate stack. The reserve level is generally however, due to the recombination, reaction, have
between 0.66 cc to 2 cc per cell Ah. In practical no net electrochemical work being done during
applications maintenance intervals for water overcharge so that all of the energy entering the
addition are established to avoid use of all of the cell is converted to heat.
resexve between maintenance actions.

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 2.4 Continuing Influence of the U.S.Military Dl Major Applications
on NiCd Cell Designs
The characteristicflat dischargevoltage w e ,
In the middle 1970’s in response to a number of excellent performance at low temperature and its
serious vented Ni Cd battery failures resulting ability to deliver capacity at very high currents to
from the degradation of the cellophane gas banier, usable voltage levels, make the Ni-Cd system the
John Lander at the USAF Wright Patterson Labs, system of choice for a wide variety of aircraft
qualified two noncellulosic gas barriers. Known applications.
commercially as Permion and Celgard, these
materials demonstrated cycle lives several times 1.0 Standby Power for Flight Operations and
that of cellophane in Landers vigorous cycle tests. Avionics
Today these virtually all military specifications as
well as many commercial specifications, although In the event of loss of electricalpower from the
only the Celgard material is still available today. main electrical generators, backup power is
Battery manufacturers at first restricted the provided by Ni-Cd batteries. There may be a
commercial use of the costlier non-cellulosic battery dedicated to this task or this task may also
membrane to only those new applications that be assigned to APU starting battery. Regulatory
directly or indirectly required them. Today, authorities (FAA and JAA) demand that power for
however, due to a noticeable decline in Cellophane 30 to 90 minutes of aircraft operation be available
quality, Marathon Power Technologies Co. is from the standby-bybattery at all times. This is
phasing out cellophane across the board. driving new aircraft battery designs towards
higher capacity, heavier batteries.
More recently, with reduced battery maintenance
costs as a goal, the USAF supported development 2.0 Inertial Navigation Systems
of V.R battery types for several of their aircraft
types. While the U.S. Navy, through Bany Ni-Cd batteries are also used to provide power to
Newman of its Crane, Indiana, NWSC battery the inertial navigation systems on aircraft. On
group, encouraged private development of very some aircraft, this is an additional function of the
low maintenancebattery designs meeting the standby battery, while on others there are
requirements of (a modified) MILB81757 calling dedicated INS batteries. The dedicated batteries
for almost 15 times the standard number of Duty range from as small as 0.6 Ah V.R. cells on some
Cycles. There are three new flysheets for these fighter aircraft to 15 Ah Vented batteries on larger
batteries covering 15Ah, 25Ah and 35Ah sizes in aircraft. On the fighter aircraft the V.R batteries
the same format as the previous 10,20 and 30 Ah are intended to support the INS during brief power
standard batteries.The Navy has demonstrated a fluctuations or interruptions. The larger batteries
maintenance interval seven times greater than the are designed to provide 15 to 30 minutes of
2 month interval for standard 30Ah battery when emergency operation for the specific INS systems
they the flew the 35Ah Low Maintenance batteries they power.
for 14 months on Marine UH -1 helicopters.
3.0 Turbine Starting
Currently the same group in cooperation with the
USAF is field testing the 35Ah battery on A-10 Vented Nickel Cadmium the batteries are ideally
Aircraft. suited to high power demands of turbine starting
applications. Most small fixed and rotary wing
To reduce direct electrolyte losses in flight, two civil aircraft require the capability of starting their
new vent valve configurations,a splash guard turbine engines directly off of the aircraft battery.
design for non aerobatic aircraft, and snorkel Larger aircraft use an auxiliary power unit (MU)
splash guarded design for aerobatic aircraft have to start the engines. In these cases the aircraft
been developed and proven by Cranes’ Barry battery supplies the power to start the APU
Newman. Marathon is using: the splash guard turbine. On very large aircraft. the APU start
design on its newest veIy low maintenance requirements are at least as demanding as the
commercial battery now being qualified for engine start requirements of smaller aircraft. In
Boeings Douglas Products Division. contrast to the relatively rare in flight use of
emergency batteries, starting batteries get

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 frequent use, often called upon twice per flight and the equivalent capacity vented cell. 2) As cited
for many flights per day. before, V.R Ni-Cd cells get hotter on discharge
and overcharge than do vented cells. In some high
IV. Maintenance & Life use applications, this causes the cell temperature to
rise to a point where the charger safety system
The cycle life and service life of Ni-Cd cells, both disallows sufficient recharge on short flights or
V. R. and vented are a function of the application causes departure delays due to a failure to recharge
operating environment, and also, very importantly in time for departure. 3) This type of battery
the quality of maintenance. For vented cell cannot be used in D.C. bus charging applications;
batteries, the service life in commercial it must always have its own dedicated and
applications averages around 3 to 4 years with the sophisticated charger. 4) In the case of accidental
older cellulosic gas barrier cell designs and 5 to 7 excessive overcharge where water & lost due to
years with the more durable polypropylene gas activation of the safety vents, it is not possible to
banier cell designs. The Militaiy tends to add the water back in the proper amount. 5)Cell
experience shorter life times, generally attributed to imbalances that develop during operation due to
lack of experienced battery maintenance personnel. the heat evolved in discharge and overcharge, are
At this juncture, less is known about the real in- permanent since the battery cannot be restored by
service life time of V.R cells. deep cycling. 6) There is, as of now, a limited
existing data base on these large V.R cells in
Standard vented Ni-Cd batteries in use today have aircraft applications, and it is difficult to
maintenance intervals that vary from 1 to 8 months. accurately project reliability and operating life.
These intervals are a function of the aircraft battery
use pattern, the environment, the battery design and B) Very Low Maintenance Vented
the charging method. Aircraft that fly frequent,
short flights with many battery starts, operate in hot This new technology is an evolution of the vented
environments or have poor charge control (such as cell. This design features a non-sintered (pasted)
D.C. bus systems with poor voltage regulation) cadmium electrode. It does not rely on
require more frequent battery servicing. recombination to limit water use but achieves long
maintenance intervals through a combination of
Aircraft that make infrequent use of battery starts, reduced current flow during the overcharge (float
andor have a good on-board charging system, and charge) portion of constant potential charging, and
a battery design well suited to the application have decreased capacity degradation on cycling as
longer service intervals (2000 flight hours on some compared to existing vented cell designs.
Boeing Aircraft). As noted earlier there is a
growing demand for still longer maintenance free This technology has these advantages: (1) The
periods. ability to be safely and effectively charged directly
off a DC bus or a TR Unit. Maintenance periods
The USAF,as mentioned before, funded studies of can be extended still further with a charger, but a
V.R Ni-Cd batteries while the U.S. Navy charger is not required; (2) Watering intervals are
stimulated private development of very low 4 to 10 times that of today’s vented sintered-plate
maintenance Vented Ni-Cd batteries. cells and water levels Can be readjusted by the
same methods as employed for standard vented
A’I V.R~NiCd Batteriek cells: (3) Cell imbalancec that may necw in the
long maintenance free interval, can be eliminated
This concept appears attractive since rapid recharge by deep cycle methods; (4) These very low
to full capacity even from full discharge is possible. maintenance cells employ the same celgard barrier
Further, V.R cells do not ordinarily use water so membrane and separator materials as today’s long
that water addition is not required. However, these lived standard Ni-Cd vented cells.
designs present some disadvantages: 1) The fast
recombination is achieved by addition of electrodes The disadvantages of the very low maintenance
whose only function and capability is to recombine vented (VLMV) cells for aircraft battery’s use are
o,xygen. The cell footprint is therefore larger than qualitatively the same as present nickel cadmium

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 vented cell batteries but are quantitatively of lesser
severity: (1) The positive plate is purposely never
fully recharged. Therefore, the initial cell capacity
needed to obtain the capacity required at the end of
the planned no maintenance operating interval is
greater than the initial cell capacity required for the
V.R cell. The impact this has on cell size and
weight is offset, however, by the high volumetric
and gravimetric energy density inherent in the
pasted negative plate featured in the very low
maintenance cell designs. (2) Although the levels
of H2and 0 2released during charge are very small,
the batteries do need to be ventilated and water
added at the end of the long maintenance intervals.

REFERENCES

1. “MIL-B-81757, Battery, Storage, Aircraft,

Nickel-Cadmium” (Tri-Service Spec but
most used by U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force.)

2. MIL-B-8565J, OR DOD-B-8565, “Battery

Storage, Circraf€General SpecificationFor”
(all services, mostly U.S. Navy).

3. FAA Advisory Circular AC 120-42A,Dec.

30, 1998, “Extended Range Operation With
Two-Engine Airplanes (ETOPS)”.

4. B. Newman and P. Scardaville, “High Power

Vented Nickel Cadmium Cells Designed for
Ultra Low Maintenance”, Eighth Annual
Battery Conference, Cal. State Univ., Long
Beach, Jan., 1993.

5. M. Anderman, G. Benczur-Urmossy and F.

Hascka, “Prismatic Sealed Nickel Cadmium
Batteries Utilizing Fiber Structured
Electrodes: Part 2, Application as a
Maintenance Free Aircraft Battery”, 34th
International Power Sources Symposium,
Cherry Hill, NJ, June, 1990.

6. B. Newman and P. Scardaville, “Update on

USN Program to Reduce Aircraft Battery
Maintenance Costs”.
36th International Power Sources
Symposium Cherry Hill, N.J., June 1994.

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