Research of the energy increasing means and functional possibilities of the power plants based on the aluminum-air chemical current sources

Аuthors

Okorokova N. S.^*, Pushkin K. V.^**, Sevruk S. D.^***, Farmakovskaya A. A.^****

Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), 4, Volokolamskoe shosse, Moscow, А-80, GSP-3, 125993, Russia

*e-mail: ok.nadezhda@mail.ru
**e-mail: konstantin-val@yandex.ru
***e-mail: sds46@yandex.ru
****e-mail: a.a.farmakovskaya@gmail.com

Abstract

Among the autonomous high efficient energy sources for aeronautical and space purposes the aluminum-air (AA) chemical current sources (CCS) stand out as being of low cost, high theoretical energy density, accessibility, safety and environmentally friendly of the electrode materials.

However, in spite of a lot of research doing under the AA CCS their industrial production has not started yet. It concerns a lot of serious obstacles connected with aluminum anode, which have to be solved during the developing of the AA CCS.

The ways of increasing the energy and operation characteristics of the AA CCS have been analyzed and predicted in this work, with subject for over wide the fields of its application and functional possibilities. There are also a lot of experimental results in this work, namely polarization and corrosion characteristics of several aluminum anodes in alkaline and saline electrolytes with the different inhibitive additives (the corrosion inhibitors in the alkaline electrolytes, polymer coagulants which are modifying an aluminum hydroxide gel in the saline electrolyte).

It’s also shown that in AA CCS it is possible to use an industrial made protector alloy AP4N (Russian alloy classification) as an alternative anode towards an experimental especially developed aluminum alloy Al-In (created in MAI with subject for increasing energy characteristics of AA CCS).

As the corrosion inhibitors in alkaline electrolyte for AA CCS with a small rated power the salt of the organics acids can be used, for instance the sodium citrate. Addition of the coagulants based on polyacrylamid into the saline electrolyte has led to modifying of the aluminum hydroxide gel structure, which substantially simplify the usage of such current sources.

In this paper the research results in a hydronic CCS with aluminum anode are also shown. The hydrogen evolution reaction from the water occurs on the cathode in hydronic CCS. Authors have considered this CCS not only as a source of electricity, but also as an electrochemical regulated hydrogen generator for oxygen-hydrogen fuel cells, which makes it possible to increase the functional possibilities of the CCS with the aluminum anodes.

Keywords:

chemical current source, electrochemical cell, hydrogen generator, polarization characteristics, corrosion characteristics

References

1. Karonik V.V., Klochkova L.L., Kulakov E.B., Sevruk S.D., Farmakovskaya A.A. Elektrodnye protsessy v novykh istochnikakh toka. Sbornik nauchnykh trudov MEI № 169, Moscow, 1988, pp. 28-33.
2. L.L. Klochkova, E.B. Kulakov, S.D. Sevruk, A.A. Farmakovskaya. II Vsesoyuz. konferenctsiya po elektrokhimicheskoi energetike. Tezisy dokladov, Moscow, 1984, p. 22.
3. Okorokova N.S., Pushkin K.V. Trudy MAI, 2012, № 51.
4. Kuleshov V. N. Razrabotka i issledovanie elementnoi bazy novogo pokoleniya dlya nizkotemperaturnykh elektrolizerov vody. (Development and research of the elemental base for a new generation of low-temperature water electrolysers) Doctor’s thesis, Moscow, MPI, 2009, 154 p.

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