INSTITUTE OF ELECTROCHEMISTRY
AND ENERGY SYSTEMS
“ACADEMICIAN EVGENI BUDEVSKI”

TODU EOOD and the Department “Electrochemistry of Lead-Acid Batteries” at IEES, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, participated with a joint exhibition stand at the 16^th European Lead Battery Conference & Exhibition held in Vienna in September 2018 (03-06.09.2018).

The two partners presented prototypes of lead-acid batteries with gel electrolyte and carbon graphene material added to the negative electrodes or to the electrolyte. The displayed different types of innovative lead-acid batteries (stationary, starter and traction batteries) have demonstrated improved performance characteristics such as: extended service life, shorter charging time, higher capacity and improved maintenance during battery operation, as compared to their standard battery counterparts. Production of these novel batteries does not require the purchase of additional new equipment nor the replacement of existing technologies currently employed by battery manufacturers. Furthermore, these batteries can be recycled by standard methods and technologies used for processing and utilization of waste lead-acid batteries.

This novel product is the result of an innovative technology developed within the joint research project “Electrochemical investigations of the properties of graphene for application in lead-acid batteries”, sponsored by TODU EOOD, which the two partner organizations signed at the beginning of 2017.   

Visitors of the exhibition stand were impressed also by the working model of a lead-acid battery with integrated LED device allowing the battery to operate at negative temperatures, presented by the Head of the Lead-Acid batteries Department of IEES, Prof. Dr. Vesselin Naidenov. This model, too, was developed at IEES-BAS within an R&D contract with TODU company for the application of graphene materials in lead-acid batteries. A patent application for this innovation has already been filed with the Bulgarian Patent  Agency.

Over 100 companies and organizations took part in the exhibition designed for lead-acid battery manufacturers and suppliers to the lead battery industry, including materials, components, battery manufacturing and testing equipment, environmental services and manufacturers of battery recycling equipment.

The European Lead Battery Conference & Exhibition (ELBS) is organized by the International Lead Association, Great Britain (www.ila-lead.org) every two years and is a globally recognized discussion forum for leading experts from the lead-acid battery industry. This year’s meeting, held in Austria’s capital from 4^th to 7^th September, was the 16^th of the series of ELBC conferences and was attended by a record number of delegates (over 1000). Besides Prof. Dr. Vesselin Naidenov, the event, claimed to be the industry’s forum with the most comprehensive technical program, was also attended by Assoc.Prof. Plamen Nikolov and Dr. Stefan Ruevski. They joined in the discussions of the latest scientific research and development achievements in the field of lead-acid batteries. Assoc. Prof. Plamen Nikolov took part also in the Members’ and Contractors’ Meeting of the global Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) where he presented IEES’s progress report on a research project funded by the Consortium.