Ahmad Fauzi Ismail and Wan Ahmad Hafiz

pp. 815 - 821

Abstract

The application of lead acid battery in tropical countries normally faces the problem of water decomposition. This phenomenon is due to the factor of charge-discharge reaction in the battery and heat
accumulation caused by hot tropical climate and heat generated from engine compartment. The objective of
this study is to analyze the effect of polysulfone concentration on the performance of membrane-assisted
lead-acid battery. Gas separation membranes, prepared through wet-dry phase inversion method and
using various polysulfone concentrated formulations, were applied on the battery vent holes, for the purpose of preventing electrolyte from evaporating to the atmosphere. The best membrane, which retains the
most electrolyte, will be chosen to be applied on the soon-to-be-developed “membrane-assisted maintenance-free battery”. This maintenance-free battery will need no topping up of deionized water every time
the electrolyte level goes low.

Keywords

• lead-acid battery
• asymmetric membrane
• gas separation
• polysulfone