Patent ID: 6428585
Filing Date: 2002-08-06
Classification: H01M,Y02E,Y02P,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of making a ceramic solid electrolyte separator for a high temperature electrochemical cell from a particulate starting material capable of being sintered to form a unitary polycrystalline solid electrolyte ceramic artifact, the method including the method steps of:admixing the particulate starting material with a binder to form an extrudable mixture; extruding the extrudable mixture to form a unitary sinterable green artifact including a multiplicity of at least five tubes interconnected together in side-by-side relationship; and sintering the green artifact to form a sintered polycrystalline ceramic solid electrolyte artifact including a multiplicity of at least five ceramic solid electrolyte separator tubes interconnected together by sintering and arranged in side-by-side relationship, the method including, after the sintering, hermetically connecting a header to open ends of a plurality of the separator tubes at one end of the separator, the header having an interior in communication with the interiors of these tubes, the hermetic connecting being by glass welding and the header being of a material which is both electronically insulating and electrochemically insulating, and the method further including closing off the ends of a plurality of the separator tubes at the end of the separator remote from the header, closing off the ends of the plurality of tubes at the remote end of the separator being by moulding the ends of said tubes while they are in a green state, to form closures which close off said ends of said tubes, the moulding taking place, prior to the sintering, while the separator is being extruded, the moulding being by means of a mould having a multiplicity of recesses, there being a recess for each tube of the green artifact, the mould being aligned with the tubes during the extrusion so that each tube registers with a corresponding one of the recesses, the extrusion of the tubes being into the recesses so that the leading ends of the tubes are received in the recesses and are closed off by being moulded shut by contact with inner surfaces of the recesses.