Metal Foams: A Design Guide

226 Metal Foams: A Design Guide
portable applications such as power tools, video cameras and cellular phones. Ł
Different nickel battery designs are required to meet these various applications.
Properties can be varied to meet the needs of power, cycle life and energy
density.
When energy density is the most important characteristic, nickel batteries
have made gains by using nickel foam as the electrodes, and the development
of the nickel metal hydride system with a hydrogen-absorbing nickel alloy
as the negative electrode. Nickel foams can be made to different densities,
thicknesses and porosity to optimize performance using the process described
in Chapter 2, Section 2.6.
These nickel battery systems are now being specified by the world’s leading
automotive companies (GM, Toyota, Honda) for the next generation of electric
and hybrid vehicles. Nickel foams can also be used as filtration media.
Figure 17.10 A nickel foam positive electrode as used in NiCd and NiMeH
batteries. (Courtesy of Inco Ltd.)
17.8 Integrated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) for
motor drives
Present motor drives generally comprise integrated gate bipolar transistors
(IGBTs) because they are capable of operating at the high power densities
Ł Contact details: Inco Ltd, 145 King Street West, Suite 1500, Toronto, Canada, M5H 4B7. Phone:
(416) 361-7537; Fax: (416) 361-7659.
Inco European Ltd, London office, 5th floor, Windsor House, 50 Victoria Street, London
SW1H OXB. Phone (44) 171 932-1516; fax (44) 171 9310175.