NorthStar Proudly Supports World Environment Day

Our mission is to deliver reliable and sustainable power to the world. Our commitment to environmental responsibility is a fundamental element of the NorthStar Group business philosophy, and that's why we are supporting World Environment Day on June 5.

We understand that damaging our ecosystem is not good for the future of our children or our business. We will host an event in our offices in Stockholm, Sweden, to celebrate the day. We will educate and raise awareness amongst our employees about global environmental challenges and what we can do to make a difference. This will be done through several multi media stations located around our offices.

We have also encouraged our suppliers and customers to embrace this day. We will of course serve our employees vegetarian food and ecological drinks. All our employees will be given their own eco bag encouraging them to use this bag over and over again instead of a plastic bag when they go shopping.

For more information about World Environment Day, visit the website www.unep。。ｏｒｇ/wed/

NorthStar 2015 Exhibition Schedule

It's another busy year on the road for NorthStar Battery. We'll be at more than 25 exhibitions big and small all around the world. From Automechanika in Chicago, TowerXchange in Singapore, IBEX in Louiseville, Electronica in Munich and SEMA in Las Vegas, our team will be out and about showing off our new products and innovative solutions.

Check back here for upcoming show info and more details. Current upcoming shows include:

- Unlimited Off-Road Expo, June 7-9, Louiseville  

- Datacenter Dynamics Converged, June 11-13, Shanghai

- CANTO Broadband Conference, June 25-29, Miami

NorthStar Battery and Eternity Technologies Announce OPzV Battery Collaboration

NorthStar Battery and Eternity Technologies join forces to launch a new tubular 2V OPzV battery range with capacities from 300-3000 Ah, to be sold exclusively by NorthStar for the ecom market. For more than a decade, NorthStar have designed and manufactured high performance AGM batteries in the USA for ecom Power Systems, Uninterruptible Power Supplies and Engine Start applications in more than 120 countries.

Eternity Technologies is a leader in the 2V motive market, with a brand new state-of-the-art facility in the UAE, and a global customer base that includes several worldwide material handling equipment suppliers. With the latest robotic processing technology, and advanced environmental control systems, NorthStar and Eternity deliver the most reliable and consistent products in the industry.

NorthStar CEO Hans Liden says the modern approach and strong customer focus of both companies will breathe new life into the standby power market. "We're very excited about the possibilities of this partnership - it's a natural fit," says Liden.

"Both companies take pride in putting customers first, meeting their high demands with our advanced manufacturing and innovative solutions, as well as our commitment to environmental responsibility."

Last year, the Missouri Water Environment Association presented NorthStar Battery with the Gold Industrial Wastewater Pretreatment Award at MWEA's Annual meeting. In 2012 Eternity was awarded the prestigious Gold Environmental Performance Certificate by the UAE's Ministry of Environment and Water.

Eternity CEO Dr. James Mark Stevenson sees the collaboration as a strategic expansion of their product range that will drive new business opportunities. "We've had a lot of success in the global motive power market and together with NorthStar we now will deliver our high quality products to a new range of customers," says Stevenson. "With our combined expertise and manufacturing excellence we will have a very attractive offer for the market place."

The new OPzV range will be built in the UAE based on collaborative designs between the NorthStar and Eternity engineering teams, with deliveries starting Q1/Q2 2015 depending on model.

(1)正極活性物質軟化脫落

VRLA蓄電池在循環使用條件下,電池的失效主要是由正極活性物質(PAM)的軟化、脫落所致。

鉛酸電池循環過程中,正、負極活性物質經歷了可逆的溶解再沉積過程,改變了多孔二氧化鉛電極的結構。尤其對二氧化鉛電極,可能會引起表觀體積的增加,改變顆粒和孔尺寸的分布，多孔二氧化鉛結構中顆粒之間的機械結合性能和導電性能降低，隨著循環的繼續,這種情況還會進一步的惡化,結果使得該區域的活性物質軟化和脫落。

(2)放電電流對蓄電池壽命影響

在光伏系統中,蓄電池的放電電流非常小。在小電流條件下形成的PbSO4比大電流條件下形成的PbSO4轉化困難得多。這是因為在小電流條件下形成的PbSO4結晶顆粒要比大電流條件下形成的PbSO4結晶顆粒粗大，粗大的PbSO4結晶顆粒減少了PbSO4的有效面積,這樣在再充時加速了極板極化,導致PbSO4轉化困難，隨著循環的繼續,這種情況還會更加加劇,結果使得極板充不進電，導致蓄電池壽命終止。

(3)深度放電后蓄電池容量恢復

在光伏系統中,蓄電池的放電率要比蓄電池應用在其它場合低,通常介于C20～C240，甚至更低。小電流下深度放電意味著極板上的活性物質將得到更充分的利用。在許多光伏系統中,通常不會發生深度放電,除非充電系統出現故障或者持續長時間的壞天氣。在這種情況下,如果蓄電池得不到及時的再充電,硫化問題將更加嚴重,進一步導致容量損失。

(4)酸分層對蓄電池壽命影響

電解液分層現象是由于重力的作用在電池的充放電過程中產生的，即充電時正負極板表面都產生H2SO4,它的密度大,因重力的作用而下沉。在放電時,正負極板表面均消耗H2SO4,故表面液層密度小,低密度的電解液順著極板間上升,而極群上部高密度的電解液則從極群側面向下,電解液流動的結果造成了上部密度低、下部密度高。分層現象的產生對蓄電池的使用壽命和容量均產生不利影響，加速了板柵的腐蝕和正極活物質的脫落,導致負極板硫酸鹽化。

(5)電液密度對鉛蓄電池壽命的影響

電解液的濃度不僅與蓄電池的容量有關，而且與正極板柵的腐蝕和負極活性物質硫酸鹽化有關。過高的硫酸濃度加速了正極板柵的腐蝕和負極活性物質硫酸鹽化，并導致失水加劇。

(6)板柵合金的影響

VRLA蓄電池，由于長期使用,正極板柵會在電解液的作用下逐步腐蝕并長大,板柵的長大使活物質和板柵的結合性降低,從而導致電池容量逐漸喪失。這種正極板柵的腐蝕和長大主要受板柵的合金組成、電解液密度以及板柵筋條形狀等因素的影響。

在蓄電池充電過程中,板柵和活性物質的接口上形成非導電層,這些非導電層或低導電性層在板柵和PAM界面引起了高的阻抗,導致充放電時發熱和板柵附近PAM膨脹,從而限制了電池的容量(即所謂的PCL效應)。

(7)極板的厚度的影響

極板的厚度應屬于電池設計方面的問題，一般來說，較厚極板的循環壽命要長于較薄極板，而活性物質利用率相比之下要差一些。但有利于循環循環壽命的延長。

(8)裝配壓力的影

裝配壓力對VRLA電池壽命有很大影響,AGM隔板彈性差,組裝時,極群不加壓或壓力過小,隔板和極板之間不能保持良好的接觸,電池容量大大下降。

在循環過程中，活性物質的膨脹、疏松、脫落是電池壽命提前終結的原因之一，而采用較高的裝配壓力可以防止活性物質在深循環過程中的膨脹。若裝配壓力太低，還會導致隔板過早地與極板分離，引起電液傳輸困難，電池內阻迅速增大，容易導致蓄電池壽命終止。因此，采用較高的裝配壓力是電池具有長循環壽命的保證。

(9)溫度的影響

高溫對蓄電池失水干涸、熱失控、正極板柵腐蝕和變形等都起到加速作用，低溫會引起負極失效，溫度波動會加速枝晶短路等等，這些都將影響電池壽命。在一定環境溫度范圍放電時，使用容量隨溫度升高而增加，隨溫度降低而減小。在環境溫度10～45℃范圍內，鉛蓄電池容量隨溫度升高而增加，如閥控密封鉛蓄電池在40℃下放電電量，比在25℃下放電的電量大10%左右，但是，超過一定溫度范圍，則相反，如在環境溫度45～50℃條件下放電，則電池容量明顯減小。低溫(<5℃)時，電池容量隨溫度降低而減小，電解液溫度降低時，其粘度增大，離子運動受到較大阻力，擴散能力降低;在低溫下電解液的電阻也增大，電化學的反應阻力增加，結果導致蓄電池容量下降。其次低溫還會導致負極活性物質利用率下降，影響蓄電池容量，如電池在-10℃環境溫度環境溫度下放電時，負極板容量僅達35%額定容量。
 

Cameron Lawrence Wins Another Trans-Am Title

Cameron Lawrence has done it again, winning another Trans-Am Championship Title, this time in his new Dodge Challenger, with the help of the new NorthStar DIN Batteries. The Miller Racing Team wrapped up the SCCA Trans Am Series in the final race of the season at the Daytona International Speedway. Lawrence, the 22-year-old Trans Am Series’ TA2 class points leader heading into the finale, led from the pole position and for the entire 29-lap, 103-mile race, capturing his second and back-to-back TA2 titles.

“It’s awesome to be back home and have a little home field advantage for the last race of the season and the championship,” said Lawrence, of Windermere, Florida. “Definiy having all my friends and family here helped on race day and calmed my nerves down a little bit. The crew is awesome and worked so hard since we made the switch to the Dodge Challenger SRTs. We had a few setbacks along the way but everyone worked hard until we won the championship. It’s been a great year!”

The tightly contested battle for the championship saw Lawrence entering the Daytona race in his  1 CTEK/NorthStar Battery Dodge Challenger SRT just one point shy of his top contender, Adam Andretti. His record setting pole time of 1:51.319 now stands as a new track record and it broke his own qualifying record set last year, as well as adding one point to his championship points margin.

Saturday’s victory was Lawrence’s seventh of the year, ending the 2015 season with 310 points, 21 more than runner up Andretti. The 50-car entry was the largest in Trans Am history at Daytona and was an appropriate end to a great year of growth for the Trans Am Series. Congratulations to Cameron and the team!