MODELING OF CYLINDRICAL ALKALINE CELLS .1. QUASI-EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS

A systematic study of extensive alkaline cell discharge data revealed a linear correlation between the service hour and the product of the load resistance and cathode mass at low rates of discharge. This behavior is shown to be consistent with the predictions from a quasi-equilibrium model based on the description of a one-electron conversion of MnO2 to MnOOH proposed by Maskell, Shaw, and Tye (2). However, because the further reduction of the MnOOH was not taken into consideration, the present analysis is not applicable for predicting discharge performance to low cell voltages. The quasi-equilibrium analysis also indicates that at high discharge rates, nonequilibrium effects need to be included to analyze the cell behavior.