5
MAIN STORAGE BATTERIES
 
A. DESCRIPTION
 
5A1. General. Each ship has 2 main storage batteries consisting of 2 groups of 126 cells each. The forward battery is installed beneath the wardroom country and the after battery is located under the crew's quarters.

5A2. Data. The physical dimensions of an individual cell are approximately as follows:

Bottom of jar to top of filling vent cap 54 in. (approx.)
Depth15 in. (approx.)
Width21 in. (approx.)

The weight of one cell ready for service is approximately 1650 pounds without intercell connectors or vent ducts.

Figure 5-1. Cutaway of Exide storage battery cell.
Figure 5-1. Cutaway of Exide storage battery cell.

  Figure 5-1. Cutaway of Exide storage battery cell.
Figure 5-2. Cutaway of Gould storage battery cell.

6A3. Wedging. The battery tanks are divided into 4 sections by 3 steel cross tie plates athwartships which serve to add structural strength to the hull. The battery cells are held in position between these cross tie plates and between the longitudinal bulkheads by means of wooden wedges.

5A4. Strongbacks. The outboard rows and second rows of cells in each battery are provided with steel strongbacks which are held near the upper ends of these cells (approximately 2 in. below the cell tops) by means of bolts that pass through the upper ends of the wedges involved.

 
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Figure 5-3. Battery cell jar.
Figure 5-3. Battery cell jar.

5A5. Battery installation. The installation in each battery tank (see Figure 5-4) consists of 6 fore and aft rows of 21 cells each. The 2 center rows are on the same level. The rows alongside the center are slightly higher and the outboard rows are the highest. Above the 2 central rows of cells are installed panels of hard rubber which serve as a working deck or flat.

All cells are connected in series by means of intercell connectors while end cells in each row of batteries are connected by means of end-cell connectors. An ammeter shunt is connected to a bus bar that is attached to the No. 1 cell positive terminal post. Cables connected to the ammeter shunt run to the positive disconnect switch and thence to the main control cubicle. The cables from the negative (after port) side of the battery are connected to the end connector of cell No. 126. They run to the negative disconnect switch and from there to the main control cubicle.

Both positive and negative forward battery

  disconnect switches are manually operated from a station at the after end of the forward battery room.

The after battery disconnect switches, also manually operated, are located near the after end of the crew's quarters. These disconnect switches are used only to isolate the battery from the cables and should never be opened under load except in an emergency. In some classes of submarines they are fitted with arc chutes and remote tripping devices.

Auxiliary power to the forward distribution switchboard and the after distribution switchboard is supplied through cables and knife switches which are connected to the battery side of the battery disconnect switches of their respective batteries. Distilled water for battery replenishing is carried in 8 tanks, located 2 on each side of the forward and after battery. The total capacity of the tanks is approximately 1200 gallons. Water outlets in each battery compartment are fitted with purifiers called ion-exchangers.

5A6. Battery ventilation. Each battery is fitted with an exhaust ventilating system to remove battery gases. The air required to operate this system is supplied through inlets located at opposite ends of each battery well. The free air in the compartment is drawn through the filling vent connection of each cell. The cells are connected by soft rubber nipples to exhaust headers of hard rubber which extend fore and aft for each row of cells.

The headers are in 2 sections and are connected to cross headers which unite in a common exhaust duct. The exhaust duct from each battery is led up to and through the deck to the inlets of 2 fans that are mounted on the hull overhead in the respective battery rooms. Each of these 4 fans is rated at 500 cubic feet per minute at 2789 rpm. Each fan is independently driven and the motor is controlled from the maneuvering room. The motors used on late type submarines are rated at 1.25 hp (continuous), 2780 rpm, 175 to 345 volts, 5.0 amperes, and are compound wound.

 
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Figure 5-4. Battery installation.
Figure 5-4. Battery installation.
 
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Figure 5-5. Battery disconnect and supply switches in battery well.
Figure 5-5. Battery disconnect and supply switches in battery well.
 
Figure 5-6. Battery ventilation ducts and cell connectors.
Figure 5-6. Battery ventilation ducts and cell connectors.
 
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Figure 5-7. Cutaway of battery cell top.
Figure 5-7. Cutaway of battery cell top.
Starting and speed regulation are accomplished by armature resistance. A fused tumbler switch for each motor is mounted in a separate case and connects both the armature circuit and the field circuit to the supply lines. Each armature circuit includes armature resistance, sections of which may be short circuited by a 20-point dial switch to provide speed control. In regulating the battery ventilation by means of armature resistance adjustment, care must be taken (when 2 blowers are being used for a single battery) to set the pointers on both rheostat knobs to approximately the same point. The power supply is obtained through a fused   switch marked BATTERY VENTILATION on the after distribution switchboard in the maneuvering room.

A damper is provided in the duct between the inlets of the 2 fans to allow the fans to be operated singly or together. When a single fan is used, the damper must be set so as to close the inlet to the idle fan, thereby preventing free circulation of air through both fans. Each pair of fans exhausts into the ship's exhaust line.

5A7. Air flow indicators. An indication of the quantity of air passing through the ventilation system is given in the maneuvering room

 
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Figure 5-8. Battery ventilation air flow indicator, Hays type.
Figure 5-8. Battery ventilation air flow indicator, Hays type.
by means of 2 air flow indicators. Each of these indicators is provided with a scale marked in cubic feet per minute (Figure 5-8). Air flow meters are nonelectric and operate on a difference-of-pressure principle.

The ends of 2 copper tubes are inserted in the air stream of the battery ventilation exhaust line, one tube above, and the other below a hard rubber baffle.

The tubes are then led to the air flow meter. The difference in pressure between the tubes is measured by the instrument and indicated on a scale in cubic feet per minute of air flow. The operating unit of the meter consists of a slack leather diaphragm and a cantilever spring attached to the scale pointer. The high-pressure copper tube terminates under the diaphragm and the low-pressure tube enters above the diaphragm. Difference in pressure determines diaphragm position and pointer indication.

Due to the delicate nature of the diaphragm,

  Figure 5-9. Battery ventilation motor controllers, ventilation flow meters, and remote hydrogen detector indicators.
Figure 5-9. Battery ventilation motor controllers, ventilation flow meters, and remote hydrogen detector indicators.
 
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the instrument must not be subjected to excessive pressures while in use or when being cleaned or calibrated.

The zero setting of the indicator pointer is secured by the zero adjusting screw on the bottom of the case. This screw should be adjusted and then locked. If the gage is dismounted, the zero adjusting screw should be released and, to avoid damage while handling, the pointer arm should be secured by a clip accessible through a handhole in the top of the case. This clip should be disconnected and the zero adjustment carefully reset when placing the gage in service.

5A8. Air flow through individual cells. The flow of air through the cells of each battery compartment is equalized by adjusting regulators. These are installed as an internal part of each filling vent cylinder. (See Figure 5-7.) Proper adjustment of these regulators has been determined and set at a navy yard and must not be altered by ship's personnel.

NOTE. Do not permit the soft rubber nipples to become twisted. A twisted or partially collapsed nipple will materially affect the ventilation to the cell.

5A9. Voltmeter. There is an individual cell voltmeter switch panel for each battery. The panel for the forward battery is on the bulkhead at the after end of the wardroom country, and the panel for the after battery is on the side of the galley and mess room.

Each panel is composed of 126 jacks mounted on a phenolic panel and a 0- to 3-volt voltmeter with a 2-ft cable with plug attached. In the latest installations an additional 0- to 300-volt voltmeter is also installed. The latter voltmeter has a switch that can throw it either across cells 1 to 63, or across cells 64 to 126. It may also be used for reading grounds on the battery. (See Sections 3C4 and 3C5.)

Fused voltmeter lead connection boxes are mounted on the inboard cell connector of each set of 4 intercell connectors. They are also mounted on the positive terminal of cell No. 1 and the negative terminal of cell No. 126.

A fused connection box is mounted at both ends of the intercell connectors at the point where they connect the end cells, at the end of the rows in order to eliminate reading the

  voltage drop in the end-of-row connectors.

Separate leads are brought from the fused connection boxes to special connection boxes. One of these boxes is mounted on the forward bulkhead of the forward battery compartment and the other is mounted on the forward bulkhead of the after battery compartment. In Portsmouth-built vessels, the individual leads are brought up through the deck to the voltmeter panel without going through a special connection box.

Four 37-conductor cables connect each special connection box to its individual cell voltmeter station. Terminal tubes are used where these conductors enter the special connection box and the individual cell voltmeter switch box.

Each jack is identified by the number of the cell connected to it. The cell number is engraved on the phenolic panel, just below each jack.

The voltmeters are mounted just above the switch box.

The individual cell voltmeter panels are provided with enclosing covers which become data desks when in the open position.

Figure 5-10. Individual cell voltmeter panel.
Figure 5-10. Individual cell voltmeter panel.

 
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