BATTERY PACK ASSEMBLY AND RELATED PROCESSES

1 . A battery pack assembly, comprising:

a plurality of electrochemical cells, being electrically isolated from each other by a high temperature electrically-insulating coating applied to an outer surface of the electrochemical cells.

2 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electrochemical cells are electrically connected in series, in parallel, or in a combination of series and parallel arrangements.

3 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the outer surface of the electrochemical cell comprises a metallic casing.

4 . The battery pack assembly of claim 3 , wherein the metallic casing comprises a metallic material selected from the group consisting of nickel, mild steel, stainless steel, nickel-coated steel, molybedenum and molybedenum-coated steel.

5 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the high temperature electrically insulating coating comprises a ceramic, an enamel, a high temperature insulating polymer, or a combination thereof.

6 . The battery pack assembly of claim 5 , wherein the ceramic comprises an oxide, a carbide or a nitride.

7 . The battery pack assembly of claim 5 , wherein the high temperature insulating polymer is a polymer selected from the group consisting of silanes, silazanes, polyether ether ketone (PEEK), polyimides, phenolics, melamine, and urea formaldehydes.

8 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the insulating material has a melting point of at least about 500 degree Celsius.

9 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the coating is in a range of from about 50 microns to about 1 mm.

10 . The battery pack assembly of claim 9 , wherein the thickness of the coating is in a range of from about 100 microns to about 500 microns.

11 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the breakdown voltage of the coating is at least about 10 kV/mm.

12 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the hardness number of the coating is in a range of from about 100 to about 2000 HV.

13 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein each electrochemical cell comprises a first chamber, a second chamber and a separator, the separator having a first surface that defines at least a portion of the first chamber, and a second surface that defines a second chamber, and the first chamber is in ionic communication with the second chamber through the separator.

14 . The battery pack assembly of claim 13 , wherein the first chamber is electronically insulated from the second chamber.

15 . The battery pack assembly of claim 13 , wherein the first chamber is disposed within the second chamber.

16 . The battery pack assembly of claim 13 , wherein the separator is an alkali-metal-ion conductor, and comprises at least one of alkali-metal-beta-alumina, alkali-metal-beta″-alumina, alkali-metal-beta-gallate, or alkali-metal-beta″-gallate.

17 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the electrochemical cell is a sodium metal halide cell.

18 . The battery pack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the electrochemical cell is a sodium-sulfur cell.

19 . The battery pack assembly of claim 13 , wherein at least the first chamber or the second chamber comprises an anodic material which itself comprises sodium.

20 . A method for providing electrical isolation between individual electrochemical cells in a battery pack assembly, comprising the step of applying a coating of a high-temperature insulating material to an outer surface of each cell by a high temperature thermal deposition process, wherein the melting point of the high-temperature insulating material is greater than the operational temperature of the electrochemical cell.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the high temperature thermal deposition process is a plasma spray process, an HVOF (High Velocity Oxy-Fuel) process, or a cold spray process.