Jun Furukawa and Geno Papazov were jointly given the Gaston Planté award for contributions to lead-acid battery science and technology at this year’s LABAT conference, which was held in Bulgaria last week.

Furukawa, executive manager of the UltraBattery division at Furukawa Battery in Japan was chosen for his role in developing the UltraBattery, as well as other battery advances. Papazov was instrumental in developing a new technology for the wet filling of positive tubular plates with suspended diluted battery paste, offering higher capacity and longer cycle life for tubular plates.

ALABC program manager Boris Monahov delivered the award speech, which was written by Detchko Pavlov and his team at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Furukawa Battery is a partner company to Ecoult, the UltraBattery developer. The company now mass produces the UltraBattery and says the technology has been adopted by a Japanese car manufacturer that it has not named.

Furukawa’s research has also resulted in the commercialization of a flooded battery additive; a lead alloy for positive grids; and a new VRLA battery for auxiliary and back-up applications in vehicles, among other developments.

Papazov began his career in studying the properties of the anodic layer formed on lead electrodes immersed in sulfuric acid solution, and his research provided the basis for the semiconducting model for the oxidation of lead in sulfuric acid solution.