The tubular plate was invented in 1908 in USA and came over to Europe in the twenties. Some battery manufacturers in North America preferred to use pasted positive flat plates.The European battery manufacturers applied the tubular technology to industrial batteries successfully. At the beginning of the sixties they started using single tubes for the spines, made in PVC and fiber glass (the so-called PG tube) which was than replaced in 1973 by woven gauntlets (multitube bags) made of polyester yarn.The main advantage of the positive tubular plates is the long service life compared to flat pasted plates. Spines are made with a pressure cast process and by means of a mechanically strong polyester gauntlets, spines and gauntlets become a solid structure containing the active mass, with no shedding whatsoever.Thanks to the contribution of the polyester gauntlets that complies to the high reliability required by battery industries, engineers state that the lifetime of industrial batteries, as long as they are well serviced, is as follows:•tubular motive power batteries (traction) for more than 5 years;
•tubular Gel stationary batteries (stand-by) up to 10 years;
•flooded tubular stationary batteries (stand-by) up to 20 years.

Heavy-duty lead acid batteries are nowadays made with tubular plates all over Europe and in many parts of the world. Tubular plates performance is definitely superior to that of flat plate cells.
Today, hundreds of thousands of industrial batteries -semi/traction, traction (motive-power), and stationary (stand-by), both flooded, gel and AGM typesequipped with MECONDOR multitube bags in polyester yarn, are used throughout the world, including batteries for submarines.

MECONDOR’s multitube bag is a semi-rigid woven polyester retainer consisting of connected and parallel tubes. This unique and patented structure enables the electrolyte to penetrate the active material more freely; shedding of active material is reduced to negligible proportions. The very low internal resistance of MECONDOR’s multitube bag further enhances the performance of the battery. A positive tubular plate made with MECONDOR’s multitube bag combines all the most important features in a single structure: greater capacity, sturdy construction, long life, ensuring a high power output per unit volume. With the start-up of the first manufacturing line in 1972, MECONDOR applied the stateof- the-art technology and know-how acquired through research and investment in the textile market. The use of newly designed sophisticated machines and equipment, which were specifically developed for this product, careful selection of raw materials and effective quality control, ensure the prompt and steady success of MECONDOR multitube bags. In the year 2000, MECONDOR gauntlets are used by most lead-acid battery manufacturers in five continents and today is the leading independent manufacturer of multitube bags for electric lead-acid batteries in the world.

The most important characteristics of MECONDOR multitube bags are:
• higher porosity with a yarn density designed to obtain very even and minute holes in order to retain the active mass and to prevent its shedding;
• low electrical resistance;
• good resistance to surface abrasion thanks to the use of high quality raw materials;
• unique elasticity, as no other tube has the same property. Further, a good mechanical strenght enable each single tube of the gauntlet to follow the volume variations of the active mass, from oxide to sulphate and viceversa, continuously keeping the active mass pressed against the conductive lead-spines of the plate;

• easy and fast filling with powder or with paste, that is dry filling and wet or slurry filling;
• good resistance to electrochemical oxidation;
• no electrolyte pollution from reinforcing agents nor from fiber itself, as Mecondor gauntlets are chlorine free.
• upon request, MECONDOR’s gauntlet is supplied in the “I.S.” (Insulated Sides) version.
The two lateral semi-tubes are coated with a synthetic material ensuring electrical insulation of both sides of the plate in order to avoid plate short-circuiting (See “Specifications” in our Technical Catalogue).