Power Batteries

Two types of Batteries which are popular are

1. Lead acid batteries

2. Nickel –Cadmium Batteries

Lead Acid Batteries:

Positive Plate: PbO2

Negative Plate: Pb

Electrolyte: H2SO4 + H2O

This is rechargeable battery.

A fully charged lead acid cell has a voltage of 2.1V. End of discharge
voltage is 1.8V.

Types of Positive Plates:

1. Flat
2. Plante
3. Tubular
4. Round
Negative Plates is generally pasted flat plate

Advantages of Plante Design:

1. Plante design provides long float life.
2. Capable of many charge/discharge cycles
3. They can be used for high rate and short –discharge
applications. E.g UPS
Disadvantage: Requires more floor place

Electrolyte is a sulphuric acid and water. Specific gravity of diluted

sulphuric acid should be 1.2 to 1.3.
Covers are normally opaque and containers are transparent to allow
visual inspection.
During charging O2 is evolved at positive plate and H2 liberates at
negative plate.

AH capacity of the battery depends on area of the plate.

Capacity of lead-acid battery is given as C10. Battery capacity test is
carried out once in a year.

Factors affecting the performance of lead- acid battery:

1. Temperature: At high temperature internal resistance

decreases and hence battery capacity apparently increases.
However the life of the battery reduces. See Fig.1
2. Aging: Battery capacity reduces over the period of time
3. Ripple currents: Large ripples present in the charging current
causes additional increase in electrolyte temperature
4. Internal resistance of a cell is due to the resistance of the
terminals, connecting links, the framework or grid upon which
the active materials are pasted. The electrolyte and the active
material also offer resistance. Internal resistance of a cell varies
during charging and discharging. See Fig.2
5. If float voltage is increased above the mentioned value there
will be more electrolysis of water. This will require more
frequent additions of water and also cell gassing.
6. If float voltage is below the rated value, uncompensated losses
lead to battery self discharge. If it is continued for 3-4 months
then it will cause heavy sulphation which is very often
irretrievable.

Fig.1 Battery capacity with age and temperature

Sizing of battery
AH capacity of the battery is calculated from the duty cycle.
However following factors decides the capacity of the battery.

1. Design Margin: 10%

 2. Temperature: Sizing is done for electrolyte temperature of
270 C. But if site ambient temperature goes below this
temperature then the specified capacity from bateery is not
available. Hence for lower operating temperatures,
temperature correction factors are used. At higher ambient
temperature, we get additional capacity from battery.

Fig.2 Changes in Internal Resistance during Charge and Discharge

3. Aging: Battery capacity falls with age. According to IEEE 485

battery should meet 100% load capacity even at the end of
life. So margin of 25% should be provided. If battery
capacity drops to say 80% of the rated capacity, it should be
replaced.
 Nickel cadmium Batteries:

Positive Plate: Nickel Hydroxide

Negative Plate: cadmium Hydroxide

Electrolyte: KOH

This is rechargeable battery.

A fully charged Ni-Cd cell has a voltage of 1.3V. End of discharge

voltage is 1-1.1V.

Electrolyte does not take part in the reaction and only transfers ion
from one plate to the other.

Capacity of Ni-Cd battery is given as C5.

These batteries are resistant to mechanical and electrical abuse.

These batteries operate over a wide temperature range.

Construction of plates:

1. Pocket plate
2. Fiber plate
3. Sintered plate
4. Plastic plate

Jars and covers are made up of plastic, stainless steel etc.

Advantages of Nickel-Cadmium cells:

1. No deterioration of the mechanical structure of plates as in LA

batteries.
2. There is no sudden loss of battery capacity
3. Capacity degradation is continuous.
4. These cells are chemically more stable and hence ni-cd cells
can sustain high temperatures easily
5. Not affected by ripples in charging current. Impedance of cell is
constant from fully charged state to discharged state
6. No gas release during charging or overcharging. No explosive
mixture formation.

Memory Effect:
If a cell undergoes repeated shallow cycling (i.e the cell is not
discharged fully) to approximately the same depth of discharge
followed by low rate charging, it may result ia premature
voltage drop in case when discharge is continued past its
normal termination point.This is called as memory effect. The
cell may have its memory erased by a complete discharge
followed by a fully discharge with a constant current.