Battery?
A device that stores energy.
HOW?
By holding different electro-chemically active materials
together is such a fashion so that they can generate and
store free electrons (electrical potential energy) for long
periods of time and only deliver that energy when the
battery user demands it.
The inherent properties of the electro-chemically active
materials allow them to store energy chemically and then
release that energy electrically as a bi-product of a
chemical reaction.
Basic Construction
The individual battery cells are composed of plates and
insulators.
The plates are composed of the conductive grid and the
active material. There are two polarities of plate, both
positive and negative.
One pair of opposite polarity plates is sandwiched around
some type of insulator, called a separator.
The last piece of the puzzle is the electrolyte. This is a
source of free electrons.
Lead Acid Battery
In a lead acid battery, the electrodes and grids are made
from lead.
Usually there is some other additive mixed in with the lead,
like calcium to give it mechanical strength.
The active material is some formulation of lead oxides.
The electrolyte is sulfuric acid. Hence the name “Lead-
Acid”.
A battery can do one or more of three things.
• Start an engine: Here, the battery delivers a short burst of high
amplitude electric current to energize the starter motor that turns
the crankshaft on an internal combustion engine. In general, these
types of batteries are called SLI, which stands for Starting Lighting
& Ignition.
• Stand-by mode: The battery can sit for months or years in a stand-
by mode waiting to provide back up power when there is a power
outage from the utility company. When the battery supplies its
power as a backup, it may discharge completely or only very
slightly. Then it is recharged when the power comes back on.
• Deep-cycle application: The battery can deliver the
majority of its capacity repeatedly, possibly on a daily
basis. This is called a deep-cycle application. Typical
examples of this type of use are electric vehicles: cars,
busses etc.
Most batteries do 1 of these 3 things very well, either
engine start, standby, or deep cycle. Occasionally, a battery
can perform 2 of these functions well.
History
In 1801 - French scientist Gautherot observed wires that
had been used for electrolysis experiments would
themselves provide a small amount of "secondary"
current after the main battery had been disconnected.
In 1859 - Gaston Planté – the first lead–acid battery -
recharged by passing a reverse current through it.
His first model -
His first model contained two sheets of lead,
separated by rubber strips, rolled into a
spiral and immersed in a solution containing
about 10 percent sulfuric acid.
His batteries were first used to power the
lights in train carriages while stopped at a
station.
In 1881 - Camille Alphonse Faure - invented
an improved version that consisted of a lead
grid lattice, into which a lead oxide paste
was pressed, forming a plate. This design
was easier to mass-produce.
In the 1970s - the valve-regulated lead acid battery (often called
"sealed") was developed.
Construction / Working
• Positive electrode -
lead dioxide as the
active material
• Negative electrode -
metallic lead, in a
high-surface-area
porous structure
• The electrolyte is
Sulfuric acid.
Lead dioxide
• Lead dioxide is an odorless dark-brown crystalline powder
which is nearly insoluble in water. It has two major
polymorphs, alpha and beta.
• The alpha form has orthorhombic symmetry
The symmetry of the beta form is tetragonal
Typically, a charged positive electrode contains both α-
PbO2 (orthorhombic) and β-PbO2 (tetragonal).
The equilibrium potential of the α-PbO2 is more
positive than that of β-PbO2 by 0.01 V.
It (α form) promotes longer cycle life.
Metallic Lead
Metallic Lead is used as the negative active material.
As high-surface-area porous structure.
Plates
The lead–acid cell can be demonstrated using sheet lead
plates for the two electrodes. However, such a construction
produces only around one ampere for roughly postcard-sized
plates, and for only a few minutes.
Gaston Planté’s design: The positive and negative plates
were formed of two spirals of lead foil, separated with a
sheet of cloth and coiled up.
•Much larger effective surface area.
•The cells initially had low capacity, so a slow process of
"forming" was required to corrode the lead foils, creating
lead dioxide on the plates and roughening them to increase
surface area.
•Used primary batteries or generators for the same
Camille Alphonse Faure method: Coating a lead grid
with a paste of lead oxides, sulfuric acid and water.
• followed by curing phase - (gentle heat in a high humidity
environment).
• The paste then changes to a mixture of lead sulfates
which adhered to the lead plate.
• Then, during the battery's initial charge (called
"formation") the cured paste on the plates was converted
into electrochemically active material (the "active mass").
• Less cost, time, and increased capacity.
Present-day grids:
•Modern-day processes also apply one or two thin fibre-glass
mats over the grid to distribute the weight more evenly.
•Grids of lead-antimony alloys (8–12%): To give the
structures additional rigidity – (However higher hydrogen evolution and
higher maintenance costs). e.g. in motor-starting applications
• Lead-calcium and lead-selenium grid alloys: To solve these
issues. (both still add antimony, albeit in much smaller quantities than the older
high-antimony grids: lead-calcium grids have 4–6% antimony while lead-selenium
have less hydrogen evolution and thus lower
grids have 1–2%).
maintenance overhead..
These metallurgical improvements give the grid :
More Allows it
carry more
strength weight
Increased battery
More active lifespan (since there is
more material available
material (plates to shed before the
can be thicker) battery becomes
unusable)
For deep cycle applications: Positive electrode is a row of lead-
oxide cylinders or tubes strung side by side (not a flat plate)
•Increased surface area in contact with the electrolyte (hence higher
discharge/charge currents than a flat-plate cell of the same volume and
depth-of-charge).
•Thus higher power density than flat-plate cells.
• Therefore used in high-current applications with storage
weight/space limitations (e.g. forklifts or for starting marine diesel
engines).
•However they have lower energy density than flat-plate cells. (as less
active material in the same volume) i.e. less material available to shed
before the cell becomes unusable.
Separators
• Between the positive and negative plates.
• Prevent short-circuit through physical contact (mostly
through dendrites but also through shedding of the active material).
• Obstruct the flow of ions between the plates and increase the
internal resistance of the cell.
•Wood, rubber, glassfibermat, cellulose, and
PVC or polyethylene plastic have been used to make
separators. Wood was the original choice, but deteriorated in
the acid electrolyte. Rubber separators are stable in battery
acid.
An effective separator must possess:
Permeability Porosity Pore size distribution
Mechanical design
Specific surface area Electrical resistance
and strength
Chemical Must have good
Ionic conductivity compatibility with the resistance to acid
electrolyte. and oxidation.
The area of the separator Must remain stable
must be a little larger than
the area of the plates (to
over the
Absorbed glass mat (AGM)
The spaces between the cells is replaced by a glass fibre mat soaked in electrolyte.
Electrolyte will not flow out Greatly reduces evaporation
of the mats (even if (no or very less refilling of the
punctured). water).
Electrolyte becomes the separator
material. (This allows the plate
Thus completely sealed stack to be compressed together in
(useful in portable devices). the battery shell, slightly
increasing energy density
compared to liquid or gel versions).
While AGM cells do not permit watering. When a lead-acid battery loses
water, its acid concentration increases, increasing the corrosion rate and
hence decreasing battery life.
To reduce the water loss rate calcium is alloyed with the plates, however
gas build-up remains a problem when the battery is deeply or rapidly
charged or discharged.
To prevent over-pressurization of the battery casing, AGM batteries include
a one-way blow-off valve, and are often known as "valve regulated lead–
acid", or VRLA designs.
Valve-Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA):
VRLA stands for valve-regulated lead-acid and is the designation
for low-maintenance lead-acid rechargeable batteries. Because of their
construction, VRLA batteries do not require regular addition of water to
the cells.
In valve regulated lead acid batteries the hydrogen and oxygen
produced in the cells largely recombine into water, leakage is minimal.
VRLA batteries do not required regular checking of electrolyte level ,
they have called maintenance free batteries.
VRLA batteries don’t contain any such liquid, as their electrolyte is
formed as gel and absorbed by separator sheets.
VRLA battery are widely used in large portable electrical devices, off
– grid power system.
WORKING of
Lead Acid
Battery
Discharge
• In the discharged state both the positive and negative plates become lead(II)
sulfate (PbSO4), and the electrolyte loses much of its dissolved sulfuric acid and
becomes primarily water.
• The discharge process is driven by the conduction of electrons from the negative
plate back into the cell at the positive plate in the external circuit.
Charging
In the fully charged state, the negative plate consists of lead, and the
positive plate lead dioxide, with the electrolyte of concentrated
sulfuric acid.
Negative plate reaction:
Pb(s) + HSO−4(aq) → PbSO4(s) + H+(aq) + 2e−
Release of two conducting electrons gives lead electrode a net negative
charge.
Positive plate reaction:
PbO2(s) + HSO4−(aq) + 3H+(aq) + 2e− → PbSO4(s) + 2H2O(l)
The total reaction can be written as
Pb(s) + PbO2(s) + 2H2SO4(aq) → 2PbSO4(s) + 2H2O(l)
VIDEO
APPLICATIONS:
Standby batteries
commonly used in large
Automotive applications (SLI backup power supplies
batteries) for telephone and
computer centres, grid
energy storage
Submari UPS
nes (VRLS)
ADVANTAGE:
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Research
Work
Majority of work in lead acid batteries is concentrated on increasing its
life.
Research is also been carries out on methods to improve its
coordination with renewable energy.
Measuring the “State of charge (SOC)” or the “State of Health (SOH)” of
the battery while operation. (All the failure mechanisms result in a
gradual increase in cell impedance and accordingly, measurement of
cell impedance is a widespread technique for the monitoring of cell
State of Health)
Integrating Carbon into the negative
electrode of the cell has allowed VRLA
cells to enter a new application space,
cycling for extended periods at a Partial
State of Charge (pSoC).
Investigation of material impurities to
determine benefits of different impurities
or additives and maximum tolerable
levels of impurities.
Axion enterprises innovation: A VRLA cell in that the negative
electrode is purely a Carbon electrode, having more in common
with design of an asymmetric supercapacitor. Axion claims a high
charge acceptance, a 4 times increase in cycle life (presumably
over conventional VRLA), and improved ability of cells to
balance their performance within a string of cells.
Firefly International Energy Co. has a cell design that
uses a carbon foam as a substrate for the active
materials of the electrodes and have demonstrated a
4 times cycle life improvement over conventional
VRLA.
Research that has demonstrated that some
conventional VRLA designs can achieve
significant Partial Charge Operation as required by
photovoltaic (PV) plant operation. (VRLA tubular
GEL cells supported 2100 cycles between 10%
and 40% SoC at 40 [Link] result has been
extrapolated to 4000 cycles at 20 C operation i.e.
11-12 years)
This can be achieved by using carbon as an
enhancement to the negative electrode.
Conclusion
Lead Acid Battery might
be an old battery but its
applications, use and
features are still diverse.
Thank you
Temperature Effects:
Anticipated battery life is specified by the
manufacturer for batteries installed in an
environment at or near the reference
temperature of 25°C (77°F). Above this
temperature, battery life is reduced. The chief
aging mechanism is accelerated corrosion of the
positive plates, grid structure, and strap, which
increases exponentially as a function of
temperature
A general rule of thumb for a vented lead-acid
battery is that the battery life is halved for every
15°F (8.3°C) above 77°F (25°C). Thus, a battery
rated for 5 years of operation under ideal conditions
at 77°F (25°C) might only last 2.5 years at 95°F
(35°C).
Battery Lifetime:
1. The charging/discharging regime which the battery has
experienced.
2. The DOD of the battery over its life.
3. Its exposure to prolonged periods of low discharge.
4. A deep-cycle
[Link] lead acid of
average temperature battery should
the battery beits
over able to maintain a
lifetime.
cycle life of more than 1,000 even at DOD over 50%.
Battery Efficiency:
1. Lead acid batteries typically have coulombic efficiencies of 85% and
energy efficiencies in the order of 70%.