BATTERIES

. What are the disadvantages of the maintenance free battery?

The life of battery is only five years.
The state of charge of a battery not knowing by the specific gravity of a battery. We
can know by voltage only.
. What are the problems of hydrogen concentration?
If the concentration of hydrogen more than 4% and less than 74% explosion
problems will be there. Therefore the concentration of hydrogen is restricted to less
than 1% by air changer ventilation system.
. Why lead acid battery requires so much large initial charging?
Initially for a new battery, negative plate will be PbO instead of Pb. To convert all of
them back to Pb, we need so much prolonged initial charging.
.

What are the protections adopted in UPS or PMCC supply?

LV (incomer) or UPS input
CTZM, Over current, Short circuit protections
PMCC S or T input or UPS output
Under voltage (27), 51RYB, 51N protections.
. Write chemical equation for lead acid cell.
PbO2 + H2 SO4 -> PbSO4 +2 H2 (during discharge)
Pb + SO4->PbSO4 (during charge)

. Is the chemical reaction of plante cells same as tubular lead acid cells?
No. Plante cells having both electrodes are lead (Pb) only.
During charging, H2O -> H2 + O2
O2 react with Pb to form PbO2 + (+ve plate)
During discharge, Pb + c ->PbSO4 (on -ve plate)
While PbO2->Pb + O2 (on +ve plate).
That is converted back to lead.
Therefore PbSO4 formed only on -ve plate. That is sulphation problem are reduced
by 50%
. What are the advantages of plante type batteries?
Plante plate type batteries have longer life and can with stand rapid discharge.
.

Why battery room should be located separately in a power station?

Possibility of battery explosion
Corrosive atmosphere by acid spray.
Fire hazard.

What are the disadvantages of nickel cadmium battery?

Status of charge not known
Number of cells are more
Cost very high
Environmental protection agency considers cadmium as a hazardous material,
difficult to discard at the end of life.
. What are the effects of temperature in lead acid battery?
Higher electrolyte temp - ah capacity increases but life reduces.
Lower electrolytic temp - ah capacity reduces since chemical reaction rate reduces.

Why ventilation is essential for Ni-Cad also?

Gases evolved H2 O2 can form explosive mixture.
. How H2 O2 generated in lead acid battery?

At end of charge, when most of the Pb is converted. H2 O2 generated from H2O. O2

appears as gas at positive plate. H2 at negative plate, i.e. gassing starts.
. Why current reduced after gassing?
Excessive gassing shortens the life of battery by scouring the active materials at the
surface of the plates.
. Why aged battery consumes more water?
As aging increases, antimony migrates to negative plate -> secondary cell reaction.
Therefore more charging current require -> more water consumption.
. What happens after aging?
Shedding of active material during charging.
Shedding increases with overcharging, heavy discharge, batteries short ckt.
. What is the other effect of low temperature?
When specific gravity decreases, acid freezing point increases, soon reached at low
temperature, volume increases container cracks.
. Why temperature correction required?
As temperature increases, specific gravity decreases. The hydrometer immersion is
more, showing lower readings. Therefore 10C raises,7 points to be added,
corrected to get 27 C reading.
.

What is meant by sulphation of the cell?

During the discharge lead sulphate is produced and during the charging the same is
converted back into lead and lead peroxide. If the cell is left under charged, lead
sulphate would form which will not reverse back into lead and lead peroxide during
charging. Due to this the cell will loose its original capacity.
What you meant by shedding?
During the charging and discharging the active materials will undergo volumetric
changes. Due to this some of the material may not be retained with the parent
material and will shed and collected at the bottom of the container. This loss of
active material is called shedding. Due to this the cell will loose its capacity.
Acid should be poured to water. Why is it so?
When acid and water is mixed lot of heat is generated. Hence there is chances of
splashing of the liquid. If water is poured to acid will splash causing injuries. In the
other case splashing will be of water with concentration of acid, which will not
hazardous as the other one.

What types of lighting fittings are used in the battery room?

Flame proof acid resistant
Why ungrounded 250V DC system adopted in our system?
The 250V DC system is feeding to some of the vital loads such as breaker control
etc. Even if one ground has occurred then also these controls should be available.
Continuous monitoring of ground current is employed to eliminate the by passing of
logic due to double ground.

Why battery capacity limits to 20 minute?

Battery cost is more.
It is better to restore class 3 faster by DG set then putting large battery.
20 min, is enough to shutdown the unit safely.

 What are the main parts of lead acid battery?

a.
Container
b.
Lead dioxide positive plates
c.
Lead negative plates
d.
Post strap and seal assemble
e.
Separators and retainers
f.
Sulphuric acid electrolyte
g.
Inter cell connector (lead plated copper)

What are the different types of charging?

(Normally always) Float charging 2.15V per cell
It maintains the battery fully charged condition during standby operation by
delivering a small amount of current to cancel the effect of battery natural selfdischarge.
Equalizing charging (2.7V/cell) once in 3 months
Recharge a battery capacity through recovering all useable active materials in the
cell plates.
Boost charging
Boost charging is a quick charging process, which is generally required, if the battery
is drained to a large extent.
What is the double sulphate reaction?
Pb O2 + Pb + 2H2 SO4

2PbSO4 +2H2O
During charging oxygen at positive plate and hydrogen at negative plate are
releasing.

What are the effects of over charging?

Gassing
Heating
Loosening of plate active material
What you mean by Drooping characteristics of charger?
When the charger is connected to excess load of charger rating the charger should
able to supply the load with out over loaded by maintaining the terminal voltage
within limit without over load trip. This called a drooping output voltage
characteristics.

What are the effects of under charging?

Sulphation
Buckling of plates

What are the effects of high temperature?

Gassing of electrolyte and evaporation
Service life is halved for every 8 deg increase above 25 deg.

What are the effects of low temperature?

Increased electrolyte viscosity.

What type of thermometer is used for acid batteries?

Alcohol type thermometer.
What are the tests for battery?
Conduct test to check the capacity batteries
Impedance test to check the utilization of active materials.

What are the functions of charger?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

For initial charging.

For float charging.
For battery equalizing charging.
For battery boost charging.
To supply normal DC loads.

What is the rating of switchyard battery charger and batteries?

Switchyard is having Float cum boost charger of 282 V DC maximum and 100
Amps rated charger of six-pulse full wave thyristerised controlled rectifier.
Batteries are tubular 220 V DC. +ve plate is made up of low antimory lead selenium
(Pb) and ve plate is made up of paste plate type (O2). Container or tube is made up
of polyester and glass fibre.
1. Momentary load 160 A / minute.
2. Continuous load 40 A / hour.
3. Cell voltage 1.8 V DC and total number of cells are 106 in battery bank.
4. Float voltage 2.16 V per cell to 2.18 V per cell.
5. Maximum system voltage is 106 * 2.18 = 242 V DC
Battery rated for 224 A for one minute or 80 A for 60 minutes.
Specific gravity 1110 5 and specific gravity after 10 hrs discharge is 1150 5.
What are the protections provided in charger?
1. Over load (49).
2. Over voltage (59).
3. Short-circuit (3250 Amps).
4. Phase sequence and phase fail.
5.di/dt and dv/dt protection.

Batteries and charger

1. How you will prepare electrolyte
While preparing electrolyte for lead acid
water.
Batteries and charger
1. How you will prepare electrolyte
While preparing electrolyte for lead acid
water.

for a lead acid battery?

battery sulphuric acid is added to distilled
for a lead acid battery?
battery sulphuric acid is added to distilled

2. How battery capacity is expressed?

Always battery capacity is expressed in Ampere hour.
3. What is the instrument used to measure the specific gravity?
The instrument used to measure the specific gravity is called Hydrometer.
4. What you mean by SCR?
SCR is meant for silicon controlled rectifier.
5. Define specific gravity and mention the specific gravity of a fully charged lead acid
battery?
Specific gravity of a substance is the comparison of density of the substance with the
density of pure water.
Specific gravity = Density of the substance / density of pure water.
= kg / cm2
kg / cm2
= (No unit)
Specific gravity is only number. It has no unit.
Specific gravity of pure water is one.

Specific gravity of fully charged lead acid battery is 1.215. Specific gravity should
always be corrected to 27C.
Corrected specific gravity is equal to indicated specific gravity (t - 27C)*0.0007.
Indicated specific gravity = 1.205 and t means electrolyte temperature.
6. What are the parts of the battery?
Parts of the battery are
a.
Battery container.
b.
Battery cover.
c.
Positive plate (Pb o2).
d.
Negative plate (Pb).
e.
Cell connector.
f.
Grid.
g.
Cell separator (porous material).
h. Sediment chamber.
i. Positive and negative terminals.
j. Vent plugs.
k. Dilutes sulphuric acid (electrolyte).
7. What are the indications of a fully charged cell?
a. The colour of the + ve plates will be dark brown. This can be seen only if the
battery has transparent cover.
b.
Voltage per cell will be a 2.15 volts.
c. Gassing in the will electrolyte will indicate. But the current is splitting up water to
H2 and O2. Because the positive and negative plates are fully converted to their
original constituents.
8. What are the difference between primary cell and secondary cell?
Primary cell: The electrolyte in primary cell is chemically irreversible. That is once
the cell is discharged it cannot be recharged. It should be replaced with a new cell.
The cells can supply only low currents and have low efficiency. They supply
intermittent current. Their internal resistance is more. These cells are comparatively
cheap.
Secondary cell: These cells are chemically reversible. They can be discharged and
charged. They can supply large currents because their internal resistance is less.
These have high efficiency compare to primary cells. These can supply constant
current. These are comparatively costly.
9. What do you mean by sulphation? And what are the effects of sulphation?
Sulphation: During normal discharge of battery Pb so4 is formed. This Pb so4 is
chemically reversible by passing current. These split up to their original constituents.
But under certain condition crystalline lead sulphate is formed (Example: under
charging after some time without trickle charging). This Pb so4 is chemically
irreversible. So if the sulphation occurs the battery life decreases. Efficiency
decreases and the active material starts falling of the grid.
10.Write down the equation for Nickel cadmium battery.
Equation for Nickel cadmium battery.
Ni (OH4) + Cd +2 kOH ->Ni (OH2) + Cd OH2 + kOH (during charging)
(Nickel hydrate + cadmium + potassium hydroxide -> Nickel hydroxide + cadmium
hydroxide + potassium hydroxide.)
Ni (OH2) + Cd OH2 + kOH -> Ni (OH4) + Cd +2 kOH (during discharge)
We see that there is no change in electrolyte. It just acts as a catalyst. So there is no
need to change the electrolyte.
11. Write down the theory of lead acid battery.
A simple lead acid battery consists of positive and negative electrodes Immersed in
an electrolyte. The positive electrodes are Pbo2 (lead oxide) and the negative
electrodes are Pb (spongy lead). The electrolyte is dilute sulphuric acid.
On discharging the battery

Pbo2 + Pb +2 H2 so4 ->Pbso4 + Pbso4 + 2 H2o

Lead acid is converted into lead sulphate. Spongy lead is also converted into lead
sulphate and H2 so4 used up in the process. Only water is remain. So the specific
gravity of the cell comes down.
On charging the battery
Pbso4 + Pbso4 + 2 H2o -> Pbo2 + Pb +2 H2 so4
Here the products are converted to their original constituents and the acid is released.
So the specific gravity rises as the cell is charged. How much ever larger be the cell
the voltage of each cell will be approx. 2.15 V when fully charged.
The positive plate is made of a paste lead oxide, lead sulphate that is fitted in a mesh
like material and is connected to grid. All positive plates are made common and
connected to a grid.
The negative plate is made of spongy lead also it is in mesh and connected to grid.
These are also grouped together.
These plates are separated by a micro porous separator for the diffusion of
electrolyte.
The electrolyte is prepared by adding sulphuric acid to distilled water drops by drop
and stirring it until the reasoned specific gravity is attained.
Every thing is placed in a container of hard rubber. The cells of a battery are
connected by a cell connector. The container is leak proof.
12. What are the parts of a 48V DC charger?
Main transformer: This steps down the 30 415V supply to the require value of
voltage.
Synchronizing transformer for phase sequence: This gives the synchronizing signal
to the firing card. That is, the pulses from this card if fed to the firing card. The firing
card gives pulses to the SCR of R or Y or B depending upon which phase is positive
maximum.
Half control module: This has a diode and a SCR for each phase. The firing card
controls the firing angle of SCR.
Firing card: This gives the firing pulses to SCR depending on phase sequence and
the feed back from output.
Controller card: This card monitors the output and gives signal to firing card to
conduct at certain angle to maintain constant output voltage.
Power supply card: This gives power supply for the controller card, firing card and
protection.
13.Explain the operation of 48 V battery charger.
The supply for the charger is from MCC. The supply is tapped for power supply to
control card, PF correction capacitor. LC filter is used for suppressing surge voltage.
The main supply is stepped down and given to the half control rectifier module. The
SCR conducts only when gate gets positive pulse. This pulse is given by pulse
transformer, which gets pulses from firing card. Firing card gives pulse to the
respective RYB SCR only when their phases are positive maximum. The freewheel
diode is incorporated to protect the SCR and diodes from back emf when supply to
coils is cut off due to collapsing magnetic field.
The filter is provided to smoothen the ripple output and the bleeder is used for
voltage regulation. It gives improved voltage regulation and acts as a minimum load.
Also it keeps the SCR in conducting state by drawing the minimum current which is
higher than the SCR holding current. Thus there is always output voltage irrespective
of load.
DC CT is used for limiting output current. It works on principle of magnetic
amplifier. There is also provision for smooth rising of output voltage.
14.What is purpose of freewheeling diode and DC filter circuit in the charger?
Freewheeling diode is used to protect the semiconductor components used in the
charger from the back emf, which is induced in the inductive coils of relays when the
supply to the relays is cut off. The magnetic field in the relays collapses and induces
high voltage in reverse direction. This emf is shunted by the freewheeling diode,
which is connected in reverse bios with the output.

DC filter is used to smoothen the output, which has ripple. Ripple frequency is same
as system frequency for half wave rectifier and 2 times of system frequency for full
wave rectifier. The filter, which is a capacitor, will oppose any change in voltage.
Thus the ripple will not be allowed to come to zero.
Always battery capacity is expressed in Ampere hour.