Fewmorewordsaboutenergystoredinbatteries

North Americas first automatically watered battery array. These highefficiency lead acid batteries will have a long
useful life.

Continuedfromtechnicalarticle:
Differenttypesofbatteryusedforauxiliarypowersupplyinsubstationsand
powerplants

Canbatteriesofdifferentamperehourratingsbeusedtogether
inseries?
Theamperehourratingsofabatteryindicatetherateatwhichthebatterycanbe
loaded.ForExamplea20Ahbatteryindicatesthatthebatterycansupplyacurrentof1
amperefor20hours.
SmallerbatterieshavetheirdischargeratesindicatedinmAh(milliamperehour).

Batteries in series

Whenbatteriesofdifferentamperehourratingsareconnectedinseries,itisnecessary
toensurethatnoneofthebatteriesisdischargedbeyonditscapacity.Thisisbecause
ifabatteryconnectedinseriesinabatterybankisdischargedtoitsmaximum,the
voltageofthisbatterywillbecomezero.
Thiswillcauseavoltagefromtheotherbatteriestobeappliedacrossthebatteryinthe
wrongdirection.Thiscancausedamagetothebattery.

HowenergystoredinbatteryisrelatedwithAmperehour

HowenergystoredinbatteryisrelatedwithAmperehour
capacityofbattery?
Batteries storage

TheCapacityofabatteryisthequantityofenergyabatterycan
storeanddeliver.The capacityofabatteryisusuallyindicated

intermsofAmperehoursorAh.Thisisalsoknownastheratedcapacityofabattery.
ThetotalenergystoredinabatterycanbecalculatedbymultiplyingtheAmperehour
ratingwiththebatteryvoltage.Thusa10Ahbatterywith110Vcanstoreenergyof
1100Whor1.1kWh.
Thedurationofabatteryisthusdependentonits dischargerate.Manufacturers
providedischargechartsfortheirbatteries.Charginganddischargingrateshavea
majorimpactonthelifeofabattery.Abatterythatisdischargedatafasterratemay
notdeliverthesameamountofenergyasabatterywithalesserdischargerate.Some
manufacturersspecifythecapacityofabatteryasafunctionofthedischargerate.
Temperature,too,influencesthecapacityofabattery.Batteriesathightemperatures
willhaveabettercapacitythatbatteriesloadedatlowtemperatures.Extremelyhigh
temperatures,however,cancausedamagetothebatteryandgreatlyreducecapacity.
Inadditiontothesefactors,ageisalsoafactorthatdeterminesthecapacityofa
battery.Asabatteryages,itscapacityreduces.

Whyelectrolytelevelinbatteryshouldbeinspectedregularly?
Theelectrolyteinthebatteryisamixtureofsulphuricacidandwater.Theamountof
waterinabatterycanfallduetoelectrolysisorevaporation.Thismaycauseinadrop
intheleveloftheelectrolyteandconsequentlyadropinthebatteryoutput.
Hence,itisnecessarytoperiodicallyinspectthelevelofelectrolyteinthebattery.Ifthe
leveloftheelectrolytefallsbelowtheminimumlevel,itcanbetoppedupbyadding
water.Onlydistilledwatershouldbeaddedasordinarywatermaycontainalotof
impuritiesandionswhichmaycontaminatetheelectrolyte.

Thelevelofelectrolyteinthebatterytendstofallasthebatterygets
dischargedandtendstoriseasthebatterygetscharged.

Hence,watershouldbeaddedtotheelectrolyteonlywhenthebatteryisfullycharged.
Ifthewaterisaddedtothebatterywhenitisinthedischargedcondition,thelevelcan
increasebeyondthelimitwhenthebatteryisfullychargedandmayoverflow.
Theacidusedastheelectrolyteisextremelycorrosiveandshouldbehandledwith
extremecare.Properprotectiveoutfitsshouldbewornwhilehandlingthem.Watercan
beaddedtoacontainerofacid.However,acidcanneverbeaddedtocontainerof
waterastheheatgeneratedcancausesplashing.

Whichlawgovernsthedischargeofleadacidbatteries?
In1897,theGermanphysicistPeukertproposedthatastherateofaleadacid
batterysdischargeincreasesitsavailablecapacity.ThisisknownasPeukertslaw.

ItcanbemathematicallyrepresentedasCp=IKt

where:
Cpisthecapacityofthebatteryinamperehours
KisthePeukertsconstant
Iisthecurrentand
tisthetime
ThePeukertsConstantKisspecifiedbythemanufacturerofthebatteryandis
usuallyintherangeof1.2to2.
Thusthetimeabatterycanprovidesustainacertaincurrentwithoutanyappreciable
dropinvoltagewouldbegivenby:
t=Cp/IK
Thusa100AhcapacitywithaPeukertsconstantof1.2willbeabletosupplyacurrent
of5Afor14.5hours.