Battery Basics
How it works, how it's made, and how it lasts.
A battery comes in different shapes and sizes and is used as an electric storage device, and is available in various voltages and capacities. A battery, which is often called a "cell", works when two conducting material, often dissimilar in characteristics, are dipped in a solution. A potential develops between the two, when a current starts to flow. Useful electrical energy is developed by the chemical reactions taking place between the two conductors, with the solution acting as the catalyst. Some of the cells in a battery can be used once, and these types of cells are called "Primary Cells". In such cells, where the chemical reaction can be reversed for regenerating electricity, the cells are known as "Secondary Cells", which are generally used in an accumulator or "storage" battery. This process of reversing the chemical reaction is called "recharging" the battery.
Some of the battery cells have limited charging and discharging capabilities, and remain to be known as secondary cells. Certain silver oxide-zinc batteries are one of such devices. These types of batteries cannot undergo recharge cycles, as required for satellite on-board batteries. Therefore these are considered to be "rechargeable primary", and not the storage battery that we know of.
A battery is a current producing device, which works on the principle of electrochemical reaction between the two dissimilar metallic conductors. The reaction develops into a current, which starts to flow on establishing a circuit. The solution in which the two metallic conductors are inserted is called an "Electrolyte". The value of the current generated would depend upon the material used as conductors. Examples of these batteries are, lead acid, nickel-cadmium, lithium, silver alkaline, etc. In reality, a battery consists of a number of cells, which are connected together to provide a higher potential, a process which is adopted to manufacture the batteries in various capacities. With increased number of cells in the batteries, the size of the device also changes. The material conductors that go into the electrolytes are generally called "Electrodes", and higher capacity batteries have higher number of electrodes in them.
In order to explain the various aspects of a battery, let us take the example of an automobile battery. The electrolyte of an automobile battery contains diluted sulfuric acid, and two metallic conductors, which are the positive and negative electrodes remain dipped in this liquid. These electrodes are placed in form of several plates, and are generally lead or lead-derived materials. This type of a battery is called a lead-acetate battery. Automobile batteries generally have six cells, and each cell is comprised of several battery elements, all inserted into an electrolyte solution.
The chemical energy in a battery is stored as electricity. This chemical energy is created by the electrodes in the electrolyte that releases the electricity as needed by the device which is being operated by the battery. This chemical energy gets depleted as it is used and therefore, from time to time, a battery is needed to be re-charged. In an automobile, the battery is re-charged through the alternator. This charging and re-charging is continuously repeated, which is termed as "battery cycling".
Deep cycling is the process when the battery undergoes charging after being deleted completely. For example, a ni-cd battery needs to go through deep cycling in order to maintain its full capacity. The normal cycle of charging and re-charging that a battery goes through is different to that of deep cycling. Automobile batteries do not undergo deep cycling process, and these types of batteries are kept in full charge by the alternator of the vehicle. During starting your car, the battery in your car is supposed to be fully charged, and as you run your car, the battery depletes but is constantly recharged by the alternator. This way the battery is kept on full charge. Deep cycling is destructive to any automobile batteries.
|
|
|
Recommended
Battery Stores:
|
|
|
|
