Practical
Objective: To study about lead acid battery.
THE BATTERY:
The battery is the main part of the electrical system in an automobile. Without the battery,
the engine cannot be started with the starting motor. The battery supplies current for
operation of the starting motor and ignition system when the engine is being cranked for
starting. It also supplies current for light, radio, heater and several other accessory units
when the generator is not operating fast enough to handle the electrical load.
The batteries are of the following types :
1. Lead-acid battery
2 Alkaline battery:(a) Nickel-iron type (b) Nickel-cadmium type
3. Zinc-air battery.
LEAD-ACID BATTERY
The lead-acid battery is most widely used in automobiles. It has been described in
details as follows A lead-acid battery consists of the following components :
1. Container 2 Plates 3. Separators
4. Cell covers 5. Electrolyte 6. Grids
7. Cell connectors 8. Tapered terminals 9. Sealing compound
1 .Container. The container of a lead-acid battery is a single piece construction and is made
of hard rubber, plastic or bituminous composition. It must withstand extreme heat and cold as
well as mechanical shocks and must be resistant to the absorption of acid. It is divided into
compartments by partitions for different cells. Bridges are formed at the bottom of each
compartment on which battery plates rest. The spaces between the bridge ribs are provided to
collect sediments. This minimizes the danger of short circuits due to the sediment.
The repeated charging and discharging of a battery will, of course, gradually wear it out so
that after a time the active material of the positive plates, which consists of extrermely fine
grains of lead peroxide, gradually disintegrates and looses physical contact with the plate on
which it has been held. This loosened material, unless held in place, is free to fall off the plate
and deposit in sediment spaces between the bridges at the bottom of each cell. By the time the
sediment spaces fill up the bottom of the element, the life of the cell is usually spent, since
the shedded material will gradually form an electrical path or a short circuit between the
positive and negative plates and will interfere with the charging and retention of charge of the
battery. The battery may, of course, fail before this condition occurs.
Gasoline and oils should be kept away from bituminous composition containers as they will
dissolve the bituminous binders.
2. Plates. In a battery, several similar plates are properly spaced and welded or lead-burned
to a strap to form plate group. The plates consist of perforated grids into which lead or lead
peroxide has been pressed. The grids are made of an alloy of lead and antimony, which make
them resistant to electrochemical corrosion; and gives them strength and rigidity. There are
two types of plate groups in each cell-positive plate group and negative plate group. The plate
group connected to the positive terminal of the cell consists of grids filled with a paste of lead
peroxide (brown in colour). The plate group connected to the negative terminal on the cell
consists of grids filled with metallic lead. It is spongy and dull grey in colour. Each group of
plates is held together by a post strap, to which each individual plate is welded. These straps
extended up through the cell cover to provide the cell terminals to connect one cell to the
other. The plate groups are arranged in the cell so that the positive and negative plates
alternate.
It is to be noted that the positive plates are filled with lead peroxide active material. This is a
dark brown crystalline material which consists of very small grains or particles, disposed so
as to provide a high degree of porosity in order to allow the electrolyte to penetrate the plate
freely. Negative plates are filled with a porous mass of lead, in spongy form, in which
electrolyte can penetrate freely. The active material also contains so called expanders
included to prevent the spong lead from contracting and reverting to the solid inactive state
during the life of the battery.
3. Grids. The plates of a lead-acid storage battery consist of an electrically conducting grid
frame work in the meshes of which the active materials are incorporated by electrochemical
process. These grids serve to conduct the current to and from the active materials of the
positive and negative plates. An alloy consisting essentially of lead and antimony is used for
the grids. The antimony stiffens and strengthens the soft lead. The presence of antimony also
facilitates casting the fine detail of the wire structure of the grids and enables the battery
weight to be kept to a minimum.
4. Separators. Separators are placed between the negative and positive plates to keep them
separate between each other. The separators are designed to hold the plates apart so that they
do not touch and same time they must be porous enough to permit liquid to circulate between
the plates. Separators are usually made of specially treated wood, hard rubber, resin
impregnated fibre alone or in combination with rubber or mats of glass fibres. Some batteries
have separators made of polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene saturated cellulose.
Separators have ribs on the side facing the positive plates to provide greater acid volume
next to the positive for reasons of improved efficiency and to facilitate acid circulation
within the cell. The ribs also minimize the area of contact with the positive plate which has a
highly oxidizing effect on most separators. Glass fibre retainer mats or perforated rubber or
plastic sheets are sometimes placed between the positive plate and the separator to retard the
loss of active material from the plate and to protect the separator from oxidation.
5. Element construction. The positive plates are welded to a post strap forming a plate
group, and the negative plates are welded to a similar post strap, forming a negative group.
The two groups are put together. Separators are inserted between the plates with the grooved
faces of the separators next to the positive plates. These groups, assembled with separators
insulating them, are called an Element. One element is used per cell. The post straps extend
up through the cell cover and provide terminals for connecting one cell to another.
There may be any desired number or size of plates used in an element, depending upon how
much energy is to be stored but there will usually be one more negative plate than there are
positives for reasons of improved performance. The greater the plate surface area used per
element, the higher will be the voltage during discharge at high rates and low temperature.
However, the open circuit voltage of a fully charged cell, no matter what the size of the cell
or the number of plates in the element, is only a little over two volts. The battery voltage is
the sum of the voltages of its cells.
6. Cell cover. Each cell is sealed by a cover of hard rubber through which the positive and
negative terminals project. Adjacent negative and negative terminals are connected by
connector straps. Each cover has an opening through which liquid can be added. A filler cap
is screwed on this opening. The filler cap has an air vent for the escape of gas. In many late
model batteries, one-piece cover is provided that covers all the cells.
Vent plugs of special designs co-operate with the cover vent opening to baffle the gases and
electrolyle splashed and sprayed against the underside of the cover, to prevent loss of acid
from the cell.
7. Electrolyte. The sponge lead and lead peroxide which fill the respective plates are referred
to as the active materials of the battery. But these materials cannot become active until they
are covered by an aqueous solution of sulphuric acid called the electrolyte. The sulphuric acid
of the electrolyte supplies the sulphate ions which combines with each of the plate materials
and releases the electrical energy. The sulphuric acid electrolyte is also the carrier for the
electric current inside the battery between the positive and negative plates through the
separators. The antimony - lead alloy of the grid framework of the plates carries the electric
current to and from the active materials to the outside terminals.
The electrolyte of a fully charged battery contains about 31% sulphuric acid by weight or
about 21% by volume in distilled water. This corresponds to a specific gravity of 1.230 at
27°C.
The electrolyte used in a lead-acid battery is the solution of sulphuric acid. It consists of 40%
sulphuric acid and 60% distilled water. The level of the electrolyte in the container is about
10 mm above the tops of the plates. When the electrolyte has been added and the battery is
given an initial forming charge, it is ready for operation.
8. Cell connectors. To connect the cells of a battery, in series, the elements are placed in
each cell so that the negative terminal of one cell will be adjacent to the positive terminal of
the next cell and so on throughout the battery. Cell connectors are placed over the protruding
terminal parts and welded to them to connect the cells in series. Connectors must be heavy
enough to carry the high current required for starting without overheating.
9. Tapered terminals. Battery terminals are of special design, being tapered to specified
dimensions in accordance with standards agreed upon by the industry so that all positive and
negative cable clamp terminals will fit any corresponding battery terminal interchangeably.
The positive terminal is slightly larger (22.5 mm dia.) at the top than the negative terminal
(16 mm dia.) at the top so as to minimize the danger of installing a battery in reverse.
10. Sealing compound. Sealing compounds are used to form an acid tight joint between
covers and containers. They are blends of specially processed bituminous substances having
resistance to flow at high summer temperatures and resistance to cracking at low winter
temperatures. In special constructions, rigid plastic resin seals are sometimes used which are
permanent and cannot be removed by heating.
CHEMICALS IN BATTERY
The chemicals used in a battery are as follows :
1. Sponge lead (solid) 2. Lead oxide (paste) 3. Sulphuric acid (liquid)
The sponge lead and lead peroxide are held in plate grids to form negative and positive
plates. Sulphuric acid mixed with water is filled in the container and the plates alongwith the
separators are held in it. The three substances thus react chemically to produce a flow of
current. The plate grid consists of a frame work of antimony-lead alloy with interlocking
horizontal and vertical bars, which serves to hold the paste in the plate.
CHEMICAL REACTION
The chemical reactions take place between the three chemicals in the battery. In the presence
of sulphuric acid, the electrons from one group of plates collect on the other group of plates.
This transfer of electrons is continued until there is sufficient imbalance of electrons to create
a 2 volts pressure between the two groups of plates. This results in a pressure of 2 volts
between the terminals of the battery cell. If the two terminals are connected by a circuit the
electrons (current) will flow. They flow from terminal where the chemical reaction has
collected them through the circuit to the other terminal where the chemical reaction has taken
them away. The chemical reactions use up the sponge lead, lead peroxide and sulphuric acid.
Thus, after a certain amount of current has been withdrawn, the battery is discharged or dead
or rundown. When it is discharged, it is not capable of delivering any additional current. It
may then be recharged.
Figure Chemical action in batteries.
The following chemical reactions take place while the battery is charged and discharged :
When the battery is discharging the sulphuric acid (H2S04) is broken up into two parts -
hydrogen (H2) and sulphate (S04). The hydrogen is librated at the lead oxide (PbO ), which
combines with parts of sulphuric acid to form lead sulphate (PbS04) and water (H20). The
sulphate is librated at the spongy lead plates (Pb) and combines with them to form lead
sulphate (PbS04). During this process the electrolyte becomes dilute because of the
absorption of S04 by the sponge lead plates.
When the battery is charged, the chemical reaction as described above, is reversed. The lead
sulphate (PbS04), on one plate is again converted to lead peroxide (Pb02); and the lead
sulphate on the other plate is reduced to spongy lead (Pb). The electrolyte becomes
concentrated because of increased amount of sulphuric acid.
Thus, the battery cell is a means of converting electrical energy into chemical energy during
charging and chemical energy into electrical energy during discharging.
BATTERY RATING'
Tire batteries are rated according to the following two standards recommended by the Society
of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Association of American Battery Manufacturers
(AABM):
20-hour rating (in ampere-hours): It indicates the lighting ability of a fully charged battery.
It is obtained by discharging the battery at a current rate equal to 1/20 of the manufacturer’s
ampere-hour rating. It represents the rate of current a battery can deliver continuously for 20
hours after which the cell voltage should not drop below 1.75. During the test, the battery
temperature should be about 80°F. For example, a 6 volts battery rated at 120 ampere-hours
should be able to furnish 6 amperes for 20 hours before its terminal voltage drops to 5.25
volts. A battery delivering 5 amperes for 20 hours would be rated as 100 ampere-hour battery
(5 x 20 = 100).
It should be noted that an ampere-hour is the quantity of electrical energy furnished by a
current of one ampere for one hour.
Cold rating: It indicates the number of minutes of a 6 volt battery can deliver 300 ampere at
0°F before the cell voltage drops below 1.0 volt. It gives an indication of the cold weather
starting ability of the battery.
Sometimes the batteries are rated by the third standard also as follows :
25-ampere rating: It measures the battery performance at a moderate constant current output
at 80°F to a final limiting voltage of 1.75 volt per cell. This figure indicates the ability of the
battery to carry the electrical operating load (lights, ignition, etc.), when the generator is not
operating.
