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Selecting the right battery

Pushek Madaan and Rajiv Badiger, Cypress
6/19/2012 8:00 AM EDT
Part 1: Selection criteria and charger implementation
As more devices become mobile, efficient battery usage has become essential. Engineers tend to give
utmost importance to the current consumption of the device. They devise numerous ways to reduce
the power consumption because the longer the battery lasts, the greater perceived market value for
the product. One important aspect to consider here is the battery itself.
Selecting an appropriate battery for a particular application is important because the battery
determines the number of hours for which the device can work without the need for recharging, the
amount of weight it adds to the system, and how much it adds to the BOM (bill of materials) cost.
Along with the selection of battery, proper design of charging circuitry is also crucial because
improper design can reduce the battery life or can even lead to battery failure (i.e., dangerous leakage
or explosion). Failure leading to produce recall can cause massive losses and damage a
manufacturers reputation.
This article discusses the following topics:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Different types of rechargeable batteries

Comparison and selection criteria of different types of batteries
CC-CV charging method (Part 2)
Implementation using a microcontroller (Part 2)

Types of rechargeable batteries:

Rechargeable batteries come in various shapes and sizes, ranging from a coin cell to a battery
weighing on the order of tons. These batteries can be classified based on their chemical properties.
Some of the most commonly used batteries are:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd) battery

Nickel-Metal Hydride battery (NiMH)
Lead Acid battery
Lithium Ion battery

Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd) battery:

Ni-Cd batteries are one of the oldest battery technologies on the market and have distinct advantages
like low cost for low power applications, sturdiest for rough environments, and the ability to be
recharged many times. These batteries pack nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)2) electrode as the cathode
(positive) and cadmium hydroxide (Cd(OH)2) as the anode (negative) in electrolytic solution
comprising of potassium hydroxide (KOH).

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Figure 1: Discharge rate of Ni-Cd battery

One Ni-Cd cell gives 1.2V during discharge. These batteries have a flat discharge rate that falls
rapidly at the end of the cycle as shown in Figure 1. Thus, it is difficult to estimate the amount of
charge left. The advantage of this kind of battery is that it can withstand deep discharges without
damaging the cell.
Along with the advantages mentioned, Ni-Cd comes with disadvantages as well, resulting in
shrinking market share. Some of the major disadvantages include:
Memory Effect: If the battery is repeatedly overcharged after partial discharging, it loses its
capability to hold the maximum energy. This condition is referred as the memory effect. Thus, it is
advised to either go for precisely controlled charging or regularly do a deep discharge such that the
battery can recover its capacity. However, care must be taken since excessive deep discharge can
permanently damage the cells.
Cell Reversing: A battery consists of many cells connected together where each cell differs from
the others slightly in terms of capacity. Thus, when one cell completely discharges before the other
cells, the remaining cells will still force current through the discharged cell. This is known as cell
reversing and results in undesirable and irreversible chemical reactions which permanently damage
the cell.
Over-Charging: When fully charged, the positive electrode (nickel) generates oxygen while the
negative electrode (cadmium) generates hydrogen gas. These gases must be properly vented out from
the system or operating conditions can become hazardous. To address this problem in sealed Ni-Cd
batteries, the negative electrode (cadmium) is built with higher capacity. This causes the positive
electrode to reach its fully charged state before negative electrode does. Thus, the oxygen released by
positive electrode gets absorbed by the negative electrode and oxidizes.
Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery:
NiMH batteries are similar to Ni-Cd batteries with hydrogen absorbing negative electrode. These
batteries have higher capacity as compared to Ni-Cd batteries and are typically used for applications
where high drain current is required, such as in a digital camera. High drain applications are those
where a large amount of power is required over a short span of time. NiMH is able to do well in this
area because of its lower internal resistance.
NiMH batteries have the highest self-discharge rate, typically 30 percent per month. However, if
longer shelf life is required then Low Self Discharge (LSD) NiMH batteries are available whose self
discharge rate is as low as 2 percent per month. LSD NiMH batteries come at the cost of lesser
capacity for the same size as compared to a normal NiMH battery.
A NiMH battery has the same nominal voltage as NiCd battery i.e. 1.2V per cell. A NiMH battery
does not suffer from the memory effect problem but has, in addition, Self Discharging issues:
Exposure to high temperature: At higher temperatures, chemical reactions tend to accelerate the
aging process within the battery. Also, at elevated temperature NiMH batteries tend to discharge

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faster.
Cell Reversing: Same as discussed with Ni-Cd battery.
Lead Acid Cell:
As the name implies, this battery uses lead-derived materials for the electrodes and an acidic solution
for the electrolyte. It uses Lead Dioxide and porous lead for the positive plate and negative plate of
the cell respectively in an electrolyte of Sulphuric Acid (H2SO4). Use of heavy metal elements
makes this battery toxic and hazardous if not properly disposed of.
Lead acid battery is one of the most popular and extensively used batteries in the industry because
they are robust and low cost. They are available in various variants to suit the needs of many endapplications. The biggest market for the lead acid battery is the automobile industry where high
current drive is required. In such applications, the battery is used for starting the engine and to
provide charge when electricity generated by the alternator is not sufficient to meet load
requirements. Because of the application requirements, batteries used in automobiles are not
designed for full discharge.
For applications which require deep discharge, thick plates are used for the positive and negative
electrodes. This increases the resistance of the plates which in turn reduces the peak current but
makes them capable of withstanding frequent discharge.
Lead acid batteries can be shipped without electrolyte; this provides a distinct advantage of infinite
shelf life. Each lead acid cell provides 2.1V and is stacked together to come in wide range of sizes
and capacity. These batteries, however, suffer from the following problems:
Gassing: When the battery is charged faster or more than what it can absorb, the excessive
energy is turned into heat which causes the electrolyte to boil and evaporate. This causes the
production of Hydrogen and Oxygen. Sealed batteries are designed to recombine them into water,
thus prolonging the life of the battery, but in case of batteries with vents, loss of electrolyte may
create explosive conditions and can permanently damage the battery. Therefore, these batteries,
require regular maintenance of their water level.
Sulfation: This is a product of deep discharge which causes the crystallization of lead sulphate on
the battery electrodes. It hinders the recharging of battery and may permanently damage the battery
by expanding further causing short circuit between the two electrodes. Sometimes this can be
corrected by equalization where the battery is overcharged in a controlled environment to boil the
electrolyte and gas to break the bonds formed because of sulfation.
Corrosion: Corrosion of the external metal contacts occurs because of different materials being
used for the contacts. Because of overcharging or spillage of electrolyte, sulphuric acidic fumes or
electrolyte reacts with the metal and makes it corrode.
Lithium Ion
Lithium, being the lightest metal and the one with the highest electrochemical potential, has become
a common choice for battery manufacturing. However, use of lithium metal as an electrode in
rechargeable batteries poses a risk of explosion. In a lithium ion battery, an electrode made out of
lithium compound is used as a positive electrode and graphite as the negative. These batteries are the
ones with the highest energy density and a single cell provides 3.7V to 4.2V (i.e., 3 times that of an
Ni-Cd cell).
Apart from light weight and high energy density, lithium provides other advantages as well:
Low maintenance: These batteries are hassle free because they dont need regular maintenance
like maintaining the water level in lead acid cell or complete discharging before being charged again
in case of Ni-Cd batteries (memory effect).
Low Self Discharge rate: The self discharge rate of Lithium ion battery is approx. 5-10 percent
per month which is on the order of 3 times lower than NiMH batteries.

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Lithium ion batteries have some significant disadvantages:

Cell Life: An Li-ion battery requires more frequent recharging after one or two years of initial
usage. This is because the charging process forms deposits inside the electrolyte which in turn
increases the internal resistance and results in loss of capacity.
Over charging and temperature: If the Li-ion battery is over charged or operated at elevated
temperatures, then it loses capacity.
Cost: As these batteries are supposed to be used at a particular voltage and temperature range, a
monitoring circuit is required that shuts down the system if the voltage or temperature goes out of
the range. This additional circuit increases the cost of the complete lithium ion battery charger.
Despite these disadvantages, Li-ion batteries are finding their way into more and more mobile
applications because of their high energy density and light weight.
Below is table providing a summary of the different types of batteries discussed.

Editors note: Part 2 will discuss how to implement a battery charger using Li-Ion technology as
the example.
About the authors:
Pushek Madaan is currently working with Cypress Semiconductor India Pvt. Ltd. as a Senior
Application Engineer. His interests lie in designing Embedded system applications in C and
assembly languages, working with analog and digital circuits, developing GUIs in C# and, above all,
enjoying adventure sports. Pushek can be reached at pmad@cypress.com.
Rajiv Badiger is an applications engineer on the PSoC 1 Applications team at Cypress
Semiconductor. He can be reached at rjvb@cypress.com.
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2012-06-20