Nickel-based batteries are more complex to charge than Li-ion and lead acid.

Lithium- and lead-based

systems are charged with a regulated current to bring the voltage to a set limit after which the battery
saturates until fully charged. This method is called constant current constant voltage (CC/CV). Nickel-
based batteries also charge with constant current but the voltage is allowed to rise freely. Full charge
detection occurs by observing a slight voltage drop after a steady rise. This may be connected with
plateau timing and temperature rise over time (more below).

Battery manufacturers recommend that new batteries be slow-charged for 16–24 hours before use. A
slow charge brings all cells in a battery pack to an equal charge level. This is important because each cell
within the nickel-cadmium battery may have self-discharged at its own rate. Furthermore, during long
storage the electrolyte tends to gravitate to the bottom of the cell and the initial slow charge helps in the
redistribution to eliminate dry spots on the separator. (See also BU-803a: Loss of Electrolyte.)

Battery manufacturers do not fully format nickel- and lead-based batteries before shipment. The cells
reach optimal performance after priming that involves several charge/discharge cycles. This is part of
normal use; it can also be done with a battery analyzer. Quality cells are known to perform to full
specifications after only 5–7 cycles; others may take 50–100 cycles. Peak capacity occurs between 100–
300 cycles, after which the performance starts to drop gradually.

Most rechargeable cells include a safety vent that releases excess pressure if incorrectly charged. The
vent on a NiCd cell opens at 1,000–1,400kPa (150–200psi). Pressure released through a re-sealable vent
causes no damage; however, with each venting event some electrolyte escapes and the seal may begin
to leak. The formation of a white powder at the vent opening makes this visible. Multiple venting
eventually results in a dry-out condition. A battery should never be stressed to the point of venting.

Full-charge Detection by Temperature

Full-charge detection of sealed nickel-based batteries is more complex than that of lead
acid and lithium-ion. Low-cost chargers often use temperature sensing to end the fast
charge, but this can be inaccurate. The core of a cell is several degrees warmer than
the skin where the temperature is measured, and the delay that occurs causes over-
charge. Charger manufacturers use 50°C (122°F) as temperature cut-off. Although any
prolonged temperature above 45°C (113°F) is harmful to the battery, a brief overshoot is
acceptable as long as the battery temperature drops quickly when the “ready” light
appears.
Advanced chargers no longer rely on a fixed temperature threshold but sense the rate of temperature
increase over time, also known as delta temperature over delta time, or dT/dt. Rather than waiting for an
absolute temperature to occur, dT/dt uses the rapid temperature increase towards the end of charge to
trigger the “ready” light. The delta temperature method keeps the battery cooler than a fixed temperature
cut-off, but the cells need to charge reasonably fast to trigger the temperature rise. Charge termination
occurs when the temperature rises 1°C (1.8°F) per minute. If the battery cannot achieve the needed
temperature rise, an absolute temperature cut-off set to 60°C (140°F) terminates the charge.

Chargers relying on temperature inflict harmful overcharges when a fully charged battery is repeatedly
removed and reinserted. This is the case with chargers in vehicles and desktop stations where a two-way
radio is being detached with each use. Reconnection initiates a new charge cycle that requires reheating
of the battery.

Li ion systems have an advantage in that voltage governs state-of-charge. Reinserting a fully charged Li-
ion battery immediately pushes the voltage to the full-charge threshold, the current drops and the charger
turns off shortly without needing to create a temperature signature.

Full-charge Detection by Voltage Signature

Advanced chargers terminate charge when a defined voltage signature occurs. This
provides a more precise full-charge detection of nickel-based batteries than
temperature-based methods. The charger looks for a voltage drop that occurs when the
battery has reached full charge. This method is called negative delta V (NDV).
NDV is the recommended full-charge detection method for chargers applying a charge rate of 0.3C and
higher. It offers a quick response time and works well with a partially or fully charged battery. When
inserting a fully charged battery, the terminal voltage rises quickly and then drops sharply to trigger the
ready state. The charge lasts only a few minutes and the cells remain cool. NiCd chargers with NDV
detection typically respond to a voltage drop of 5mV per cell.

To achieve a reliable voltage signature, the charge rate must be 0.5C and higher. Slower charging
produces a less defined voltage drop, especially if the cells are mismatched in which case each cell
reaches full charge at a different time point. To assure reliable full-charge detection, most NDV chargers
also use a voltage plateau detector that terminates the charge when the voltage remains in a steady state
for a given time. These chargers also include delta temperature, absolute temperature and a time-out
timer.

Fast charging improves the charge efficiency. At 1C charge rate, the efficiency of a standard NiCd is 91
percent and the charge time is about an hour (66 minutes at 91 percent). On a slow charger, the
efficiency drops to 71 percent, prolonging the charge time to about 14 hours at 0.1C.

During the first 70 percent of charge, the efficiency of a NiCd is close to 100 percent. The battery absorbs
almost all energy and the pack remains cool. NiCd batteries designed for fast charging can be charged
with currents that are several times the C-rating without extensive heat buildup. In fact, NiCd is the only
battery that can be ultra-fast charged with minimal stress. Cells made for ultra-fast charging can be
charged to 70 percent in minutes.

Figure 1 shows the relationship of cell voltage, pressure and temperature of a charging NiCd. Everything
goes well up to about 70 percent charge, when charge efficiency drops. The cells begin to generate
gases, the pressure rises and the temperature increases rapidly. To reduce battery stress, some chargers
lower the charge rate past the 70 percent mark.

Figure 1: Charge characteristics of a NiCd cell.

Charge efficiency is high up to 70% SoC* and then charge acceptances drops.
NiMH is similar to NiCd. Charge efficiency measures the battery’s ability to
accept charge and has similarities with coulombic efficiency.
* SoC refers to relative state-of-charge (RSoC) reflecting the actual energy a battery can store. Full charge will show
100% even if the capacity has faded. (See BU-105: Battery Definition and what they mean)

Source: Cadex

Ultra-high-capacity NiCd batteries tend to heat up more than standard NiCds when
charging at 1C and higher and this is partly due to increased internal resistance.
Applying a high current at the initial charge and then tapering off to a lower rate as the
charge acceptance decreases is a recommended fast charge method for these more
fragile batteries. (See BU-208: Cycle Performance.)
Interspersing discharge pulses between charge pulses is known to improve charge acceptance of nickel-
based batteries. Commonly referred to as a “burp” or “reverse load” charge, this method assists in the
recombination of gases generated during charge. The result is a cooler and more effective charge than
with conventional DC chargers. The method is also said to reduce the “memory” effect as the battery is
being exercised with pulses. (See BU-807: How to Restore Nickel-based Batteries.) While pulse charging
may be valuable for NiCd and NiMH batteries, this method does not apply to lead- and lithium-based
systems. These batteries work best with a pure DC voltage.

After full charge, the NiCd battery receives a trickle charge of 0.05–0.1C to compensate for self-
discharge. To reduce possible overcharge, charger designers aim for the lowest possible trickle charge
current. In spite of this, it is best not to leave nickel-based batteries in a charger for more than a few days.
Remove them and recharge before use.

Charging Flooded Nickel-cadmium Batteries

Flooded NiCd is charged with a constant voltage to about 1.55V/cell. The current is then
reduced to 0.1C and the charge continues until 1.55V/cell is reached again. At this
point, a trickle charge is applied and the voltage is allowed to float freely. Higher charge
voltages are possible but this generates excess gas and causes rapid water depletion.
NDV is not applicable as the flooded NiCd does not absorb gases because it is not
under pressure.
Last updated 2017-12-06

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The Difference Between AC

Batteries & DC Batteries
By Steve Johnson; Updated April 24, 2017

battery image by Aditia Patria Warman from Fotolia.com

Inventor Nikola Tesla took on Thomas Edison in a battle over electricity distribution in
the 1800s. Edison discovered direct current (DC), while Tesla showcased alternating
current (AC). This sparked a conflict that led to AC eventually being favored by power
generating companies because of its many advantages over DC. Alternating current is
still more prevalent in home applications but batteries provide a plentiful source of DC
power. AC offers steady, controllable current that can travel over long distances while
DC offers portable, self-contained current that has a limited life.

DC Batteries
DC batteries use direct current, which flows in a single direction and is generally used to
power small appliances, radios, laptops, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets.

DC Power and Environmental Issues

At the onset of the 21st century came a renewed interest in DC’s potential. Concerns
about global warming led to innovations in an effort to control a potential environmental
disaster. DC battery power is used in electric cars, which work to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions, a main contributor to global warming.

SCIENCING VIDEO VAULT

DC Battery Power Depletion
DC produces a steady current that is easily depleted. Although it can be restored, the
loss of power is significant. This is the effect that can be seen in batteries over time;
they gradually lose power until they stop working.

AC Batteries
AC batteries are not actually batteries, but converters that create AC current out of DC
battery supplies. Alternating current flows in two directions and is mostly used for power
distribution such as the power to the electrical outlets in your home. AC can carry
electricity several miles without a loss of power and can also be controlled to increase
or decrease power with a transformer. An AC converter on a DC battery creates a more
controllable AC energy source with the portability and self-contained benefits of a
battery.

DC Batteries Powering AC
One of the most significant examples of DC batteries with AC converters is power grids
(the sources of most electrical power for homes and businesses). Because of the
reliance the modern world has on electricity, power grids now have back up DC
batteries. These DC batteries have converters that allow the direct current to be
converted into alternating current, allowing many areas to have power even if the supply
of AC is interrupted.

Houses may also use DC battery power to supply converted AC power in the form of
backup generators.

Battery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search

Schematic symbol of a battery

This article is about electrical batteries. For the crime of battery, see battery (tort).

A battery converts chemical energy into electrical energy by a chemical reaction. Usually the
chemicals are kept inside the battery. It is used in a circuit to power other components. A battery
produces direct current (DC) electricity (electricity that flows in one direction, and does not switch
back and forth).
Using the electricity from an outlet in a building is cheaper and more efficient, but a battery can
provide electricity in areas that do not have electric power distribution. It is also useful for things that
move, such as electric vehicles and mobile phones.
Batteries may be primary or secondary. The primary is thrown away when it can no longer provide
electricity. The secondary can be recharged and reused.
 Contents

 1The chemistry inside a battery

 2Battery sizes
 3History
 4Types of batteries
 5Alternatives to batteries
 6References

The chemistry inside a battery[change | change source]

A Battery can be one cell or many cells. Each cell has an anode, cathode and electrolyte. The
electrolyte is the main material inside the battery. It is often a type of acid, and can be dangerous to
touch. The anode reacts with the electrolyte to produce electrons (this is the negative or - end). The
cathode reacts with the electrolyte and takes electrons (this is the positive or + end).[1] An electric
current happens when a wire connects the anode to the cathode, and the electrons move from one
end to the other. (But a battery can be damaged by just a wire connecting the two ends, so a load is
also needed between the two ends. The load is something that slows the electrons down, and
usually does something useful, like a lightbulb in a flashlight, or the electronics in a calculator).[2]

Batteries connected in parallel - shown in a schematic and a drawing

The electrolyte can be liquid or solid. A battery is called a wet cell or dry cell battery, depending on
the type of electrolyte.
The chemical reactions that occur in a battery are exothermic reactions. This type of reaction makes
heat. For example, if you leave your laptop on for a long time, and then touch the battery, it will be
warm or hot.
A rechargeable battery is recharged by reversing the chemical reaction that occurs within the
battery. But a rechargeable battery can only be recharged a given number of times (recharge life).
Even built-in batteries, cannot be recharged forever. Moreover, each time a battery is recharged, its
ability to hold a charge goes down a bit. Non-rechargeable batteries should not be charged as
various harmful substances can leak out, such as potassium hydroxide.
The cells can be connected to make a bigger battery. Connecting the positive of one cell to the
negative of the next cell is called connecting them in series. The voltage of each battery are added
together. Two six volt batteries connected in series will make 12 volts.[3]
Connecting the positive of one cell to the positive of the other, and the negative to the negative is
called connecting them in parallel. The voltage stays the same, but the current is added together.
Voltage is the pressure pushing the electrons through the wires, it is measured in volts. Current is
how many electrons can go at once, it is measured in amps. The combination of current and voltage
is the power (watts = volts x amps) of the battery.

Battery sizes[change | change source]

Batteries come in many different shapes, sizes and voltages.
AA, AAA, C, and D cells, including alkaline batteries, have about 1.5 volts. The voltage of a cell
depends on the chemicals used. The electric charge it can supply depends on how large the cell is,
as well as what chemicals. The charge a battery delivers is usually measured in ampere-hours.
Since the voltage stays the same, more charge means a bigger cell can supply more amps, or run
for a longer time.

History[change | change source]

The first battery was invented in 1800 by Alessandro Volta. Nowadays, his battery is called
the voltaic pile. [4]
In small, modern batteries, the fluid is immobilized in a kind of paste and everything is put in a
sealed case. Because of this case, nothing can spill out of the battery. Larger batteries, such as car
batteries, still have liquid inside and are not sealed. A kind of battery that uses molten salts as the
electrolyte was invented during World War II.


Dry cells, cells that do not contain a liquid (or contain an immobilized liquid such as a paste or
 If you connect a resistor across the terminal of the battery, the current will be
constant (Implying that the temperature change wont bring any change in the value
of resistor) DC Current.
  If you connect an Inductor Coil, then the current will be Zero initially but will
increase exponentially. (Wont go deeper), Which is not constant but still a DC
current.

 If you connect a Capacitor, then the current will be Infinite initially but will decrease
exponentially and become Zero (Wont go deeper again), Which is not constant but
still a DC current.

 BUT, If we connect the combination Of Inductor and Capacitor then the current
flowing through the circuit will not be DC. It will be sinusoidal and the frequency
depending on the value of the inductance and the capacitance.

The chemistry inside a battery[change | change source]

A Battery can be one cell or many cells. Each cell has an anode, cathode and electrolyte. The
electrolyte is the main material inside the battery. It is often a type of acid, and can be dangerous to
touch. The anode reacts with the electrolyte to produce electrons (this is the negative or - end). The
cathode reacts with the electrolyte and takes electrons (this is the positive or + end).[1] An electric
current happens when a wire connects the anode to the cathode, and the electrons move from one
end to the other. (But a battery can be damaged by just a wire connecting the two ends, so a load is
also needed between the two ends. The load is something that slows the electrons down, and
usually does something useful, like a lightbulb in a flashlight, or the electronics in a calculator).[2]

Batteries connected in parallel - shown in a schematic and a drawing

The electrolyte can be liquid or solid. A battery is called a wet cell or dry cell battery, depending on
the type of electrolyte.
The chemical reactions that occur in a battery are exothermic reactions. This type of reaction makes
heat. For example, if you leave your laptop on for a long time, and then touch the battery, it will be
warm or hot.
A rechargeable battery is recharged by reversing the chemical reaction that occurs within the
battery. But a rechargeable battery can only be recharged a given number of times (recharge life).
Even built-in batteries, cannot be recharged forever. Moreover, each time a battery is recharged, its
ability to hold a charge goes down a bit. Non-rechargeable batteries should not be charged as
various harmful substances can leak out, such as potassium hydroxide.
The cells can be connected to make a bigger battery. Connecting the positive of one cell to the
negative of the next cell is called connecting them in series. The voltage of each battery are added
together. Two six volt batteries connected in series will make 12 volts.[3]
Connecting the positive of one cell to the positive of the other, and the negative to the negative is
called connecting them in parallel. The voltage stays the same, but the current is added together.
Voltage is the pressure pushing the electrons through the wires, it is measured in volts. Current is
how many electrons can go at once, it is measured in amps. The combination of current and voltage
is the power (watts = volts x amps) of the battery.
Context 2
... effort has been made recently to improve the photovoltaic efficiency of solar cells [1 –
4]. The intrinsic characteristics of a single device will limit its photovoltaic response in
attempts to achieve high efficiency of photovoltaic conversion in the broad solar-
spectrum range [5 – 13]. The key to overcoming such a physical limitation is to develop
a system consisting of a set of solar cells in which the photovoltaic conversion of each
cell matches the sub-spectrum of the solar radiation with high conversion efficiency in
its sub-region. At present, the most promising approach is to increase the number of P-
N junctions by selecting suitable materials [1 – 3]. In practical device processing to
fabricate an integrated tandem multi-junction structure, however, the number of
junctions often has been restricted to be less than or equal to three [1 – 3] due to the
critical barrier of lattice mismatch of the materials composed of IV- and III-V-group
semiconductors with different lattice constants and energy band structures. For a typical
semiconductor with an energy band gap E g , there will be either no photon absorption
when the photon energy E < E g., or high energy loss due to the generation of electron-
hole pairs when E > E g [7]. Therefore, effective photovoltaic conversion with higher
efficiency can occur only in a very narrow photon energy region close to E g , implying
that there is significant room to develop a method in which the number of P-N junctions
with different energy gaps E g can be larger than three by using the proper device
configuration and technique to achieve the highest photovoltaic conversion efficiency
over the entire solar spectrum range. Henry, in his theoretical work, predicted that
maximum efficiencies of 37, 50, 56, and 72% can be achieved for cells with 1, 2, 3 and
36 energy gaps, respectively, under the condition of a concentration of 1000 suns [7].
Luque and Marti carried out a calculation predicting that a maximum efficiency of about
63.1% can be achieved, assuming an ideal solar cell with an intermediate-energy band
within the principal band gap structure [11], although difficulties, such as the complexity
of the device structure and fabrication process and a very high heat dissipation density
of the light concentrated on the single integrated cell, will reduce the efficiency in real
applications with problems to be solved in the future. Another useful approach was
proposed to use passive optical devices without energy loss to split the solar spectrum
into multiple sub-spectrum regions, each matching the energy band structure of the
material with higher photovoltaic conversion efficiency in the sub-region [14, 15]. Very
high conversion efficiency has been reported recently by using a configuration in which
single and multiple junctions of solar cells were used, separated by a dichroic prism
which reflects light above 1.4 eV and passes light below 1.4 eV with the element
arrangement of (GaInP/GaAs tandem cell)/ (dichroic prism)/ (Si single junction
cell)/(GaInAsP/GaInAs tandem cell) [16,17]. In the present work we study a method in
which the main solar radiation in the 300-1800 nm wavelength range is split into 5 sub-
spectral regions by using 4 passive dielectric bandpass film filters, matching them
optimally to the photovoltaic response of 5 individual photocells with only one P-N
junction working in each region. Results with detailed data reduction and analysis show
that the method demonstrated in this work, assembling a set of photocells, each with
higher photovoltaic response matching a sub-spectrum of the solar spectrum, can
achieve higher efficiency. Advanced wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) bandpass-
filter technology [18,19], which was well developed in the optical communication field in
the last decade, can be effectively transferred and applied to the solar energy field. The
method reported here provides a way with significant advantage and indicates that more
proper materials with suitable band structures can be selected to achieve high
photovoltaic conversion efficiency in a narrow solar spectrum region which can be finely
tuned by using conventional dielectric band-pass filters with sharp spectral edges to
completely avoid optical interference and lattice mismatch effects presented in the usual
tandem solar cell. The optical and electric properties of each individual cell containing
only one P-N junction to play the role of photovoltaic conversion can be greatly
improved. The device structure design and fabrication process can be optimized to
enhance the power output by minimizing the internal resistance and other side effects,
as well as to reduce the heat dissipation density by dispersing the highly concentrated
solar radiation into a set of spectrally-isolated cells. There are mainly two kinds of
theoretical models to predict the efficiency limits of a set of solar cells with different
energy gaps assembled in sequence. One is the thermodynamic model, which deals
with the intrinsic photovoltaic conversion process of the cell. The other is called the
balance model, which is more widely used to refine the conversion process with some
assumptions related to the properties of the solar cell [5 – 13]. The detailed balance
model seems to be more suitable to study and determine the efficiency limit of a cell
system in which N single-junction solar cells working at room temperature (T c = 27°C)
are spectrally isolated from each other by using spectrum-splitting technology. The
equivalent circuit diagram of an ideal single-junction solar cell is shown in Fig. 1. The I-V
characteristic of the ith ideal solar cell can be expressed as ...

The Difference Between AC

Batteries & DC Batteries
By Steve Johnson; Updated April 24, 2017

battery image by Aditia Patria Warman from Fotolia.com

Inventor Nikola Tesla took on Thomas Edison in a battle over electricity distribution in
the 1800s. Edison discovered direct current (DC), while Tesla showcased alternating
current (AC). This sparked a conflict that led to AC eventually being favored by power
generating companies because of its many advantages over DC. Alternating current is
still more prevalent in home applications but batteries provide a plentiful source of DC
power. AC offers steady, controllable current that can travel over long distances while
DC offers portable, self-contained current that has a limited life.

DC Batteries
DC batteries use direct current, which flows in a single direction and is generally used to
power small appliances, radios, laptops, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets.

DC Power and Environmental Issues

At the onset of the 21st century came a renewed interest in DC’s potential. Concerns
about global warming led to innovations in an effort to control a potential environmental
disaster. DC battery power is used in electric cars, which work to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions, a main contributor to global warming.

SCIENCING VIDEO VAULT

DC Battery Power Depletion
DC produces a steady current that is easily depleted. Although it can be restored, the
loss of power is significant. This is the effect that can be seen in batteries over time;
they gradually lose power until they stop working.

AC Batteries
AC batteries are not actually batteries, but converters that create AC current out of DC
battery supplies. Alternating current flows in two directions and is mostly used for power
distribution such as the power to the electrical outlets in your home. AC can carry
electricity several miles without a loss of power and can also be controlled to increase
or decrease power with a transformer. An AC converter on a DC battery creates a more
controllable AC energy source with the portability and self-contained benefits of a
battery.

DC Batteries Powering AC
One of the most significant examples of DC batteries with AC converters is power grids
(the sources of most electrical power for homes and businesses). Because of the
reliance the modern world has on electricity, power grids now have back up DC
batteries. These DC batteries have converters that allow the direct current to be
converted into alternating current, allowing many areas to have power even if the supply
of AC is interrupted.

Houses may also use DC battery power to supply converted AC power in the form of
backup generators.

Battery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search

Schematic symbol of a battery

This article is about electrical batteries. For the crime of battery, see battery (tort).

A battery converts chemical energy into electrical energy by a chemical reaction. Usually the
chemicals are kept inside the battery. It is used in a circuit to power other components. A battery
produces direct current (DC) electricity (electricity that flows in one direction, and does not switch
back and forth).
Using the electricity from an outlet in a building is cheaper and more efficient, but a battery can
provide electricity in areas that do not have electric power distribution. It is also useful for things that
move, such as electric vehicles and mobile phones.
Batteries may be primary or secondary. The primary is thrown away when it can no longer provide
electricity. The secondary can be recharged and reused.
 Contents

 1The chemistry inside a battery

 2Battery sizes
 3History
 4Types of batteries
 5Alternatives to batteries
 6References

The chemistry inside a battery[change | change source]

A Battery can be one cell or many cells. Each cell has an anode, cathode and electrolyte. The
electrolyte is the main material inside the battery. It is often a type of acid, and can be dangerous to
touch. The anode reacts with the electrolyte to produce electrons (this is the negative or - end). The
cathode reacts with the electrolyte and takes electrons (this is the positive or + end).[1] An electric
current happens when a wire connects the anode to the cathode, and the electrons move from one
end to the other. (But a battery can be damaged by just a wire connecting the two ends, so a load is
also needed between the two ends. The load is something that slows the electrons down, and
usually does something useful, like a lightbulb in a flashlight, or the electronics in a calculator).[2]

Batteries connected in parallel - shown in a schematic and a drawing

The electrolyte can be liquid or solid. A battery is called a wet cell or dry cell battery, depending on
the type of electrolyte.
The chemical reactions that occur in a battery are exothermic reactions. This type of reaction makes
heat. For example, if you leave your laptop on for a long time, and then touch the battery, it will be
warm or hot.
A rechargeable battery is recharged by reversing the chemical reaction that occurs within the
battery. But a rechargeable battery can only be recharged a given number of times (recharge life).
Even built-in batteries, cannot be recharged forever. Moreover, each time a battery is recharged, its
ability to hold a charge goes down a bit. Non-rechargeable batteries should not be charged as
various harmful substances can leak out, such as potassium hydroxide.
The cells can be connected to make a bigger battery. Connecting the positive of one cell to the
negative of the next cell is called connecting them in series. The voltage of each battery are added
together. Two six volt batteries connected in series will make 12 volts.[3]
Connecting the positive of one cell to the positive of the other, and the negative to the negative is
called connecting them in parallel. The voltage stays the same, but the current is added together.
Voltage is the pressure pushing the electrons through the wires, it is measured in volts. Current is
how many electrons can go at once, it is measured in amps. The combination of current and voltage
is the power (watts = volts x amps) of the battery.

Battery sizes[change | change source]

Batteries come in many different shapes, sizes and voltages.
AA, AAA, C, and D cells, including alkaline batteries, have about 1.5 volts. The voltage of a cell
depends on the chemicals used. The electric charge it can supply depends on how large the cell is,
as well as what chemicals. The charge a battery delivers is usually measured in ampere-hours.
Since the voltage stays the same, more charge means a bigger cell can supply more amps, or run
for a longer time.

History[change | change source]

The first battery was invented in 1800 by Alessandro Volta. Nowadays, his battery is called
the voltaic pile. [4]
In small, modern batteries, the fluid is immobilized in a kind of paste and everything is put in a
sealed case. Because of this case, nothing can spill out of the battery. Larger batteries, such as car
batteries, still have liquid inside and are not sealed. A kind of battery that uses molten salts as the
electrolyte was invented during World War II.


Dry cells, cells that do not contain a liquid (or contain an immobilized liquid such as a paste or
 If you connect a resistor across the terminal of the battery, the current will be
constant (Implying that the temperature change wont bring any change in the value
of resistor) DC Current.
  If you connect an Inductor Coil, then the current will be Zero initially but will
increase exponentially. (Wont go deeper), Which is not constant but still a DC
current.

 If you connect a Capacitor, then the current will be Infinite initially but will decrease
exponentially and become Zero (Wont go deeper again), Which is not constant but
still a DC current.

 BUT, If we connect the combination Of Inductor and Capacitor then the current
flowing through the circuit will not be DC. It will be sinusoidal and the frequency
depending on the value of the inductance and the capacitance.

The chemistry inside a battery[change | change source]

A Battery can be one cell or many cells. Each cell has an anode, cathode and electrolyte. The
electrolyte is the main material inside the battery. It is often a type of acid, and can be dangerous to
touch. The anode reacts with the electrolyte to produce electrons (this is the negative or - end). The
cathode reacts with the electrolyte and takes electrons (this is the positive or + end).[1] An electric
current happens when a wire connects the anode to the cathode, and the electrons move from one
end to the other. (But a battery can be damaged by just a wire connecting the two ends, so a load is
also needed between the two ends. The load is something that slows the electrons down, and
usually does something useful, like a lightbulb in a flashlight, or the electronics in a calculator).[2]

Batteries connected in parallel - shown in a schematic and a drawing

The electrolyte can be liquid or solid. A battery is called a wet cell or dry cell battery, depending on
the type of electrolyte.
The chemical reactions that occur in a battery are exothermic reactions. This type of reaction makes
heat. For example, if you leave your laptop on for a long time, and then touch the battery, it will be
warm or hot.
A rechargeable battery is recharged by reversing the chemical reaction that occurs within the
battery. But a rechargeable battery can only be recharged a given number of times (recharge life).
Even built-in batteries, cannot be recharged forever. Moreover, each time a battery is recharged, its
ability to hold a charge goes down a bit. Non-rechargeable batteries should not be charged as
various harmful substances can leak out, such as potassium hydroxide.
The cells can be connected to make a bigger battery. Connecting the positive of one cell to the
negative of the next cell is called connecting them in series. The voltage of each battery are added
together. Two six volt batteries connected in series will make 12 volts.[3]
Connecting the positive of one cell to the positive of the other, and the negative to the negative is
called connecting them in parallel. The voltage stays the same, but the current is added together.
Voltage is the pressure pushing the electrons through the wires, it is measured in volts. Current is
how many electrons can go at once, it is measured in amps. The combination of current and voltage
is the power (watts = volts x amps) of the battery.
Context 2
... effort has been made recently to improve the photovoltaic efficiency of solar cells [1 –
4]. The intrinsic characteristics of a single device will limit its photovoltaic response in
attempts to achieve high efficiency of photovoltaic conversion in the broad solar-
spectrum range [5 – 13]. The key to overcoming such a physical limitation is to develop
a system consisting of a set of solar cells in which the photovoltaic conversion of each
cell matches the sub-spectrum of the solar radiation with high conversion efficiency in
its sub-region. At present, the most promising approach is to increase the number of P-
N junctions by selecting suitable materials [1 – 3]. In practical device processing to
fabricate an integrated tandem multi-junction structure, however, the number of
junctions often has been restricted to be less than or equal to three [1 – 3] due to the
critical barrier of lattice mismatch of the materials composed of IV- and III-V-group
semiconductors with different lattice constants and energy band structures. For a typical
semiconductor with an energy band gap E g , there will be either no photon absorption
when the photon energy E < E g., or high energy loss due to the generation of electron-
hole pairs when E > E g [7]. Therefore, effective photovoltaic conversion with higher
efficiency can occur only in a very narrow photon energy region close to E g , implying
that there is significant room to develop a method in which the number of P-N junctions
with different energy gaps E g can be larger than three by using the proper device
configuration and technique to achieve the highest photovoltaic conversion efficiency
over the entire solar spectrum range. Henry, in his theoretical work, predicted that
maximum efficiencies of 37, 50, 56, and 72% can be achieved for cells with 1, 2, 3 and
36 energy gaps, respectively, under the condition of a concentration of 1000 suns [7].
Luque and Marti carried out a calculation predicting that a maximum efficiency of about
63.1% can be achieved, assuming an ideal solar cell with an intermediate-energy band
within the principal band gap structure [11], although difficulties, such as the complexity
of the device structure and fabrication process and a very high heat dissipation density
of the light concentrated on the single integrated cell, will reduce the efficiency in real
applications with problems to be solved in the future. Another useful approach was
proposed to use passive optical devices without energy loss to split the solar spectrum
into multiple sub-spectrum regions, each matching the energy band structure of the
material with higher photovoltaic conversion efficiency in the sub-region [14, 15]. Very
high conversion efficiency has been reported recently by using a configuration in which
single and multiple junctions of solar cells were used, separated by a dichroic prism
which reflects light above 1.4 eV and passes light below 1.4 eV with the element
arrangement of (GaInP/GaAs tandem cell)/ (dichroic prism)/ (Si single junction
cell)/(GaInAsP/GaInAs tandem cell) [16,17]. In the present work we study a method in
which the main solar radiation in the 300-1800 nm wavelength range is split into 5 sub-
spectral regions by using 4 passive dielectric bandpass film filters, matching them
optimally to the photovoltaic response of 5 individual photocells with only one P-N
junction working in each region. Results with detailed data reduction and analysis show
that the method demonstrated in this work, assembling a set of photocells, each with
higher photovoltaic response matching a sub-spectrum of the solar spectrum, can
achieve higher efficiency. Advanced wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) bandpass-
filter technology [18,19], which was well developed in the optical communication field in
the last decade, can be effectively transferred and applied to the solar energy field. The
method reported here provides a way with significant advantage and indicates that more
proper materials with suitable band structures can be selected to achieve high
photovoltaic conversion efficiency in a narrow solar spectrum region which can be finely
tuned by using conventional dielectric band-pass filters with sharp spectral edges to
completely avoid optical interference and lattice mismatch effects presented in the usual
tandem solar cell. The optical and electric properties of each individual cell containing
only one P-N junction to play the role of photovoltaic conversion can be greatly
improved. The device structure design and fabrication process can be optimized to
enhance the power output by minimizing the internal resistance and other side effects,
as well as to reduce the heat dissipation density by dispersing the highly concentrated
solar radiation into a set of spectrally-isolated cells. There are mainly two kinds of
theoretical models to predict the efficiency limits of a set of solar cells with different
energy gaps assembled in sequence. One is the thermodynamic model, which deals
with the intrinsic photovoltaic conversion process of the cell. The other is called the
balance model, which is more widely used to refine the conversion process with some
assumptions related to the properties of the solar cell [5 – 13]. The detailed balance
model seems to be more suitable to study and determine the efficiency limit of a cell
system in which N single-junction solar cells working at room temperature (T c = 27°C)
are spectrally isolated from each other by using spectrum-splitting technology. The
equivalent circuit diagram of an ideal single-junction solar cell is shown in Fig. 1. The I-V
characteristic of the ith ideal solar cell can be expressed as ...