UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC
ENGINEERING
FINAL YEAR PROJECT
TITLE: AN SCR CONTROLLED BATTERY CHARGER
PROJECT NO. 054
AUTHOR: OKOCHIL CHURCHIL EMODO.
REG.NO. F17/1531/2000
SUPERVISOR: MR.V.DHARMADHIKARY
EXAMINER: MR.OMBURA
DATE: MAY 2009

Submitted to the department of electrical and electronic engineering in partial fulfillment

for the award of a degree in Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering.

1
Dedication
To my family, my parents and all my beloved in the Lord.

2
Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my supervisor, Mr.V.Dharmadhikary for his guidance though this

project work. I would also like to thank Kelvin Omondi for his support in using his

computer.

Above all, I thank the almighty God for His leadership

3
Abstract

Batteries offer the closest solution to the storage of electricity by storing electrical

energy in form of chemical energy. This energy is then reconverted and used as need arises.

The used energy is replenished by use of charging circuits (battery chargers).These

chargers apply different principles. In this project, taper charging method is utilized.

This project requires the design of an SCR controlled battery charger with

indicators showing the level of the battery being charged. The design specifications will be

verified through implementation.

4
 Introduction
The problem statement required the design of an SCR controlled battery charger intended

to charge a battery of 12V, 1.8Ah.The charger was to have indicators showing the level of

battery being charged.

The circuit designed used a silicon controlled rectifier as the main rectifier and also as a

control device. The circuit had indicators showing when the battery is charging and when

fully charged .Previous work in this field recommended the inclusion of trickle charging

into the circuit to safeguard the battery against self discharge. This feature has been

included in this design.

5
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………4

1.1 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BATTERIES …………………………4

1.1.1 The capacity of storage batteries…………………………………………………4

1.2 TYPES OF BATTERIES…………………………………………………………..4

1.2.1 Lead acid Batteries……………………………………………………………….4

1.2.2 Nickel-cadmium Batteries ……………………………………………………….5

1.2.3 Nickel-metal Hydride Batteries………………………………………………….6

1.2.4 Lithium-ion Batteries……………………………………………………..………6

1.3 CHARGING METHODS…………………………………………………………..7

1.3.1 Taper charging……………………………………………………………………7

1.3.2 Constant current charging…………………………………………………………8

1.3.3 Constant voltage charging…………………………………………………………9

CHAPTER 2: CIRCUIT DESIGN……………………………………………………10

2.1 FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM……………………………………………..10

2.2 CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION…………………………………………………………12

2.3 DESIGN OF CIRCUIT COMPONENTS……………………………………………14

CHAPTER 3: DESIGN SIMULATION………………………………………………...21

3.1 SIMULATION PROGRAM………………………………………………………….21

3.2 PROCEDURE FOR SIMULATION…………………………………………………21

3.3 SIMULATION RESULTS……………………………………………………………22

3.3.1 Waveforms from simulation………………………………………………………..22

3.3.2 Results from simulation ……………………………………………………………27

CHAPTER 4: IMPLEMENTATION……………………………………………………29

4.1 CIRCUIT CONSTRUCTION………………………………………………………..29

6
CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION………………………30

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………31

7
LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BATTERIES

A battery charger is basically a circuit that applies electrical energy to a battery in order to

restore its power once the battery has been discharged. Battery characteristics offer a means

of measuring the performance of batteries which need to be known in order to design a

charger effectively.

1.1.1 CAPACITY OF STORAGE BATTERIES

Battery capacity is the total amount of electrical energy available from the battery when

fully charged. It is measured in Ampere-Hours or Watt-Hours.

1.2 TYPES OF BATTERIES

Batteries are classified into two major categories;

(i) Primary batteries

(ii) Secondary batteries

Primary cells are not rechargeable. Secondary batteries are rechargeable so as to restore

power. When electrical energy is applied to the battery, the electron flow from the negative

to the positive electrode that occurs during discharge is reversed and power is restored.

Examples of primary cells include zinc-carbon and zinc chloride cells.

Rechargeable batteries can be categorized into the following:

1.2.1 LEAD ACID BATTERIES

The anode of the cell is made of lead metal (Pb) while the cathode is lead (iv) oxide

(pbo2). The electrolyte is dilute sulphuric acid. During discharge, Lead (ii) sulphate is

8
formed by both the anode and cathode and water is produced. This reaction is shown

below:

Discharging

Pbo2+Pb+2H2SO4 2pbso4 +2H2O

Charging

Charging the battery reverses the reaction and produces the former constituents; Lead (iv)

oxide at the cathode and lead metal (pb) at the anode.

Advantages:

It has a high voltage on discharge

Its materials are relatively cheap and available.

1.2.2 NICKEL CADMIUM BATTERIES

The anode is made of nickel hydroxide and the cathode is cadmium. Potassium hydroxide

[KOH] is used as the electrolyte.

The electrolyte is not consumed during discharging.

Disadvantages

They suffer from memory effect. This is when the battery is continuously recharged

before it has discharged more than 50%b of its power, causing it to be maxed out at

50%.

Detection of overcharge is difficult.

Cadmium is a heavy metal and causes pollution to the environment when disposed.

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1.2.3 NICKEL-METAL HYDRIDE BATTERIES.

These differ from Nickel cadmium batteries only by their negative electrode which is made

of a material capable of storing a large amount of electrons. Metal hydride is produced as

the charging product.

Advantages

-The energy density is almost 50% greater than nickel cadmium batteries .

-Memory effect is less significant.

Disadvantage

-It has a high self discharge.

1.2.4 LITHIUM ION BATTTERIES

The cathode and the anode are made from a material into which and from which lithium

can move. The anode of a conventional Li ion cell is made of carbon while the cathode is a

metal oxide. The electrolyte is a lithium salt in an organic solvent. The liquid electrolyte

conducts lithium ions, acting as a carrier between the cathode and anode when the battery

passes electric current through an external circuit. During discharge lithium is extracted

from the anode and inserted into the cathode. The reverse process occurs during charging.

Advantages

• Li ion batteries can be formed into a wide variety of shapes and sizes so as to

efficiently fill available space in the devices they power.

• They do not suffer from memory effect.

• They have a low self discharge rate of approximately 5% per month.

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 • They have high energy to weight ratio.

Disadvantages

Service life is dependent upon ageing (shelf life). Regardless of whether it is used or not,

the battery will decline slowly in capacity.

1.3 CHARGING METHODS.

The appropriate charging method is important so as to ensure long life for the battery and

expected performance. The main charging methods include following;

1.3.1TAPER CHARGING

Typical taper charges comprise of transformer- rectifier circuits. A maximum initial charge

current for the battery is held constant until the terminal voltage reaches a point at which

charge current begins to fall. The charging voltage should be disconnected, usually within

12-24hours.

Charging current

V/I

Battery voltage

Time

Fig1.1: Charging characteristics for taper charging.

11
 1.3.2CONSTANT CURRENT CHARGING

This charging method is useful in recovering the capacity of a battery that has been

stored for an extended period of time.

Charging voltage should be monitored and charging time limited to avoid overcharging

which leads to overheating and reduction of battery life.

Fig 1.2: Charging characteristics for constant current charging

12
 1.3.3 CONSTANT VOLTAGE CHARGING.

This method applies a constant voltage to the battery. A large current passes through

the battery initially and as the back-emf increases, the charging current decreases.

V/I

Charging current

Battery voltage

Time

Fig1.3: Charging characteristics for constant voltage charging

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CIRCUIT DESIGN

2.1 FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM

STEP DOWN RECTIFIER

TRANSFORMER

CURRENT
LIMITER

CONTROL
SWITCH

BATTERY

BATTERY VOLTAGE
MONITOR

Fig2.1: functional block diagram of a battery charger

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 STEP DOWN TRANSFORMER

This is used to step down the mains voltage to a value required by the charging circuit.

RECTIFIER

The rectifier section converts the stepped down A.C voltage into D.C voltage.

CURRENT LIMITER.

This is the resistance placed in series with the battery to limit the current due to the

small internal resistance of the battery.

CONTROL SWITCH

This controls the charging process.

BATTERY

This consists of the cells being charged. They are available in different ratings of voltage

and capacity. These parameters should be taken into consideration while designing the

charger to be used on the battery.

BATTERY VOLTAGE MONITOR

This compares the battery voltage with a certain preset value and then gives a signal to the

control switch. When this value is attained, the control switch acts accordingly.

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2.2 CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION.
LED2 D4
R3 BT149_B
3 12
2.2Ω D7
14
R2 D1
6 1N4371A
R1
30Ω 1N4001
21 LED1
10Ω
R6 13 10
1.5kΩ D8 2
R4 BT149_B 1
18
10Ω
R5 D2
9 8
R7
128kΩ 1N4001
V2
100Ω 12 V
25%
Key=A

V1 4
0 T2 2
230 Vrms
50 Hz 1 3
0°
0
0

Fig2.2: The designed battery charging circuit

In this charging circuit, charging current will flow through the battery when the charging or

applied voltage exceeds the battery voltage.

The transformer T1 steps down the mains voltage from 240V to 36V.

The SCR1 forms the main rectifier that rectifies stepped down A.C voltage to pulsating D.C

voltage. SCRI is turned on by a gate current that flows through the diode D2 through

current limiting resistor R5. These causes the SCRI to conduct most of the current to the

battery through current limiting resistor R1 hence charge it. R1 prevents excessive current

from flowing through the battery when it is charging. When SCR1 is conducting, during

16
the charging process, a voltage drops a cross R4 which causes a light emitting diode LED1,

connected a cross this resistor to illuminate.

The potentiometer R7 samples the battery voltage. One terminal of the potentiometer is

connected to the cathode of a zener diode whose Vz =6.2V

When a voltage equal to the Vz of the zener diode drops across the lower part of the

potential-divider, the zener diode is turned on and current flows to the gate of SCR2 hence

turning it on.

This causes current to flow to ground through current limiting resistor R3. The

potentiometer is adjusted such that when the battery is fully charged a voltage equal to Vz.

of the zener drops across its lower part. When SCR2 is conducting, LED2 lights up

indicating the battery is fully charged. The flow of current to ground through SCR2 also

prevents sufficient gate current to flow to SCR1 and hence it stops conducting. A small

charging current flows through R2 and D1 to the battery for trickle charging . D1 acts as

the rectifier in this case. Varying the potentiometer enables the charger to be used with

batteries of different voltage rating.

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2.3 DESIGN OF CIRCUIT COMPONENTS

Battery:

Battery type- sealed lead acid

Voltage- 12V

Capacity- 1.8AH

It is recommended to charge the lead acid battery using a current between 10% to 30% of

AH rating of the battery.

10/100x1.8 =0.18

30/100x1.8 =0.54

Charging current can be between 180mA to 540mA.

STEP-DOWN TRANSFORMER.

The transformer should step down voltage from 240v to 36v.

Primary side:

Vrms = 240v

Vpeak = √2x240

=339.41V.

Secondary side:

Vrms=36v

Vpeak = √2x36

=50.91V

VA Rating of transformer:

Thyristors (SCR1 and SCR2)

Forward break over voltage (VFBO) ≥ 2 Vpr

18
Pr= rectified peak voltage = 50.91V

VFBO= 2x50.91

=101.82V

Current rating:

Current through SCR1=540 MA

Current rating =1A

Rectifier diodes

V (rectified peak) =50.91V

Vrating ≥ 2x50.91

=101.821V

Selected voltage rating was 100V for each diode.

Current rating:

Iaverage = 540mA=0.54A.

Ipeak=0.54/0.318=1.70A

Ipeak = 1.70A

IF≥2x1.70

               3.4V

The selected rectifier diodes had a forward current rating of 5A

Rectifier output voltage:

Average voltage

Vav =  1/2πVmax sinθ.dθ

19
 =Vmax/2π∫sinθ.dθ/2

=Vmax/2π[-cosθ]

=Vmax/π

=Vpeak/π

=50.91/π  

Vav 16.21V 

RMS  voltage: 

Vrms √1/2π VmaxSinθ.dθ  

Vmax/2√2 

50.91/2√2 

18.0V 

RESISTORS

(R2, R4, R5and R6)

When the battery is charging SCR2 does not conduct hence the circuit in fig 2.2 is reduced

to.
R2 D1
2 8
R1 7
30Ω 1N4001
LED1
10Ω
3 R6 5
1.5kΩ D8
R4 BT149_B
10
10Ω
R5 D2
9 13
R7
128kΩ 1N4001
V2
100Ω 12 V
50%
Key=A

V1 1
0 T2 2
230 Vrms 0
50 Hz 1 3
0°
0

Fig2.3: charging path

During charging, the diodes, SCR1 and LED1, are assumed to have negligible resistance.

The circuit in fig 2.3 can then be reduced to;

20
 R2

30Ω R1 7
R6 10Ω

1.5kΩ
R4 2
10Ω

3 R5
R7
128kΩ
V2
100Ω 12 V
50%
Key=A
V3
15.53 V

Fig 2.4: Equivalent circuit for the charging path

Let the charging current be about 300mA .Let R1,a current limiting resister be 10Ω

The current through the R7,

I7=12/100=0.12A

=120mA

The current through resistor R1= (120+300)mA

=420mA

The voltage across resistor R1

VR1=0.42x10=4.2V

Voltage across the parallel network ofR2, R4, R5 and R6

Vpn = (V1 12) 4.2

=2.6V

SCR1 forms the main rectifier and therefore should carry most of the current charging the

battery.

If the current through battery is 300mA, let the current through SCR1 be 250mA;

R4=2.6/0.250

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=10.4Ω 10Ω

From the SCR datasheet (IG(max) =200µA.R5 should be a large resistor so as to aid in

preventing SCR1 from conducting when SCR2 is conducting (WHEN THE BATTERY IS

FULLY CHARGED).

LET 1G =50µA

R5= 6.4V/50µA=128KΩ

R2 and D1 allows a small current to flow to the battery for trickle charging when the battery

is fully charged. If the trickle current is 50µAand current through R7 is I7,

Where I7= voltage of fully charged battery total potential divider resistance

=13.8V/100Ω =0.138A

=138mA

Current through R2 and D1 is given by I2 = (138+50) mA =188mA

R2 =5.7V/188mA=30.3Ω

≈30Ω

From the LED data sheet, Ion =2mA

R6= 2.6V/2mA=1.3KΩ

RESISTOR (R7)

R7 was selected to be 100Ω

When the battery is fully charged the voltage drop across the lower part of the voltage

divider should be equal to the sum of the zener voltage Vz and the SCR2 gate voltage. The

diode selected had a Vz of 2.6V. The gate trigger voltage for the selected SCR, VGT was

0.8V.

Vz + VGT = 2.6 + 0.8 = 3.4V

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 1

R7

100Ω 3
100%
Key=A

V
2

The value of X for which V = 3.4 V;

(X/100) ×13.8 = 3.4 V

X = 24.6 Ω

     25Ω

RESISTOR R3:

This resistor limits the current when SCR2 is conducting and battery is fully charged;
LED2 D4
R3 BT149_B
7 14
2.2Ω D7
6 9
R2 1N4371A
11 R1 10
30Ω
10Ω

15

R7

V2
100Ω 12 V
25%
Key=A

V1 4
0 T2 2
230 Vrms
50 Hz 1 3
0°
0
0

Fig2.5 Current path when the battery is fully charged

When the battery is fully charged, a high current flows through SCR2 to ground. If this

current is say 7.0 amps, then

R3 =15.53÷7.0 = 2.2Ω

23
Zener diode D7:

The zener voltage was selected arbitrarily to be 2.6V. The maximum zener current is given

by;

IZ(MAX) = fully charged battery voltage / total resistance of potential divider

=13.8/100 = 138 mA

VI=2.6 х 0.138 = 0.360W

POWER RATING = 1/2W.

24
DESIGN SIMULATION.

3.1 SIMULATION PROGRAM.

Multism version 10.0.1 was used for simulation of the circuit in figure 3.1

Fig3.1: circuit showing the simulation process

3.2 PROCEDURE FOR SIMULATION

The circuit in figure x. was constructed in multism and the charging process was simulated

from a fully discharged to a fully charged battery.The battery was represented by a d.c

source. The voltage of the d.c source was varied from12V to 13.8Vat intervals of 0.1V.

25
3.3 RESULTS FROM SIMULATION

3.3.1 WAVEFORMS FROM SIMULATION

324.782V

Fig3.2 The voltage waveform of the a.c mains input.

26
 48.772V

Fig 3.3 The voltage waveform of the output of transformer T1 (input to charger

circuit)

27
Fig3.4 The output voltage waveform of SCR1 when it is conducting (when battery is

charging)

28
 28.369V

Fig3.5 The voltage waveform of the charging circuit output.

29
Fig3.6 Waveform of voltage across SCR1 when the battery is fully charged.

30
3.3.2 THE TABLE OF RESULTS FROM SIMULATION

Table 3.1: Results of the simulated charging process

Battery Voltage Charging Current Battery Voltage Charging Current

(V) (mA) (V) (mA)

12.0 291.023 13.0 238.707

12.1 286.217 13.1 232.327

12.2 281.381 13.2 225.223

12.3 276.484 13.3 216.471

12.4 271.468 13.4 63.419

12.5 266.403 13.5 60.902

12.6 261.191 13.6 58.372

12.7 255.871 13.7 55.826

12.8 250.387 13.8 53.263

12.9 244.708

31
 Chart3.1: Plot of battery voltage and charging current against time

The results from simulation show that the charging current flowing through the battery

decreases as the battery terminal voltage increases. The designed charger therefore works

by the tapering method of charging.

32
4.1 IMPLEMENTATION

By the time of handing in of this report, the simulated circuit had not been constructed.

This was because two important components, the SCR1 (BT149B) and SCR2 (BT149B) or

their equivalent were not available. However, efforts are being made to have the

components available and the circuit constructed before the presentation on 26/05/2009.

33
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONLUSIONS

5.1 RECOMMENDATIONS

Future work in this area can be done in the following area;

Provision for automatic isolation of the battery from the charging circuit when the battery

is fully charged.

5.2 CONCLUSION

An SCR-controlled battery charger which applies the principle of taper charging was

successfully designed. Results from the simulation indicate that charger works according to

the design. It correctly indicated when the battery was being charged and when fully

charged.

34
REFERENCES

1. www.batteryuniversity.com\

2. www.mpowerk.com

3. www.wikipedia.org

4. www.alldatasheets.com

5. www.datasheetcatalog.com

6. Power Electronics Lecture notes, by Dr.Ogaba

35