Battery Characteristics

Module-3
 BATTERY CAPACITY
• The amount of free charge generated by the active material
at the negative electrode and consumed by the positive
electrode is called the battery capacity.

• The capacity is measured in Ah (1 Ah=3600 C, or coulomb,

where 1 C is the charge transferred in 1 s by 1 A current in
the MKS unit of charge).
• Calculate the electric charge need to deposit
5g of nickel in a nickel plating bath of nickel
sulfate NiSO4, where Ni =58.7 g/mol
 DISCHARGE RATE
• The discharge rate is the current at which a battery is
discharged.

• The rate is expressed as Q/h rate,

– where Q is rated battery capacity, and h is discharge time in
hours. For a battery that has a capacity of

• QT Ah and that is discharged over t, the discharge rate

is QT/ t.

• For example, let the capacity of a battery be 1 Q=100

Ah. (1 Q usually denotes the rated capacity of the
battery.)
 STATE OF CHARGE
• The state of charge (SoC) is the present capacity of
the battery. It is the amount of capacity that
remains after discharge from a top-of-charge
condition.
• An expression of the present battery capacity as a
percentage of maximum capacity.
 DEPTH OF DISCHARGE
• The depth of discharge (DoD) is the percentage of
battery capacity (rated capacity) to which a
battery is discharged.

• The withdrawal of at least 80% of battery (rated)

capacity is referred to as deep discharge.
 Battery terminal voltage
• The battery terminal voltage is the voltage available
at the terminals when a load is connected to the
battery.
• The terminal voltage is at its full charge voltage VFC
when the battery DoD is 0%.
• Vcut is the battery cut-off voltage, where discharge
of battery must be terminated.
 Energy Density
• Energy density is the amount of energy capacity per unit volume.
 Specific Energy

• Specific energy is the amount of usable energy

capacity per unit mass in Wh/kg.
 Battery Efficiency
• Batteries are not 100% efficient. Some battery input
power is lost due to internal resistance.
Energy efficiency
Various Test on Battery
Visual Inspection
Specific Gravity Test
Heavy –Load Test