‫جامعة طنطا‬

‫كلية الهندسة‬
‫برنامج هندسة الطاقة المتجددة‬

‫‪Report on‬‬
‫‪Battery Charging Methods‬‬

‫‪For‬‬
‫‪Dr./ Doaa Mokhtar‬‬

‫اسم الطالب ‪ :‬مؤمن مجدي محمد رسالن‬

‫الكود ‪192204 :‬‬

‫القسم ‪ :‬هندسة الطاقة المتجددة‬

• Introduction:
In the past decade, awareness to the environment and pollution has been
remarkably increasing. Consumption of lead acid batteries has been increasing as
well, thus its disposed parts are inclining. For this reason, extending the lifetime
of lead acid batteries was highly taken into consideration in the previous 15 years.
Another parameter on which any method was built up on is the charging time and
the charger’s cost. All these made different charging techniques of lead acid.

The factors that affect the life of lead acid batteries are overcharge, undercharge,
operating temperature, and storage. Some of the important characteristics of such
batteries are firstly the State of Charge (SOC). The estimation of the SOC allows
efficient management of the battery’s power in addition to avoiding the
overcharge, thus extending the life cycle of the battery. Several techniques for
measuring the SOC were proposed. Secondly, the Depth of Discharge (DOD) is
the percentage of the discharged capacity of a battery, which is fully charged.

We will explain the traditional charging techniques such as Constant Voltage

(CV), Constant Current (CC), the two-step (CCCV), and the pulse method.
Besides, the negative pulse discharge method, and the superimposed pulse
frequency technique are explained thoroughly. The intermittent technique is also
included.

• Charging Techniques:

Nowadays, the charging algorithms for lead acid batteries are various such as
CCCV, pulse and intermittent charging, etc. Figure 1 shows a charger circuit with
a current control.

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 Figure 1: Charger circuit with current control.

A. Constant Current/Voltage Method:

Constant Current, Constant Voltage, and Two Step or Constant Current-Constant
Voltage, are traditional charging techniques for lead acid batteries.
1) Constant Current:
This charging method depends on constant currents. However, small
charging current will prolong the charging time in addition to overcharging
that will affect the life of the battery. This technique does not considerably
change in magnitude despite the battery’s voltage or temperature.
2) Constant Voltage:
A constant value of voltage is specified for this method. This voltage depends
on the manufacturer’s specifications. When the battery’s voltage reaches the
default, the charging current decreases. The float current is sufficient to
overcome self-discharge, for this reason some people call this method float
charging. However, an excess float current would cause overcharge therefore
grid corrosion will occur which affects the behavior and lifetime of the
battery.
3) Two Step Method:
This method is combination of constant voltage and constant current. The
current is often determined by the power limitations. This technique is
divided in two stages of charging. In the first stage, the charger provides
constant charging current until the battery’s voltage reaches a preset voltage.

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 In the second stage, the current decreases until the battery is fully charged.
An important parameter in this method is the voltage regulation. Figure 2
sums up the stages of the two-step method.

Figure 2: Chart of the Two-Step Method.

B. Pulse Method:

This method applies a periodically pulsed current to the battery. It includes a pulse
charge followed by a short deep discharge and finally a waiting period. These
three steps are repeated until the battery is fully charged. Figure 3 shows the
circuit of the pulse charging method. However, the major disadvantage of this
method is the efficiency in the circuit.

Figure 3: Pulse charging circuit.

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In 2002, a study was made based on improving the pulse method and making it
with high efficiency and fast charge time. The new approach includes three
modes. The first mode is the active charge mode. In this mode, triangular current
with high dc component is applied. The second is the active discharge mode, in
which depolarization triangular current is applied to pull away electrolytes from
the plates. Finally, the third is the inactive rest mode. This mode is used to
position the ions at a suitable distance from the plates. The circuit of this
technique includes mosfets, capacitors, diodes, and switches. It is represented in
Figure 4. This circuit works in forward and reverse mode. In the forward it acts
as a buck converter while in the reverse it acts as boost converter. This allows a
bidirectional power conversion between the power source and the battery.

Figure 4: Fast charging pulse method.

This fast charger depending on the pulse charging method is called reflex method
in some papers. To prove that this method is the fastest among the two-step and
the pulse method they did a test. The test compared the charging time of each
method as a function of the charging current. The results are shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Comparison of charging time of three methods.

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C. Negative Pulse Discharge Method:

One of the major targets while designing a charger for any type of battery is the
charging speed. The charging speed, in other words the charging time, affects the
life cycle of the battery especially the lead acid. From this perspective, the
negative pulse discharge method showed up. To increase any battery’s charge
rate, the charge current must be increased. In this method, when a negative pulse
is added for discharge, most of the charge current is made for the charging
reaction. The discharge participates in stirring the electrolyte and alleviating the
polarization concentration. Then, depolarization at this stage could be improved
in a way to provide the battery, while charging, with a larger charging current.

The negative pulse discharge technique has several privileges. One of them is that
the parameters of such method could be used for different lead acid batteries’
capacities.

D. Superimposed Pulse Frequency Method:

One of the main concerns while designing any battery charger is the battery’s
lifetime. Sulfation is the direct cause of shortening the life of lead acid batteries.
This phenomenon occurs when sulfate sticks on the electrode plates thus affecting
the area used to complete the battery’s chemical reaction. From this perspective,
a recent technique called superimposed pulse frequency (SPF) was introduced.
The SPF circuit is added to any conventional charger and used on batteries having
sulfation.

A DC/DC converter creates the superimposed pulse frequency, which in its turn
generate a mechanical resonance at the sulfated plates. The resonance causes
vibration thus the pore attached to this sulfated plate is removed. After this
process, a simple CCCV charger might be used.

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To test whether or not this method is functioning correcting an experiment was
made. SPF was performed five times on a lead acid battery. Results came to prove
that every cell of the battery’s pack has a higher V/cell as the number of SPF
increases. Results are shown in figure 7. In addition, the testing proved that the
internal impedance of the battery inversely responds to the increase in the number
of SPF.

At the end, it has been proved that the performance of the battery is improved
using the superimposed pulse frequency technique. In addition, the battery’s
lifetime is extended to almost an additional year after sulfation. Furthermore, the
efficiency is improved with this method.

Figure 6: Comparing the battery’s terminal voltage before and after SPF charge.

E. Intermittent Charging Method:

Positive grid corrosion is another effect that might shorten the lifetime of any
battery. Nevertheless, the charging technique affects the rate of this grid corrosion
and thus affects the battery’s lifetime. Intermittent charging method (IC) has been
proven to be the technique that reduces grid corrosion thus extending the lifetime.
In addition, it reduces overcharging which is harmful to the battery.

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In IC technique, the battery is charged intermittently, in a short period of time, to
its full charge capacity and then it is kept open circuited. The charging is repeated
whenever the battery’s voltage drops below a referenced value. The aim of this
technique is to maintain the electrodes fully charged whilst minimizing the
positive grid corrosion. When the battery is kept open circuited, it is protected
from overcharging thus the battery’s life is extended.

• Observation on the methods:

There is no definite perfect charging technique for lead acid batteries. There are
several methods each having its advantages and its disadvantages.

Starting with the conventional methods’ drawbacks, the constant current mode
has an initial current less than the acceptable charge current. This causes the
charge time to be large. Similarly, the constant voltage method has charge current
greater than the acceptable value. This technique has a higher gas evolution in the
battery, which affects its functioning.

Concerning the pulse method, its major disadvantage is the poor efficiency.
Although some new studies were introduced to improve this technique, it is still
not the most suitable charging mode.

The negative pulse technique is a sensitive method. If its amplitude is too small,
the effect of depolarization is neglected. However, if the amplitude is large the
battery will be damaged. Moreover, if the technique is maintained for a long time,
the battery will go through thermal runaway, which affects its lifetime.

The superimposed pulse frequency technique invented recently extends the

lifetime of the battery in addition to have high efficiency. Not having drawbacks
does not mean that it is perfect. It is a new technique and researches have not
found yet its disadvantages.

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Concerning the intermittent charge method, it reduces grid corrosion, which helps
in extending the operating life of a battery. However, beside the risk of
undercharge, it adds costs to the chargers. In addition, this mode is avoided when
frequent discharges occur. Nevertheless, this technique is also sensitive
depending on the value of its functioning parameters.

Finally, the intermittent charge control is a new technique also. It ensures full
recharge as mentioned previously, without affecting the temperature, thus not
causing thermal runaway. Furthermore, it extends the battery’s life by minimizing
grid corrosion and protecting the battery from undercharge. In a similar manner
to the SPF, this technique definitely has some drawbacks, but its side effects need
years to show up.

• Conclusion:

This report has introduced several charging techniques of lead acid batteries. All
methods had specified targets such as extending the lifetime of the battery and
fast period of charging. Extending the lifetime of the lead acid battery is cost
effective and helps the environment from lead residual. Lead acid batteries are
the most common used batteries in the market due to their availability in market
and low price. Lead acid battery’s chargers had been found long time ago. With
the development of science and scientific capabilities, researchers were able to
make up efficient chargers with fewer drawbacks. Methods presented in this
report were, constant voltage, constant current, and two-step method. In addition
to, pulse, negative pulse, and superimposed pulse technique. Finally intermittent
charge control technique.

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• References:

1- Horkos, Pamela G., Emile Yammine, and Nabil Karami. "Review on

different charging techniques of lead-acid batteries." 2015 Third
International Conference on Technological Advances in Electrical,
Electronics and Computer Engineering (TAEECE). IEEE, 2015.

2- Ng, K. S., Moo, C. S., Chen, Y. P., & Hsieh, Y. C. "State-of-charge

estimation for lead-acid batteries based on dynamic open-circuit voltage,"
in Power and Energy Conf., Johor Bahru, 2008.

3- Hua, C. C., & Lin, M. Y., "A study of charging control of lead-acid battery
for electric vehicles," in IEEE International Symp. on Proceedings of the
2000 Industrial Electronics, Cholula, Puebla, 2000.

4- Bhatt, M., Hurley, W. G., & Wolfle, W. H.,"A new approach to intermittent
charging of valve-regulated lead-acid batteries in standby applications," in
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 2005.

5- Yifeng, G., & Chengning, Z., "Study on the fast-charging method of lead-
acid battery with negative pulse discharge," in Power Electronics Systems
and Applications, 4th Int. conf., Hong Kong, 2011.

6- Praisuwanna, N., & Khomfoi, S.,"A seal lead-acid battery charger for
prolonging battery lifetime using superimposed pulse frequency
technique," in Energy Conversion Congress and Expo., Denver, CO, 2013.