1

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The life span of a battery mostly used by automobile drivers can be maximized by
avoiding over loading, overcharging, and inputting charge current higher than battery
manufacture’s rated value (Bangaru, at al, 2013). It was observed over time that most
commercial battery charging service centers in town (Enugu, Nigeria) that are
patronized by automobile drivers uses the conventional battery charger type that is built
without an automatic charging cut-off circuit to provide charging services to their
customers. The unavailability of this automatic charging cut-off circuit causes the
operator to constantly be on manual check to determine when the connected battery is
charged (Baker, 2014).
Irrespective of the discharge level of the battery received from customers, the service
center operator often connects the battery and allows it to charge over night without
monitoring. This frequent practice often leads to overcharging of the connected battery.
Secondly, in an attempt to deliver quick service and satisfy the customer’s expected
time of need, they sometimes, adjust the charging setting of the charger to increase the
charging current so as to reduce the charging time in order to get the battery charged
within a short time. This kind of practice shortens the life span of the battery. However,
these common problems had suggested the development and construction of a 12V
portable battery charger with built-in automatic charging cut-off circuit in order to
encourage domestic usage. This would help automobile drivers to avoid charging
problems associated with commercial services centers (Bangaru, at al, 2013).
Some components like a protection fuse and current reverse prevention diode were
considered during development of this product to prevent problems that may result from
short circuit current and reverse current.
Considering, the compact shape of the battery charger, with very low ventilation an
extractor fan was incorporated to drive away hot air and moisture that would be
generated inside the charger compartment during operation (Bangaru, at al, 2013).
1.2 Statement of the problem
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A simple 12volts charger works by supplying a constant DC or pulsed DC

power source to a battery being charged. The simple charger does not alter
its output based on time or the charge on the battery. This simplicity means
that a simple charger is inexpensive. The circuit of a battery charger has the
ability to convert voltages from one form to another (usually AC to DC
voltages). This process is carried out through the use of some important
components like: rectifiers, capacitor to filter and remove ripples from the
AC source and a voltage regulator (IC). However, this project is based on
the construction of a 24V/12volts simple battery charger with local
materials to reduce cost. The proposed project design works on 24V/12V
batteries. There is resistance connected in the battery charger to limit the
short circuit current.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the study

The aim of this project work is to design, construct and demonstrate how a simple
24V/12volts battery charger works.
The specifics objectives are as follows:
 To design a device that will recharge 24V/12v lead acid battery when
discharged.
 To design a device that has the ability to indicate charging process, low battery
and fully charge levels through LED indicators.
 To design and construct a battery charger that can be use to charge any kind of
24V/12V rechargeable batteries including alkaline, NiCad or lead acid batteries.
1.4 Significance of the study
A simple 24V/12volt battery charger is a simple circuit that comprises of different
component that are soldered together on a circuit board to give or produce a require
function. Therefore, the importance of this project work is to aid both technicians and
students on how to construct a simple battery charger circuit and how it works. It is
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hoped that after the construction of this charger circuit, it will be kept on the laboratory
to be used for battery charging and for practicals and other academic functions.
1.5 Scope of the Study
This project work is limited to the construction and demonstration of a simple battery
charger of 24V/12volts. The circuit input voltage is 240volts from the A.C supply mains
which will be stepped down by a step-down transformer to 12volts. The 12volts A.C is
rectified through a bridge rectifier and filtered through capacitor connected in parallel
from the positive terminal of the bridge rectifier. The output voltage is used to charge a
battery. The project is limited to 24V/12V batteries. It is not advisable to use on
rechargeable batteries outside 24V/12V.

1.6 Limitation of the Study

During the project work, the researcher encountered the following problems which in
one way or the other have prevented him from completing the work at the usually time.
These include: financial problems, time factor and unavailability of material which the
researcher have to move from far distance area in search of textbooks and other
important materials.
1.7 Relevance of the Study
a) It helps to prolong the lifespan of the battery
b) It minimizes damage of the battery and other components.
1.8 Report Organization
This project work is organized in the following order.
Chapter one: Chapter one is introduction to the research/project. This chapter is all
about the problems which the project intends to solve and the means through which it
can be solved. The relevance of the project, the scope of the project and finally it’s
limitations.
Chapter two: This chapter is the literature review. It reviews the relevant works other
researchers have done in the field of overhead protection and the problems they are
having in those researchers. It also reviews the available technology through which the
project can be realized and also the characteristics of the components used.
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Chapter three: This chapter deals with the methodology and design of the system. The
most important aspect of this chapter is the block diagram of the system. The
mathematical analysis was also carried out here to determine the components on each
block.
Chapter four: This chapter is all about the system implementation and results of texts
carried out on the system. The bill of engineering measurement and evaluation (BEME)
was also carried out here.
Chapter five: Chapter five is the conclusion and recommendations. It summarizes the
research which was done, the result gotten.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSE SYSTEM
2.1.1 Charging System
In various installations, batteries are kept floating on the line and are so connected that
they are being charged when load demands are light and automatically discharged
during peak periods when load demands are heavy or when the usual power supply fails
is disconnected. In some other installations, the battery is connected to the feeder circuit
as and when desired, allowed to discharge to a certain point, then removed and
recharged for further requirements (Doggett, 2014).
For batteries other than the floating and system governed type, following twp general
methods (though there are some variations of these) are employed (David and Thomas,
2010).
i. The constant current system
ii. The constant voltage system

2.1.2 Voltage Regulators

The voltage of a battery varies over a considerable range while under discharge. It is
necessary to find some means to control the battery voltage up to the end so as to
confine variations within reasonable limits. These limit being supplied by the battery.

2.1.3 Battery Monitoring

It is useful to know the state of charge of a battery since charging a battery continually
when they are already charged as this would degrade the batteries (James and John,
2003).
a. Terminal Voltage Monitoring
The solid-state voltmeter described in the article/project allows continuous monitoring
of the battery voltage so that incipient failure can be spotted at an early stage. The
circuit will also indicate any fault in the car voltage regulator which may lead to
overcharging and damage to the battery. Battery voltage can of course be measured
using a conventional moving coil voltmeter. However, as only the voltage range from
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about 9 to 15v is of interest only the top third of the scale of a 15v meter would be used,
unless a suppressed zero facility was added. Moving coil meters are also fairly delicate
mechanically.
2.2 REVIEW OF AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY

2.2.1 BATTERY CHARGE

A battery charger is an electrical device employed in charging batteries that are usually
charged by battery charges are the storage batteries also known as “accumulators”.
The charger is made up of various electrical and electronics component which for the
purpose of charging are group into your basic unit, they are (Power, 2014):
The power supply units
The smoothing circuits
The regulating unit and
Regulated D.C charging units
A Battery charger comes in various designs and voltage. The choice of a particular and
of charger that depends largely in Ah size of battery or batteries which charge the mini
battery charger could be used to charge batteries whose voltage ranges from 6 – 12
volts. The bigger battery changes are for batteries with voltage ranging from 12 – 48
volts. These are the heavy duty batteries.
The battery charge is built in such a way that it delivers a constant value of d.c current
into the battery it is charging in the opposite direction from which current flows on the
batteries during discharge one cannot successfully design a battery charge without a
fundamental understanding of the accumulator because it also makes up the operation
(Vijayasekaran, et al, 2009).
2.2.2. Charger Types
2.2.2.1. Unregulated Transformer-Based Charger
These are the absolute cheapest chargers around. They consist of a wall mount
transformer and a diode. The transformer is designed to deliver 13 to 14 volts over a
reasonable current range. The biggest problem with this approach is that when the
current tapers off, the voltage raises to 15, 16, 17, even 18 volts. At these high voltages
electrolysis of the water in the battery starts in. These must not be left to trickle or float
 7

charge a battery, they must be disconnected when the battery is fully charged. This is
not a problem with flooded batteries as long as you check the water periodically and
refresh it. Sealed lead acid batteries can recycle the generated gasses as long as they are
being overcharged at less than C/3. However, leaving the battery to be overcharged
even at C/10 will corrode the plates if left on for weeks at a time. The transformer is so
designed as to limit the current while the battery is in absorption mode. As the battery
voltage rises the current decreases to top off the battery. Because the transformer is used
to control the current and voltage these chargers are typically heavy and get hot (Jackey,
2007).
2.2.2.2. Taper chargers
Another cheap way to charge a sealed lead acid battery battery is called a taper charge.
Either constant voltage or constant current is applied to the battery through a
combination of transformer, diode, and resistance. The unregulated chargers mentioned
above are taper chargers. A better, and not very expensive, alternative is a regulated
taper charger. These do not let the voltage climb higher than the trickle charge voltage,
so they can be also be used to maintain a battery. They won't damage the battery if left
on charge too long, and they do not change their charging characteristics if the line
voltage should change (Jackey, 2007).
Regulated taper chargers are very useful when you need a 12V or 24V battery backup.
A taper charger in parallel with the battery, in parallel with the load makes an effective
battery back-up. You should take care to ensure that the taper charger is designed to
give continuous current equal to the load plus some left over for battery charging. It is
also important that the current limit of the taper charger is the voltage-cut-back method,
and not the hiccough method or other PWM methods.
There are two ways to make a regulated charger. The first is to use a transformer and a
simple voltage regulation circuit. This has the disadvantages of weight and heat, but it is
still inexpensive. The second uses a modern switching power supply in a wall mount or
desk mount package. These low power high frequency switchers are surprisingly cheap,
efficient, and small. They are rapidly taking over the overnight charging requirement in
consumer equipment (Ali and John, 2010).
2.2.2.3. Constant current chargers
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A more sophisticated and not much more expensive charger uses an electric circuit to
control the charging current. This method is useful for recovering batteries that have
suffered from extensive storage without charging, but is capable of overcharging a
battery if there is not some voltage limiting function, usually from the transformer. For
this reason these chargers are limited to slow charging (Ali and John, 2010).

2.2.2.4. Constant Voltage Chargers (Taper plus current limit)

A circuit that is set for the maximum allowable charge voltage, but has a current limit to
control the initial absorption current can produce a very nice charger. This type of
charger can both charge at a reasonable rate and maintain the battery at full charge
without damage.
Not all constant voltage chargers are made equal, however, because the maximum
voltage is a function of temperature. A temperature compensated charger is a little more
expensive, and should be used where the temperature varies significantly from room
temperature (Ali and John, 2010).

2.2.3 Method of Charging the Lead Acid Battery

There are a few methods that are available or known to be able to charge a lead acid
battery but in this case, we are focusing the constant current-constant voltage charging
method where it uses a voltage based algorithm that is the same with the lithium ion
battery charging method too where a usual charge time for a sealed lead acid battery can
be up to 16 hours. There is a faster way to charge the battery which is known as the fast
battery charging method where it uses a high current pulse that is pumped into the
battery at a faster rate with high capacity of current which will cut down on the charging
time but at the same time, if it is not under close supervision, it might damage the
battery due to its high current pumping into the battery. The constant current-constant
voltage charging method will be explained and further discussed in 3 sections which is
the constant current charge, constant voltage (topping charge) and the float (trickle
charge) (Andreas and Henrik, 2012).

2.2.3.1 Constant Current Charging

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This constant current charging is the first phase of the recharging of the batteries where
it usually takes up 50% of the charging period. Usually a battery that has just been
discharge have a voltage of 11.50V approximately and when it undergoes the charging
process, this constant current charging will ensure that the voltage of the battery rises to
a voltage that is determined by the characteristics of the battery itself which will be
approximately 13V with a relatively uniform current flow charging the battery.
This helps to eliminate the imbalances of cells and batteries that are connected in series
which is the most appropriate for cyclic operation where a battery is required to obtain a
full charge overnight. In this phase, the battery will be charged up to 70%
approximately in the range of 4-7 hours and the other 30% is charged using the trickle
charging method. The change of phase from the constant current charging to the next
phase occurs when the battery reaches its voltage limit. This method is widely used for
most battery chargers. (Anu, 2007).

2.2.3.2 Topping (Constant) Charging

This charging takes place when the lead acid battery voltage increases and stays
constant at its voltage limit which will be in the range of 12V to 13V. For every
standard lead acid battery, the approximate pre-determined battery is 12.6V. Once it
reaches its saturated voltage, the current that is applied into the battery will start to
decrease where it leads to a full charge condition once it reaches 3% of the rated
current. This process is mainly to ensure that the battery cells remains at the same
voltage in the battery pack. During the charging and discharging process, each cell in
the lead acid battery might react differently to other cells that are in the battery due to
certain factors such as the quantity of charge in each cell is different. (Ahmad et al,
2013). . Hence during the charging process, this topping charge will help to give a
slight overcharge to bring the other cells up to full charge. Topping charge should be
applied every six months to avoid voltage drop below 2.10V per cell. (Anu, 2007).
The stronger cells in the battery will absorb the overcharge through the dissipation of
heat from the boiling and gassing while the weaker cells will absorb the current from
the overcharge until it is sufficient. This topping charge period should be long enough
to help pull the cells in the battery up to a fully charged condition.
 10

This topping charge is also used to complete the process of fast charging where it is left
to charge for at least 30 minutes with a low current. If the battery is used regularly, it
will tend to have high leakage current which means when it is left on shelf, the process
of self discharging happens rapidly. This high rate of leakage might not attain this low
saturation current.
A precautionary step should be taken to ensure that overcharging doesn’t take place for
too long of a time because once the lead acid battery is being overcharged, the
electrochemical process will cause it to heat up and boil. The phenomenon of hydrogen
gas been let off at the negative cathode plate and oxygen gas being let off at the positive
anode takes place due to any charging current beyond that required to liberate the small
amount of sulphate radicals from the plates, ionizes the water in the electrolyte. Hence,
triggering the process of electrolysis where it separates the water into hydrogen and
oxygen gas. While this process occurs to form water vapour, the presence of flammable
and potentially explosive hydrogen gas will encourage charging to be done in a well
ventilated area. If this is not conducted properly, it will result in a battery explosion due
to the hydrogen gas that is being released by the boiling acid. This brings more bad
news for sealed lead acid battery where it have a higher chance of an explosion to
happen as it has nowhere for the gas to exit hence indirectly building up the pressure in
the case leading to an explosion. On the other hand, at low temperature, the electrolyte
might freeze up, affecting the performance of the battery. The safe operating
temperature for a battery pack is usually 80 Fahrenheit or 26.37 degree Celsius (Anu,
2007).
2.2.3.3 Float (Trickle) Charge
The float charging is also known as the trickle charging method where its definition is a
charging current that can be applied to the battery without damaging it or simply
defined as slow charge. This process keeps the voltage at a constant where else the
current will be operating at a very low level. The float charge compensates for the self
discharging process that happens when the battery is put on shelf where it will self
discharge at a rate of 2% - 3% every month. Aging batteries will be an issue when the
float charge is set due to the different age condition that each of the cells have. This can
be seen where a float current that is too high for the aging cell will starve the stronger
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cells in the same battery causing sulfation due to undercharging. The figure below
shows the characteristics of the constant current constant voltage charging (Buchmann,
2014).

Figure 2.1: Constant-Current Constant-Voltage Charging Method (Source: Baker,

2014)
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2.2.3.4 State of Charge (SOC)

To further understand the state of charge, or also known in short as SOC, there are also
other battery parameters that we have to look into such as the discharge rate, depth of
discharge and also state of discharge or known as SOD. First, the discharge rate can be
defined as the current at which a battery is discharged and can be expressed as Q/h rate
where Q is the battery capacity and h is known as the discharge time in terms of hours.
The depth of discharge is known as the percentage of battery capacity (rated capacity)
to which a battery is discharged. If the withdrawal of at least 80% of the battery (rated)
capacity is known as the deep discharge state. (Buchmann, 2014). Hence this leads to
the state of charge where it is closely related to this two terms where SOC is defined as
the present capacity of a battery where it is the amount of capacity that remains after
discharging from a top-of-charge condition.

It is known that every cell have a different range of SOC hence leading to a
performance difference among the batteries in the pack. This helps to balance up the
charging and discharging in order to maximize the battery pack lifespan and the energy
efficiency. This means, with the combination of battery voltage, internal resistance, and
the amount of sulphuric acid combined with the plates at any one time are the indicators
of how much energy is in the battery for a given time. It is understood that the SOC is
given as a percentage of its fully charged value, for example, if it is at 75% means that
the amount of battery capacity is available at 75% and shows that 25% has been used.
In a battery, the rate of which the energy is drawn affects the overall amount of energy
available from the battery. Give example, if a 100Ah battery is rated at 10 hour rate,
that means that at over 10 hour, there are 100Ah available or in other words, the load
can draw up to 10A per hour up to 10 hours where 10A X 10H = 100Ah. A standard
12V lead acid battery have a usual 100% state of charge that shows that it’s fully
charged with a voltage reading of 12.6V on average and on the other hand, when that
state of charge is at 0%, the voltage reading is usually average at 11.8V. Once again,
this may differ from different lead acid batteries due to its own battery characteristics as
mentioned earlier.
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The relationship between the state of charge with the battery voltage can be seen in the
figure below. (Moubayed et al, 2008).

Figure 2.2: Voltage vs State of Charge (12V Battery) (Source: Baker, 2014)

The charging and discharging current in a lead acid battery is measured in C-rate where
most battery are usually set to have a charging and discharging current characteristics of
1C. For example, if the C-rate is set to discharge at 1C (also known as one hour
discharge) on a 500mAh battery, it will discharge 500mAh in a period of an hour.
Instead, if the C-rate is set at 2C, the battery of 500mAh will provide an output of
1000mAh for a shorter period of time at an approximation of 30 minutes. Based on the
research done, the standardized C-rate of the battery is at 0.05 (20 hour discharge). At
this slow discharging rate, a 100% capacity (ability to provide current from the battery
for 20 hours in this case) is almost impossible. Usually a capacity of a lead acid battery
is measured using a battery analyzer where it is displayed in a percentage rating. For
 14

example, a 500mAh battery provides current for an hour at 1C meaning that it has a
100% capacity but a battery has 50% capacity when the battery only supplies current at
a time period of 30 minutes. To summarize, if the battery is set to discharge at a lower
C-rate, we will obtain a longer time period for the battery to discharge (higher capacity).
Hence with high C-rate, the capacity of the battery will deteriorate sharply (Moubayed
et al, 2008).
The usual traditional way to measure the state of charge is through hydrometer where it
measures the specific gravity of the electrolyte and with a little calculation, we can
obtain the state of charge of the particular battery. As time passes, it is known that
voltage can also be used to determine the battery state of charge with a few calculations.
The voltage measurement is a better option preferred to than the hydrometer is because
the hydrometer can cause inaccuracy in reading and it contaminates the battery cell.
Besides that, we cannot use the hydrometer for this project is because the battery that is
provided is sealed lead acid batteries. The figure below shows the usage of a
hydrometer.

Figure 2.3: Hydrometer (source: James and John, 2003)

There are a few things that are needed to be avoided to ensure that the state of charge
does not drop critically for determining its battery efficiency. When the batteries are
being charged and discharged, it indirectly affects their state of charge which makes it
as a critical factor. To prevent this from happening, try to avoid placing continuous
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heavy loads on the battery anywhere in their state of charge cycle to avoid fast draining
of its battery charge. A battery pack that delivers 100% of its capacity when discharged
in 1 hour, for example, might deliver only 50% of its capacity when it is forced to
discharge in 20 minutes. When the state of charge is below 20%, we must stop
discharging the batteries to ensure that the battery life is not greatly reduced or
destroyed due to the high rate discharging. Besides that, make sure that heavy charging
is done within 20% to 90% of the state of charge range due to the ability of the lead acid
battery to store energy when it is almost full or nearly empty. In the 20% - 90% range,
C/10 (divide the capacity by 10) delivers the fastest rate at which it is efficient to charge
a lead acid battery. In order to obtain the accurate state of charge reading, the battery
must rest for a few hours ( 2-6 hours or 24 for optimum accuracy) due to the surface
charge where if the plates are damaged or sulphated, the battery might give the
appearance of being fully charged but instead its capacity is much lesser than that.

When measuring the state of charge, we must ensure that the temperature of the room or
its surrounding must be almost constant because if the surrounding temperature is too
warm, the chemical reactions within the battery will be accelerated and the battery life
might be shortened and if the battery gets too cold, the chemical reactions tend to slow
down, reducing the battery output. (Moubayed et al, 2008). This makes the battery
temperature dependent where the available capacity and maximum current both drops at
low temperature and increases at higher temperatures. The possibility of freezing is also
there for a fully discharged battery at temperatures below zero due to the slowing down
of the chemistry process in the battery. Hence in this case, the charging voltage needs to
be increased when the temperature falls to ensure that the battery continues to receive
charge but on the other hand, it is necessary to provide an upper limit on this raised
voltage to ensure that the load equipment that is connected to the battery during the
charging process is doesn’t operate out of its specified range (Jackey, 2007). Besides
that heat stagnation can also be a problem where it causes thermal runaway where it is
defined as a critical condition arising during constant voltage charging process where it
is accelerated by increased temperature of the battery in turn releasing energy that
further increases the temperature and in the end, it leads to the destruction of the
battery. (Jackey, 2007).
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2.2.4 Battery Construction

Figure 2.4: Standard Single Cell Lead Acid Battery (source: James and John, 2003)

A standard lead acid battery consists of several single cells connected in series where
each cell produces approximately 2V and usually a 12V battery have six single cells in
series which produces a battery that is fully charge with an output of 12.3V to 12.8V as
shown in the figure below. In the battery, it has two lead plates which are the positive
plate that is covered with a paste of lead dioxide and a negative plate that is made of
sponge lead. There is an insulating material that separates both plates and the plates will
be enclosed in a plastic battery case which is submersed in water and sulphuric acid
which is the electrolyte liquid for the battery as shown in the figure above. Lead acid
cells in the battery will produce voltage when it receives a charging voltage of 2.1V and
above from a battery charger where it doesn’t generate voltage by itself but they are
capable to store a charge from another source.

Lead acid battery is known to be storage batteries for this as they works as a charge
storing device. The amount of charge a lead acid battery can store is depending on the
size of the battery plates and the amount of electrolyte. The unit that is used to measure
the capacity of the battery is known as Ampere-Hour (Ah). For example, if a battery has
75Ah means it has the capability to discharge 75A for one hour or 1A for 75 hours. The
total capacity can be increase by connecting a few lead acid batteries in parallel (Jackey,
2007).
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Figure 2.5: Standard Lead Acid Battery (source: James and John, 2003)

In order to discharge the battery, a load (light bulb) is used to drain the battery and
when it is connected, the chemical reaction between the sulphuric acid and lead plates
will produce electricity to the light bulb. As electricity is supplied to power up the light
bulb, internally, the sulphation process takes place where lead sulphate starts to coat
both the positive and negative plates where this process usually occurs during a
discharge cycle. It will become worst when the discharging process is prolonged where
the lead sulphate coats more and more of the plates causing the voltage of the battery to
drop from its original fully charged state as seen in the figure below. (Progressive
Dynamics Inc, 2006)

Figure 2.6: Sulphation (source: James and John, 2003)

If a battery is being discharged below 10.5V, it will damage the battery and also
decrease its capacity. As the lead sulphate starts to coat most of the battery plates, it
must not be left discharged for a prolonged period of time due to the hardening of the
lead sulphate where initially lead sulphate is a soft material that is able to be converted
 18

back into lead and sulphuric acid. This will further cause the formation of hard crystals
which cripple the ability of the battery to charge if we were to use a standard fixed
voltage battery charger (James and John, 2003).

2.3 Review of Related Work

Pesaran et al. introduced the thermal performance of electric car battery modules and
packs. With the purpose of precisely design the thermal management system for electric
cars, so thermal analysis should be conducted. Therefore, to get the estimate of the
thermal performance, the heat transfer principles and finite element analysis software
have been used. Ahmad A Pesaran et al. also explained about the systematic approach
in order to design and analyze the thermal management inside the battery pack. Thus
the thermal management system is essential for maintaining and controlling the electric
car battery pack temperature. They defined that the battery pack must be compatible
with all modules so as to operate in the preferred temperature range. Besides, the
uneven temperature distribution between the modules should be decreased towards
minimizing the electrical imbalance and this result in improving battery performance
and life cycle.

Tang et al. introduced an innovative method to manufacture lithium-ion polymer

battery. In their research, simple process to coat the electrodes with micro porous
composite polymer films have been conducted. Hence, the improved results that the
graphite is protected by the composite polymer film from reacting with Mn2+ dissolved
from the spinel LiMn2O4 cathode leads to the excellent performance of the NG anode.
Okamoto et al. worked on an implantable battery system and assessment of temperature
rise of lithium ion battery. They figured out that lithium-ion battery and lithium-ion
polymer battery have the same heat characteristics. Yet the internal resistance of the
lithium ion battery is much larger. They defined that the lithium-ion polymer battery has
the capability to keep cooler itself due to higher specific heat and lower internal
resistance. Therefore, they concluded that lithium-ion polymer battery is more suitable
for use in the implantable battery system because it has a benefit of temperature rise
during operation (James and John, 2003).
 19

Iwahori et al. developed the solid-state battery by using carbon material as the anode for
the lithium-ion polymer battery technology in Lithium Battery Energy Storage
Technology Reaserch Association (LIBES) research (James and John, 2003). Cycle life
and energy density of the battery technology have been improved in order to use it in
electric car.

Sandy Thomas reported that the battery electric cars are used to labelled ―green‖. This
technology is to minimize the greenhouse gas and oil consumption from the
transportation sector. Also, they found the higher specific power battery is required to
improve and replace larger cars with a long driving capacity to make substantial
reductions in greenhouse gas and oil consumption. Hence, they specified hydrogen and
electricity can be made from lower carbon sources to further reduce the greenhouse gas
in the future.
Ritchie and Howard found that the battery safety and battery cost are the main
important factors in the usage of lithium-ion polymer battery in larger sizes, such as for
electric cars. However, the lithium-ion polymer rechargeable battery has been
developed for the telecommunication applications.
Pesaran et al. increased their attention to battery thermal management. They found that
the performance and life of battery are affected by temperature. They described that
thermal control is critical to ensure the battery performance and life. They also believed
that with designing a good module and cell (James and John, 2003) can help them to
improve the good thermal performance.
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CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This is a detailed information gardered during practical at the lab.it entails the method
used in the implementation of the 12/24v car battery charger.
MATERIALS USED
1. 555 IC (Integrated circuit) This is the time IC in the circuit.
2. IRF 3205 MOSFET (metallic oxides semiconductor field effect transistor)
3. 30AMP/45V signal diode
4. 5808 regulator
5. Variable resistor
6. Electrolyte capacitor
7. Fixed resistor
8. Paper capacitor
9. BC547 transistor
10. 24V transformer
11. Heat sink
12. Diode
13. LED
14. Switch
1. IC (555): It is called a micro chip; the integrated circuit is a semiconductor
device where loads of resistors, capacitors and transistors are fabricated. It
can function as oscillator, microprocessor, amplifier and timer.
2. IRF 3205 MOSFET (metallic oxide semiconductor field effect
transistor): this is a unipoler semiconductor material with PN junction
charge carrier. It is used for voltage and current amplification.
 21

3. Signal diode: the semiconductor signal diode is a small non-linear

semiconductor device generally used in electronic circuit, where small
current or high frequency are involved such as in radio, Television and
digital logic gate circuit.
4. 5808 Regulator: It is a semiconductor material with input, output and
ground terminal which is used to maintain and regulate a certain amount of
voltage entering in a terminal.

5. Variable resistor: This is an electrical component that is used to vary the

flow of current in a circuit. He current flow through a resistor is directly
proportional to the voltage, the unit is in ohm
 22

I = V/R.

6. Electrolyte capacitor: A capacitor is a two terminal passive component

which is made from two conductive plates with an insulator between them.
The main function of a capacitor is that it stores electrical energy when an
electrical charge is forced unto the terminal from a power source. It
maintains the charge even after getting disconnected from the power source.
A capacitor can also used as a filter to allow AC signals and block DC
signals.

7. BC547 transistor: the transistor is an electronic device which consists of

three terminals made of semiconductor material which controls the flow of
voltage or current and act as a switch to electronic signals. The BC547 is a
unipoller transistor with two charge carrier PNP (Positive negative positive)
i.e. base, collector, emitter where the base terminal is responsible for
activating the transistor emitter is negative lead and collector terminal.
 23

8. 24V volts transformer: is an electrical device which consists of two coils of

copper wire that are linked by iron core. Its increase (steps up) the voltage or
decrease the (step down) AC voltage. The transformer works on the
principle of faradays law of electromagnetic induction.
9. Heat sink: this is an electronic device made of aluminum which is used to
absorb thermal emission of heat in a semiconductor material.

10. Switch: it is used to break the circuit, interrupting the current and to supply
the current from one conductor to another.
 24

11. Diode: It is a device made from semiconductor material that allow the flow
current in one direction and blocks the current which tries to go against the
flow in a circuit.

12. LED: (Light emitting diode): The Led is the alternative of diode, when
current is applied to a LED it emit light at a particular frequency. LED is
used in numerous applications like key board, hard disk, TV remote control
and this device are very useful as indicators in computers as well as battery
operated electronics transistors.
13.
 25

HOW THE BATTERY CHARGER WORK

When the car battery charger is energized in AC current, the circuit will rise to
its maximum cut-off at 14.7v. But if the battery is inserted it will release current, more
current for fast charging.
As the battery voltage increases so do the current decreases until it get to 14.7v.
Then the battery will stop charging i.e. entering the trickle – mode.
RESULT
As I finished designing my circuit, at first it smoked and my findings was that I have
over heated charging MOSFET while soldering it, due to this, my circuit didn’t work.
There after I notice that there was thermal emission of heat at the positive terminal of
the battery. Later after I also notice that it indicates full battery even went to battery
inserted.
After then I replaced the damage MOSFET and change the battery terminal supply
cable to 4mm and then adjusted the charging variable resistor to enable it charge pro
zero voltage. And after which that I was able to active a well-constructed and rapid fast
charging circuit.
METHOD OF DESIGN
we started by assembling the component and reading them all, to make sure that there
are no faulty components. we place the R 1 resistor into my dotted vero-board and
soldered it in star connection with the D 1 diode and paper capacitor Cs at the same star
point connection we soldered another resistor with its end at the dran terminal to the
IRF3205 unipoler transistor. we then extended the gate terminal of the MOSFET to the
positive point in the power pack and the source terminal joined to ground. Placing
IC555 timer and joined the pin-1 to earth, pin-3 to 104 paper capacitor, pin-4 joined
with 360/6.5K ohm resistor in series joined with the BC547 transistor. There after
joined pin-4 with 104 ceramic capacitor terminated to earth with pin-5 then pin-7 and
pin-8. At same pin-8 we joined 7808 regulator carrying two 470UF electrolyte capacitor
at input and output point terminal and the ground point of the regulator sent to earth. At
resistor RA the 1.5K resistor is joined with the output terminal of the 8v regulator and
the other end joined in series with a 10K and 1.8K ohms resistor linked to GND.
 26

While designing the power pack of the battery charger, I used a signal diode joined
positive to positive and negative to negative at which in P junction I joined a
4700UF/50v capacitor to achieve high rectification and filtetration of voltages after that
I linked the positive and negative power pack circuit to the main circuit board
accordingly.

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