Presentations on Automotive

Batteries
(Part I)

By
Sachin D Thakre
Lecturer in Automobile Engg.
Government Polytechnic, Nagpur
Content

 Introduction
 Lead Acid Battery
 Construction and Working
 Battery Rating
 Types of battery
Definition of Battery

 The battery is an electrochemical device capable

of producing electrical energy.
 It stores energy in chemical form.
 It produces DC Electricity.
Functions of Automotive Battery

 To supply the necessary current to the starter motor and

the ignition system while cranking to start the engine.
 It also supplies additional current when the demand is
higher than the alternator can supply and acts as an
electrical reservoir.
 It acts as a voltage stabilizer in the electrical systems.
Construction and working of
Lead Acid battery
Components of Battery

 Container
 Plates and post straps
 Separators
 Cell covers and vent plugs
 Electrolyte, and
 Terminals
Why negative plates are more in
numbers than positive plates?
 All batteries have one more negative plate than positive
plate.
 That is because the positive plate is the
working plate and if there isn't a negative plate on the
outside of the last positive plate, the whole outer side of
last positive plate will not have anything with which to
react and create electricity.
 Both sides of positive plate can be utilized on which
greater electron chemical activity takes place.
Why only distilled water is added in lead
acid battery?
 Distilled water is added to lead acid batteries because it
acts as a dielectric barrier between the two battery cells.
 Most of the time water is thought of as a conductor of
electricity but it is actually the impurities in
the water that make it a conductor, distilled water, H2O
is a great dielectric.
 Tap water contains minerals that will
reduce battery capacity and increase their self-discharge
rate. 
Cell Voltage and Battery Voltage
How automotive batteries are differ
from conventional (Deep cycle) battery ?
 A car's battery is designed to provide a very large amount of
current for a short period of time. ... To achieve a large amount
of current, a car battery uses thin plates in order to increase its
surface area.
 Its container should capable to withstand Extreme heat, cold,
mechanical shocks and must be resistant to absorption of acid.
 A deep cycle battery is designed to provide a steady amount of
current over a long period of time.
 Deep Cycle batteries are constructed using
thicker battery plates and a denser active material, to
withstand repeated charge and discharge cycles.
Battery Rating

 The battery rating is the measure of the energy stored in it.

 Itis expressed in terms of the period during which the
battery will give the rated current.
 Insimple terms, the characteristics or rating of a particular
battery are determined by how much current it can produce
and how long it can sustain this current.
 The rate at which a battery can produce current is
determined by the speed of the chemical reaction.
This in turn is determined by a number of factors:
● Surface area of the plates.
(Number of plates per cell, thickness and size
of the plates)
● Temperature.
● Electrolyte strength.
● Current demanded.

The actual current supplied therefore determines

the overall capacity of a battery. The rating of a
battery has to specify the current output and the
time.
Types

The most commonly used ratings are

 Ampere Hour Capacity

 Reserve Capacity
 Cold Cranking Amperes
Ampere hour capacity (Ah)

 Itdescribes how much current the battery is able to supply

for either 10 or 20 hours.
 The 20-hour figure is the most common.
 For example, a battery quoted as being 44 Ah (ampere-
hour) will be able, if fully charged, to supply 2.2 A for 20
hours before being completely discharged (cell voltage
above 1.75 V).
 Ifbattery delivers a steady current of 5A for 20 hrs, it will
be rated as 100 Ah.
Reserve capacity (RC)

A system used now on all new batteries is reserve

capacity. This is quoted as a time in minutes for which
the battery will supply 25 A at 25 ° C to a final voltage
of 1.75 V per cell.
 This is used to give an indication of how long the
battery could run the car if the charging system was
not working.
 Typically,a 44 Ah battery will have a reserve capacity
of about 60 minutes.
 Cold cranking amps (CCA)

 It indicates the ability of battery during cold weather starting.

 Batteries are given a rating to indicate performance at high
current output and at low temperature.
 A typical value of 170 A means that the battery will supply this
current for one minute at a temperature of _18 ° C, at which
point the cell voltage will fall to 1.4 V (BS – British Standards).
 Note that the overall output of a battery is much greater when
spread over a longer time.
 As mentioned above, this is because the chemical reaction can
only work at a certain speed. Figure shows the above three
discharge characteristics and how they can be compared.
Battery discharge characteristics compared
Low-maintenance and Maintenance Free Batteries

 Use of improved materials and advanced constructional techniques

have either reduced or eliminated the requirement of topping a
battery periodically with distilled water to replace loss due to
evaporation.
 The batteries without this maintenance are becoming attractive.
These batteries incorporate the improved control of the charging
rate, especially the voltage output, given by an alternator system
as compared with a dynamo system.
 Gassing has been reduced by changing the grid material from lead-
antimony alloy to an alloy of lead-calcium.
 Low-maintenance Type
 This type of lead-acid battery requires less attention than the
conventional type.
 When operated under normal temperatures and charged under
suitable conditions, the electrolyte level of this battery requires
checking only once per year, or after 80,000 km running.
 The construction of a low maintenance battery is similar to a
conventional type, except the change in the grid material from lead
-antimony alloy to lead-calcium.
 Since the perfor­mance characteristics are based on proven designs,
the battery can be used on vehicles as an alternative to the
traditional type.
Low-maintenance battery (Lucas).
 Maintenance Free Type

 Maintenance free battery incorporates several modifications over a

conventional battery, the most significant feature is that it is sealed
(except for a very small vent-hole) and requires no service attention
other than to be kept clean.
 The Delco-Remy Freedom maintenance free battery first appeared in
America in 1971.
 In addition to being maintenance-free, this battery offers better cold
weather starting power and improved resistance to heat and vibration
damage.
 The antimony has been eliminated from the plate grids, which could
remove four major causes of early battery failure such as overcharge,
water usage, thermal-runaway and self discharge.
 Maintenance Free Type

 Thermal runaway is a condition, which occurs in a conventional

battery when the battery operating temperature is high or when
faulty regulation of the charging system is combined with a rising
electrolyte temperature.
 Overcharge is the major cause of gassing in a conventional
battery. In a Freedom battery lead calcium (Pb Ca) is used for the
grid material.
 There still exists some gassing, and to encounter this gas
reservoir is formed in the container to collect the water, which
returns after cooling to the main electrolyte mass. possible to
reduce loss
Maintenance-free battery (Delco-Remy Freedom).
Hybrid battery

 The Hybrid battery combines the advantages of Low

maintenance battery and maintenance free battery.
 The grid construction of hybrid battery contains Antimony
alloy on positive plate and calcium alloy on negative
plates.
 Use of antimony alloy reduces grid growth and corrosion.
 The lead calcium has less gassing than conventional
batteries.
Questions ?