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Howdoleadacidbatterieswork?Learnaboutthetypesofbatteriesusedonships

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writtenby:Raunekkeditedby:LamarStonecypherupdated:9/21/2009
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Howdoleadacidbatterieswork?Learnaboutthetypesofbatteriesusedonships

Learnaboutthemainbatterytypesthatareusedonboardashipincludingtheirinternalworkingdetailswiththeaidof
diagrams.

Introduction
Batteriescanbeanexcellenttoolforstoringelectricityandcanalsobeusedasaalternatesourceforpower.Usedon
almostalltheships,batteriesareoftenusedasinstantlyavailableenergysupplysource.However,batteriescanalso
beusedonaregularbasistoprovidealowvoltagedcsupplytomanyengineanddeckmachines.Thesizeandtype
ofthebatteriestobeselectedgenerallydependsontheapplicationandcapacityoftheservices.
Usually,twomaintypesofbatteriesareusedonboard:
LeadAcidBattery
Alkalinebattery
Inthisarticlewewilltakealookathowdoleadacidandalkalinebatteriesworkandinternalbatteryconstruction
detailsinthesubsequentsections

LeadAcidBattery
TheLeadAcidBatteryusedonboardashipconsistsofaseriesofcells,witheachcell
containingaleadperoxidepositiveplateandaleadnegativeplateimmersedinadilute
sulphuricacidsolution.Thissulphuricacidsolutionisknownaselectrolyte.Thewhole
arrangementiskeptinaleakproofcasing.Awirejoinsthetwoplates.Thisdevelopsa
potentialacrossthewireandacurrentstartsflowingthroughit.Thevoltagethus
developedhasameasureofaround2.2voltsinitiallyandasteadyvalueof2volts.Allthe
LeadAcidbatteriesusedonboardgenerallyhavesixseparatecellsconnectedinseries,
whichmeansthatthetotalpoweroutputeachbatterydevelopsisaround12volts.These
batteriesarealsoknownasaccumulators.
ModernLeadAcidBatteriesusesmanyinterleaved
platesinasinglecelltoproduceacompactarrangement
withgreatercapacity.Thewholearrangement,inorderto
createproperinsulation,issurroundedbyheavyduty
plastic,hardrubberorbitumencase.
Theadjacentpictureclearlyshowstheinternalnittygritty
ofsuchaleadacidbatterywhichconsistsof6cellsof2
Voltseachconnectedinserieswhichgivesrisetoatotal
outputvoltageof12V.Thecircuitdiagramatthetop
showsthesymbolicrepresentationwhilethemiddlepart
ofthepictureshowsthephysicalarrangement.Finallythe
bottommostportionoftheimageshowshoweach
individualcellisfurthersubdividedintotheelectrodesas
explainedabove.

Alkalinebattery
Thealkalinebatteryusedonboardashipconsistsofanickelhydroxidepositiveplateandacadmiumandiron
negativeplate.Boththeplatesareimmersedinapotassiumhydroxidesolutiontoproduceavoltageofabout1.4volts.
Ausualbatteryusedonboardconsistsof5cellswhichproducesatotalof7volts.
Themodernalkalinebatteryconsistsofmanyinterleavedplatesforhighercapacity.Thewholearrangementis
mountedinhardwoodcrateswithspacesbetweeneachcell.Allthecellsareconnectedinseriesandthecasingitself
isconsideredlivebecauseofitscontactwiththeplatesandelectrolyte.
Thefullconstructionaldetailsasseenintheadjacentdiagramareselfexplanatoryand
eachandeverypartisclearlylabeled.Thereaderisadvisedtogothroughthediagram
carefullytofullyunderstandtheworkingconceptofsuchbatteries

ImageCredits
RadioShackCorporation1990
Britannica.com

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