Battery used in

Automobiles
 INTRODUCTION
 Main part of electrical system in an automobile.
 Electrical system consists of 4 main circuits:
a) Generating circuit
b) Starting circuit
c) Ignition circuit
d) Lighting circuit
These main circuits are connected together
to the car battery( rechargeable).
 Without battery, engine cannot be started with starting
motor.
 Battery supplies current for operation of starting motor
and ignition system when engine is being cranked for
starting.
 It also supplies current for light, radio, heater and several
other accessory units when generator is not operating
fast enough to handle the electrical load.
 It can be used again once discharged with the help of
alternator of the car.
 If a battery is left standing for few days, it will discharged
by itself. New batteries usually get discharged by itself at
the rate of 1% per day of storage. The rapid self
discharge (3% or more) is considered a serious defect of
battery.
 Types of batteries
 Lead acid battery
 Alkaline battery( nickel iron type or nickel
cadmium type)
 Zinc air battery
Battery Construction
 Battery consists of following components:

CONTAINER
1)It is single piece construction.
2)It is made up of hard rubber or plastic.
3)It should not absorb acid and withstand extreme heat and cold.
4)It is divided into compartments by partitions for different cells.
Bridges are formed at the bottom of each compartment on which
battery plate rest. The space between bridge ribs are provided to
collect sediments. This minimize danger of short circuit due to
sediments.
5)Gasoline should be kept away from bituminous composition
containers as they will dissolve bituminous binders.
PLATES:
1) In a battery, several similar plates are properly spaced
and welded.
2) These plates consists of perforated grids into which
lead or lead peroxide has been pressed.
3) Grids are made of an alloy of lead and antimony which
make it resistant to electrochemical corrosion.
4) Plate groups are arranged in the cell so that positive
and negative plates alternate.
5) Positive plates are filled with lead peroxide active
material and negative plates are filled with a porous
mass of lead in spongy form in which electrolyte can
penetrate freely.
 GRIDS:
1) The plates of battery consist of an electrically
conducting grid framework in the meshes of which
active materials are incorporated by electrochemical
process.
2) These grids serve to conduct current to and from the
active materials of positive and negative plates.
3) An alloy consisting essentially of lead and antimony is
used for grids.
4) Antimony strengthens the soft lead and fascilates
casting of fine detail of wire structure of grids and
enables the battery weight to be kept minimum.
 SEPERATORS:
1) They are placed between negative and positive plates to keep
them separate between each other.
2) They are porous so that liquid can be circulated between plates.
3) They may be made of polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene saturated
cellulose.
CELL COVER:
1) Each cell is sealed by a cover of hard rubber through which the
positive and negative terminal project.
2) Each cover has opening through which liquid can be added.
3) Vent plugs of special designs co-operate with cover vent opening
to baffle gases and electrolyte is splashed and sprayed against
underside of the cover to prevent loss of acid from the cell.
ELECTROLYTE:
1) Electrolyte used in lead acid battery is the solution of sulphuric
acid which consists of 40% Sulphuric acid and 60% distilled water.
2) The active materials of battery cannot become active until they are
covered with aqueous electrolyte solution.
CELL CONNECTOR:
1) To connect the cells of battery in series, the elements are placed
in each cell so that negative terminal of one cell will be adjacent to
positive terminal of next cell and so on throughout the battery.
2) Cell connectors are placed over protruding terminal parts and
welded to them to connect the cell in series.
TAPERED TERMINALS:
Battery terminals are tapered to specified dimensions so that all
positive and negative cable clamp terminals will fit any
corresponding battery terminal interchangeably.
 Chemicals used in batteries
(Lead acid battery)

 Spongy lead (solid) (held in plate grids)

 Lead oxide (paste) (interlocking horizontal
and vertical bars of plate grid holds them
in the plate)
 Sulphuric acid( liquid) (mixed with water in
container)
 Zinc Air Battery
 Non-rechargeable batteries.
 Electrochemical batteries powered by oxidizing zinc with oxygen
from the air.
 It is metal-air electrical storage and discharge device that works
through the oxidization of zinc.
 The operating life of a zinc-air cell is a critical function of its
interaction with its environment.
 Reaction formulas:
 Anode: Zn + 4OH– → Zn[(OH)4]2– + 2e– (E0 = 1.25 V)
 Fluid: Zn[(OH)4]2– → ZnO + H2O + 2OH–
 Cathode: O2 + 2H2O + 4e– → 4OH– (E0 = 0.4 V)
 Overall: 2Zn + O2 → 2ZnO (E0 = 1.65 V)
1.65 is theoretical value. It is reduced to 1.4-1.35 in available cell.
 Zinc-air batteries have higher capacity-to-volume (and weight)
ratio than other types of battery because air from the
atmosphere is one of the battery reactants.
 Uses
 Large zinc-air batteries, with capacities up to 2,000
ampere–hours per cell, are used to power navigation
instruments and marker lights, oceanographic
experiments, and railway signals .
 Very small button cell zinc-air batteries are used for
hearing aid, larger batteries are used in film cameras
that previously used ,mercury batteries, very large
batteries are used for electric vehicle propulsion.
 Zinc air batteries allows full size delivery vans to
routinely run 400 km. on a single charge. Once low, the
batteries are exchanged in less than 10 minutes and
recharged at a central plant.
 Why not rechargeable?
 Rechargeable zinc-air cells are a difficult
design problem since zinc precipitation
from the water-based electrolyte must be
closely controlled.
 The problems are dendrite formation, non-
uniform zinc dissolution and limited
solubility in electrolytes.
 zinc-air fuel cells are mechanically rechargeable.
1)Mechanical recharging systems have been researched for
decades for use in electric vehicles .
2)Rechargeable systems may mechanically replace the anode
and electrolyte, essentially operating as a refurbishable
primary cell, or may use zinc powder or other methods to
replenish the reactants.
 Alkaline batteries
 Alkaline batteries are a type of primary battery or rechargeable
battery dependent upon the reaction between zinc and manganese
dioxide (Zn/Mno2).
 They have a higher energy density with same voltage as compared
to zinc carbon batteries.
 It has an alkaline electrolyte of potassium hydroxide.
 The anode (negative terminal) is made of zinc powder, which gives
more surface area for increased current, and the cathode (positive
terminal) is composed of manganese dioxide.
 The half-reactions are:
 Zn (s) + 2OH− (aq) → ZnO (s) + H2O (l) + 2e−
 2MnO2 (s) + H2O (l) + 2e− →Mn2O3 (s) + 2OH− (aq)
Section through an alkaline battery
 Nickel iron alkaline battery
 The nickel-iron battery (NiFe battery) is a storage
battery having a nickel(III) oxide-hydroxide cathode and
an iron anode, with an electrolyte of potassium
hydroxide.
 The open-circuit voltage is 1.4 volts, dropping to 1.2 volts
during discharge.
 The half-cell reaction at the cathode:
 2 NiOH + 2 H2O + 2 e− ↔ 2 Ni(OH)2 + 2 OH−
and at the anode:
 Fe + 2 OH− ↔ Fe(OH)2 + 2 e−
Discharging is read from left to right.
 Specific gravity( at 300K) of
electrolyte
 1.220-1.230 when electrolyte is fully charged.
 1.175-1.185 when half discharged.
 1.100-1.110 when fully discharged.
 Specific gravity of 1.230 means the electrolyte in
a fully charged battery is 1.230 times heavy as
an equal volume of pure water when both the
liquid are at the same temperature.
 Hydrometer is used to measure it.
 A-Hydrometer , B-Battery

Hydrometer consists of glass barrel and bulb syringe for sucking up an

electrolytic sample. The depth to which the float sinks in the liquid indicates
specific gravity of the liquid (electrolyte)
 Charging process
 Check the level of electrolyte. If it is below the
top edge of the plates, add more electrolyte till it
is about 10mm above it.
 Connect negative and positive terminal of
battery to respective terminals of battery
charger.
 Adjust the value of charging current. (for “x”
plates battery, charging current should be x/2)
 Continue charging till gassing begins
 Battery voltage
 Open circuit voltage of fully charged
battery cell is about 2 volts.
 In a 6 V battery, there would be 3 cells
connected in series similarly in 12 V
battery, there will be 6 cells connected in
series.
 Older automobiles used 6 V battery. Latest
model use 12 V battery.
 Battery capacity
It is defined as amount of current it can deliver which may
depend on:

1)No. of plates
2)Area of plates
3)Quantity of electrolyte
4)Temperature

About 930 sq cm of plate surface must be in contact with

the electrolyte to produce 40-60A of current. Six volts battery have
15, 17, 19 and 21 plates per cell and 12 V battery have 7, 9, 11 and
13 plates per cell. There is always one more negative plate than
positive plate. Between 2 negative plates, there is one positive
plate.
 Battery rating
Batteries are rated according to following standards recommended by
SAE and AABM:

 20-hour rating( in Ampere-hours): It indicates the

lighting ability of a fully charged battery. It is obtained by discharging
the battery at a current rate equal to 1/20 of the manufacturer’s
ampere-hr rating.
 Cold rating: It indicates the no. of minutes of a 6 V battery can
deliver 300A at 0 F before the cell voltage drops below 1 V. It gives
the indication of cold weather starting ability of the battery.

(NOTE: an ampere-hr is the quantity of electrical energy

furnished by a current of 1 A for 1 hr)
 Battery troubles
 Self discharging
 Sulfonation( when a battery discharges, the lead
sulphate forms and deposits on the plates. When it is
recharged, lead sulphate converts again into active
materials-lead peroxide and spongy lead)
 Internal short circuiting( due to damaged
separators or dropping of active material from the plates
which forms heap so high to make short circuit)
 Deterioration of plates
 Cracking of container
 Factors affecting battery life
 Overcharging: overcharging decompose water of electrolyte into
hydrogen and oxygen gas. Gas bubbles tend to wash active
material from the plates and carry moisture and acid from the cells
as a fine mist.
 Undercharging: a battery operated in an undercharged condition
is not able to deliver full power and is liable to freeze during severe
winter weather.
 Lack of water: water, if not replenished as the liquid level falls to
the top of separators, and the plates are soon exposed, the acid will
reach a dangerously high concentration that may charge and
disintegrate the separators and may permanently impare the
performance of the plates.
 Excessive load: a battery should never be used to propel the car
by use of starting motor with clutch engaged except in great
emergency. This may damage the starting motor by producing high
internal battery temperature.