What is a battery?
A battery is an electric device that produces direct current due to the reaction of it electrolyte with it electrodes. A single cell contains an electrolyte and two metal electrodes and produces little voltage. Combination of cells forms a battery which produces much voltage compared to the former.
Types of batteries.
There are many types of batteries out there that are use to power many varieties of devices they are classified according to their longevity, their capacity and how much current they can produce, they listed below;
- Rechargeable batteries
- And non rechargeable batteries.
Types of batteries.
These types of batteries also known as secondary batteries can be use a for long time before they broke down. The electric current they produce is conventional, when they are use to power loads their current reduces over time depending on the load but when they are fully discharged they can be recharged by a DC power source connected to it. Rechargeable batteries are the most used because they're economical and can be used for years without getting spoilt. Their are many types of rechargeable batteries, they are preferred over one another depending on their strength, capacity and duration of time they can keep producing power until they are discharged, here are the types.
A. lithium batteries.
They are very common, lithium ion batteries consists of sticky chemicals and lithium electrodes. They are strong, because of the nature of chemical use as their electrolytes these batteries produces much current, and can supply a constant current and voltage for much hours. A single lithium ion battery can only produce 3.7v but when much of it are connect in series they produce much voltage. Applications and advantages of lithium ion batteries.
B. Li-po batteries.
Engineers love this batteries, they are extremely strong, light and has much capacity than lithium-ion types. Their electrolyte is a sticky molten lithium polymer gell.
- They are use to power laptops and smartphones. Lithium-ion batteries are mostly used in devices that requires stable supply of current for long hours.
- They have much capacity and current.
- They can be manufactured in cylindrical or cubiod shapes or even any, for these they are use to power thin, flat and micro devices e.g your iPhones and inbuilt phones.
Applications and advantages of li-po batteries.
- They are much stronger and have much capacity than the lithium ion types.
- They are use to power drones due to their light weight. Longer life span Produces much current than anyother types of batteries.
C. Lead acid type.
They are very common, because of their low cost and ease of production. Their electrolyte is lead tetraoxo sulphate (VI) acid (pbSo4). The lead acid batteries are usually produced to discharge 12v or 6v, but a single cell can only produce 2.2v when fully charged, so lead acid type batteries are composed of 6 cells to produce 12v and 3 cells to produce a 6v battery. Their disadvantage is that their electrodes depreciates and gives out gas, and this leads to the reduction of the battery life, so this problem is prevented by rubbing oil on the electrodes or by amalgamtion.
Applications and advantages of lead acid batteries.
They are use to power inverters due to their low costs and because each battery can produce 12v. It is use to power kick starters in petrol or diesel motor engines and modern generators. Use to power desktop computer UPS(an inverter specially designed to power desktop computers when mains power gets off) Engineers use them to power cheap and low power consuming devices like lamps.
D. Ni-MH batteries.
Having a full meaning of nickel metal hydride. They are durable, easily recharged and substitute to akaline batteries. They are much preferrable to Ni-CD batteries and produce a nominal voltage of 1.25v
C. Ni-CD type
They are made of nickel and candium having a power density of 60Wh/kg they get discharged slowly thus they posses long life span. They produce only 1.2v, when three are connected together produces 3.6v. They needs to be charged frequently to avoid growth of crystals at their electrodes.
Applications and advantages of Ni-CD batteries.
They are use in low cost electronics like toys and remote controls. They are use in solar powered devices like street lights. They are very fast to charge so, they are use to power emergency devices that requires steady supply of current.
2.Non-rechargeable batteries.
They are a non-rechargeable or primary batteries types of batteries, they can not be replenised thus they are dumbed when used up. They are cheaper than the rechargeable types but has limited applications in our modern technology technology and engineering, so they are replaced with the rechargeable types. Types are listed below.
A. Akaline batteries.
Their electrolyte is pottasium hydroxide with maganese oxide as the depolariser and zinc, brass as the electrodes.
They have a nominal voltage of 1.5v, akaline batteries have longer shelf live and use to power portable devices like radios and remotes.
Applications of akaline batteries.
- They are use to power wall clocks, toys, radios and low power consuming devices like LED lamps.
- They are use to power emergency devices. They are use to power low wattage email like remotes.
Also known as button batteries, they are manufactured in form of coins, they are use to power wristwatches, calculators, toys and computer CMOS. They have long life span, they can keep powering low power devices for a very long time. The have a nominal voltage of 1.5v, but they can't be recharged.
What is a battery capacity?
The length or duration of time a battery can keep suppling current is called it capacity. Batteries capacities are usually printed on them in form of 1000mAH, what does this mean? For example a battery having a capacity of 1000mAH can supply 1A of current for a complete one hour without quickly discharged, and a battery of 6000mAH can supply 6A of current for one hour. The m after the 1000 stands for mili, so the capacity of a battery can be written as 1000×0.001AH but commonly 1AH.
Batteries connection.
Batteries are usually connected together either to increase voltage or current. There are only two ways to connect batteries which are;
A. Batteries in series connection.
Batteries are connected with a batterie's negative pole connected to another batterie's postive pole and so on... as shown in the diagram above. When connected in this form, voltage increases but current remains the same. The total voltage is equals to the sum of each batterie's voltage and the net current is equal to a single current value of battery connected together.
B. batteries in parallel connection.
Batteries are connected with all thier positive terminals connected together and their negative terminals connected together to form a single terminal of positive and negative poles. In this type of connection current increases but the total voltage remains the same. The net current is equals to the sum of each battery's current.
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Basic Electronics