Understanding The Batteries – Part 1: Overview
In the time of renewable power sources, risking to be prosaic, we will talk about batteries.
The Main part of people is so addicted to the modern technologies, that they can’t live normally or just not at all, without having an electricity – for powering their countless number of gadgets!
At the base of the use of electricity are staying the batteries.
The Batteries!
These little cylindrical or flat shaped, middle-sized or with a massive volume things, are staying such part of our daily routine if they were granted.
The Batteries are so ordinary, but at the same time are probably a bit unknown.
We will try to uncover a part of their features and to explain their main parameters.
HISTORY:
As we just said – At the base of the use of electricity are staying the batteries.
The name:
The Name “Battery” has been borrowed from the Military’s name: “Cannon Battery” – means the weapons are “working together”.
The story was begun with the Leyden jar – a kind of: “capacitor” – which means can store the electricity.
Description: The Glass Bottle with the inner foiled side. The electrode (as a chain) is placed into the bottle cap working as the inner electrode, has sunk into the liquid filled into the bottle (about the middle level). The liquid was clear (distilled) water or alcohol.
The outer Electrode is connecting with the Bottle’s outside foil. When the static electric field is applied trough the two electrodes, the Distilled Water (which is best dielectric) or the alcohol.
The Batteries as the manner of co-working Leyden jars are firstly described By Benjamin Franklin in 1745s.
Connecting many Leyden jars, It was first used the Name: “Battery”
Near a half-century after that, it was invented the “Voltaic Pile”. Its inventor was Alessandro Volta in 1799s.
The voltaic pile or the single cell battery was the first example of the electrical battery cell, which can provide continuous current, powering a real load.
Description: A Copper Disc and a Zink Disc are placed together, and between them has inserted the layer of paper, which is impregnated with an electrolytic mixture.
We import another Name: The “ElectroMotive Force” or EMF.
When we are using the dual metals and an electrolyte structures, dependingly the different metal’s combinations we can get the different EMF Voltage in an open-circuit state (means no load is applied).
Example: Using The Schematic: (Zinc plate + electrolyte + Copper Plate) is “producing” EMF = 0.76V; Using Ten of them We can generate 7.6V of EMF
PIC. 1 First Usage of similar battery, was for powering the “Hardware” of the telegraph stations.
The nowadays batteries are also subordinated to described principle.
They have the enclosures, made for example by Zink, And graphite electrode, coaxially inserted through the enclosure’s length. The volume between the electrodes is filled with the electrolyte: Ammonium Chloride – NH4Cl – It is the regular Dry cell, known as the Primary – single-use battery cell with EMF =~ 1.5 V.
PIC. 2 Ammonium Chloride – NH4Cl
Prepearing: NH3 + HCl → NH4Cl
They can be used only once – the whole their live stays between these two limits: EMF =~ 1.5 V to their fully discharged state: EMF = ~ 0V.
The Useful low limit in the practice for a single cell dry battery is near EMF = 0.9 – 1V. The battery’s internal resistance, which became too high, doesn’t allow the battery to deliver some significant currents to the real load.
We separate the batteries into two types:
- Primary or Disposable batteries,
- Secondary or rechargeable batteries
Don’t Stop To Reinvent Yourself, Dear Explorers!
To be continued!
Economic Package:
New zinc composition resulting in 10-years anti-leakage shelf life.
