Lead-acid secondary batteries applications

Lead-acid (secondary) batteries Table 50.13 Batteries fir marine applications... 

Bath towels (terry), number produced from one bale of cotton, 8 133t Bathtub failure rate, 26 988 Batik printing, 9 219 Batteries, 3 407-434. See also Alkaline cells Carbon-zinc cells Lead-acid batteries Lithium cells Primary batteries Secondary batteries chromium application, 6 565 cobalt applications, 7 247... 

It has been a long time since the invention of the lead-acid battery, but it still represents the most important secondary chemical power source—both in number of types and diversity of application. The lead-acid battery has maintained its leading role for so many decades due to its competitive electrical characteristics and price and due to its adaptability to new applications. It is manufactured in a variety of sizes and designs, ranging from less than 1 to over 10 000 A h.206... 

By far the largest sector of the battery industry worldwide is based on the lead-acid aqueous cell whose dominance is due to a combination of low cost, versatility and the excellent reversibility of the electrochemical system, Lead-acid cells have extensive use both as portable power sources for vehicle service and traction, and in stationary applications ranging from small emergency supplies to load levelling systems. In terms of sales, the lead-acid battery occupies over 50% of the entire primary and secondary market, with an estimated value of 100 billion per annum before retail mark-up. 

The manufacture of secondary batteries based on aqueous electrolytes forms a major part of the world electrochemical industry. Of this sector, the lead-acid system (and in particular SLI power sources), as described in the last chapter, is by far the most important component, but secondary alkaline cells form a significant and distinct commercial market. They are more expensive, but are particularly suited for consumer products which have relatively low capacity requirements. They are also used where good low temperature characteristics, robustness and low maintenance are important, such as in aircraft applications. Until recently the secondary alkaline industry has been dominated by the cadmium-nickel oxide ( nickel-cadmium ) cell, but two new systems are making major inroads, and may eventually displace the cadmium-nickel oxide cell - at least in the sealed cell market. These are the so-called nickel-metal hydride cell and the rechargeable zinc-manganese dioxide cell. There are also a group of important but more specialized alkaline cell systems which are in use or are under further development for traction, submarine and other applications. 

The largest asset of lead-acid batteries is their low price, compared to any other secondary battery currently available. The energy density is inherently low, but in its main application as a car battery this is tolerable. For application as the main power source of electric vehicles, an energy density of at least 100 W h/kg is necessary. This corresponds to 58% of the theoretical energy density - a very difficult goal. Power density is another limitation, particularly since increasing the power decreases the energy density substantially. 

The lead—acid battery could be adequately evaluated only if compared to the other types of secondary power sources. A theoretical assessment can be made by comparing the electrical, energetic, power and economic parameters of the different sources of electricity, but the relative share of each battery chemistry in practical applications is the most objective evaluation criterion. Table 1.1 summarises the basic energy and power characteristics of six types of secondary power sources which are currently used most widely. Data from the studies of Wentzl [78] and Kohler [79] have been used. It can be seen that the lead—acid battery has inferior specific energy and power characteristics as compared to the other types of batteries. 

Especially important for proper operation of the battery are the impurities contained in the metal used for leady oxide manufacture. Lead for the battery industry is derived from ores mined in different parts of the world (primary lead) or is obtained by recycling of used up batteries that have reached their end of fife (secondary lead). The recycling process is very often performed at the battery manufacturers facilities. Purity standards have been adopted for the lead to be used for leady oxide production. These standards specify different maximum allowable amounts of impurities for flooded and valve-regulated lead-acid battery applications. Table 5.2 presents typical purity specifications for lead for making leady oxide for flooded batteries. 

Self-doped polyanilines are advantageous due to properties such as solubility, pH independence, redox activity and conductivity. These properties make them more promising in various applications such as energy conversion devices, sensors, electrochromic devices, etc. (see Chapter 1, section 1.6). Several studies have focused on the preparation of self-doped polyaniline nanostructures (i.e., nanoparticles, nanofibers, nanofilms, nanocomposites, etc.) and their applications. Buttry and Tor-resi et al. [51, 244, 245] prepared the nanocomposites from self-doped polyaniline, poly(N-propane sulfonic acid, aniline) and V2O5 for Li secondary battery cathodes. The self-doped polyaniline was used instead of conventional polyaniline to minimize the anion participation in the charge-discharge process and maximize the transport number of Li". In lithium batteries, it is desirable that only lithium cations intercalate into the cathode, because this leads to the use of small amounts of electrolyte... 

Pb-Sb-Based Lead Acid Battery Grid Aiioys Lead-acid batteries are the most widely used secondary battery type in current automotive and industrial applications due to the relatively low cost and high availability of the raw materials, room temperature operation, ease of manufacture, long life cycle, versatility, and the ex-... 

The history of lead is as old as the recorded history of mankind. Its use as a valuable material in society has been equally long and varied. In more recent times awareness of lead s toxicity has restricted its widespread use and many older applications have been replaced by newer materials or have been phased out. Today the use of lead is dominated by the automotive lead-acid battery, and a key feature of this application is the ability to achieve a high level of recovery and recycle of scrap batteries. This attribute now makes lead the most recycled metal in use and approaching 60 per cent of the world s supply of lead is provided by recycled metal. Secondary processing and smelting is consequently as important a part of the extractive metallurgical industry as primary extraction from ores and concentrates. 

Hydrogen evolution can also be prevented, and thus the unwanted secondary reactions hydrogen evolution and grid corrosion that disturb the internal oxygen cycle in lead-acid batteries, as shown in Fig. 1.25, are not present in nickel/cadmium batteries, which therefore can be hermetically sealed so that neither vapor or gas escapes from the battery. This is the reason for the market success of these batteries in the field of portable applications. 

This application can be used not only for lead-acid batteries, but also for any other secondary battery. 

Performance surveys of various rechargeable batteries indicate that the vented Ag-Zn, Ni-Cd, and lead-acid batteries offer unique performance in terms of watts/ kg, watt-hour/kg, cycle life, and calendar life. These secondary batteries are best suited for both commercial and military aircraft and other aerospace applications. Their outstanding performance characteristics are summarized in Table 7.4. 

This chapter identifies various secondary or rechargeable batteries and their potential applications. Lead-acid batteries are considered the oldest working horse among the rechargeable batteries. Design improvements in these lead-acid batteries have... 

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