U3A Science & Technology
All about Batteries
John Wells
25th October 2011
A massive diversity of “dry” batteries
Alkaline manganese
Zinc-air
Lithium
Silver oxide 10P
Rechargeable batteries
Nickel-metal hydride or NiMh
Nickel-cadmium or NiCad
Lithium ion polymer Lithium-ion
Zinc-carbon
Innumerable shapes and sizes of “button” cells
What is a battery?
A battery consists of MORE THAN ONE cells
So what is a cell?
An electrochemical cell is a device capable of
either deriving electrical energy from chemical
reactions, or facilitating chemical reactions
through the introduction of electrical energy.
1st definition
A vessel containing various chemicals which
produce electricity as a result of the reactions
taking place between these chemicals.
2nd definition
Who invented the very first cell?
Count Allesandro Giuseppe Anastasio Volta is the man who gave us the word volt, our unit for electrical pressure of electromotive force (EMF). In 1789 he took a rods of copper and zinc and immersed them both in an acetic acid solution. He had just constructed the first battery cell with the first electrolyte. The copper and zinc rods were the positive and negative electrodes. The acid started to eat away the zinc rod, while the copper rod captured the energy released from the action. An EMF developed between the two electrodes. Volta had invented the cell.
Alessandro Volta was born in Como, Italy in 1745. In 1774, he was appointed as professor of physics at the Royal School in Como. While at the Royal School, Alessandro Volta designed his first invention - the electrophorus - in 1774, a device that produced static electricity. For years at Como, he studied and experimented with atmospheric electricity by igniting static sparks. In 1779, Alessandro Volta was appointed professor of physics at the University of Pavia and it was while there that he invented his most famous invention, the voltaic pile
One contemporary of Alessandro Volta was Luigi Galvani. It was Volta's disagreement with Galvani's theory of galvanic responses (animal tissue contained a form of electricity – remember the frog’s legs experiments?) that led Volta to build the voltaic pile to prove that electricity did not come from the animal tissue but was generated by the contact of different metals, brass and iron, in a moist environment.
The combatants
Alessandro Volta* 1745 - 1827
Luigi Galvani 1737 - 1798
(*Volta also invented the electrophorus and discovered methane)
Schematic construction of a six
cell pile
Volta’s pile
A museum example
Battery history timeline
1789 - today
Date Event Comment
1789 Volta’s cell The new age is born
1802 Cruikshank’s pile First easily reproduced pile
1836 John Daniell’s improvements
Improves the pile
1859 Planté invents first rechargeable battery
Lead acid
1869 Leclanché develops first wet battery
1881 Thiebaut’s dry battery Patented
1890 Edison invents rechargeable NiFe cell
1896 First mass-produced dry battery
National Carbon Company (USA)
1896 The “D” cell is designed
You may think of it as the U2 or HP2 cell. It is the largest 1.5 volt battery
1789 - 1896
Date Event Comment
1899 Invention of the NiCd battery by Jungner
1910 Commercial production of NiFe batteries
1914 Edison develops first alkaline battery
1934 Schlecht and Akermann invent the sintered plate NiCd battery
1947 Sealed NiCd battery developed
1956 First 9 volt battery produced
PP3 shape. Needed for transistor radios
1960s Alkaline batteries commercially produced
1899 - 1960
Date Event Comment
1970s Non rechargeable Lithium battery available
1970s Maintenance free lead-acid battery available
1976 Philips Research invents the Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery
1980s Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery improved
1990s Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries commercially produced
2000s Lithium ion – polymer batteries developed
1970 - today
The Daniell cell (1836)
Schematic view
Zinc sulphate Copper sulphate
The Daniell cell
Schematic view of Daniell cell with a salt bridge
The Leclanche cell (1869)
First commercial “wet” battery
Some facts and figures
What is the most popular size?
How many are sold annually?
What types?
How much power?
What about recycling?
The main types of battery
compared by size
What is the most
popular size?
The “AA” battery is the world’s
most popular battery
How many AA batteries
are sold annually?
First – how many batteries of ANY shape or size do
YOU use personally?
Some hints! You will find them in…
Torches, cycle lights, camping lanterns, portable radios, portable television, iPlayers, iPads, Xbox and other game machines, mobile phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, Kindles and other ereaders, remote controlled models, most watches, blood pressure monitors, cars (starter battery for petrol or diesel cars), cars (primary motive energy source for electric and hybrid cars), gas lighters, electric shavers, electric clocks, pacemakers, TV and other consumer electronic remote controllers, garage door openers, domestic security systems, vehicle security systems, video recorders, DVD players and recorders, cameras, video cameras, insulin pumps, domestic weather stations, portable power tools, mowers, strimmers, hedge cutters, hearing aids, and many many more And that is quite without the myriad of commercial and industrial applications
So batteries are quite ubiquitous. In short,
without them we would be back in the 19th century
In the UK we buy around 200,000,000 AA batteries
each year
A little bit of nostalgia
Some older batteries
The 2 volt accumulator
A little anecdote about charging accumulators….
….or a cautionary tale about why you should
always read the instructions first !
The HighTension battery
A massive battery about 7" along the long edge, giving 48V, 60V, 72V, 108V and 120V at various tapping points. Potentially lethal! Connections made using “banana” plugs
Designed for use with valve radios. Used in conjunction with a rechargeable 2 volt accumulator
Here’s the cycle lamp
And here’s my very first handlamp with a bullseye lens on the front
The Portable filament supply battery 1.5 volt
Designed for use with the newer generation of subminiature glass-based valves used in portable radios. These valves consumed much less power so no need for a hefty 2 volt lead-acid accumulator But this is a dry battery and cannot be recharged
The demise of British
manufacturing
A Cautionary Tale about Ever Ready
Ever Ready’s cheap and cheerful radio
The Saucepan Special
My very first cycle lamp
Ever Ready’s complementary products
Remember these?
Ever Ready’s complementary products
Ever Ready’ specialised in low technology zinc-carbon
batteries
They thought that the light at the end of the tunnel was a good old zinc-carbon torch battery.
Unfortunately it was an alkaline battery heading for the market at top speed……
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Total Primary
Zinc-Carbon
Alkaline
Silver oxide
Lithium
Others
Sales development – (Japan) – 1986 to 2010 M
illion
s of
units
Year
Primary cells
Sales
- $
US m
illion
s
Year
World sales of rechargeable batteries 1985 - 2003
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
World production share by region
Production years 2000 - 2005
Increasing efficiency and
reducing cost of lithium calls
Lithium supply problems?
75% of the known world supplies are in South America
What types of
battery are
there?
There are two fundamental types of battery
PRIMARY • Bought fully charged • Have a long shelf life • Cannot be recharged
SECONDARY • May be bought fully charged, or not • Indefinite shelf life • Can be recharged 100-1000 times • Fully charged battery loses charge over time
even if not used • May suffer from “memory effect”
Primary batteries
• Zinc-carbon (or zinc-chloride-carbon). The original “dry” battery. Think “Ever Ready”
• Alkaline manganese. Almost completely superseded zinc-carbon. (Typical Duracell battery)
• Lithium-manganese dioxide. Higher power than alkaline. Disposal problem
• Silver oxide. Used for “coin” or “button” cells in watches and computers
• Zinc-air. Used for hearing aids. Light weight. Very long storage life
Secondary batteries • Lead-acid. The typical car battery. May be sealed
• Nickel iron (NiFe). Very robust. Sodium hydroxide electrolyte. Lower capacity than lead-acid.
• Nickel-cadmium (NiCad). Original rechargeable version of the “AA” battery. Now used for portable power tools. Major problem with hazardous material. Can suffer from “memory effect”. Usually sealed.
• Nickel-metal hydride. Rechargeable version of AA and AAA batteries. Lower voltage but stays at same voltage throughout discharge. Higher capacity than NiCad.
• Lithium. High power applications. Two different types: Lithium-ion and lithium-ion-polymer. Flat shape
Lithium coin cell (PRIMARY)
Same size as a 10p piece. Lasts 10 years or more!
There is one in every computer – remembering the BIOS settings. Without it the computer wouldn’t know what sort of disk drive it had, etc!
Zinc-air cell (PRIMARY)
• Light weight – used for hearing aids • Exceptionally long shelf life – sealed • Out of all of the battery chemicals commonly in use today, it
allows for the greatest amount of power to be stored for a given weight.
Silver-oxide battery (PRIMARY)
• Used for watches. They come in about 60 different sizes • Low drain (e.g. SR44W) and high drain versions (e.g. SR44SW)
available. You can replace a ”W” with an “SW” without problems. • The silver-oxide battery is most efficient when squeezing the last bit
of electricity into a confined space for storage
Nickel-Cadmium battery (SECONDARY)
• Enabled the early use of portable power tools, camcorders, laptop computers and cellular phones
• Was the industry standard for portable computers until 1992
• NiCad batteries have been virtually displaced by NiMH and Li-ion
• Low energy density by weight makes it less desirable for portable computers
• NiCad batteries have a memory that prevents efficient topping up
• NiCads polute the environment if not disposed of correctly
• Low cost and high power capability make it the best technology for motor driven portable devices such as power tools
• Uses nickel hydroxide and cadmium electrodes with potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte.
Nickel metal hydride (SECONDARY)
• Commercial introduction in 1990
• Rapidly took market share away from NiCd batteries in the portable computing industry
• Differ from NiCd only by their negative electrode which is made of a metal alloy capable of storing a large amount of electrons.
• Metal hydride is produced as the charging product
• Energy density is almost 50% greater than NiCad
Lithium battery (SECONDARY)
• Outputs 3v per cell so NOT directly interchangeable with normal 1.5v batteries
• Produce the same energy as NiMH batteries but are 40% smaller, half the weight, and are better for the environment because they don't contain toxic materials
• Very good power to weight ratio
• Laptop computers and mobile phones
• Taking market share away from NiMH
• There are safety issues both when charging and on disposal!