How A Battery Works: Understanding Battery Operation
By: John Garcia | Date Posted: February 7, 2022
Table of Contents
How A Battery Works: The battery is one of the most important inventions in history, but most people have no idea how they work.
There are different kinds of batteries, each used for a different purpose to ensure that various electronics and machines can operate without being plugged into a wall socket.
Here we’ll be looking at the inner workings of various batteries and their applications.
This includes understanding the history of batteries and how they became common items in our homes, vehicles, and machines.
A Brief History of Batteries
Alessandro Volta invented the first electric battery, known as the voltaic pile, using zinc and copper plates with brine-soaked disks for steady current. However, Volta misunderstood its operation, believing it to be an infinite energy source. John Frederic Daniell later introduced the practical Daniell cell in 1836, which became the industry standard for electricity, particularly in telegraph networks. It featured a copper pot with copper sulfate solution, immersed in an earthenware container filled with a zinc electrode and sulfuric acid.
Modern Batteries
The alkaline battery, prevalent in modern electronics, features zinc as the negative electrode and manganese dioxide as the positive electrode. Its potassium hydroxide electrolyte remains unchanged during operation, with only zinc and manganese dioxide being consumed to generate power. In contrast, the lithium-ion battery is increasingly replacing alkaline batteries due to its high energy density, lack of memory effect, and low self-discharge. These batteries are widely used in rechargeable devices like cellphones and laptops.
Car Batteries
Automotive batteries are rechargeable units designed for starting cars and powering their electronics, providing sufficient current for the starter motor and a 12-volt system. The alternator charges the battery while the vehicle is running. Excess heat is the primary cause of battery failure, reducing plate surface area and leading to sulfation. Proper maintenance of battery terminals is crucial, as calcium build-up can cause electrical resistance, but applying dielectric grease effectively resolves this issue.
Electric Motors
Electric motors are ubiquitous, powering most mechanical movements through either alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC). They operate by using magnets to induce rotor motion within an electromagnet base. Components such as rotor, bearings, windings, stators, and commutators comprise their internal structure. Electric motors find wide applications in appliances like washing machines, dryers, vacuum cleaners, drills, hairdryers, power windows, and windshield wipers. They vary in size and can run on both AC and DC power sources.
The Future
These days, electric motors are powered by clean energy such as wind and hydropower.
Cars such as Teslas and other luxury brands have switched to producing electric cars to lower emissions.
The future of clean energy powered by electricity is imminent; however, the problem is that modern mining can be harmful to the environment. Only time will tell if electric cars and Social Energy are viable options.
The Ups and Downs of Using Batteries
Batteries are ideal for powering breadboard projects, circuit boards, and other circuits. Portable and available in various form factors, they’re capable of varying voltages, currents, and power sources. The batteries can be exactly what you need if you need a portable power source or temporary power.
AA, 9V, and even coin cells can be used for circuits and breadboarding projects. Batteries get larger and more expensive quickly in larger or electro-motive projects. Portable projects can be powered by batteries that are attached to or contained in the project.
Stable and Clean Power
Although the discharge curve needs to be considered, batteries provide very stable and clean power. A battery’s discharge curve is governed by chemistry and physics.
A new battery is usually very high when it is fresh (sometimes even just charged on the surface) but quickly declines as it ages. In most of the battery’s life, the battery discharge curve declines steadily after the high-energy phase. This phase influences the voltage of the battery.
Voltage
The rated voltage is the voltage and power output of the battery when the battery is at its most steady state. When the discharge curve reaches this flat part, batteries fall quickly to the voltage cutoff level (if you have battery management or minimum voltage circuitry) or are fully depleted (if they are primary or non-rechargeable batteries). It is essential to avoid fully draining rechargeable batteries.
Finite Battery Life
Battery life is finite. Its portability comes with a “feature” of limited capacity. It is possible for a circuit with moving parts to consume all of the available energy, and the battery will be discharged quickly.
Think about how to use switches to reduce power use while doing other activities in your project. An indicator for battery levels can also be helpful in addition to a battery alarm and automatic cutoff.
Charged batteries may behave differently from dead ones. There will be a change in motor speed. The lights may become brighter or darker. There might be problems with the sensors. Other circuit parts may still work even though the ICs do not have enough voltage to operate.
Thank you for reading!
