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This page is all about

Electrolyte of Lead Acid Battery


Chemical Action of Lead Acid Battery
Maintenance of Lead Acid Battery
Maintaining Battery Lead Acid Battery Room

Electrolyte of Lead Acid Battery


Electrolyte of lead acid battery cell is a solution of sulfuric acid and distilled
water. The specific gravity of pure sulfuric acid is about 1.84 and this pure
acid is diluted by distilled water until the specific gravity of the solution becomes 1.2 to 1.23. Although, in some cases specific gravity of diluted sulfuric acid are recommended by manufacturer of the battery depending upon
type of battery, season and climatic condition.

Chemical Action of Lead Acid Battery


The battery cells can be recharged by reversing the direction of discharge
current, in the battery. This is done by connecting, positive terminal of a dc
source with positive terminal of the battery and similarly, negative terminal
of the dc source with negative terminal of the battery. A rectifier type battery charger of suitable capacity is used as dc source for changing battery.
Due to charging current (reverse of discharging current) positive plates
change to lead peroxide and negative plates change to pure lead. As soon as
load is connected across the battery terminals, discharge current starts flow
through the load and battery starts discharging. During discharging process,
acidity of the electrolyte solution decreases and lead sulfate deposits on both
positive and negative plates. In this process of discharge the amount of water in the electrolyte solution increases that is specific gravity of the electrolyte decreases. Theoretically, this discharge process continues until the
negative and the positive plates contain maximum amount of lead sulfate
and at that point both types of plate becomes electrically similar that means

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cally, no battery cell is allowed to be discharged up to this point. The battery


cells are allowed to be discharged up to a predetermined minimum cell voltage and specific gravity. A fully charged lead acid battery cell has voltage
and specific gravity, 2.2v and 1.250 respectively, and this cell is normally allowed to be discharged till the corresponding values become 1.8V and 1.1 respectively.

Maintenance of Lead Acid Battery


If the cells are over charged, the physical property of lead sulfate gradually
changes, and it may become obdurate from which it becomes difficult to convert by charging process. Hence, the specific gravity of the electrolyte decreases for which rate of chemical reaction is hampered. Sulfated battery
cells can easily be recognized by viewing changed color of plates. The color
of a sulfated plate becomes lighter and its surface becomes harsh and gritty.
Such cells evolve gas prematurely on charge and show a decreased capacity.
If the sulphation is allowed for long time, it becomes difficult to rectify the
cells. To avoid this situation, it is recommended to charge the lead acid battery cells for prolong time at a low rate of charging current.
There is always a high chance at the terminal connectors of the battery cells
to be corroded. Corrosion mainly affects at the bolted connection between
cells in a row. This can easily be avoided if the tightness of each bolt is properly checked and rectified and also each nut bolt connection is covered by a
thin layer of petroleum jelly. If any of the cells is corroded, it should be replaced immediately.

The specific gravity of the electrolyte may be permanently decreased due to


ageing effects. This problem is generally found in old battery cells. This is
mainly due to,

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i.

Action of sediment-at the bottom of the cell container.


ii.
Due to loss of acid by spray during charging.
iii.
Inadequate treatment after the removal short circuit.
iv.
Due to excessive sulphation on the plates.

If the lowering of specific gravity is not due to sulphation or short circuit,


concentrated sulfuric acid may be added to restore normal value of specific
gravity.
A short circuit may occur between the positive and negative plates either
due to treeing or due to buckling of the plates. Treeing is usually due to excessive gassing which tends to loosen the active materials from the plates.
The particles of active materials fall into the electrolyte and may accumulate
on the negative plates in such a way as to bridge the space between the positive and negative plates. This treeing can be removed by the use of scaling
stick made of ebonite. By this stick it is possible to explore the space between these two types of plates of a cell and to remove loose materials or
treeing.
If the short circuit is due to buckling of plates, this can be removed by inserting additional separator or by removing and straightening the plates mechanically.
After removing of short circuit, care should be taken to restore the specific
gravity of the electrolyte to normal by constant charging by high current.

Maintaining Battery Lead Acid Battery Room


There is a high chance of acid spray and gases during charging of battery.
These may pollute the atmosphere surrounds the battery. Hence, ample
space and good ventilation is essential inside the battery room. These gases

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tery room and also smoking is strictly prohibited inside the battery room.
There should be at least one exhaust fan of suitable size, fitted in the battery room to keep the atmosphere free from those gases and free from moisture inside the room. The temperature inside the battery room should always be maintained above 10C. The walls, ceilings, doors, window frames,
ventilators, metal parts and other apparatus in the battery room should be
painted with anti-acid coating at regular intervals. The electrical wiring inside
the room should be in metal conduit and lighting fixtures should be flameproof in construction. All the switching elements including electrical fuses
and plug sockets should be installed outside the battery room otherwise
there may be a chance of fire hazard initiated from sparking during switching operation. The floor of the room should be well finished preferably by using ceramic tiles. The floor and walls of the room should be cleaned properly
in regular intervals.
There are some safety measures to be taken during handling storage battery in substation

1 Do not smoke inside the room.


2 Do not bring a flame inside the room.
3 Do not generate any spark inside the room.
4 Wear plash proof goggles, rubber gloves, while working with the battery.
5

During preparing electrolyte always add the concentrated acid little by


little to the water.

6 Never pour water into the concentrated acid.


These all above mentioned points should be displayed on the door or any
other well visible place of the battery room.
The following rules to be obeyed during operation, control and emergency
lighting service of the storage battery.

1. Do not allow the battery to stand idle for long time this may cause inactivation of the battery cells.

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2. Do not charge the battery with very high rate of current because high
rate of charging causes high temperature rise and excessive gassing resulting in heavy loss of water and sometime overflowing of electrolyte
from the battery cells.

3. After every complete discharge, the battery should be immediately


charged before returning it to its regular floating service. Otherwise there
may be a chance of deposition of sulphate film on the plates.

4. As already mentioned, the battery cells should be charged gently at normal rate so that there will be no chance of immediate gassing and temperature rise over 40C. Otherwise there may be damage to the battery
cells due to high temperature. During charging of batteries, continuous
monitoring is required, if gassing starts and the temperature reaches the
said limit, reduce the rate of charging. If after reducing the charging rate,
the temperature is still approaching to the limit, it indicates the completion of charging process because even the normal rate of charging may
produce high temperature rise if the battery approaches to the fully
charged condition.

5. The voltage of each of the battery cells should be checked before conclusion of charging and each of the cells are properly and equally charged
and the readings should also be tallied with previous record.

6. If the electrolyte level inside the battery cell comes down, it must be
filled with distilled water up to the level marked on the cell itself. This is
to compensate the loss of water due to evaporation.

7. During filling up distilled water in the battery cell, it must be carefully


watched that the electrolyte level in the battery cells should not exceed
the line marked on it. Otherwise there may be a chance of overflowing of
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also cause softening the sealing compound on the top cover and subsequent leakage in the battery cell.

8. The specific gravity should be measured after at least two weeks from
topping up to ensure thorough mixing of water in electrolyte.

9. The battery should be discharged up to the allowable limit and then it


should be overcharged once in 2 to 3 months. The rate of overcharging
must be followed as specified by the manufacturer. This operation is very
important to maintain the acid storage battery in the active state.

10. When specific gravity of electrolyte is measured, it should not be forgotten to correct it for temperature. So that, all hydrometer readings will be
referred to same temperature. The hydrometer should be kept clean with
distilled water otherwise the hydrometer will cause incorrect readings and
as well as spoil the quality of electrolyte. The specific gravity of electrolyte must be kept within 1.180 to 1.240. Low value of specific gravity
decreases the capacity of battery and on the other hand high value is
harmful for the battery plates.

11. The substation battery normally operates under floating mode. At floating mode, a constant voltage from the battery charger is applied across
the battery during its normal operation to keep the battery approximately
in fully charged condition. In normal condition the battery charger supplies the substation load and also compensate the losses in the battery.
But in case of heavy demand during simultaneous operation of many
switchgears, the battery and the charger, are combined to supply the demand.

12. During normal floating condition the cell voltage, specific gravity and

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tion of battery as a whole. But the same readings of each and every battery cell should be taken at least once in the month to keep monitored
the conditions of individual cell.

13. The battery should be refilled with fresh electrolyte once in three years
interval to maintain the battery in proper operating conditions.

14. This is should be noted that, the pilot cell of a battery bank is one arbitrarily chosen battery cell which is used to get the information about
overall condition of the battery. But one pilot cell must be fixed for one
month and it should be changed in next month.

15. This was a brief description of maintenance of substation battery but


it is always preferable also to follow the instructions given into the maintenance manual supplied by the manufacturer too.

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