Rechargeable batteries

Rechargeable batteries can offer economic and environmental benefits compared to disposable batteries. Some rechargeable battery types are available in the same sizes as disposable types. While the rechargeable cells have a higher first cost than disposable batteries, rechargeable batteries can be discharged and recharged many times. Proper selection of a rechargeable battery system can reduce toxic materials sent to landfill disposal compared to an equivalent series of disposable batteries. Some manufacturers of NiMH type rechargeable batteries claim a lifespan up to 3000 charge cycles for their batteries.

Usage and applications

Unlike nonrechargeable batteries (primary cells), secondary cells must be charged before use. Attempting to recharge nonrechargeable batteries has a small chance of causing a battery explosion.

Rechargeable batteries are susceptible to damage due to reverse charging if they are fully discharged. Fully integrated battery chargers that optimize the charging current are available.

Rechargeable batteries currently are used for applications such as automobile starters, portable consumer devices, tools, and uninterruptible power supplies. Emerging applications in Hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles are driving the technology to improve cost, reduce weight, and increase lifetime. ^[1] Rechargeable batteries have been known since the lead acid battery invented in 1859.

Grid energy storage applications use rechargeable batteries for load leveling, where they store electric energy for use during peak load periods, and for renewable energy uses, such as storing power generated from photovoltaic arrays during the day to be used at night. By charging batteries during periods of low demand and returning energy to the grid during periods of high electrical demand, load-leveling helps eliminate the need for expensive peaking power plants and helps amortize the cost of generators over more hours of operation.

Charging and discharging

The energy used to charge rechargeable batteries mostly comes from AC current (mains electricity) using an adapter unit. Most battery chargers can take several hours to charge a battery. Most batteries can be charged in far less time than the most common simple battery chargers are capable of. Duracell and Rayovac now sell chargers that can charge AA- and AAA-size NiMH batteries in just 15 minutes; Energizer sells chargers that can additionally charge C/D-size and 9V NiMH batteries.

Flow batteries don't need to be charged on place, because they can be charged by replacing the electrolyte liquid.

Battery manufacturers' technical notes often refer to VPC. This is Volts Per Cell, and refers to the individual secondary cells that make up the battery. For example, to charge a 12 V battery (containing 6 cells of 2 V each) at 2.3 VPC requires a voltage of 15.6 V across the battery's terminals.

Reverse charging

Reverse charging, which damages batteries, is when a rechargeable battery is recharged with its polarity reversed. Reverse charging can occur under a number of circumstances, the two most important being:

DOD

DOD means "depth of discharge". It's normally given in percent of the nominal capacity. 0% DOD means fully charged (no discharge). You would expect 100% DOD for a fully discharge; this it true for a nominal battery. But for real batteries measurements can show various end values of DOD (below or above 100%) for a complete discharge; this is due to tolerances in capacity. For rechargeables, due to aging, capacity, i.e. DOD for complete discharge, can change over time / discharge cycles.

Active components

The active components in a secondary cell are the chemicals that make up the positive and negative active materials, and the electrolyte. The positive and negative are made up of different materials, with the positive exhibiting a reduction potential and the negative having an oxidation potential. The sum of these potentials is the standard cell potential or voltage.

In primary cells the positive and negative electrodes are known as the cathode and anode, respectively. Although this convention is sometimes carried through to rechargeable systems—especially with lithium-ion cells, because of their origins in primary lithium cells—this practice can lead to confusion. In rechargeable cells the positive electrode is the cathode on discharge and the anode on charge, and vice versa for the negative electrode.

Table of rechargeable battery technologies

For brevity, entries in the table had to be abbreviated. For a full description, please refer to the individual article about each type. Battery types for which there is no article yet are listed below.

Common Rechargeable Battery Types

Created by Waldemar Jungner of Sweden in 1899 which was based on Thomas Edison's first alkaline battery. Using nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes, NiCd batteries have longer life cycles and hold electrical charge longer. However, their voltage potential difference are often less than that of Nickel-metal Hydride's.

First developed around 1980's. The battery has a hydrogen-absorbing alloy for the negative electrode instead of cadmium. Even though NiMH batteries have higher voltage outputs, the batteries discharge quicker and have a limited service life compared to NiCd.

The technology behind Lithium-ion battery has not yet fully reached maturity. However, the batteries are the type of choice in many consumer electronics and have one of the best energy-to-mass ratios, no memory effect, and a slow loss of charge when not in use. The popularity of Lithium-ion has spread as their technology continues to improve.

Less common types

Recent developments

Alternatives

Several alternatives to rechargeable batteries exist or are under development. For uses like portable radios and flashlights, rechargeable batteries may be replaced by clockwork mechanisms or dynamos which are cranked by the user to provide power. For transportation, uninterruptible power supply systems and laboratories, flywheel energy storage systems store energy in a spinning rotor for reconversion to electric power when needed; such systems may be used to provide large pulses of power that would otherwise be objectionable on a common electical grid.

A future development could be ultracapacitors for transportation, using a large capacitor to store energy instead of the rechargeable battery banks used in hybrid vehicles. One drawback to capacitors compared with batteries is that the terminal voltage drops rapidly; a capacitor that has 25% of its initial energy left in it will have one-half of its initial voltage. Battery systems tend to have a terminal voltage that does not decline rapidly until nearly exhausted. This characteristic complicates the design of power electronics for use with ultracapacitors. However, there are potential benefits in cycle efficiency, lifetime, and weight compared with rechargeable systems.

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