Simulation of Battery Systems: Fundamentals and Applications

education.

Chapter 1

Battery technologies

Abstract

Battery industry is dealing with many different cell types, and many other materials are tested each day by different scientists. All the efforts are performed to improve the performance of the cell, but the problem is not very easy. Because there are many different challenges available, many of them conflict to each other. For example, improving cyclic life may increase the cost of the cell. In this chapter, the present state of the battery technology is first investigated. Then the main challenges are discussed in more detail. Finally, some promising technologies are introduced and briefly explained.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) as an environmental management tool, especially in recent decades, has received a special status for helping decision-makers. LCA is the most critical methodological platform for understanding the environmental impact of different production systems. Despite the advantages and uses that LCA have in today's societies, it has great potential for progress. These improvements must be both scientifically accurate and practicable. The ability to quantify in LCA is one of the most critical features of this analysis, and it is worth noting that if extended to the LCSA, this feature is maintained. Although this tool is not able to identify methods, processes, and products with more economical costs, it can detect the option with the lowest load and environmental impact and change the final result. This advantage and increasing the importance of the environment in the choice of the alternative have expanded its use.

Keywords

battery; battery types; future of batteries; life cycle assessment

Chapter Outline

1.1  Applications

1.1.1  Miniature batteries

1.1.2  Batteries for portable equipment

1.1.3  SLI batteries (starting lighting & ignition)

1.1.4  Vehicle traction batteries

1.1.5  Stationary batteries

1.1.6  Military & aerospace wide range

1.2  Terms and definitions

1.2.1  Capacity

1.2.2  Energy and power

1.2.3  Specific values versus density

1.2.4  State of charge and depth of discharge

1.2.5  Charge efficiency

1.2.6  Side reactions

1.3  Battery main challenges

1.3.1  Energy content

1.3.2  Power

1.3.3  Self-discharge

1.3.4  Shelf life

1.3.5  Cyclic life

1.3.6  Memory effect

1.3.7  Maximum charging/discharging current

1.3.8  Charging time

1.3.9  Performance

1.3.10  Safety and reliability

1.3.11  Cost

1.3.12  Recycling

1.4  Conventional battery technologies

1.4.1  Lead–acid (LA)

1.4.2  Nickel–cadmium (NiCad)

1.4.3  Nickel–metal hydrate (NiMH)

1.4.4  Lithium-ion (Li-ion)

1.4.5  Metal–air

1.5  Future technologies

1.5.1  Advanced Edison Ni–Iron battery

1.5.2  Advanced lead–acid battery

1.5.3  Solid-state lithium-ion

1.5.4  Gold nanowire batteries

1.5.5  Grabat graphene batteries

1.5.6  Sodium-ion batteries

1.6  Modeling and simulation

1.7  Life cycle assessment

1.7.1  History of LCA

1.7.2  LCA methodologies

Goals and scopes

Inventory analysis

Impact assessment

Interpretation

1.7.3  LCA benefits

1.7.4  LCA limitations

1.7.5  Future of LCA

1.8  Environmental impact assessment of battery technology

1.8.1  Lithium-ion batteries

1.8.2  Lead–acid batteries

1.8.3  Nickel–metal hydride

1.8.4  Conclusion

1.9  Summary

1.10  Problems

Literarily, a battery means a system that contains a specific amount of energy. By this definition, a compressed spring, a rock on a mountain, compressed air, elevated water, or any other energy storage system can be considered as a battery. However, in modern technologies, battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electricity using electrochemical reactions.

By means of electrochemical reactions the chemical energy stored in chemical bonds is converted to electrical energy. The electrochemical reactions occur in two different places that are known as electrodes. At one electrode, the active material is oxidized, and a specific amount of electrons is produced. At the other electrode, the produced electrons are consumed, and the active material is reduced. Hence an electrochemical battery consists of a pair of oxidation/reduction reactions. Since the overall reaction of a battery is through the electrochemical reactions that are normally taking place in low temperatures, the efficiency of these devices is higher than a direct combination of the active materials. Consequently, batteries are categorized as medium-quality devices or converters.

The present state of technology strongly depends on the improvement of electrochemical batteries. In many cases, battery technology is the Achilles' heel; for instance, when we talk about the advances in electric car industries, we notice that the main challenge is the energy and power density of the batteries. Therefore many megafactories have made a lot of investments in improving different battery types and technologies.

Technically, batteries are categorized as energy storage devices that are made in different shapes and types. They can be found from very tiny coin cells to very large and industrial shapes. Coin cells are used in low energy consuming or portable applications, including watches, toys, laser points, calculators, and so on. On the other hand, large industrial batteries can be found in megafactories for energy regulation and optimization. A large number of cells can be connected in series or parallel to fulfill the desired energy and power. For example, in power stations, arrays of lead–acid batteries (conventionally tubular types) are installed for storing Mega-Watt-hour of electrical energy.

It is interesting to note that the first usage of batteries in human history backs to about 2200 years ago. Wilhelm König in 1938 found a small pot about 14cm in size near the city Baghdad. The place was close to the metropolis of Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian (150 BC–223 AD) and Sasanian (224–650 AD), the third and fourth Persian empires. The explored pot was equipped with a copper cylinder and an iron rod, as shown in .

Figure 1.1 Persian batteries (224–650 AD).

Since the pot historically belonged to the Persian empires, the battery was called Persian battery or Baghdad battery after the name of the city where it was found. The exploration of Persian battery arose a lot of questions, some to approve and some to deny the device as a battery; unfortunately, the beginning of World War II masked the issue. The main challenge of exploration was the role of the device. Did Persians really use them as a battery? If yes, what for? And if human being invented a battery for such a long period, why the science was dimmed in history?

The questions became more interesting when some golden coated metallic pieces were found near the same place and further in remains of Parthians and Sasanians. Did really ancient Persians use the device for electroplating? The investigations showed that the voltage of the cells was not high enough for this purpose; but did ancient Persians know how to connect the cells in series and parallel? As another hypothesis, some believed that electrical energy was known at that era and was used for physiotherapy. The idea came from historical sources, which reported that ancient nations knew how to cure the pain by eels surely producing electricity.

The case is still under discussion, and there is no any idea about the origin or application of Persian batteries. However, after the fall of Sasanians, it took about two thousand years for the human being to reinvent the electrochemical cells. Luigi Galvani started the very first ideas and experiments that finally led to the invention of electrical cells. Galvani and his wife in a series of fundamental experiments found that the muscles of animals are moved by electrical signals. The idea was quite controversial at the time and was opposed to the accepted concept of air causing motions. Their experiments led to the invention of the scientific term of animal electricity, the effect also known as Galvani effect. Today the bioelectricity or Galvani effect is called electrophysiology.

In his experiments, Galvani used to deal with static electricity for muscle contraction of some animals such as frog. In a surprising experiment, he noticed that instead of static electricity, if one touches the muscles of a dead frog by two dissimilar metallic rods, then the same effect is applied on frog's muscles; in other words, the muscle contraction is observed, and even electrical sparks were evident.

The works of the great Italian physicist Alessandro Volta fine-tuned the works of Galvani and finally invented an electrochemical cell or battery. Volta invented the first battery in 1800 and called it the voltaic pile. The pile consisted of some zinc and copper disks piled on top of each other and separated by cloth. The assembly was filled with brine as the electrolyte. Although it was Volta who invented the first pile, the electrochemical laws and relations were studied and formulated by the famous British physicist Michael Faraday. The works of Faraday invented a bridge between chemical energy and electricity.

After the invention of the first pile, many scientists started working on different battery types. One of the biggest challenges at the time was to prevent hydrogen evolution. For instance, the British scientist John Frederic Daniell invented a solution for capturing the evolved hydrogen in another electrolyte reservoir. As another attempt for preventing hydrogen bubbles, the French electrical engineer Georges Leclanché invented a cell consisting of zinc metal as the negative electrode and a mixture of manganese dioxide and carbon pasted on a graphite plate as the positive electrode. The invention took place in 1866 and was a great success in telegraphy, signaling, and electric bell work. It was also the first step toward the dry cell invention.

Without a doubt, the invention of the first rechargeable battery by the French scientist, Gaston Planté in 1859 was a great breakthrough in battery technology and history. Planté made the cell by lead and lead dioxide as the negative and positive electrodes filled by sulfuric acid. Both electrodes were rolled in a spiral shape and were put in a cylindrical container. The most important characteristic of the cell was that after usage, it could be recharged by passing the current in reverse direction. Planté's lead–acid cells were used for powering up the lights in train carriages while stopped.

and easy to be produced in mass production. The internal resistance of the cell was very low, meaning that the cell could provide very large electrical surges. To increase the mechanical characteristics of the plates, Planté used to make thick plates resulting in heavy batteries. Consequently, the lead–acid cells were useful in places where the weight was not a matter.

Many other scientists in different countries invented different battery types. For example, Waldmer Jungner in Sweden and Thomas Edison in the US invented alkaline batteries such as nickel–cadmium and nickel–iron between 1895 to 1905. These batteries were rechargeable like lead–acid batteries but were the first alkaline cells. Using an alkaline electrolyte instead of commonly used acid electrolytes opened a new window for improving and inventing many different batteries because many materials are unstable in acid but stable in alkaline. One of the advantages of nickel–iron battery, also known as Edison's cell, was that it was very tolerant in bad charging and environmental conditions. Moreover, its cyclic life is very high, meaning that a cell can be charged and discharged many times.

The invention of different types of batteries improved the performance of the cells. More specifically, the more the energy and power content and cyclic life, the less the self-discharge, less gas production, low memory effect, and other characteristics that identify the behavior of cells. Lighter batteries are vital for portable devices. The invention of nickel–metal hydride (NiMH) in 1990 and lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in 1991 were a big breakthrough in battery technology. They were very high in specific energy and also could provide high power. At the same time, their cyclic life is very high. The electrochemistry of lithium-ion batteries differs from other conventional batteries due to the fact that in Li-ion cells the charge and discharge processes are taken place through intercalation or insertion.

1.1 Applications

Batteries are commonly manufactured and produced in many shapes and sizes for many purposes in different applications. For these reasons, there are many battery types with chemistry available and also many other types are under investigation. The diverse applications of batteries makes it difficult to give a complete classification. Here some important applications are categorized.

1.1.1 Miniature batteries

, which can be provided by coin or button cells. Electric watches, calculators, implanted medical devices, toys, laser points, and so on are some examples of devices that require miniature batteries.

in height.

International standard IEC 60086–3 defines an alphanumeric coding system for Watch batteries. The first letter indicates the chemistry of the cell, according to Table 1.1. The second letter is usually R, indicating that the cell has a round shape, that is, the cell is cylindrical. The package size of button cells is indicated by a two-digit code representing a standard case size, or a three- or four-digit code representing the cell diameter and height. The first one or two digits are the nominal diameter of the cell in millimeters rounded down; exact diameters are specified by the standard, as tabulated in Table 1.2. The last two digits are the overall height in tenths of a millimeter.

Table 1.1

Common specification of coin cells [1].

Table 1.2

Diameter code for the first one or two digits for coin cells [1].

Example 1.1

Define the characteristics of with code numbers CR2032, CR2025, and SR516.

Answer

According to IEC 60086–3 standard, these cells have the following characterizations:

CR2032(referring to by its last two digits.

CR2025.

SR516. □

Example 1.2

. What is its standard code in the market?

Answer

Since we need a zinc–air cell, the first letter should be P. The required diameter and height suggest the code PR920. □

1.1.2 Batteries for portable equipment

. These devices, including flashlights, toys, power tools, cell phones, laptop computers, cordless devices, wireless peripherals, emergency beacons and so on, usually use alkaline cells such as NiCd and NiMH or may use Li-ion batteries. The high energy consumption requires that secondary or rechargeable cells are to be used in these devices, but primary cells are also used in huge amount.

Since the portable devices use lots of energy, the coin or button cell types are not proper. The cells used in these applications are usually in A, AA, AAA sizes, whereas B, C, and D sizes are also available in the market. These cells have cylindrical shapes and are standardized by IEC. The specifications of some of the most popular types are tabulated in Table 1.3. Note that there are many other types available, namely F, N, and so on, but they are less common in the market for household uses.

Table 1.3

Common specification of cylindrical cells for portable devices [2].

Other than cylindrical shapes, the prismatic and pouch cells are also widely used in portable devices such as cell phones. Since the diameters of tubular cells are too large for incorporating in a cell phone, pouch types are preferred in such devices. The main benefit of pouch cells is that they have no hard case, so they become very light and suitable for portable devices. These cells have no any standard for their dimension, so they can be found in any shape or size. Since the pouch cells are usually Li-polymer, and the case is not very hard, a safe space should be designed inside the device in which the cell is to be used.

1.1.3 SLI batteries (starting lighting & ignition)

.

For SLI applications, the best technology choice is lead–acid batteries. The main advantages of lead–acid batteries in such applications are their low cost, ability to provide high power, and their potential for recycling. The huge number of produced cars need a technology that is environment friendly and has a good recycling capacity. Lead–acid batteries in this view are the best candidate and are superior over their competitors.

in the market, though higher capacity can be easily provided by lead–acid cells. The older technology was flooded lead–acid batteries, but in recent decades, gelled and sealed types are more common. SLI batteries are used in cars, trucks, buses, lawn mowers, wheelchairs, and robots.

. Therefore, for electrical devices such as lights, radio, indicators, and other electronic parts, we need either a voltage regulator, which is expensive, or a 12-V SLI battery, which is the selected choice.

1.1.4 Vehicle traction batteries

For a hybrid or fully electric car, batteries are extensively used to store and provide the required energy. Even in fuel cell cars, in which the main source of energy is provided by a fuel cell, batteries are needed to provide the required power for accelerating or hill climbing. Since the power demand is very high, usually NiMH or lithium batteries are the best candidates. Nowadays, even NiMH cells are not very common, and most modern cars are using lithium-based batteries.

, although any other requirement can be fulfilled by using more cells in series or parallel. The packs can provide electric energy for electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, fork lift trucks, mild floats, locomotive, and so