Battery Applications and Parameters

The following are notes on Batteries for their common applications and parameters

• Battery Applications
• Portable Applications
• Portable electronics, laptops, iphones, toys, medical devices
• battery used to start engine in cars is the largest market
• lead acid and lithium ion
• High energy batteries, highest energy for given size
• Stationary Applications
• Pairing with with intermittent sources of electricity
• high energy is less important
• Common Forms Factors of Batteries
• Button Cells in Watches
• Cylinder Cells
• Lithium Ion
• Prismatic Cells
• Sizes of Batteries
• 4.5-volt (3R12) battery 
• D Cell
• C cell
• AA cell
• AAA cell
• AAAA cell
• A23 battery
• 9-volt PP3 
• button cells
• Types of Batteries
• Chargeable or non-chargeable
• Battery Chemistry
• Alkaline 
• Lead acid 
• NiCd nickel cadmium
• NiMH nickel metal hydride
• Lithium ion
• Important Parameters of Batteries
• Energy (Watt Hour)
• Energy Density - Energy Per Unit Volume
• Specific Energy - Energy Per unit Weight
• Characterize the total amount of energy it carries, lifetime of battery once you charge it up, distance of electric car
• Power (Watt)
• How fast you can take the energy out of a battery
• Power Density Power per unit volume
• Example more important for Laptop, fitting into size constraint for a high usage device
• Specific Power Power per unit weight
• Car, heaviness of battery impacts performance
• Life
• Cycle Life, times we can charge and discharge a battery with its capacity still above 80% of the original
• Calendar Life Time a battery can last if left on shelf
• Electrical car ensure it can last for about 10 years?
• Safety
• Battery intrinsically is in unstable state
• Temperature Performance
• Cost
• Currently its difficult to justify batteries for cars and grid use

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