Page 12 - Battery Reference Book

Preface

Primary (non-rechargeable) and secondary (recharge- batteries such as silver-zinc and alkaline manganese
able) batteries are an area of manufacturing industry which are available in both forms.
that has undlergone a tremendous growth in the past Chapter 2 is designed to present the reader with
two or three decades, both in sales volume and in information on the types of batteries available and to
variety of products designed to meet new applica- assist him or her in choosing a type of battery which
tions. Not so long ago, mention of a battery to many is suitable for any particular application, whether this
people brought to mind the image of an automo- be a digital watch or a lunar landing module.
tive battery or a torch battery and, indeed, these Part 1 (Chapters 3-17) presents all available
accounted for the majority of batteries being produced. information on the performance characteristics of
There were of course other battery applications such various types of battery and it highlights the parameters
as submarine and aircraft batteries, but these were that it is important to be aware of when considering
of either the lead-acid or alkaline type. Lead-acid, batteries. Such information is vital when discussing
nickel-cadmium, nickel-iron and carbon-zinc repre- with battery suppliers the types and characteristics of
sented the only electrochemical couples in use at that batteries they can supply or that you may wish them
time. to develop.
There now exist a wide range of types of bat- Part 2 (Chapters 18-29) is a presentation of the the-
teries, both primary and secondary, utilizing couples ory, as far as it is known, behind the working of all the
that were not dreamt of a few years ago. Many of types of battery now commercially available and of the
these couples have been developed and utilized to pro- limitations that battery electrochemistry might place
duce batteries to meet specific applications ranging on performance. It also discusses the ways in which
from electric vehicle propulsion, through minute bat- the basic electrochemistry influences battery design.
teries for incorporation as memory protection devices Whilst battery design has always been an important
in printed circuits in computers, to pacemaker batter- factor influencing performance and other factors such
ies used in h.eart surgery. This book attempts to draw as battery weight it is assuming an even greater
together in one place the available information on all importance in more recently developed batteries.
types of battery now being commercially produced. Part 3 (Chapters 30 and 3 1) is a comprehensive dis-
It starts with a chapter dealing with the basic the- cussion of practical methods for determining the per-
ory behind t!he operation of batteries. This deals with formance characteristics of all types of battery. This is
the effects omf such factors as couple materials, elec- important to both the battery producer and the battery
trolyte composition, concentration and temperature on user. Important factors such as the measurement of the
battery performance, and also discusses in some detail effect of discharge rate and temperature on available
such factors as the effect of discharge rate on bat- capacity and life are discussed.
tery capacity. The basic thermodynamics involved in Part 4 (Chapters 32-43) is a wide ranging look at
battery operation are also discussed. The theoretical the current applications of various types of battery
treatment concentrates OK the older types of battery, and indicates areas of special interest such as vehicle
such as lead--acid, where much work has been carried propulsion, utilities loading and microelectronic and
out over the years. The ideas are, however, in many computer applications.
cases equally applicable to the newer types of battery Part 5 (Chapters 44-49) deals with all aspects of
and one of the objectives of this chapter is to assist the theory and practice of battery charging and will be
the reader in carrying out such calculations. of great interest to the battery user.
The following chapters ,discuss various aspects Finally, Part 6 (Chapters 50-63) discusses the mas-
of primary and secondary batteries including those sive amount of information available from battery
ix