Page 109 - Lindens Handbook of Batteries

4.6 PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION

TABLE 4.3b Examples of IEC Nomenclature for Primary Batteries
IEC Number System letter Shape Cell C, P, S, Groups in
Nomenclature of cells (Table 4.2c) (Table 4.2b) (Table 4.3a) X, Y Parallel parallel Example
R20 1 None R 20 * A unit round battery
using basic R20 type
cell and electrochem-
ical system letter
(none) of Table 4.2c
LR20 1 L R 20 * Same as above,
except using electro-
chemical system
letter L of Table 4.2c
6F22 6 None F 22 * A 6-series multicell
battery using flat F22
cells and electro-
chemical system letter
(none) of Table 4.2c
4LR25-2 4 L R 25 * 2 A multicell battery
consisting of two
parallel groups, each
group having four
cells in series of the
R25 type and electro-
chemical system
letter L of Table 4.2c
CR17345 1 C R See Section A unit round battery,
4.4.1 with a diam. of
17 mm and height of
34.5 mm, and elec-
trochemical system
letter C of Table 4.2c
* If required, letters C, P, or S will indicate different performance characteristics and letters X and Y different terminal arrangements.

4.4.2 Rechargeable Batteries
The documentation for standardization of rechargeable batteries is not as complete as the documenta-
tion for primary batteries. Most of the primary batteries are used in a variety of portable applications,
using user-replaceable batteries. Hence, the need for primary battery standards to ensure interchange-
ability. Developing such standards have been active projects by both IEC and ANSI for many years.
The early use of rechargeable batteries was mainly with larger batteries, however, usually applica-
tion specific and multicell. The large majority of rechargeable batteries were lead-acid manufactured
for automotive SLI (starting, lighting, ignition) use. Standards for these batteries were developed
by the Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE), the Battery Council International (BCI), and the
Storage Battery Association of Japan. More recently, rechargeable batteries have been developed
for portable applications, in many cases in the same cell and battery sizes as the primary batteries.
Starting with the portable-sized nickel-cadmium batteries, IEC and ANSI are developing standards
for the nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries. The currently available standards are listed in
Tables 4.1a and 4.1b.
Table 4.4a lists the letter codes that are being used by IEC and those adopted by ANSI for sec-
ondary or rechargeable batteries. The IEC nomenclature system for nickel-metal hydride batteries is
shown in Table. 4.4b. In this system, the first letter designates the electrochemical system, a second