Identification of Flowing Electrolyte Lead Acid Battery Operating Voltage

Abstract

Identification of the operating voltage of a lead acid battery with 30% sulfuric acid electrolyte flow has been carried out. The battery consists of six cells with Pb and PbO as electrodes. The battery is equipped with a 1200 ml reservoir system to collect electrolyte and supply electrolyte to each cell. Each cell has electrolyte inlets and outlets at the top and bottom that circulate through each cell using a peristaltic pump. The battery prototype built was tested for five charge-discharge cycles with a constant current of 2 A for the charging process and 0.5 A for the discharging process using Turnigy Accucell. During the charge-discharge cycle test, monitoring and recording of voltage data is carried out using a Laptop PC. Data processing uses WebplotDigitizer and Microsoft Excel for data graphing. The results are analyzed and used to identify the operating voltage of the battery by taking the average voltage over five charge-discharge cycles. The average voltage is 13.98 V for the charging process and 12.11 V for the discharging process. Six-cell battery with full capacity works at a voltage range of 12.11-13.98 V. In the process of charging with a constant current of 2 A, the battery takes an average of 7.49 hours. So, the charging capacity can be estimated at 14,980 mAh. Whereas the battery discharge process takes an average of 11 hours with a constant current of 0.5 A to a voltage drop of 10.81 V. The resulting capacity of the discharged battery is 5500 mAh. Keywords: flowing electrolyte, lead acid battery, operating voltage