Battery Storage Systems

Agenda

• System Components

• Applications

• How to Size Batteries

System Components
 Basic battery theory
• Electro-chemical reaction
• Two dissimilar metals
– Positive electrodes
– Negative electrodes
• Electrolyte
– Capable of conducting electric current
• Suitable container and cover
• Proper connecting Hardware
 Purpose of Batteries
• Once AC power is lost, batteries pick
up the load until the generator starts or
until power is regained

• Batteries provide power for both AC

and DC equipment during outages

• Benefits of using batteries

– Immediate response (compared to
generator)
– Do not require fuel source to be
replenished
– Noiseless (no muffler)
– Only emissions are Oxygen & Hydrogen –
no Carbon or Nitrous emissions
 Flat pasted plate construction
• Grid
– Collects and carries current
– Provides support for active material
– Tends to grow & corrode over time

• Active material (Paste)

– Positive = PbO2 (black, when fully charged
and healthy)
– Negative = Pb (gray)
– Primary source of chemical reaction
(electricity)
– Tends to degrade (soften) with heavy use
or deep cycling

• Plate = Grid + Paste

Lead acid battery internal construction
Lead acid battery construction (cell)

• Positive Plate
• Lead alloy grid and
PbO2 active material
• Negative Plate
• Lead alloy grid and Pb
active material
• Electrolyte
• H2So4
• Separator
• Container
Lead acid battery construction (monobloc)

• Positive plate
• lead alloy or pure
lead grid and PbO2
active material
• Negative plate
• lead alloy grid and
Pb active material
• Electrolyte
• H2SO4
• Separator
• Container
 Lead acid battery glossary

• Cell: A unit part of the battery

consisting of two dissimilar electrodes
immersed in an electrolyte:
1 cell = 2 volts

• Battery: An energy storage unit

consisting of two or more connected
cells where a conversion of chemical
energy to electrical energy takes place
– voltage varies depending on
application

• String: Series connection of batteries

of a required total cell quantity and
capacity
 Questions to ask

• Rack preference—step, tier?

• 2-step, 2-tier, 3-tier?

• How critical is space?

 Questions to ask

• Seismic rating – UBC, IBC, IEEE693

• Single string
• Parallel string
• Redundant strings
• Terminal plates / Overhead buss bar
• Plate orientation:
– Perpendicular & Parallel configurations
 Questions to ask

• Charger requirements?
• The person sizing the battery
must also know the charger
limitations, especially if the
existing charger is to be reused

• Charger must be able to meet

the recharge time requirement
and provide the continuous load

• Temperature compensation must

be considered
 Questions to ask
• Spill containment?
• Is the spill containment required by codes?
• Check with local inspector & fire marshals
• Contains acid spills
Standby applications comparison
 Typical standby battery applications

3 Major Markets Served: Telecom/UPS/Utility

• Telecom/Broadband - 24/48 volt DC, 4 or 8 hour rate

– Wireless: Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO) and Cell sites
– Wire-line: Central Offices (CO) and Outside Plants (OSP)

• UPS - 480 volt DC, 15 minute discharge

– Computer backup - Inside, clean, controlled installations

• Utility - 120 volt DC with various duration discharge

with 1 minute initial and final spikes
– Generation plants, transmission & distribution substations
 Standby applications
• Telecommunications
– DC Power backup for local telephone service
providers, long distance, fiber optic
transmission, cellular telephone service
providers and outside plant broadband
(bundle)
 Standby applications

• UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)

– AC Power backup for a wide-
range of commercial, industrial,
and government facilities
 UPS application

• UPS service – factors that affect battery life

– High current for shorter reserve time
• High current density

– Battery sized for reserve time closer to actual

usage
• Typical outage 2-3 minutes vs. sizing to 15 minutes

– More cells per string

– Exposure to more discharge cycles

• Blackouts, Brownouts, Generator testing
 UPS application

• UPS applications are more

stressful to batteries than
telecom & Utility applications

– Higher current density due to

typical reserve times of 10-15
minutes vs. 8 hours in
telecommunications
• Less efficient utilization of active
material
• Internal resistance more of a factor due
to higher discharge currents through
each plate and post
 Standby applications

• Utilities (Switchgear & Control)

– AC Power backup for Utility
companies, generally in generating
plants, and substations
– Designed to provide power backup
for switches, circuit breakers,
motors, monitors and
communications equipment used for
protecting electricity generation,
distribution, and transmission – also
known as Utility market
– Other common S&C applications
include oil & gas
exploration/production facilities,
transport, and manufacturing
operations
 Standby applications

• Switchgear Requirements

– Power for intermittent outages

• 2-20 outages/year
• Not considered a high cycling
application, but must be able to
handle 20 year’s worth of cycles

– Critical uptime issues

• Loss of electricity not tolerated
 Standby applications

• Switchgear Requirements
– Duty cycle
• Combination of continuous
and noncontiguous loads
• Initial and last loads are the Think duty cycle
Duration (8-12 hours)
most important instead of nominal Ah
• Example: rating!
– Initial high rates-1 minute
(Sheds loads)
– Long duration, sustaining
rate
– Concluding high rate-1
minute
– Breaker Tripping and
Closing
– Lights and Alarms
– Control Circuits
– Communications Circuits
 Typical application differences
Telecom Battery UPS Battery Utility Battery
Standby float application Standby float application Standby float application
Typ. 8hr discharge rates Typ. 15 min discharge Typ. 1hr discharge rates
rates
Constant current Constant power Multi-step duty cycle
discharge discharge discharge
Few cycles Moderate cycles Very few cycles
<10 cycles/yr 10-20 cycles/yr 2-5 cycles/yr
Long duration, deep Short duration, high rate Short & long duration
discharges (to 1.84vpc or discharges (to 1.67vpc) deep discharges (to
1.75vpc) 1.75vpc)
Poor high rates Very good high rates Good high rates
CO: temp. OK Typically temp. OK Varying temp environ.
OSP: high temp
 Typical battery design differences

Telecom Battery UPS Battery Utility Battery

Nominal 8 hr discharge Nominal 15 min. Combination of long &
rate discharge rate short duration rates
Thicker pos plates Thinner pos plates Moderately thick plates

Plates farther apart Plates very close Moderate plate center

High electrolyte to plate Low electrolyte to plate Moderate electrolyte to
ratio ratio plate ratio
Minimal cycling Improved cycling Moderate cycling
Poor high rates Very good high rates Reliable high rates

Good long rates Poor long rates Reliable long rates

How to Size a Battery
What to ask in sizing replacement battery?
• What is the actual load? (tells you if the same Ahr
capacity battery will work)
• Did the operating temperature change? (helps you
size the correct battery)
• Did the operating voltage range change? (helps
you set the proper charger voltage)
• Do you require spill containment? (helps you meet
the latest local codes)
• What are required design and aging margins?
(helps you size the battery)
• In most cases, replacing like-for-like will work.
However, above questions should be asked in
order to get the reliable battery system
 What to ask in sizing new battery?
• What are you backing up? (tells you the type of application)
• Do you have a space constraint? (tells you if the flooded is
applicable or if you need the multi-cell jars)
• What is the max / min voltage the system can handle?
(helps you using the correct Amp or KW values)
• What is the load requirement? (tells you capacity required)
• What is the system voltage? (tells you the # of cells
required)
• What is the operating temperature? (helps you size the
correct battery)
• What are required design and aging margins? (helps you
size the battery)
• What is the seismic zone? (helps you choose the correct
rack)
• Do you require spill containment? (helps you meet the local
codes)
 Battery sizing
• Some customers have internal battery-sizing
computer programs
• EnerSys provides an online Battery Sizing
Program (BSP) for flooded batteries
– www.enersys.com
• IEEE 485 provides guidelines for sizing batteries
– Temperature correction
– Design margin
– Aging factors
– Initial capacity vs. Peak capacity
• Battery system requirements typically dictated by
equipment in place
– Runtime based on Ah rating
– Single Cell (2V) vs. Multiple Cell (4, 6, or 8V)
 Standby applications

• Switchgear Requirements
– Duty cycle
• Combination of continuous
and noncontiguous loads
• Initial and last loads are the Think duty cycle
Duration (8-12 hours)
most important instead of nominal Ah
• Example: rating!
– Initial high rates-1 minute
(Sheds loads)
– Long duration, sustaining
rate
– Concluding high rate-1
minute
– Breaker Tripping and
Closing
– Lights and Alarms
– Control Circuits
– Communications Circuits
 Battery sizing

• Proper Sizing:
– Sizing the battery for the right application is key to
battery longevity and site reliability

– Sizing should take into consideration the

environment, aging factor, potential site growth
(sizing margin)

– Under sizing a battery will lead to:

• Shorter run times
• Deeper depth of discharge (shorter battery life)
• Loss of site reliability
 Questions to ask

• What factors/margins should be applied?

• What is the minimum temperature at which the
battery must supply the loads?
• See IEEE-485 for cell size temperature correction
factors
• Is a design margin required?
• This is a factor engineers sometimes use to
compensate for future growth, less than optimal
service conditions or other reasons – typical design
margin used is 10%
• Is an aging factor required?
• A battery is considered to reach the end of life when
its capacity reached 80% of rated capacity
• To assure that the battery can still support the loads at
end of life, a 1.25 aging factor should be applied
 Temperature correction factor
Sizing correction

• Must consider
temperature effect on
capacity

• Lead-acid batteries
are typically rated at
25C (77°F)

• Size batteries larger

(higher Ahrs) if
operated at colder
temperatures

• IEEE recommends
using the factor of 1,
when sizing at higher
than 25C (77F)
Source: IEEE485-1997
 Temperature effect
• Heat
– Accelerates chemical activity
• Increases corrosion rate
– Shortens life
– Increases self discharge rate
– Causes higher gassing rates
– Increases maintenance
– Increases capacity
– Raises charging current
• Accelerates dryout for VRLA
• Increases the watering interval for VLA
• Overall impact is shorter battery
life
 Temperature and float current
• The increase in float current at elevated temperature
impacts the grid corrosion rate and the gassing rate
(almost doubles for every 15F in temperature rise)

• Both the grid corrosion and the gassing rates

significantly impact the life of the battery

• One of the side effects of high level of gassing is

that it may possibly lead to a thermal runaway
condition
 Temperature effect

• Cold
– Slows the chemical activity
• lowers corrosion rate
– Causes lower gassing rates
– Maintenance is the same
– Results in lower capacity

• If cold temperature is not considered,

the battery may be undersized
 Reduced temperature
• Operating at lower temperatures is less harmful to
batteries than high temperature operation and will
often increase battery life
• However, there are some negative effects
1) Capacity decrease
• Resolved by applying a temperature correction factor
when sizing the battery
• Low temperature will reduce available battery capacity by
approx. 0.5% per degree F

2) Undercharging
• If the voltage is not temperature compensated (increasing
the charging voltage at lower temperatures), it is possible
that the batteries may become undercharged - resulting in
loss of capacity and life
Thank you! Any Questions?