Eliminating battery failure - two new leading indicators of battery health - a case study

Abstract

In the backup power industry, reliable power is a must. A large and growing installed base of lead acid batteries supply mission critical power to hospitals, banks, mobile telecommunication sites, receiving and transmission utility sites, and countless other industrial and commercial installations. Despite the importance of these mission-critical, backup power systems remaining healthy, in most cases customer testing of their systems does not accurately show battery health. This is mainly due to the fact that only the electrical properties of the battery have been measured using conventional battery test equipment. Consequently, sites are not adequately protected, preventative maintenance costs remain high, and batteries are replaced frequently. The World Energy Labs' Interrogatortrade Electrochemical battery analyzer is the only battery testing solution available today for the Energy Storage and Power Conversion industries with the ability to accurately measure both the electrical and chemical state of a battery. Two chemical processes, dryout (loss of water from a valve-regulated lead acid cell) and sulfation (a build up over time of lead sulfate on the plates) are two leading causes of battery failure in backup power systems. Proprietary CEL-Scantrade algorithms allow the Interrogatortrade to test both the Electrical and Chemical (Electrochemical) parameters within lead acid batteries. The Interrogatortrade has proven to be capable of detecting significant degradation within cells before the more usual ohmic measurements show any variation from their baseline values. The results of the CEL-Scantrade algorithms for Dryout and Sulfation show remarkably good correlation with actual discharge or load test results, in some cases eliminating the need to perform load testing, which is time-consuming and unsafe. Failing batteries can be caught earlier and serviced; prolonging life, reducing maintenance and replacement costs, and reducing the amount of hazardous materials going into recycling plants. Although the algorithms have been developed for the stationary battery market, their fields of application is actually wider and are now finding use in motive power and other areas.