Desulphator construction using PIC Microcontroller

Introduction of Desulphator

The Batteries are the basic components in almost all electrical or electronics system which have to operate sometimes with power from grid usually this situation is terms as  stands alone or sometimes called off the power grid. The systems like this usually operates on renewable power which is highly efficient off course but not available all the time like solar power systems are available in day time but not available in night time. Then there is need for power back up, which comes usually from batteries. There are several different types of batteries available in market of various capacity. The user can buy and installed these keeping in view his requirement. But here we are focusing on only one type battery which is highly used very where and it is called the lead acid battery.  As we know that with the passage of time the lead acid battery loses their capacity and getting weaker and weaker at after some more time spend these batteries fails. It is all due to build up salt on plates of batteries. Here we will study can we remove these salts from batteries and extend the life of batteries.

Chemical Reaction inside a lead acid battery

As we know that the Lead acid batteries have internally some Chemical Reactions being occurred all the time while charging or discharging. These batteries have plates which can reactive chemically with the solutions in which these are put into. The plates are of two type in a battery which are explained as the lead plates which act as anode and the lead peroxide plates which act as cathodes.

The construction of the lead acid battery plates is little bit tricky that the plates are made usually sponge structured consisting of tiny spheres to results in a very large reactive surface area. The chemical solution in which these plates are dipped in is called electrolyte. The electrolyte used in the lead acid batteries is almost all the time is sulfuric acid. There are two reactions took place, one during charging and other during discharging. The chemical reaction during discharge is that the sulfate ions of sulfuric acid in the water reacts with lead of plates to make lead sulfate crystals, these crystals are lining on the surfaces lead plates. This is the sulfate clogging process in lead acid battery which starts during discharging.

During the charging process of lead acid battery, the chemical reactions took place in reverse order. Here is bad knews that the lead acid battery unfortunately rarely get hundred percent fully recharged or 100% lead sulphate ions are not converted back to lead and sulphate. It means that after each charging-discharging cycle, some of lead sulphate slats will add up to plates, therefore residual sulfate crystals gradually accumulate.

After about some considerable time spent like a couple of years of normal use of lead acid battery, the battery is clogged enough to deny its intended function. The studies predicts that it is the cause of failure of lead acid battery. Here we like to add that the Lead acid batteries can also fail for other reasons like improper temperature or improper use or improper selection charging/ discharging parameter etc. But the sulfating of salt on lead acid battery plates is the largest reason. Here we are discussing to make a device to remove the salts from the battery and prevent these to further accumulate on plates. To avoid failure of lead acid batteries.

 

The historically adopted practice to make a battery in condition that is required and off course is highly intended for is to apply a periodic equalization. The process of equalization is that a higher charging voltage are applied to battery periodically to normalized the plates of battery and if any accumulation is being took place it may be removed from the plates of batteries. The equalization voltages are normally high that the floating voltage of batteries. And normal time of equalization lies between one to three hours. This procedure have very good results in cleaning the battery plates. But the problem is wastage of useful energy and if the energy is coming from costly sources then at the end there will be a big lose like in the case of use of generator to charge the battery.

The alternative technique to overcome the problem is one we are discussing right now. The use of desulphator. The technique used in the desulphators works on an interesting aspect of lead acid batteries. This especial aspect is the “resonant frequency,” which is at high frequency side of spectrum. The resonant frequency depends on various parameters of the battery and it’s construction / use etc. It remains in the order of 2 to 6 megahertz. This frequency found in the low ranges of the shortwave radio waves. This resonance effect will dissolve the sulfur ions from plates into the electrolyte. When the vibrational resonance state due to resonance frequency took places, uncountable collisions between the ions in the electrolyte and the battery plates starts during the periodic back & forth vibration continues and ultimately the cleaning of plate’s took places. But it can take a considerably large time for a heavily sulpated; lead acid battery. The other method is to install the desulpator permanently on the battery in all the time during charging and discharging conditions. It will continue to work in background and accumulation will not took place any more. The rhythmic beating process of the plates will continuous which causes the breakup of the crystalline deposits in a very slow rate but sure, if the pluses are being applied continuously. The advantage of use of desulphators is that it brings the crystal back into the electrolyte of battery to re-use them again and again and keep the capacity of battery on desirable level. In contrast to other chemical solution like use of EDTA etc. which brings the crystal to bottom of each plate and reduces the surface or battery area and results in lowering the battery capacity.

The desulpahtors actually generate pulses and feed them to the Battery in periodic function fashion like desulphator pulse then rest then pulse then rest etc. and continues to ensure the recovery process of the battery.

Various desulfator design are available across the internet, some of which uses technology to generate the pulse to desulfate a battery with relatively high current and other with relatively small current but the frequency somehow remains same band. The main difference is use of inductor coil at the end, larger the coil, larger the current in pulse to pass through the battery. There are two theories now at this stage some engineers said the larger current is batter to dissolve the salts from plates of battery and other says larger current can destroy the plates itself. I think it depends on the size of battery.

With the advancement in the technology efficient storage systems are being designed, new and new type of battery are being invented at the same time the desulpators of new and innovative ideas are being tries to make the lead acid batteries free of unwanted salts on plate or in simple word free of sulfation. The lead acid batteries are very critical for its charging characteristics which demands a correct determination of its parameters during charging/ discharging cycle to extend their operational lifetime.

 Desulphator for Lead Acid Battery

        Sometimes the lead acid batteries, like we use these in car,  over a period of time get degraded and do not accept charge and / or do not give backup. These batteries fails to restart a car and we have no other option to replace these with brand new battery form market. Here is a good news that with a little effort we can retrieve theses faulty batteries with an electronics circuit called desulfator.

        Here we will learn to develop a Lead Acid battery desulphator. First of all, we have to know that what is the sulphation in lead acid battery and why it happens. Actually, with the passage of time the lead plates accumulates salts called sulfates on them. Due to accumulation of these salts on plates of lead acid batteries, the internal resistance of the battery increases. With a high internal resistance, the battery fails to charge and thus fails to give required back. Infect the capacity of battery decreases gradually and a point come when it no longer accepts further charge and give minimum backup. The sulphation in lead acid batteries is poison and it shall be removed as earlier as possible. The later stages have less changes of success towards the removal of undesirable slats from plates of battery.

        The desulphator will remove the buildup of slats from plates and increase the capacity of battery. If we apply the desulphator permanently on battery it will increase the lifespan of battery considerably. The battery plugged with desulpahtor enhance its life and effectiveness even it ages.

Technique of desulphator:

        
The technique we used in this desulfator is short time high current pulses passing through battery will melt the salts and a continuous operation will remove the buildup of salt completely from plates of battery. There are four reasons for the use of high current pulses for a short time through battery.

1. It will prevent further sulphation of lead acid battery.
2. The periodic pulse of about 100A for 50 μsec after each 15 Sec will dissolve the un-wanted salts.
3. During the pulses we will be able to measure the state of charge SOC of battery.
4. The internal resistance will be measured during the periodic pulses, it will tell use the internal resistance and condition of battery with sign of improvements using the continuous operation of desulfator.

The automatic battery desulfator will do the multiple task during it continuous operation like it will charge, maintain, and keep battery in proper shape without any supervision. The desulphator will automatically detect the battery voltage then adjust the charging amperages, provides the battery short high current discharge pulse, measures the internal resistance and measures the SOC. It will do all above tasks with safety through automatic adjustments and built-in protections for overcharging, overheating. It will Work with a variety of different batteries like 6-volt and 12-volt batteries. Use of this device will service many types of batteries. It automatically identifies and measure the level of sulfation. This unit also charges and helps maintain batteries in good condition.

The desulphator will be equipped with a digital display and LED light indicators, the value of charge and discharge ampers on LCD, along with the internal resistance and SOC. This high-tech desulfator will offer three basic functions with reliable performance.

1.     Charging of battery, means no need of external charger to battery.

2.     Desulphator

3.     Measure internal resistance and SOC

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