How to make Battery Durability

Saturday, May 2, 2015

If there is a technology that can be lost and cause distress in human civilization, technology Lithium-ion battery (Li-ion) may be one of them. Understandably, the use of Li-ion battery has been so pervasive human life. Ranging from notebook, tablet, smartphone, until the number of AA batteries (not that 1,2V or 1.5V) that we use actually use Li-ion technology.



There are a lot of information that accompanies the Li-ion battery popularity this. Unfortunately, it is often conflicting information. An example may be a matter of whether a notebook full capacity of the battery is still connected to the mains. Or may I spent battery capacity to zero and then refilled again. Though the information is important because it deals with the life of the battery.

Btw, we mean "age" here is not how long the duration of the battery when not plugged into the electricity yes, but the age of the battery until it is damaged and must be replaced. Li-ion battery life is usually expressed in discharge / charge cycle alias how much she used and refilled. Every time you put on and fill in repeated, theoretically, durability or age will be reduced.



Voltage limits

To know right from wrong, it helps us know in advance the common voltage limits used by a Li-ion battery. According to Battery University research can be seen in Figure 1, the Li-ion battery (actually a variety of energy storage cells contained therein), has an upper limit voltage at 4,2V.

After reaching 4,2V, chargers (charger) should turn off the power supply. The battery itself should also have a safety to cut off the flow of chargers if its voltage reaches 4,2V. If Li-ion battery is continuously recharged though already 4,2V, the possibility that the battery will be damaged or even cause fire.

Because there is a safety system on the charger or battery pack, there should be no problem dong when we keep plugging the charger even if the battery is fully charged? Apparently not. You should continue to unplug the charger from your device.

Why? The first precaution suppose charger and Li-ion batteries are used not to implement a safety. The second reason, when silenced, Li-ion battery will still release a number of electric charge despite not encumbered (or so-called self-discharging). Thus, the cell Li-ion battery will fall voltage. When the voltage across the cell is less than 4,05V, a charger will automatically recharge the Li-ion battery in question until the cell reaches 4,2V. In other words, the battery will continue to recharge in a short pause, thereby reducing battery life.

What about the disposal of electrical charge or discharge energy (discharge)? Li-ion batteries also can not dispose of electric charge excessively. Generally, the lower limit on the level of the cell this voltage is 3,0V. Voltage that is too low could make Li-ion batteries experience a short circuit so that hazardous when recharged. But fortunately, a safety feature that is installed in the battery will generally euthanize Li-ion battery when the voltage reaches 2,7V. Li-ion batteries that have been put to sleep, unfortunately can not be recharged using mostly charger.

When to Refill?

Then at the level of the energy content remains how much is right for recharging? If you want to get the value of discharge / charge cycle is optimal, based on research conducted site established by Isidor Buchmann (author of Batteries in a Portable World - A Handbook on Rechargeable Batteries for Non-Engineers), recharge when the remaining energy level has been reached 50%. Comparison between recharging at a number of levels of remaining energy to the value of discharge / charge cycle can be seen in Figure 2.

From the table above shows, the minimum value of the DOD x Cycle happens if the battery recharged when the capacity is used up 10% and 100%. That is, do not get used to recharge the battery runs out waiting beforehand. Also, do not get used to recharge the battery when the new unused bit. In addition, the value of discharge / charge cycle was influenced by the extent to which you refill.

Calibration

To prevent the remaining energy content indicator becomes inaccurate, three months using Li-ion batteries to depleted energy content (in terms of voltage to the lower limit), then refill to the brim (in the sense that until the upper limit voltage). The goal would be a device that could perform duty measurement calibration.

If the frequency of discharge / charge cycle you high, this calibration can be done in less than three months. You can perform this calibration when the discharge / charge cycle has reached forty from the last time calibration.

What Should Be Done?

So from a number of the above it can be concluded that in order for the Li-ion battery is durable alias long age, you should do some of the following:

• Use batteries and chargers are equipped with the correct security.

• Do not run out of new energy content to recharge the batteries.

• Do not recharge the battery fully.

• If you recharge the battery fully, the charger should be removed.

• Keep the Li-ion battery temperature is not hot, either when used, refilled, or stored.

• Use a battery to run out and do a full re-charging up to three months or after forty discharge / charge cycle.

 Well, hopefully with the steps above, you can long life battery.