WHY ATC IN LEAD ACID BATTERIES?

Automatic Temperature Compensation ATC

In some countries the weather conditions are extreme hot and in some the conditions are extreme cold. Year-round power outages force industrial and household users to seek assistance with power backups. Often, energy in these power backup technologies is stored in batteries, primarily lead acid batteries.

In resulting these weather conditions impact the health of Lead Acid Batteries including tubular lead acid and VRLA (Valve Regulated Lead Acid), also known as SMF (Sealed Maintenance Free) batteries. Due to this issue people frequently complains about the failure in these batteries.

The impact of weather conditions impacts the battery life, necessitate frequent water input, reduce battery backup, improper battery charging, and result in high electricity bills. As a result, if you intend to use your batteries for an extended period of time, you must pay close attention to them during the hot summers and cold winters and understanding how temperature changes affect battery charge and discharge is critical.

Effect of Temperature on battery

The most important factor influencing UPS battery ageing and premature battery failure is high ambient temperature.

Higher temperatures cause a faster chemical reaction inside the battery, increasing water loss and corrosion.

The rated design life capacity of Valve Regulated Lead-Acid (VRLA) batteries is based on an optimum operating temperature of 20-25°C.

It is generally accepted that every 10°C constant increase in temperature above this recommendation will halve (reduce battery service life by 50%).

Do extreme temperatures have an effect on the charging of lead-acid batteries?

When the ambient temperature is 25 degrees Celsius, standard inverters are fed the information to charge batteries. As a result, even if the ambient temperature exceeds 40 degrees Celsius, the batteries will be charged as if it were 25 degrees Celsius.

At 25 degrees Celsius, the inverters set a boost voltage of 14.4V to charge the Lead-Acid batteries, implying that if your battery is 12V, it will stop charging only when it reaches 14.4 volts.

However, nowhere on the planet experiences year-round temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius. As a result, one thing that standard inverters overlook is the ambient temperature.

An ordinary inverter overcharges the battery when the ambient temperature is high.

Optimal Temperature Charging

The standard rating for batteries is at 25 degrees Celsius (about 77 F). Battery Ah capacity drops to 50% at about -22 degrees F (-30 degrees C). Capacity is reduced by 20% when frozen. At 122 degrees Fahrenheit, capacity increases; battery capacity would be about 12% higher.

When the air temperature is 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.67 degrees Celsius), a car battery performs best. It is said that after a few miles of driving, the temperature under the hood will rise and remain elevated for the duration of the trip. As a result, when a heatwave hits (90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.22 degrees Celsius) or higher), more vehicles are at risk.

High Temperature Charging

The cyclic life of the battery would be significantly reduced at higher temperatures. A battery’s cycle life is reduced by 20% if it operates at 30 °C (86 °F) rather than a more moderate lower temperature. At 40 °C (104 °F), the loss increases to 40%, and if charged and discharged at 45 °C (113 °F), the cycle life is only 50% of what is commonly expected when used at 20 °C (68 °F).

High-temperature conditions hasten thermal ageing and may reduce battery lifetime. The majority of the time, high-temperature effects are attributed to the high internal temperature of batteries during operation rather than the ambient temperature. The high internal temperature is caused by heat generation inside the batteries, which occurs when the current is high, such as during fast charging and discharging operations.

Low Temperature Charging

Countries such as Russia, Canada, and Greenland Island are generally high-altitude locations with mild temperatures all year. At these low operating temperatures, batteries exhibit slow chemical-reaction activity and charge-transfer velocity, resulting in decreased ionic conductivity in the electrolytes and electrode-ion diffusivity. Such a decrease will result in a reduction in energy and power capability, as well as, in some cases, performance failure. Most batteries have a 50% performance level at -20 °C (-4 °F). Although the NiCd battery can be discharged to -40 °C (-40 °F), the maximum allowable discharge is only 0.2C. (5-hour rate). Specialty Li-ion batteries can operate at temperatures as low as -40 °C, but only at a reduced discharge rate.

How does ATC Technology battery charging issues?

ATC is a one-of-a-kind feature found in high-quality Lead Acid batteries. The inverter can sense the ambient temperature and adjust its charging accordingly thanks to ATC technology.

When the outside temperature is 40 degrees Celsius, the Boost voltage is reduced to 14.13 volts. Similarly, due to ATC, various types of Lead-Acid batteries charge at a higher boost voltage of 14.85V at zero degrees Celsius. These voltage changes occur as a result of ambient temperature sensors informing the inverter of the outside temperature.

The inverter’s processor performs complex calculations and charges the battery at the required Boost Voltage. So, technically, your inverter adjusts the Boost voltage using integrated ATC technology and charges the batteries based on the outside temperature.

Advantages of ATC in Lead Acid Batteries