The Problems Faced By Small Scale Battery Manufacturers

According to a survey report, 50% of the aggregate sale of batteries is in automotive Industry itself. The automotive Industry is growing by 30%, which is very good indication for battery industries. In spite of these facts, it’s still a challenge to produce a quality and efficient battery for small and micro size battery manufacturers.

Therefore, it is suggested that you can choose the following two options:-

First - Make better Battery Second- You can improve the quality of your batteries.

In the first option, making better batteries requires a large investment, and a need to capture the public’s interest as well as market share.

There will be huge payoff for some, and quite failure for others. I would suggest for considering the second option, this is the only formula to make your batteries better by using a correct method and technique of processing. Small and Micro size battery manufacturer can adopt this formula for making their trouble free, extended life and low cost batteries within a limited parameters.

Battery at par with the filed of activity

Better performance of the Battery depends on the method of manufacturing and its processing. If a small battery manufacturer adopts proper technique and method of processing, he can improve the battery life and power. Mostly it’s common that a small battery manufacturer imitate manufacturing process of the large Battery manufacturers, resulting in making similar or common battery’s plates for all type of batteries. While it is essential to make your battery‘s plates according to requisite feature and type of different batteries.

This depends on the fact as to what is the field of activity of the relevant battery. Every battery’s manufacture should know the basic information like- what kind of battery he is going to produce and what are the original characteristics and behavior of particular battery’s plates? and what sort of deficiency may come during their cycle? For example –what are the basic characteristics of positive and negative plates used in the battery? What should be the composition? To identify the deficiency which may come to light at the time of usage of the Battery.

Mostly, the frequent problems of positive plate results due to the shedding and corrosion of battery plates. In the negative plates, the main problems are hardness (deposition of passive layer of sulfation on the surface of the plates), low power backup, cold start and self-discharge. So a battery’s manufacturer keeps in mind the above basics before the making batteries. A quality assurance department in a plant should monitor and control each parameter at every stage of the manufacturing process that may ultimately affect the final performance of the battery.

Increasing the positive: negative active material ratio is good but it has some adverse effects, it is misguided to assume that increasing the weight of the plate will necessarily improve the performance of the battery.

Factors which affect the performance of the battery

The performance of the Battery depends upon the following factors :- Oxide purity; Paste density; paste formulation; degree of over pasting; pasting technique; composition and microstructure of the grid alloy; grid design; morphology, surface-area and porosity of the active material.

Battery manufacturers make the mistake of allowing the paste mixing quality to the paster which is not correct. The performance of the Battery depends on the quality of the paste too. The Battery Manufacturers should well realize that the Grid does not stick the paste. This is also to understand that it is not necessarily that preventing from shedding of active material only can achieve by increasing the thickness of the grid, because whatever the grid thickness may take if paste quality are not proper one cannot reduce the shedding problem of the active material.

Performance of the plates cannot be only measure by its weight

Increasing the ratio of the Positive – Negative active material but it has adverse effects too. Therefore, it is misguided to assume that increasing the weight of the plate will necessarily improve the performance of the battery. The standard and quality of the Battery should be good then only you can enhance the battery power and life which is possible only through proper method of processing and following the techniques of manufacturing.

Any technology of world cannot be measured by its weight; it can only be measured by performance and efficiency. Majority of the Battery manufacturers now realize the necessity as to how they can achieve the increased performance battery starting- current power, reserve-capacity performance and high-temperature durability (cycle-life) from thinner and thinner, low-cost plates.

–Manoj Srivastava
(Electro-Chemist & battery consultant)
E-mail: redsunmanoj@gmail.com