Battery Sizing

Standard: IEEE 485: Recommended Practice for Sizing Lead-Acid Batteries for Stationary Applications

Cell selection :

Different cell designs having different charge, discharge, and aging characteristics are available for lead
acid battery . Cell selection is to be made by considering factors such as physical size, life, cost etc.

- Plante, Tubular, pasted plate, OPZs (based on method of positive plate construction)

- Flooded cell, VRLA, sealed etc. (based on whether battery is vented or valve regulated or sealed etc)

Generally flooded cells are used in NPP application. Flooded cell allows the monitoring of electrolyte
level and specific gravity etc.

Plante and Tubular plate designs are being used in NPP.

OPZs battery is new design of tubular battery. This design takes less floor area compared to
conventional tubular batteries. It is used in pony motor UPS system of PFBR.

Cell sizing

1. Determination of number of cells

𝑀𝑎𝑥 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑒 (𝑡𝑦𝑝 .𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 +10%)

Max. number of cells = 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑕𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 )

(this is for ensuring that DC bus voltage does not exceed the allowable system
voltage)

𝑀𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑏 𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑦𝑝 .𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 −15% − 𝑐𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑝
Min. number of cells = 𝐸𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒

(this is for ensuring that DC bus voltage does not go below the allowable min
system voltage)
2. Duty Cycle

Battery duty cycle gives the expected load current that battery has to supply with respect to time on
failure of AC supply to battery charger till the expected time to restore the AC supply.

A1

Current
(A) P1
A2

A3
P2
P3

1 60 240
Time (minutes)
Section-1

Section-2

section-3

3. Duty cycle is divided into different periods and sections

In the above duty cycle, there are three periods. (P1, P2 and P3). Three sections are defined as

Section-1 : constitutes P1 only

Section-2 : constitutes P1 & P2

Section-3: constitutes P1, P2 & P3

4. Analyzing each section to determine battery capacity

Section-1 contain only P1. Capacity (in AH) required = A1 x Kt

A1 is the ampere for period P1,

Kt is the capacity rating factor for ‘t’ minutes (Kt value for t minutes and for a particular end of discharge
voltage is obtained from manufacture curves). Here t= 1 minute
For section-2, the capacity is calculated by assuming that the current A1, required for the first period,
continued through the second period (i.e upto 60 minutes); this capacity is then adjusted for the change
in current (A2–A1) during the second period.
i.e capacity required for section-2 = A1 x k60 +(A2-A1)x k59

For section 3, capacity is calculated as same manner as in section-2.

i.e capacity required for section-3 = A1 x k240 + (A2-A1) x K239 + (A3-A2) x k180

5. Determination of cell capacity (without correction factors)

The required cell size (without correction factor ) is maximum of the capacity calculated for among
individual sections.

6. correction factors:

Design margin (typ. 10%)

Aging margin (25 %)

Temperature correction