Introduction To Rechargeable Batteries for Battery Buyers
In today’s world there are few things that function unaided by a battery of some kind. Be it a digital camera, a flashlight, a two-way radio or even a car - batteries are a ubiquitous component of contemporary life. Over the past few decades batteries have become even more prevalent in business, medical, government and military applications. So much so that many businesses spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on battery purchases for the wide variety of portable equipment their workforce may use. Even the average individual relies on battery power for a significant part of their daily routine. However most of us underestimate the importance of a battery till a situation turns desperate. Many of us have experienced the frustrations of a cell phone or laptop or even ipod battery dying at the wrong time! As very few of us actually understand the technology and chemistries behind portable power or how batteries work, here’s a brief introduction for battery buyers.
Though we call all of them batteries, there are two distinct types that exist : “Disposable” batteries (the AA or AAA cells that power your TV remote) and “Re-chargeable” batteries (the batteries that power most portable devices like laptops, cell phones, two-way radios etc.). While disposable or primary batteries cannot be recharged and used again, the secondary or rechargeable batteries by definition can be resurrected to life once their power has been depleted. Rechargeable batteries are widely used in portable devices of all sizes and shapes by individuals, businesses and government agencies world-wide.
Rechargeable or ‘storage’ or ‘secondary’ batteries are an attractive option to disposable batteries because of the the return on investment they offer by virtue of their longevity.
Since rechargeable batteries seem to be all-pervading in modern life, let’s take a deeper look into what makes them tick…literally! We’ll start by understanding what enables them to be reused. Rechargeable batteries are basically ‘electrolytic cells’ – that use an electrolyte, a cathode and anode and make your portable device come alive by producing energy through an electrochemical reaction. The reason this battery can be recharged emerges from the fact that this electrochemical reaction can be reversed with the help of an external electrical source. This external power supply replaces the load in the external circuit and forces the reactions in the cell to run in the opposite direction. With the result the initial reaction is replayed and the cell gets recharged.
