Amperis battery regeneration system

The Amperis battery regenerator successfully eliminates sulfation, eliminating lead sulfate, restoring battery capacity and extending the life of old and sulfated batteries. The regenerator can also be used for annual maintenance. The great advantage of the Amperis Battery Regeneration System is the dissolving capacity of the hardened sulphate in the battery terminals and the restoration of this as active material. To eliminate the hardened sulfate, the equipment applies a high frequency ripple current.

The Amperis Battery Regeneration System consists of a battery charger of last generation and a battery discharger:

 

• The MMF charger is a universal, controlled and programmable charger; It works with any type of battery efficiently thanks to the high frequency IGBT hybrid technology. It can reach up to 700 VDC output and goes from 50A to 300A. With this charger it is possible to customize the charge curve.
• Automatic battery discharger designed to test the efficiency of industrial batteries of any type, voltage and capacity. For batteries up to 600V, possibility of putting several units in parallel, which allows the discharge to any current, with high frequency IGBT regulator, which allows the discharge to constant current.

The regeneration of the battery can be of reconditioning (it allows to condition old batteries giving them more years of life) or of maintenance (it allows to keep the battery in an optimal state without sulphate making a short annual regeneration).

• Reconditioning Regeneration of the  battery: the best option for old batteries that work below their optimum level by sulfation or to revive batteries that have lost load capacity because they have not been used for a long time. We can see in the graph below that from the 4th year of life of the battery, its capacity and performance plummet. By performing the battery regeneration, we recover it and get it to operate at good levels.

 

• Maintenance regeneration of the  battery: the best option to extend the life of new batteries, being possible to double their useful life and maintain it at its maximum productive capacity. By performing this maintenance, the battery improves its long-term performance by doubling its performance.

 

 

The level of regeneration acquired by the battery has to be measurable to quantify the improvement that has occurred in it. For this, the most accurate methodology is the one used by the Amperis Battery Regeneration System, which uses a battery discharger that allows 100% battery discharge time to be measured before and after regeneration.

Applications:

• Starter batteries
• Stationary batteries
• Batteries of solar systems, wind, emergency, UPS, ..
• Traction batteries
• Ni-Cd batteries

The problem of sulfation:

The lifetime of more than 80% of the batteries is reduced by sulfation. Lead sulfate inevitably accumulates in the electrodes increasing internal resistance. The causes that cause sulfation are inherent in lead-acid batteries but there are other reasons such as battery inactivity, a very deep discharge or load cycles were not respected among others.
The accumulation of sulphate crystals in the battery electrodes prevents the battery from supplying current effectively. This process accelerates with the passage of time hence the importance of regenerating the battery.

Advantages:

70% of the batteries that are discarded, is due to sulfation problems. There are several reasons why the useful life of the battery is shorter than estimated as:

• Generation, accumulation and deterioration of lead sulphate
• Reduction of electrolytes caused by electrolysis
• Corrosion
• Loss of active materials

The regeneration of batteries is a very profitable practice since it is saved in the acquisition of new batteries, the energy bill is reduced and the costs of technical incidents and derived maintenance are eliminated. It should also be noted that the regeneration of batteries contributes to the improvement of the environment, since if the battery is not regenerated it must be discarded, being the residues highly toxic.

In summary, the regeneration + maintenance of the battery supposes:

• Savings in maintenance costs
• Savings in battery replacement (longer life)
• Savings in equipment repair (less technical incidents)
• Savings in replacing components
• Labor savings and maximum productivity
• Savings in generation and waste treatment (waste reduction)
• Savings in energy cost