ELECTROTECHNOLOGY I

By
Sulaiman Olanrewaju, Oladokun
 Objectives

• Differentiate between primary & secondary

cell
• Operation (with aid of sketches):
– Lead-acid battery
– Alkaline battery
• Battery charging system
Sources of Power: Batteries
 WHAT IS A BATTERY?

•A battery is a device consisting of one or more galvanic cells, which

store chemical energy and make it available in an electrical form.
•A battery has a voltage, measured in volts, an internal resistance
measured in ohms, and a capacity, measured in ampere-hours, which
may vary due to many factors including internal chemistry, current
drain, and temperature.
•There are two types of batteries, primary and secondary, both of
which convert chemical energy to electrical energy.
•A primary batteries can only be used once, as they use up their
chemicals in an irreversible reaction. Secondary batteries can be
recharged because the chemical reactions they use are reversible;
they are recharged by running a charging current through the battery,
but in the opposite direction of the discharge current.
 BATTERY HISTORY
•The story of the modern battery begins in the 1780s with the
discovery of "animal electricity" by Luigi Galvani, which he
published in 1791. He created an electric circuit consisting of
two different metals, with one touching a frog's leg and the other
touching both the leg and the first metal, thus closing the circuit.
He noticed that even though the frog was dead, its legs would
twitch when he touched them with the metals.

•By 1791, Alessandro Volta realized that the frog could be

replaced by cardboard soaked in salt water, employing another
form of detection. Volta was able to quantitatively measure the
electromotive force (emf) associated with each electrode-
electrolyte interface (voltage) in volts, which were named after
him. In 1799, Volta invented the modern battery by placing
many galvanic cells in series, literally piling them one above the
•In 1836, Daniell cell provided more reliable currents and
were adopted by industry for use in stationary devices,
particularly in telegraph networks where they were the only
practical source of electricity. These wet cells used liquid
electrolytes, which were prone to leaks and spillage if not
handled correctly. Many used glass jars to hold their
components, which made them fragile.

•Near the end of the 19th century, the invention of dry cell
batteries, which replaced liquid electrolyte with a paste
made portable electrical devices practical.
•The battery has since become a common power source for
many household and industrial applications. According to a
2005 estimate, the worldwide battery industry generates
US$48 billion in sales annually.
 HOW A BATTERY WORKS

•A battery is a device that converts chemical energy directly to

electrical energy It consists of one or more voltaic cells.

•Each voltaic cell consists of two half cells connected in series

by a conductive electrolyte. Each cell has a positive electrode
(cathode), and a negative electrode (anode). These do not
touch each other but are immersed in a solid or liquid
electrolyte. In a practical cell the materials are enclosed in a
container, and a separator between the electrodes prevents the
electrodes from coming into contact.
•The electrical potential difference across the terminals of a
battery is known as its terminal voltage, measured in volts. The
terminal voltage of a battery that is neither charging nor
discharging is called the open-circuit voltage, and gives the
emf of the battery.

•The voltage developed across a cell's terminals depends on

the chemicals used in it and their concentrations. For example,
alkaline and carbon-zinc cells both measure about 1.5 volts,
due to the energy release of the associated chemical
reactions.
 TYPES OF BATTERIES.

•There are various types of batteries depends on its sizes and

chemical properties. Generally there are two main types of
batteries:
1. non-rechargeable (disposable)
2. rechargeable
•Non-rechargeable (disposable)
•Disposable batteries, also called primary cells, are intended to
be used once and discarded. They are not designed to be
rechargeable. These are most commonly used in portable
devices with either low current drain, only used intermittently,
or used well away from an alternative power source.
•Rechargeable Batteries
•Rechargeable batteries are also known as secondary
batteries or accumulators .They can be re-charged by
applying electrical current, which reverses the
chemical reactions that occur in use. Devices to supply the
appropriate current are called chargers or rechargers.
•The oldest form of rechargeable battery still in modern
usage is the "wet cell" lead-acid battery. This battery is
notable in that it contains a liquid in an unsealed
container, requiring that the battery be kept upright and
the area be well ventilated to ensure safe dispersal of the
hydrogen gas produced by these batteries during
overcharging. A common form of lead-acid battery is the
modern wet-cell car battery.
 Battery Capacity and Discharging

•The more electrolyte and electrode material there is in

the cell, the greater the capacity of the cell. Thus a
small cell has less capacity than a larger cell, given the
same chemistry though they develop the same open-
circuit voltage.

•The capacity of a battery depends on the discharge

conditions such as the magnitude of the current, the
duration of the current, the allowable terminal voltage
of the battery, temperature, and other factors.
•The available capacity of a battery depends upon the
rate at which it is discharged. If a battery is discharged
at a relatively high rate, the available capacity will be
lower than expected. Therefore, a battery rated at 100
A·h will deliver 5 A over a 20 hour period, but if it is
instead discharged at 50 A, it will run out of charge
before the theoretically expected 2 hours.

•The relationship between current, discharge time,

and capacity for a lead acid battery is expressed by
Peukert's law. The efficiency of a battery is different at
different discharge rates. When discharging at low
rate, the battery's energy is delivered more efficiently
than at higher discharge rates.
 Environmental Considerations

•Since their development over 250 years ago,

batteries have remained among the most expensive
energy sources, and their manufacturing consumes
many valuable resources and often involves
hazardous chemicals. For this reason many areas
now have battery recycling services available to
recover some of the more toxic and sometimes
valuable materials from used batteries. Batteries may
be harmful or fatal if swallowed. It is also important to
prevent dangerous elements found in some batteries,
such as lead, mercury, cadmium, from entering the
environment.
 The Electric Battery
• A BATTERY is a source of
electric energy.
• A simple battery contains
two dissimilar metals,
called ELECTRODES, and
a solution called the
ELECTROLYTE, in which
the electrodes are

partially immersed.
 The Electric Battery
• An example of a simple battery would
be one in which zinc and carbon are
used as the electrodes, while a dilute
acid, such as sulfuric acid (dilute),
acts as the electrolyte.
• The acid dissolves the zinc and causes
zinc ions to leave the electrode.
• Each zinc ion which enters the
electrolyte leaves two electrons on the
zinc plate.
• The carbon electrode also dissolves
but at a slower rate.
• The result is a difference in potential
between the two electrodes.
 The Dry Cell
•The Dry cell is relatively inexpensive
and quite portable.
•It has many uses such as in flashlights
and radios.
•The anode consists of a Zinc can in
contact with a moist paste of ZnCl2 and
NH4Cl.

•A carbon rod surrounded by MnO2 and

filler is the cathode.
•The cell reaction appears to vary with
the rate of discharge, but at low power
the probable reactions are as follows:
 Lead Storage Cell
The basic features of the lead
storage cell are electrodes of
lead and lead dioxide, dipping
into concentrated sulfuric acid

Both electrode reactions produce lead sulfate, which adheres to the electrode.
When the cell discharges, sulfuric acid is used up and water is produced.
The state of the cell can be determined by measuring the density of the
electrolyte solution (the density of water is about 70% that of the sulfuric acid
solution).
 Primary cell

• Chemical action eats away one of the

electrodes (usually -ve side)
• When happened, electrode must replaced or
cell discarded
• In galvanic-type cell, zinc electrode &
electrolyte must replaced
• Dry cell - cheaper to buy a new one
 Secondary cell
• Electrodes & electrolyte altered by chemical action when cell
delivers current
• Cells may restored to original condition by feeding current in
opposite direction
• Metal plates & acid mixture change as battery supplies voltage
• Metal plate become similar & acid strength weakens –
discharging
• Recharging - applying current to battery in reverse direction,
restored battery materials
• Example - automotive lead acid batteries
 Battery capacity
• Capacity of battery to store charge - ampere hours (1Ah = 3600
coulombs)
• 1 Ah - battery can provide 1A) of current (flow) for one hour
• Factors affecting battery performance:
– Chemical reactions within cells
– Discharge conditions – current magnitude, duration, battery terminal
voltage, temperature etc
• Battery is discharged at constant current rate over fixed period of
time such as 10 or 20 hours, down to set terminal voltage per cell
• So, 100Ah battery is rated to provide 5A for 20hours at room
temperature
• Battery efficiency - different at different discharge rates
• When discharging at low rate, battery's energy is delivered more
efficiently than at higher discharge rates - Peukert's Law
 General description
• Rated at 24V DC - some cases use 110V or
220V DC – large emergency lighting, vital &
battery is the only single source
• 2 main types of rechargeable battery:
– Lead-acid
– Alkaline
 Lead acid battery
• Nominal cell voltages - 2V
• Thus, 12 lead-acid cells must connected in series - 24 V
• More cells connected in parallel - increase battery capacity
• Battery capacity – rated at 10 hrs discharge
• 350 Ah – will provide 35 A for 10 hours
• Will have lower capacity at shorter discharge rate – checked
manufacturer's discharge curves
• After 10 hour discharge, cell voltage will fallen to approx 1.73
V
• State of charge indicated by its electrolyte SG using
hydrometer
Lead acid
battery
Hygrometer tester
 Lead acid battery (cont/…)
• Fully charged lead-acid cell – SG about 1.27-1.285 (1270-1285)
• Falls to about 1.1 (1100) when fully discharged
• Cell voltage also falls during discharge – can also state of charge
indication
• Safely discharged until cell voltage drops to approx 1.73V
• Open-circuit (no-load) voltage readings – can’t interpret that cells are in
healthy charged state (due to high voltage)
• SG values quoted at 15°C ambient temperature
• SG corrections at any other ambient temperature:
– Add 0.007 to reading for each 10°C above 15°C
– Subtract 0.007 from reading for each 10°C below 15°C
• e.g. hydrometer reading at an ambient temperature 25°C is 1.27
• Thus, equivalent SG value at 15°C is 1.27 + 0.007 = 1.277
Alkaline battery
 Alkaline battery (cont/…)
• Nominal cell voltages - 1.2V
• Thus, 20 alkaline cells must connected in series to produce 24
V
• After 10 hour discharge, voltage fallen to approx 1.14 V
• SG value – cannot determine state i.e. electrolyte density
doesn’t change during charge/discharge cycles but gradually
falls during battery lifetime
• New cells have SG around 1190, reduces down to 1145 take
up to 5~10 years depending on duty cycle)
• Electrolyte must completely renewed or battery replaced
thereafter
• Discharge of cells should discontinued when voltage fallen to
1.1 V
 Battery Characteristics

• Important characteristics:
• energy density (Wh/liter) and specific energy (Wh/kg)
• power density (W/liter) and specific power (W/kg)
• open-circuit voltage, operating voltage
• cut-off voltage (at which considered discharged)
• shelf life (leakage)
• cycle life
• The above are decided by “system chemistry”
• advances in materials and packaging have resulted in
significant changes in older systems
» carbon-zinc, alkaline manganese, NiCd, lead-acid
• new systems
» primary and secondary (rechargeable) Li
 Modeling the Battery Behavior

• Theoretical capacity of battery is decided by the

amount of the active material in the cell
• batteries often modeled as buckets of constant energy
» e.g. halving the power by halving the clock frequency is
assumed to double the computation time while maintaining
constant computation per battery life
• In reality, delivered or nominal capacity depends
on how the battery is discharged
• discharge rate (load current)
• discharge profile and duty cycle
• operating voltage and power level drained
 Battery Capacity

from [Powers95]

• Current in “C” rating: load current nomralized

to battery’s capacity
• e.g. a discharge current of 1C for a capacity of 500 mA-
hrs is 500 mA
 Battery Capacity vs. Discharge
Current
• Amount of energy delivered is decreased as the
current (rate at which power is drawn) is
increased
• rated as ampere hours or watt hours when discharged at a
specific rate to a specific cut-off voltage
» primary cells rated at a current which is 1/100th of the capacity
in ampere hours (C/100)
» secondary cells are rated at C/20 or C/10
• At high currents, the diffusion process that moves
new active material from electrolytes to the
electrode cannot keep up
 Battery Capacity vs. Discharge
Current: Peukert’s Formula

• Energy capacity: C = k/Iα

• k = constant dependent on chemistry & design
∀ α = 0 for ideal battery (constant capacity), up to 0.7 for
most loads in real batteries
» also depends on chemistry and design

• Good first order approximation

• does not capture effects of discharge profile
• Battery life at constant voltage and current
L = C/P = C/(V.I) = (k/V).I-(1+α)
 Ragone Plots (log-log plot)

Specific Power
W/kg

Specific Energy
Wh/kg
 Amount of Computation during
Battery Lifetime
• Consider a system modification that changes
performance by factor n and power by factor x
• total work (= speed x lifetime) will change by n.x -(1+α)
• e.g. reducing the clock frequency by xN reduces
power by xN (N>1) & reduces performance by
xN,
• work done changes by (1/N)x(1/N) -(1+α) = Nα
» > 1 for α>0
• however, can’t just go on reducing frequency
» static power dissipated even at zero frequency
» P = V.I = V.(S+Df)
∀ ∃ optimum frequency to maximize computation
 Alternate Equivalent View of the
Battery
• Manufacturer’s often give battery efficiency (%) vs.
discharge rate (or discharge current ratio)
– discharge rate = Iave/Irated
• Battery cannot respond to instantaneous changes in
current
– so, a time constant τ used to calculate Iave
• Given actual energy drawn by the circuit, one can use the
battery efficiency to calculate the actual depletion in the
stored energy in the battery
• Example: battery efficiency is 60% and its rated capacity
 Modeling Battery Efficiency

I ave
RI =
I rated
τ
N bat =
Tcycle

N bat
1
I ave =
N bat
∑I
cycle = 0
system (cycle)

Ebat = (1 − ηbat ) I aveVbatTcycle

from [Simunic01]
Digression:Metrics to Relate Power
and Performance
• MIPS/Watt: millions of instructions per Joule
– problem: running faster gives better MIPS/Watt
– increasing frequency by N
• MIPS go up by xN
• power goes up < xN due to static power
• MIPS/Watt will increase!
• W/Spec2 has similar problem
• Total computation during battery lifetime is
better
– shows diminishing returns of increasing frequency
 Capacity & Variable Discharge
Current: Constant vs. Pulsed
• Capacity can be extended by draining power in
short discharge periods separated by rest
periods
• also works with constant background current
• Battery relaxes and partially recovers the
active material lost during the current impulse
• longer the rest period, the better is the recovery
• longer rest period needed as the discharge depth
becomes greater
• battery voltage also goes back up
 Benefits of Pulsed Discharge

• Higher specific power for a given specific

energy
• impulses of several times the limiting current value can
be obtained by choosing short pulses and long rest
periods

• Higher specific energy for a given specific

power
• ideally, want specific energy = theoretical capacity
• depends on pulse and rest periods
 Exploiting Pulse Discharge

• Gain in battery life if system shutdown is done

taking into account the pulse discharge
• Examples:
• protocols in case of radios where power during
transmission is a lot higher than during receive and idle
periods
• shutdown of CPUs and variable speed CPUs
• shutdown of disks
 Alternatives to Batteries?
• Small batteries are the only choice for
consumer products upto 20W
• But
– heavy
– expensive
– expire without warning
– require replacement (disposal problem) or
recharging (time problem)
• Are there alternatives?
 No Batteries Needed!
Energy Harvesting/Scavenging
• Power requirements for ICs continually getting lower
• The requisite power may be supplied by sources in the
environment, instead of the battery
– lots of energy sources around us: light, wind, vibration etc.
• E.g. computers worn on one’s person are jostled when one walks,
and electric power may be generated
– Media Lab’s “Parasitic Power Harvesting” project for devices built
into a shoe
• http://www.media.mit.edu/resenv/power.html
• piezoelectric shoe inserts, shoe­mounted rotary magnetic generator
– 20­80 mW of peak power during brisk walk, 1­2 mW average
• a system had been built around the piezoelectric shoes that periodically 
broadcasts a 12­bit digital RFID as the bearer walks
 Self-powered Chips

• Power generated using motion or solar cells, and

stored in a backup source (e.g. large capacitor)
• no batteries needed
• applicable to sensors on vehicles, body etc.
• e.g. Embedded power supply processor from MIT
[Amirtharajan97]

Back-up Source
(large capacitor)
Processor

Generator
 Fuel Cells

• Invented in the 1990s: liberate energy from H

atom
• Theoretically, quiet and clean like batteries
• Plus, amazing energetic potential
• up to 20x more than NiCd of comparable size
• No length recharging: rapidly refueled
• Costs coming down considerably
• sophisticated engineering, and reduced amount of expensive
platinum required for catalysts
» while, $/J have gone up with energy-dense batteries
• example:
» NiCd weighs 0.5 kg, lasts 1 hr, and costs $20
» comparable Li-Ion lasts 3 hrs, but costs > 4x more
 Electrochemistry of Fuel Cells
ELECTRONS

+
+
OXYGEN
+

HYDROGEN ELECTROLYTE
(specialized polymer
or other material
that allows ions to
pass but blocks
electrons)
ANODE CATHODE
CATALYST
(e.g. platinum)
WATER
Theoretical Energetic Potential of
Fuel Cells
Stored Chemical Energy
Wh/Kg Wh/liter
FUEL CELLS
Decalin (C10H18) 2400 2100
Liquid hydrogen 33000 2500
Lithium borohydride (LiBH4 and 2800 2500
4H20)
Solid metal hydride (LaNi5H6) 370 3300
Methanol 6200 4900
Hydrogen in graphite nanofibers 16,000 32,000

RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES
Lead acid 30 80
NiCd 40 130
Ni-metal hydride 60 200
Lithium-ion 130 300
 Also Important: Modeling the
DC-DC Converter Efficiency
• The dependency of
efficiency on the output
current
EC
IC =
VC Tcycle

I out
I bat =
η DC

E DCbat = I batVbatTcycle

E DC = E DCbat − Eout

from [Simunic01]
 Battery charger
• Due to internal leakage between terminals, fully charged
battery will get discharged even if unused – took place over
period of weeks, leads to fully discharged of battery
• Charged by constant voltage method – quickest
• Fully discharged battery – damaged beyond repair – plates
heavily sulphated
• Float / trickle charge – charge battery when battery fully
charged state
• Compensates loss of battery capacity due to internal leakage
i.e. small make up current for topping up, ensure battery fully
charged at all times
• Float charging voltage > rated battery voltage (27V) – allow
sufficient charging current to compensate internal current
leakages
 Battery charger components
• MCCB – for switching supply to charger & provide SC
protection
• SD transformer – step down 3 phase supply from 440 to 35V
• Potentiometer – varies charging voltage as necessary
• Silicon diode rectifier bridge – convert AC supply to DC for
charging
• Electronic filter – smoothing DC output from rectifier
• Batteries & transformer protected against SC by fuses or CB
• Keep battery on float condition & supplies power to all 24V
DC loads, as automatic switching system
• Indication provided on main swbd, if battery are discharged
 Battery charger operation
• When black out occur, charger cannot supply
the DC 24V load due to no power input
• So batteries automatically supply all the 24 V
loads
• When power restored, charger gets normal AC power
input
• Charger automatically supplies quick charge to
charge the discharged battery
• At same time, supply to all 24V DC loads
• At end of quick charge, charger automatically adjusts
the voltage to float charge the battery
 Quick charge
• When battery discharged, needs to charge ASAP &
shortest time possible without damaging the battery
• 30V (2.5V/cell) applied to lead acid battery during
quick charging
• Charging current is initially high, but reduces as
battery voltage rises
• After quick charge completed, resume to float charge
• For nickel cadmium battery, float charge is 1.4V/cell
& quick charge is 1.7V/cell
 Methods of control

• Charge discharge
• Float charge
 Charge discharge
• Battery initially charged from mains
• When fully charged, allowed to discharge to load
• If load is continuous type, two sets of batteries are
provided – one on charge whilst the other on
discharge
• Rectifiers – besides supplying DC to battery, also
ensure battery on charge does not feed back into main
supply network, if supply failure occur
• Essential to have individual c/o switch operated
independently i.e. each has an ‘off’ position
 Charge discharge (cont/…)
• This enables both batteries working in parallel to load
during c/o period – ensuring supply continuity at all
times
• ‘Off’ positions essential to avoid excessive
overcharging
• Each battery should off charge once adequate, left on
open circuit until required for another discharge
• Excessive charging - electric power wasteful,
shortened battery life & more frequent cell topping up
 Battery charging system
• Use transformer/rectifier arrangement to supply required DC voltage to cells
• Voltage size depends on battery type & mode of charging, e.g. charge/discharge cycle, boost
charge, trickle or float charge
• Do not allow electrolyte temperatures to exceed about 45°C during charging.
• A lead acid cell will gas freely when fully charged but an alkaline ceil gases throughout the
charging period. The only indication of a fully charged alkaline cell is when its voltage
remains at a steady maximum value of about 1.6 to 1.8V.
• Generally, alkaline cells are more robust, mechanically and electrically, than lead acid cells.
Nickel cadmium cells will hold their charge for long periods without recharging so are ideal
for standby duties. Also they operate well with a float charge to provide a reliable emergency
supply when the main power fails.
• For all rechargeable batteries (other than the sealed type) it is essential to replace lost water
(caused during gassing and by normal evaporation) with the addition of distilled water to the
correct level above the plates. Exposure of the cell plates to air will rapidly reduce the life of
the battery.
• On all ships and offshore platforms there are particular essential services which are vital
during a complete loss of main power. Such services include switchgear operation, navigation
lights, foghorns, fire and gas detection, internal communications, some radio communications,
alarm systems. To avoid the loss of essential services they are supported by an uninterruptible
power supply or UPS.
• These can be for battery supported DC supplies or AC supplies both of which can be
configure as continuous UPS or standby UPS.
UPS DC battery charger
 System description
• Shows typical continuous UPS DC supported supply system
• Essential DC services supplied from 440V through charger 1 -
continuously in trickle charges
• During power loss, battery 1 maintains transitional supply
while emergency generator restores power to emergency board
& charger 2
• Either battery is available for few hours if both generators are
unavailable
• Some critical emergency lights - have internal battery
supported UPS i.e. battery charge continuously during non
emergency conditions
 Care & handling
• Main hazards – hydrogen explosion in battery
compartment & short circuits
• Release hydrogen & oxygen when in charged
• Hydrogen easily ignited in concentrations 4~75% in
air
• Short circuit – cause burns due to arcing, heavy
current flows & flash may cause explosion
• To avoid explosions & other hazards, proper care,
handling & maintaining batteries should strictly
adhered
 Care & handling (cont/…)
1. Kept compartments adequately ventilated – remove
dangerous gases
2. Smoking & any type of open flame prohibited in
compartment – no smoking & naked light sign displayed at
entrance
3. Battery circuits should dead when leads connected or
disconnected – avoid sparks
4. If battery in section, advise to disconnect jumper leads
between sections before commence works
5. Vent plugs should screwed tight while making or breaking
connections
6. Light bulbs in battery compartments - protected by gas tight
glasses
 Care & handling (cont/…)
1. Never lay metal tools (spanners, wrenches etc) on top of
batteries – sparking & short circuiting may occur +
explosions
2. Battery connections – clean & tight, dirty & loose
connections lead to local sparking
3. Compartment should never used as storage place for
inflammable material or gas
4. Rings should removed from fingers or heavily taped – short
circuit through ring will heat it rapidly & cause severe burns
5. Always transported in horizontal position with sufficient
manpower – heavy concentrated load & cause painful strains
or injury to individual handler
 Care & handling (cont/…)
• All cables / wires should adequately insulated & guarded
– any open high current transmission equipment is
potential danger
• When preparing electrolyte, concentrated acid should
added slowly to water
• If water added to acid – heat generated cause steam
explosions, acid spattering over handler
• To neutralize acid on skin / clothes, thoroughly &
frequently clean with fresh water
• Only fresh water should be used for eyes
• Eyewash bottles & container of FW should kept in
compartment for immediate use – clearly label to avoid
used by acid
 Care & handling (cont/…)
1. Goggles & rubber gloves should worn when handling acid
2. Corrosive products may formed round the terminals – injurious to skin &
eyes, use brush to remove them
3. Protect the terminals with petroleum jelly
4. Excessive charging rate causes acid mist to be carried out of the vents into
adjacent surfaces, contact with which may burn the skin. If this happens,
the affected areas should be cleaned off with diluted ammonia water or
soda solution.
5. The general safety precautions with this type of battery are the same as
those for the lead acid battery with the following exceptions:
• The electrolyte in these batteries is alkaline and corrosive. It should be
allowed to come into contact with the skin or clothing. In the case of burns
to the skin, the affected part should be covered with boracic powder or
saturated solution of boracic powder if available.
• Eyes should be washed out thoroughly with plenty of clean fresh water
followed immediately with a solution of boracic powder. This solution
should always be readily available when the electrolyte is handled.
 Care & handling (cont/…)
• 19. Unlike lead acid batteries, the metal cases of alkaline
batteries remain live at all times and care must be taken not to
touch them or allow metal tools to come into contact with
them.
• 20. Alkaline and lead acid batteries should never be kept in the
same compartment. (this is because rapid electrolyte corrosion
to metal work and damage to both batteries is certain).
• 21. Instrument and utensils (hydrometer, topping up jars and
bottles) used for lead acid batteries should not be used on an
alkaline installation and vice versa or else thoroughly washed
before using.
 Why worry about power?
Intel vs. Duracell
16x

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PS
14x

MI
r(

)
ity
so

ac
12x

es
Improvement (compared to year 0)

ap
oc

(c
Pr
10x

ks
Di
rd
Ha
8x
)
c ity
pa
6x (ca
ory
m
Me
4x

2x Battery (energy stored)

1x

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (years)

• No Moore’s Law in batteries: 2-3%/year

 System Design for Low Power

• Need to explicitly design the system with

power consumption or energy efficiency in
mind
• Fortunately, IC technology still continue to
help indirectly by increasing level of
integration
– more and faster transistors can enable low-power
system architectures and design techniques
– e.g. system integration on a chip can reduce the significant
circuit I/O power consumption
• Energy efficient design of higher layers of the
 System Design for Low Power
(contd.)
• Energy efficiency cuts across all system layers
– entire network, not just the node
– everything: circuit, logic, software, protocols, algorithms, user
interface, power supply...
• complex global optimization problem
• Need to choose the right metric
– e.g. individual node vs. network lifetime
• Trade-off between energy consumption & QoS
– optimize energy metric while meeting QoS constraint
• Power-awareness, and not just low power
– right energy at the right time and place
 Where does the Power Go?

Peripherals Processing

Disk Display Programmable ASICs

µPs & DSPs
(apps, protocols etc.) Memory
DC-DC
Converter
Battery

Radio RF
Modem Transceiver
Power Supply Communication
 Power Consumption for a
Computer with Wireless NIC
Other
7%

CPU/Memory Display
21% 36%

Hard Drive
18%
Wireless LAN
18%
 Energy Consumption of
Wireless NICs (Wavelan)
Specs Measured
2 Mbps Sleep Mode 9 mA 14 mA
(Bronze) Idle Mode -------- 178 mA
Receive Mode 280 mA 200 mA
Transmit Mode 330 mA 280 mA
11 Mbps Sleep Mode 10 mA 10 mA
(Silver) Idle Mode -------- 156 mA
Receive Mode 180 mA 190 mA
Transmit Mode 280 mA 284 mA
 Power Consumption in Post-PC
Devices
• Pocket computers, PDAs, wireless pads, wireless
sensors, pagers, cell phones
• Energy and power usage of these devices is markedly
different from laptop and notebook computers
– much wider dynamic range of power demand
– share of memory, communication and signal processing
subsystems become more important
• disk storage and displays disappear or become simpler
• Design of power-aware higher layer applications and
protocols need to be re-evaluated
Example: Power Consumption for
Berkeley’s InfoPad Terminal
DC/DC µProc. DC/DC
25% 6% 42%

I/O
Wireless 2%
18% Misc
11% µProc.
LCD 6%
6% LCD
Video
Misc 10%
Display I/O Wireless
7%
40% 1% 29%

With Optional Video Display Without Optional Video Display

Total = 9.6W Total = 6.8W
(with processor at 7% duty cycle) (with processor at 7% duty cycle)
 Example: Power Consumption for
Compaq WRL’s Itsy Computer
• System power < 1W
– doing nothing (processor 95% idle)
• 107 mW @ 206 MHz
• 77 mW @ 59 MHz
• 62 mW @ 59 MHz, low voltage
– MPEG-1 with audio
• 850 mW @ 206 MHz (16% idle)
– Dictation
Itsy v1 • 775 mW @ 206 MHz (< 0.5% idle)
StrongARM 1100 – text-to-speech
59–206 MHz (300 us to switch) • 420 mW @ 206 MHz (53% idle)
2 core voltages (1.5V, 1.23V) • 365 mW @ 74 MHz, low voltage ( < 0.5% idle)
64M DRAM / 32M FLASH
• Processor: 200 mW
Touchscreen & 320x200 LCD
– 42-50% of typical total
codec, microphone & speaker
serial, IrDA • LCD: 30-38 mW
– 15% of typical total
• 30-40% in notebooks
 Example: Power Consumption for
Compaq’s iPAQ

206MHz StrongArm SA-1110

processor
320x240 resolution color TFT
LCD
Touch screen * Note
32MB SDRAM / 16MB Flash CPU is idle state of most of its time
memory Audio, IrDA, RS232 power is measured when
USB/RS-232/IrDA connection each part is idling

Speaker/Microphone Etc includes CPU, flash memory, touch

screen and all other devices
Lithium Polymer battery
Frontlight brightness was 16
 Metrics for Power

• Power
• sets battery life in hours
• problem: power ∝ frequency (slow the system!)
• Energy per operation
• fixes obvious problem with the power metric
• but can cheat by doing stuff that will slow the chip
» Energy/op = Power * Delay/op

• Metric should capture both energy and

performance: e.g. Energy/Op * Delay/Op
• Energy*Delay = Power*(Delay/Op)2