What are the benefits of gel battery?

There are distinct advantages of lead-acid battery technology compared to lithium-ion battery & other electrochemical systems. Affordability, reliability, recyclability and safety are key issues in choosing the right battery for a particular application and lead-acid batteries will score highly in these categories. There is, however, a drawback when using conventional flooded lead-acid batteries for deep cycle applications. This is the maintenance required in topping up the batteries due to water loss by gassing. In many applications, like in traction battery applications, there is a need to completely recharge a battery in a limited time frame. This normally will require higher voltages which in turn leads to the breakdown and loss of water from the electrolyte through gassing. These lead-acid batteries will require topping up with water, creating inconvenience and costs and in large installations which often requires expensive extraction equipment. There are also other disadvantages, particularly with transport, storage and disposal. The liquid acid in the lead-acid battery is classified as a hazardous material for transport. Whilst this is not considered a problem within the industry, which operates using safe and proven procedures, it is much better to immobilise the acid to prevent spillages. One fortunate consequence of acid immobilisation is that it creates the ability to recombine the hydrogen and oxygen gases which are produced from the breakdown of water inside the battery when on charge. There are two principal methods for acid immobilisation:

• use of absorptive glass mat which holds the acid in place called AGM VRLA batteries &

• the other, adding a fine silica powder to make a gel as in Gel Battery

Both methods, although very different, achieve the goal of immobilisation. They also provide the added benefit of recombining the gases released on charge to reform water, thereby removing the need for the water-addition maintenance procedures mentioned earlier for flooded lead-acid batteries. Out of these two methods, the use of silica-gelled electrolyte is universally recognised as the best solution for deep discharge gel cell battery designs. There are two main reasons for this: the first is that the use of gelled electrolyte allows a tubular positive plate to be used, which is recognised as providing the best deep cycle properties for lead-acid batteries. The second reason is that the stratification of acid associated with deep discharges and limited-voltage recharging without gassing is avoided. These are significant advantages if you have deep cycle requirements as in solar battery applications. The use of tubular plate batteries provides the most robust lead-acid battery design with the highest deep cycle capability of all lead-acid designs. The resistance to stratification is of great benefit in many applications which operate at partial state of charge (PSoC) such as standby power, UPS and Solar Energy clean environment markets.

​Gel Batteries: Advantages And Disadvantages

The main advantages of the gel battery is the absence of the need to top up your battery. So why is the lack of topping up, such an advantage? You have to consider the problems of maintaining lead-acid batteries in remote locations with difficult access. In flooded batteries, if you forget to top up with water they can dry out and fail. The cost of maintaining these batteries with regular monthly or quarterly visits can be very high. For a business, this can make an installation uneconomical. The other side of this expensive coin is the maintenance, particularly in commercial environments where equipment reliability is key to providing a reliable and regular service. If batteries powering essential equipment fail due to lack of maintenance, the ramifications for credibility and reputation can be considerable. For the private user, it can be equally frustrating. For example, having to access installed batteries and obtain distilled water sometimes is not so easy, not to mention keeping a log and records for possible warranty claims. And of course, there is the situation where we are simply extremely busy and accessing and maintaining batteries can be a really time draining exercise. 

There are also those clean environments where charging batteries can produce damaging or even explosive fumes, particularly in confined spaces. This is particularly relevant for batteries used in computer backup and medical equipment applications where batteries are kept in cabinets or inside complex and sensitive equipment. To remove fumes from charging batteries it is sometimes necessary to install expensive extraction equipment to remove explosive hydrogen gas and corrosive acid fumes from confined spaces in cabinets or equipment. There are also clean environment applications as in hospitals and food storage. In these environments smells and corrosive gases could contaminate food or damage human health. Looking again to the consumer applications, the last thing they need is a battery in their home, garage or solar power bank, which is producing explosive gases or corrosive fumes on when on charge. 

They are sealed batteries. Do not leak. There is no risk of acid leakages. They are maintenance-free. They are classified as non-hazardous for transportation, rail or air. Terminals do not have any corrosion.

There is no risk of leakages in a gel battery since the electrolyte is in gel form. Since they cannot leak the TGel battery can be placed in any orientation. If the battery falls or breaks there will be no spilt acid damage caused due to the accidental spillage of acid like from a wet cell battery. Gel batteries are designed to be resistant to vibration & shocks. They don’t release explosive gases like in large battery bank installations of flooded batteries. They recover faster from a deep discharge or if left discharged over a long time. They have a huge life span & comes maintenance free! 

The only disadvantage of a Tubular gel cell is the initial cost compared to to the flooded battery or the AGM battery. The gel batteries usually cost 30 to 40% more than the normal batteries. This cost though appears to be more, easily is offset by the Return on Investment as explained above. Other than the cost there are only advantages!

What is gel battery technology?

So just how do this combination of tubular plate and GEL electrolyte work? To understand we have to look at several elements which contribute to the battery’s properties, these are:

An electrolyte which is immobilized as a GEL to ensure non-spillage and also to enable the transportation of hydrogen and oxygen released on charging (which is held inside the battery under pressure) to be recombined to form water. The benefit of immobilization extends further, it prevents the creation of strata of acid with different densities within the cells, called Acid Stratification. In flooded batteries and sometimes AGM VRLA designs, denser gravity acid produced at the plates during charge can drop to the bottom of the cell leaving the weaker gravity acid at the top. Batteries in this condition suffer early failure from battery sulphation, premature capacity loss (PCL) and grid corrosion. Microtex have a Tubular gel plant imported from Germany and use high-grade imported fumed silica to give uncompromising life and performance to their Tgel cells.