Primary Battery – a battery designed to be used until it is depleted of power and then discarded. Also known as a disposable battery.
Common primary battery types (chemistries) are:
- Zinc Carbon (aka Zinc Chloride)
- Zinc Air
- Alkaline
- Lithium Metal
- Lithium iron disulfide
- Lithium-thionyl chloride (LTC)
- Lithium manganese dioxide (Li-M)
- Lithium sulfur dioxide
Primary batteries have the following attributes which vary depending on the materials used in their construction :
- cell voltage – the voltage supplied by a single cell and measured in 2 different ways – nominal and discharge.
- capacity – Amp hours, milliAmp hours or cold cranking amps define how long the unit can power different devices.
- specific energy – how many Watt hours of energy can be supplied per 1 kilogram of battery.
- shelf life – how long the battery can be stored for.
- operating life – how long the battery will last in units of time (e.g. years) if well maintained.
- self discharge – how much power the battery loses when not in use and not on charge expressed as a percentage over time – e.g. 5% per month.
See also: Secondary Battery.
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