Dry battery

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The dry battery is a design of the Leclanché element of one or more galvanic primary cells originally developed by Georges Leclanché and continuously improved during the development process . In the dry battery, the electrolyte is bound in a soaked paper carrier that also serves as a separator . Leclanché's original system was significantly improved in 1876 by wrapping the separator in cotton.

Sectional view of a dry battery ( zinc-carbon cell as the construction of a zinc-manganese dioxide cell ):
(5) zinc cup
(6) carbon rod
(7) manganese dioxide

Although the term dry battery is no longer in use in the professional world - since all primary batteries such as the common alkaline-manganese batteries are made of dry elements anyway - it has been used in everyday language as a short form for the zinc Preserved carbon dry battery .

The "wet" elements with liquid electrolytes, also known as wet batteries and including the Leclanché element , which were still in use until the middle of the 20th century , were replaced from 1886 by galvanic dry elements such as the zinc-carbon element. This invention was made by the Danish engineer Wilhelm Hellesen , who converted the liquid electrolyte into a soft mass with the help of additives.

Its current shape goes back to the invention of Carl Gassner in 1887. In 1901, Paul Schmidt developed the dry battery for flashlights in Berlin by adding flour to the liquid electrolyte solution.

Dry batteries are the most common sources of energy for small portable electrical devices that are only used briefly or rarely.

Lead accumulators sometimes use an electrolyte thickened to form a gel (another name is also gel battery , gel accumulator or VRLA accumulator ). With them, the separator cannot be made of paper and is therefore not sufficiently absorbent. Gel batteries are not referred to as dry batteries.

Dry batteries and gel accumulators often have an encapsulation that prevents any leakage of the electrolyte. This makes them easier to transport, does not have a prescribed operating position and is leak-proof ( leak proof primary elements or maintenance-free lead-acid batteries).

A well-known counter-example to dry batteries is the starter battery that is usually used in motor vehicles , which is filled with a liquid electrolyte, namely sulfuric acid , and can therefore only be used in an upright position.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sattelberg: From electron to electronics , p. 111
  2. Dr. Carl Gassner Jr. developed the dry cell battery to industrial maturity. In: gassner-ahnenforschung.de. Archived from the original on December 6, 2004 ; accessed on December 27, 2017 .
  3. Patent US373064 : Galvanic Battery. Published on November 15, 1887 , inventor: Carl Gassner.
  4. ^ Lüders, von Oppen: Relativistic Physics - from electricity to optics . tape 2 , p. 132 .