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The Burgeoning Battery Maintenance Micro Industry Harold Vanasse, VP of Sales and Marketing
Philadelphia Scientific
The manufacture of today's lead-acid batteries, particularly
since the introduction of the cast-on-strap process, has resulted
in the highest quality products ever for use in forklift trucks.
Today's batteries are more consistently manufactured and are
more reliable than those made in the past, which were made with
less automated manufacturing processes.
Still, there's evidence that the biggest advances in battery per-
formance in the last 10 to 20 years have come not from the bat-
teries themselves, but from new battery maintenance practices. A
micro industry has developed that offers a variety of tools avail-
able to battery room and warehouse managers, enabling them to
extend the lives of their batteries and ensure the highest possible
level of performance while increasing worker productivity and
improving warehouse safety and compliance with OSHA regula-
tions. As a result, managers responsible for their companies'
forklift operations are increasingly touting the return on invest-
ment they achieve in their operations.
Battery Watering:
A Simple Job Done Poorly
There are a variety of tools geared toward helping to manage
battery assets. Properly maintained, industrial batteries should pro-
vide five years of reliable power. But one of the simplest battery
maintenance tasks is also one of the most poorly performed: bat-
tery watering.
Over-watering a battery can create "boil over," in which sulfu-
ric acid is spilled onto the surface of the battery as well as the lift
truck, floors, racks and, potentially, workers. This not only creates
a damaging and hazardous condition within the warehouse, but
also decreases the battery's useful life. Why? During a boil over,
some of the sulfates are washed out of the battery and sulfates are
needed to maintain the capacity of the battery. For every boil over,
the battery loses approximately 3 percent of its capacity. Over
time, boil overs can decrease the life of a battery by six months or
more.
Under-watering is another common problem. Under-watering
can happen when batteries aren't watered on schedule or when
they are manually watered and the operator accidentally skips a
cell. When a cell is skipped in a typical watering regimen, it
might not get the water it needs for another week. That can
result in permanent damage. When parts of the battery's positive
and negative plates get dry, battery capacity is decreased. A con-
dition called sulfation develops on the dry part of the plate and
even when water is re-introduced to the dry cell, for example at
the next scheduled watering, it will not return to its previous per-
formance. In the worst case, a damaged cell would need to be
replaced entirely, which is an expensive proposition.
The most common factor contributing to over- and under-
watering is the hand-watering of batteries. An estimated 70 per-
cent of industrial batteries are filled by hand, despite the fact that
single point battery watering systems have been available for
years. However, as managers push for greater warehouse effi-
ciency in order to achieve corporate profitability goals, interest
in, and sales of, single-point watering systems are on the rise.
Single-point systems offer a cost-effective and safe alternative
to hand-watering. There are several such systems available and
for the most part, they operate similarly. The first single-point
systems were manufactured with floats that gauge the electrolyte
level. In the early 1990s, Philadelphia Scientific pioneered a
pressure-dependent watering system that uses water injectors
that are snapped onto each battery cell and are connected to one
another with corrosion-resistant plastic tubing. Each injector has
its own level-sensing valve, which is powered by water pressure,
ensuring precise sensing of electrolyte levels in each cell.
To fill the batteries, a hose is attached to the input fitting
and a valve is opened. The water flows through the plastic
tubing and, simultaneously, into each of the cells. Within 15 to
20 seconds, the battery is filled with each cell receiving the
The Burgeoning Battery Maintenance
Micro Industry
July/August 2007 www.BatteryPowerOnline.com
Volume 11, Issue 4 precise amount of water needed.
Using a single-point watering system, batteries can be filled
up to 20 times faster than by hand watering, increasing worker
productivity and improving safety. In 2006, Philadelphia
Scientific surveyed more than a dozen users of its single-point
Water Injector System to determine the ROI those systems pro-
vided. ROI was determined by considering labor savings from
the decreased time spent watering batteries; time saved due to
less frequent battery changes during shifts; and savings from less
frequent battery purchases as batteries experienced longer life
spans with proper maintenance. Survey results revealed that in a
typical 100-battery fleet, a company can expect to save approxi-
mately $26,000 per year with an ROI of approximately 13
months.
Getting Organized
Battery room and warehouse managers can also more effective-
ly manage their battery usage and the useful life of their forklift
batteries, by organizing and sequencing the use of their batteries.
When a fork truck driver enters a battery room to get a
replacement battery, how does he know which battery to take?
Normally, chargers have a small light indicating that the battery
connected to it had finished charging. But in most battery rooms,
there are often several of these lights on at any one time. Which
one does the driver pick? Usually, the nearest available battery.
That means the batteries nearest the entrance get used more than
those at the end of the room. Sometimes the ones at the end
don't get used at all.
There are several battery organizing systems on the market
that can eliminate the uncertainty of battery selection, increasing
the useful life of the battery fleet. As an example, the iBOS sys-
tem from Philadelphia Scientific works by determining precisely
which fully charged battery is next in line for use by the truck
driver. It does this by collecting charger data through electronic
monitors. These monitors send data to a central controller, which
then processes the data and sends a message to a scrolling LED
display informing the forklift driver which battery to take. If the
driver misunderstands or ignores the display's instruction and
selects the wrong battery, a "Shouter" loudspeaker points out the
error. The monitors can work with virtually any charger, includ-
ing high-frequency types.
While battery organizing systems can range dramatically in
complexity and cost, most will pay for themselves within two
years and do so in two ways. First, they improve the efficiency
of day-to-day operations. Such systems help by organizing the
battery-changing operation, in real time, to ensure that all batter-
ies are used in strict rotation, preventing battery abuse and relat-
ed problems down the road.
Secondly, battery organizing systems improve corporate asset
management by diagnosing problems. Many organizing systems
collect an enormous amount of data from the chargers and some
are designed to reduce the data to a compact executive summary
report. Such a capability is extremely valuable for leasing com-
panies, companies with multiple sites, companies operating dur-
ing peak periods of seasonal activities or for any medium to
large facility with a hectic schedule.
Easy-to-Implement, Cost-Effective ROI
Warehouse and battery room managers are no different than
any other business manager today; they are all looking for tools
to help them run more efficiently and, where possible, demon-
strate a healthy ROI to their direct reports. Battery maintenance
has not been viewed as a key strategy in improving efficiency in
the past. "Hey, they're just batteries," a manager might have said.
But today's arsenal of battery maintenance tools can save large
warehouse and distribution operations tens of thousands of dol-
lars per year. Better battery maintenance may be one of the sim-
plest and most cost-effective strategies a manager can implement
to demonstrate an impressive ROI.
Contact Philadelphia Scientific at www.phlsci.com.
Reprinted from the July/August 2007 issue of Battery Power Products & Technology Magazine. © 2007 Webcom Communications Corp.
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