A novel approach to managing battery capacity and lifecycle - based on: climate, environment and usage type

Silcar, the operator and maintainer, and a builder of Telstra Corporation Limited\´s (Australia\´s national carrier) telecommunications power systems, is proposing a twofold program, to: (1) provide minimum battery reserves based on actual minimum battery temperature. In colder climates, during the winter, battery reserves at sites where battery temperature follows the ambient, are considerably less than the design reserves, which are based on an ambient of 25/spl deg/C (2) implement a battery lifecycle replacement policy taking into account the climatic zones of Australia, the battery type and the particular application in which the batteries are employed. It is proposed to allocate a climatic zone, utilising Australia\´s Bureau of Meteorology Climatic Maps, to each installation. Silcar, in its computerised management system, records the latitude and longitude of every site, and it is via this system that the appropriate climatic zone is allocated to each site. These zones, combined with application and battery types, is used to better tailor battery replacement policy, optimising battery life whilst minimising the risk to Telstra\´s network. For VRLA batteries, it is policy to provide temperature compensated "float" charging voltage.