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CHAPTER IEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1 TYPES OF DRY CELL BATTERIESThe first dry cell discovered in the late 19th century consisted of zincanode, mangan ese dioxide cathode and gelled mixture of ammon ium

chloride and zinc chloride as electrolyte, the dry cell being commonly knownas carbon zinc Leclanche cell. Even today, major production of dry cells inthe world is of this type, since these cells are lowest in cost and are mostsuitable for applications requiring intermittent use, such as flashlight andtransistor receivers. However, these cells have low energy density andlimited shelf life.A large number of new systems for dry cells were developed after WorldWar II to meet the requirements of new applications such as motorisedequipment, miniature applications such as hearing aids and watches, forcomm unication equipment etc. These new cells have higher energy densityand better shelf life, better discharge characteristics etc. Most important of

these new systems and their applications are given in Table 1.11.2 INDIAN DRY CELL MANU FACTUR ING INDUSTRY

Indian dry cell industry dates back to 1926 when Eveready Company(G.B.) Limited started manu facture of dry cells in Calcutta. In the first de cad eafter World War II three more units were established with foreigncollaboration. However, the real growth of dry cell industry took placeafter 1970, coinciding with the boom in transistor radios, when as many asseven units were established, with foreign collaboration. Out of the 11 majorunits set up between 1945 and 1985, four units have closed down due tovarious reasons and now only seven main units are in regular production.One more unit was set up recently at Pune for the manufacture of drycells required for defence applications with technology and know how

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Table 1.1NEW DRY CELL SYSTEMS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

S.No. System Applications1. Alkaline Zinc-magnese Cassette players, tape recorders,diox ide calculators, movie cam eras, andother high drain applications.2. Zinc-mercury oxide Hearing aids, wrist watches , medicalelectronics, military receivertransmitters etc.3. Zinc-silver oxide Hearing aids, wrist watc hes, instruments,photoelectric exposure devices, missilesand space applications.4. Zin c-a ir Flashing barricade lights, navigation aids,hearing aids, electronic watc hes .5. Ma gnes ium -ma gane se Military receiver transm itters, aircraftdiox ide emergency transmitters.6. Nickef-cadm ium Alarm systems, electric shavers,dictating machines, instruments,tape recorders, radio transmittersmovie cameras etc.7. Lithium-sulphur Under water mine batteries, lifedioxide (Li-So2) support equipment, space probes,missiles, security systems, electroniccounter m easures, covert sensors etc.8. Lithium-thionyl All those for Li-So 2 systems pluschloride (Li-SOCI2) high temp erature applications.9. Lithium-Vanadium Applications requiring extreme ly longPentaoxide,(Li-V 2O 5) life and relatively low discha rge rates,covert sensors, implentablemedical devices, watches.

10 . Lithium-Polycarbon Electronic watches, calculators andmonofluoride (Li-CF)8 I.C. memory back up, LEDs, lightedflashing floats cameras etc.11. Lithium-Iodine (Li-I) Cardiac pacem aker, me mo ry circuits.12. Lithium-iron Mostly military uses for applicationsdisulphide (Li-Fes2) requiring instant power, short

operating life, high energydensity & lon g shelf life.

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developed indigenously. Their licensed capacity, installed capacity andproduction for 1984-85 are given in Table 1.2 below :Table 1.2

CAPACITY & PRODUCTION OF MAIN DRY CELL UNITS (1984-85)

S.No.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Name of the firm

Union Carbide India Ltd.,CalcuttaIndo-National Ltd.MadrasLakhanpal-National Ltd.,BarodaGeep Industries,AllahabadToshiba Anand Batteries,CochinPunjab An and Batteries,ChandigarhApte AmalgamationsSholapurTOTAL:

(inLicensedcapacity

50 7

195

180

22 2

90

120

60

1374

million nos.)Installedcapacity

917

220

180

196

72

42

15

1642

Production

527.80

240.00

211.00

87.10

58.59

43.44

6.94

1174.87

Almost 99.9% of the present production of about 1200 million, dry cells inthe country is of cylindrical cells in the conventional carbon-zinc Leclanchesystem . Silver oxide button cells form a very sm all perce ntage of the totalproduc tion. Betwe en the decade 1975 to 1985, the production of dry cells inthe country has doubled showing an annual compound growth rate of about8% . Ass uming the same grow th rate, the production of dry cells in the cou ntryis expected to reach 2500 million by 1995.

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1.3 TECHNOLOGICAL STATUS OF DRY CELL BATTERY INDUSTRY ININDIA

1.3.1 DRY CELL BATTERY TECH N OLOG YDry cell Battery Technology involves :

i) Design and construction of dry cells,ii) The manufacturing technology of dry cells,

iii). Design of dry ce ll batteries.Development of dry cell designs has proceeded in two directions, i.e. (i)Discovering new electrochemical couples together with suitable electrolyte toimprove one or more of the major characteristics of dry cells for differentapplication (ii) Construction of the cells and development of suitable rawmaterials and materials of construction particularly the seals to ensure leakproof construction.Manufacturing technology of dry cells involves selecting suitable plant andmachinery for producing various components of the system and design andmanufacture of a specialised assem bly line to ensure high productivity.Technology of the dry cell battery design involves designing of suitablecontainer for accommodating a number of cells arranged in series and/or inparallel to provide higher voltage and/or current than is possible with singlecells and to design suitable external terminals.

1.3.2 P R E S E N T T E C H N O L O G I C A L S T A T U SBecause of the substantial growth planned for the electronics industry,new applications for dry cells will open up both for civil and militaryequipment.and while dry cells of carbon-zinc Leclanche type would still berequired in very large numbers, new systems having higher energy density,better discharge characteristics and longer shelf life would have to bedevelope d within the country. A study of the m ain dry cell manu facturing unitshas indicated that although most of them have set up R & D organisations forupgrading the technology acquired by them from their foreign collaborators,their R&D activities are mostly directed towards s ubstituting imported rawmaterials with indigenous ones, and for designing batteries for defenceapplications. The dry cell industry in India has not acquired the req uisite

technological maturity as can be judged from the following criteria.The industry generally has not developed capabilities to develop newsystems and types of dry cells, since most of them look to the foreign

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collaborators, whenever they feel the necessity of introducing cells in newsys tems . The only exception in this respect is that of Bharat E lectronicsLimited who have developed magnesium cells indigenously with theassistance of Indian Institute of Scien ce, Bangalore.In regard to the manufacturing technology, the industry has again notdeveloped capabilities to design and to construct production lines on their

own. Whenever they desire to improve production, they again approach thecollaborators for supplying the necessary plant and machinery.The only area in which the industry has developed capabilities is inrespect of the design of batteries required by defence and for designingsuitable seals for the cells.

1.4 T E C H N O L O G I C A L D E V E L O P M E N T S A B R O A D A N D T H E I RRELEVANCE TO INDIAA large number of new systems listed in Table 1.1 have been developedabroad and are manufactured and marketed by a large number of f irms.

New applications are opening up for these dry cells for use in the civil aswell as mrlitary equipment. T,hese applications include bulk energy storagecommunication satellites, military communications, space vehicles, autovehicles etc. Indian industry should take advantage of these d evelopm entsand should not be left behind in this field. The systems which wouldparticularly need to be developed under Indian conditions are :i) Alkaline manga nese dioxide cells.ii) Mercuric oxide cells.iii) Nickel cadm ium cells.iv) Zinc-air cells.v) Lithium poly carbon-m onofluoride cells.

Developments abroad in the manufacturing technology have resulted inhighly productive assembly lines capable of producing 900 cells per minute.The demand for dry cells in the country is likely to double over the nextdecade and it is important for India to develop capabilities to design andconstruct such highly productive lines.1 .5 GAPS IN INDIAN TECHNOLOGY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR CLOSING

T H E MIn regard to the products currently being manufactured by tne dry cellbattery industry in the country, the most significant gap in technology is the

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non-availability of the raw materials of requisite quality indigenou sly. The rawmaterials in order of importance are zinc of 99.99% purity, ElectrolyticManganese Dioxide (EMD), Natural Manganese Dioxide (NMD), carbonelectrodes and ammonium chloride. Zinc of the quality required is not yetproduced by Hindustan Zinc Limited or Com minco Binani Limited. One ofthem should be persuaded to produce the same at the earliest. Manga neseore available in India does not have the proper structure and containsimpurities which are harmful to the life of the battery. One of the NationalLaboratories should be persuaded to take up beneficiation studies of theIndian ore with active participation of one of the dry cell manufacturing units.The remaining three items are produced in the country but are not adequateto meet the dem and . Although m any parties have take n letters of intent forthese, no progress is made by them in implementing the projects. DGTDshould cancel these letters of intent which are blocking the capacity andshould encourage parties who are genuinely interested in setting up theirproduction.

Another most important gap in technology is in the capabilities to designand develop the cells in new electrochemical systems which are incommercial production abroad and are likely to be needed for civil andmilitary uses in India. This gap could be closed by undertaking collaborativeR&D between the Dry Cell Industry and some of the National Laboratories likeCentral Electrochemical Research Institute, National Metallurgical Laboratory,Indian Institute of Science etc.Another gap is in the manufacturing technology viz capabilities to designand manufacture highly productive lines. This problem cou ld be tackled bycollaboration between the dry cell manufacturers and specialist firms whodesign and construct m aterial handling systems.

1.6 MAJOR RECOM MENDATIONS Indian Zinc manufacturers may increase production of 99 .99 % purityzinc to meet full requirement of zinc anodes for the dry cell batteryindustry. Additional units may be encouraged for manufacture of EMD /CMU ,to curtail imports. Govt. may sponsor studies into beneficiation of Manganese ore with

national laboratories such as, NML CECRI to curtail imports of NMD. Additional units may be encouraged for manufacturing carbonelectrodes for batteries.

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There is a need to design and develop high productivemanufacturing lines for dry batteries capable of producing 900 cellsor more per minute for more economic production.Collaboration between industry and national laboratories should beencouraged for developing new types of batteries.

Foreign collaboration for carbon zinc batteries should not bepermitted. For other types of batteries it may be permitted wherenational laboratories/institutions do not have the technical know how.