Tubular Batteries Vs Normal Batteries - Let's Know the Difference and Its Applications

A battery has turned out to be a necessity in our day-to-day lifestyle activities. The technology is changing tremendously and more and more electric devices are coming into existence to make our lives simpler. The most common device that we carry with us – a mobile phone has a battery, a device that lets us do multiple things and complete our work – laptop has a battery, vehicle (motorcycle, car, bus, trucks, etc.) that enables us to transit from one place to another requires a battery, inverter battery powers up all the electric devices, and finally, a number of machines that works at various industries also needs a battery.

A battery is a device that consists of one or more electro chemical cells which undergo a reaction to transform stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Furthermore, as there are various types of batteries available in the market and among that wide range of batteries, let's get into detail about tubular batteries and normal batteries and understand the major differences between them. However, you will come across these batteries – tubular battery and normal flat-plate battery when you are looking to buy inverter battery online or offline. Therefore, before making a purchase – it's necessary to know their difference first.

Furthermore, tubular batteries and normal flat plate batteries are the two types of lead-acid batteries. First of all, let us understand the functioning of a lead-acid battery and then, get in detail about both the types of batteries. A lead-acid battery has two electrodes – lead and lead oxide dipped in the electrolyte solution called sulfuric acid. These electrodes undergo a chemical reaction when dipped in the sulfuric acid, thus generating DC current.

What is a Tubular Battery?

It is a type of lead-acid battery in which the positive electrode holding the positive material is placed in a comb-like lead skeleton structure with the help of tubular bags. Therefore, these tubular batteries contain a series of tubes that are placed side by side along the length of the electrode. Thus, the name tubular came into the picture.

In addition, tubular batteries are known as deep discharge kind of batteries and thus, these batteries produce a small amount of current for a longer period of time. They have thicker electrodes than the normal flat-plate batteries and so, tubular batteries cannot produce a burst of current at a time. Hence, this type of batteries is not used in applications like the car, truck, bus, etc. where a huge amount of current is needed at once to start the engine. Furthermore, the positive material in the tubular batteries does not shed off as it is protected in the form of a tubular structure. Thus, the life of tubular batteries is twice than the flat-plate batteries.

However, some of the applications where tubular batteries used are electric propulsion of vehicles, power backup, solar equipment, etc.

What is a Normal Flat-Plate Battery?

Normal Flat-Plate Battery is a type of lead-acid battery and its internal circuit or structure has a grid with multiple squares that forms to be a broad mouthed mesh. This normal flat-plate battery can produce a huge amount of current for a short period of time due to the thinner electrodes present in it. Hence, this normal flat-plate battery can be used in applications like the car, bikes, trucks, buses, etc. where there is a need for a high amount of current for a short span.

Now, let's get into their differences – tubular batteries and normal flat-plate batteries in short.

Tubular Batteries

Normal Flat-Plate Batteries

High Life Cycle

Low Life Cycle

Fast Battery Charging

Charges Slowly compared to Tubular Batteries

Low Water Loss

Needs frequent water topping up

Operates consistently even at high temperatures

Useful only at recommended temperature conditions

Complex Design Structure