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High Precision Battery Test Equipment

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Evaluating Battery Test Equipment – Part 3/12 – Temperature

Temperature variance of the test equipment and the device under test will always affect the measurement.  This is a physical property that cannot be escaped, but it can be minimized.

Current -vs- Time plot

Knowing how temperature affects the measurement empowers the researcher when determining the experimental error. When test equipment resolution and precision are sufficient, measurement fluctuation due to temperature will be seen. Gradual temperature changes will gradually skew results data [above], and sudden temperature changes can cause jumps in the data as seen [below].  It is important to use test equipment that is resistant to temperature changes with proper thermal control mechanisms and to control temperature of the test environment.

Translating this into test results...
Arbin defines the affect of temperature on the instrument accuracy as ~0.000185% / 1°C, by using patented shunt designs and high-quality materials that are resistant to temperature fluctuations.  Additionally, some of Arbin’s test equipment uses internal thermal control mechanisms that isolate sensitive components and tightly regulate the temperature using techniques developed during a multi-year investigation with partners Ford Motor Company and Sandia National Lab’s metrology department; regarded as one of the best in the world.  This technology allows the test equipment to maintain incredibly high precision measurements.

Current -vs- Time plot

(1) Resolution | (2) Precision | (3) Temperature | (4) Robustness | (5) Accuracy | (6) Software

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Evaluating Battery Test Equipment – Part 2/12 – Precision

Precision determines the level of noise/fluctuation present in the test equipment’s measurement.  Precision also indicates the consistency and repeatability of the instrument’s measurement circuitry.  A measurement with very little noise/fluctuation is considered to be precise.  Measurement precision at “100ppm” indicates it will vary by no more than 0.01% (100/1,000,000).

Many instruments will not specify their precision, which is a warning sign, or will improperly report precision though multiple averaged calculations or very slow frequency data logging that hides the noise.  Another common tactic is to report precision of battery coulombic efficiency calculations instead of hardware specification. These practices are misleading and reflect negatively on the company’s reputation.  [Ask to learn more.]

The test equipment resolution, quality of materials, and thermal management all play a significant role to provide superior precision.  Precision should be specified directly for the voltage, current, time, and sometimes temperature measurement of the test equipment.

Translating this into test results...
Arbin defines the measurement precision for voltage, current, and time for each class of test equipment.  These are the three parameters measured by the test equipment that define its performance.  Quartz timing crystals are used for measurement and timestamp; representing the state-of-the art method for such measurements.

The benefits of high-precision measurements during battery research have been widely discussed in academia for almost a decade.  Coulombic efficiency and differential capacity are two metrics that have been shown to require incredibly high precision test equipment to be meaningful and draw confident conclusions. These analytical techniques can miss or obscure signatures in the data if experiments are conducted with low precision test equipment that will generate noisy and inconsistent (unrepeatable) results.

(1) Resolution | (2) Precision | (3) Temperature | (4) Robustness | (5) Accuracy | (6) Software

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Evaluating Battery Test Equipment – Part 1/12 – Resolution

Resolution indicates the smallest change in measurement that can be detected by the instrument’s sense and control circuitry.  Typically referred to in “bits” of resolution or an absolute unit of measurement such as µV or µA.

For battery test equipment, resolution is determined by the analog to digital and digital to analog conversion, commonly known as ADC and DAC, of the sense circuitry and control system.  Analog signals vary at a continuous (near infinite) rate while a digital signal varies by a discrete rate that is measured in bits.  When zooming in to look at current/voltage/time measurement data, the bits of resolution are the smallest changes that can be detected, and while capacity, energy, internal resistance, etc. are not direct measurements, they are all calculated from the same data.

Translating this into test results...
Arbin’s 24-bit resolution means its circuitry can sense 1 part in 16,777,216 (2^24).  This is a 256x improvement over 16-bit resolution (1 part in 65,526), which is the industry standard.   Greater resolution produces greater clarity with more significant digits.  Higher resolution test equipment, when combined with high precision measurements, has the sensitivity to detect changes in voltage & current (as well as capacity, energy, IR, etc.) that would otherwise be missed, such as detecting a small spike in resistance as a battery approaches end of life, or a slight dip in coulombic efficiency that indicates end of life.  Many academic papers have been published by scientists who look for trends and identifying test metrics that can reduce the test time required during battery material development.  An upgraded tool with better resolution and overall performance should expedite this process even more.

(1) Resolution | (2) Precision | (3) Temperature | (4) Robustness | (5) Accuracy | (6) Software

→Or Continue to Next Section

Customer Spotlight – Bureau Veritas

Bureau Veritas provides battery testing services on behalf of retailers who need to make confident decisions when selecting a battery manufacturer for their product.  Retailers are faced with questions related to battery quality and performance, as well as analyzing how different types of battery may affect the performance of their product.  Bureau Veritas provides the data necessary to make these decision by running simulations to compare batteries from different suppliers and different cell formats.

Their Arbin battery tester allows Bureau Veritas to provide the following services:

  • Testing to NASI C18.1M for different discharge profiles.
  • Capability to test different sized commercial batteries such as AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, and others.
  • Compare supplier's battery performance against national brands.
  • Test results include both numeric data and plots to provide a better understanding of performance and comparison between cells.
  • Comparison data helps retailers invest in the best battery and supplier for their products.

Contact Bureau Veritas for more information on their Battery Testing services.
Tel: 1-800-277-3300 or +1 716-505-3300
Email: info@us.bureauveritas.com
Bureau Veritas Battery Testing

 

Marketing Opportunity

Arbin invites all of you who use Arbin test equipment to tell us about your recent or upcoming achievements, results, products, and successes!  We want to celebrate your success and share across the industry through our e-newsletter, or other possible co-marketing opportunity.  These "customer spotlights" are the most commonly requested news item we share.

Place your accomplishments in the inbox of industry professionals around the world.  Our e-newsletter reaches an extensive audience across the energy storage industry from academic researchers to large-scale manufacturers.  Please contact marketing@arbinmail.com or your sales representative to learn more.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Snow!

Pardon our excitement, but it snowed in central Texas, y'all!  It melted less than 18 hours later, but it was beautiful while it lasted.  All of us here at Arbin wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

See Arbin at 2017 The Battery Show (Booth 2010)

Arbin Instruments is exhibiting at The Battery Show in Novi, Michigan


(Tuesday-Thursday, September 12-14).

Come check out our great demo and visit with us to learn more about our new High Precision testing instruments capable of meaningful coulombic efficiency measurements.

Helpful PDF Event Resources

Download The Battery Show Event Schedule

Download The Battery Show Exhibitor List

 

Learn More about General Battery Testing
Cells / Modules / Packs		 Learn More about High Precision HPC Testing on Cells up to 200A Request a Quote

High Current Cylindrical Battery Holder

Tesla and Panasonic’s recent announcement of the new 2170 format cell has sparked renewed interest for an easy-to-use cell holder intended for high energy density and high capacity cells.  Most industry available battery solutions cannot handle the high current delivered from the cylindrical format cells.  Arbin’s recently redesigned High Current Cylindrical Battery Holder provides a perfect solution for currents ranging from 5A up to 200A.  The battery holders are designed to provide an economic solution, allowing for quick setup and connection to Arbin’s battery test equipment or other testing assemblies.  We are now accepting pre-orders for the first round of deliveries by September 2017.

new high current cell holderThe new 2170 format battery cells are capable of holding more raw materials and providing consumers with longer battery life.  In addition to Tesla and Panasonic, Samsung and several other battery manufacturers are already beginning to move towards the new format and will soon begin production.  Arbin’s High Current Cylindrical Battery holder is perfectly designed to work with the 2170, or 21700, cell with the dimensions of 21 millimeters in diameter and 70 millimeters long.

Arbin’s High Current Battery Holder allows the user to quickly connect and disconnect the device under test, eliminating the down time associated with previous commonly used connection methods. This specialized holder accommodates testing applications with a maximum current ranging from 5A up to 200A, lengths ranging from 10 mm to 120 mm, and a diameter of 10mm to 35 mm.  The reengineered battery holder has adjustable contact probes, along with a single, spring lever mechanism to provide secure contact to the battery resulting in very low contact resistance and no damage to the device being tested. By having low contact resistance, the end user does not have to worry about the destructive high temperatures that usually develop in conjunction with high resistance to the current flow.

Please contact Arbin if you are interested in trying the new High Current Cylindrical Battery Holder.  We are now accepting pre-orders for the first round of deliveries by September 2017. Click here for more details on ordering. 

Arbin offers a complete collection of individual battery holders, trays, and racks for all types of cell:  [LEARN MORE]

 

Innovation, Reliability & Support

New_Chassis 196-EditArbin celebrated our 25 year anniversary in 2016 by introducing a new generation of test equipment, including our new High Precision Tester that is quickly changing the way customers identify and develop new technologies.  In 2017, Arbin will build upon the success of our Laboratory Battery Test Series (LBT) and continue to introduce innovative technology to the market by heavily investing in research and development.  We are constantly driven by our goal to provide researchers with a tool to deliver low-cost energy storage devices to consumers.

A few of our achievements in 2016:

New Two-Year Standard Warranty

Built upon the success and feedback of the new Laboratory Battery Test Series (LBT) hardware, Arbin will now be providing a Standard Two-Year Warranty on all new hardware purchases.  Arbin's new LBT hardware is in full production and has received terrific feedback from customers for the ability to provide a reliable test environment with high precision measurements for cell, module, and pack testing.

Arbin's engineering team has always been confident in the reliability and longevity of our products, with some of the first manufactured test stations still in use.  Since 1991 our customers have received responsive support through our network of offices around the world, and the new Two Year Standard Warranty will provide customers with continued access to our support team, paired with a life-time of phone and email support for as long as you own your Arbin test station.

 

R&D 100 Special Recognition Winner

Arbin's new Precision Arbin-RD100WinnerHigh Power Battery Tester, developed in conjunction with Ford Motor Company and Sandia National Labs, has received the Special Recognition: Green Tech, Merit Award from the R&D 100 Organization.   For more than 50 years, the R&D 100 Awards have served to recognize industry breakthroughs for new ideas and product developments.

By detecting minute signatures of battery degradation trends earlier, the Precision High Power Battery Tester provides valuable insights into the long-term future of a battery, allowing engineers to sort promising technology ready for new products from concepts that need additional refinement in the lab. Thus, this tester has the potential to dramatically accelerate the rate of battery technology development to help meet the growing worldwide demand for long-life automotive and stationary batteries – and, ultimately, usher in a new era of green technology.

Arbin-PrecisionCE

Figure 1

One significant benefit of improved current and voltage testing precision is the ability to derive coulombic efficiency (CE) measurements on a large scale. CE testing is commonly performed in academia, but at a scale relevant for industrial battery performance the lower precision of existing testing equipment has precluded its use. CE is an aggregate metric, essentially how many electrons go into a battery versus how many are discharged. A high CE value denotes a battery with low loss, with a 1 (or 100%) denoting perfect utilization or efficiency. Low CE indicates losses due to side chemical reactions, heating of battery elements, changes in entropy, and other factors. The expected behavior of a battery’s CE over time is a power law decay towards 100%, as the initial CE losses of a lithium ion battery are greatest at the beginning of cycling (Figure 1). This expected behavior is seen in high precision testing but is obscured by imprecision in the case of a conventional tester. The Precision 25 was designed to measure current and voltage precisely enough to enable the CE equations to have meaning for industrially relevant life.

The Arbin High Power Precision 25 is the highest power high precision tester on the market at
200 Amps, an amperage relevant for electrified vehicle and grid storage applications. Arbin also
offers 50 Amp, 5 Amp, and 1 Amp models with better precision and better accuracy than known
competing technologies at these current levels. The High Power Precision 25’s analytical and research
applications include battery, capacitor, and half-cell testing; materials testing; quality control for
materials; and sampling of battery products for reliability.

To learn more about Arbin's new High Precision hardware, please contact us!