In the race to electrify the industry, Inventus Power, a global leader in advanced battery systems, offers insights and innovations that promise to accelerate the transition.
In this webinar, Oliver Bald, Senior Manager for Business Development, and Santiago Antolin, Senior Field Applications Engineer, delve into the intricacies of standardizing battery technology and charging solutions for off-highway equipment.
Watch the full webinar here:
The Surge in Power Demand
As the world becomes more electrified, the demand for power increases, pushing for higher system voltages to optimize efficiency and minimize losses. Driving this heightened demand is the twofold transformation occurring in recent decades:
As foundational battery technology improves, the upgrade from lead acid-based electric drive trains to lithium-ion systems has resulted in a nominal voltage surge and need for power—particularly in off-highway applications.
The Key to Navigating the Transition: Standardization
Learning from sectors that once relied heavily on custom design solutions, it's evident that standardization paves the way for broader applicability and more efficient implementation.
This pivot to standardized battery pack and module sizes offers multiple benefits, such as accelerated market entry, cost reduction, and full battery pack certification.
Transitioning from immediate advantages, the steps to achieve standardization can be distilled into four guiding tenets:
In the wake of a rapidly evolving energy landscape, these tenets not only guide efficient transitions but also ensure that systems are future-proof, optimized, and aligned with industry progression.
Elements to Optimal Battery Design
A foundational aspect of standardization lies in the battery design itself, from size to internal composition. Note the following design elements that contribute to this:
Sizing
In addition to modularity and scalability, standardized sizing on battery packs enhances the flexibility of installation:
Proper sizing ensures optimized power and performance based on the intended machine duty cycle.
Battery Cells
The battery's heart, its cell, is chosen based on factors including power needs, environmental conditions, and specific load profiles. Three standardized cell types stand out:
Each cell variant provides a unique balance in performance metrics such as charge rate, energy density, longevity, and cost-effectiveness.
Battery Management System
Monitoring cell charge, discharging, and overseeing vital parameters like voltages and temperatures, the BMS effectively serves as the ‘brain’ of a battery pack.
Its design synchronizes with cell specifications and safeguards the battery, all while communicating externally for diagnostics and safety checks.
Levels of Integration
Integration in modern battery systems encompasses communication between key internal components, such as the vehicle control unit, charger, and battery.
This can be segmented into three primary categories:
Leveraging data analytics and machine learning, full integration allows for substantially reducing downtimes via safety and performance fine-tuning.
This intricate synchronization of varied components exemplifies the challenges and advancements in the field, underscoring the importance of standardization.
Compliance and Safety
While regulatory standards and compliance specifics vary globally, universally ensuring safety is paramount, especially when aiming for standardization.
Essential tests for compliance include:
Additional considerations must be made for proper transportation and storage of battery packs, such as maintaining ideal state of charge (SOC) levels and performing regular checkups on stored batteries.
Maintaining compliance in these areas ensures that batteries perform optimally and adhere to safety parameters, guaranteeing safe deployment across applications.
Standardization: The Fast Lane to Electrification
As the industry powers forward, it’s clear we are swiftly accelerating towards an electrified future.
From the complexities of optimal battery design to overarching guidelines grounded in safety and regulatory benchmarks, standardization carves a decisive path forward—for off-highway equipment and other commercial sectors.
The horizon looks electric—and Inventus Power, charged by Delta-Q—stands poised to blaze the trail.