• • • BATTERIES & CHARGERS • • •
Creating an integrated battery ecosystem
Michael Marshall, electrical engineer at Briggs & Stratton discusses the importance of creating integrated solutions that support on and off-board charging
T
he movement towards electrification has rapidly increased as OEMs look to integrate new power solutions within their machines.
To support this move, it is important that battery manufacturers and developers create effective battery ecosystems that allow for an efficient charging process that contributes to overall battery health. With the focus often on the battery power
output, ensuring that valuable time is spent developing the charger is crucial for enabling OEMs to meet their power needs. The increasing variety of sizes that batteries are
now available in has led to an increased burden on users due to the extensive array of different chargers required for each battery. As electrified power grows, the development of effective and robust chargers is key to supporting OEMs by making the charging process as easy as possible. Fundamentally, the greater the ease of use, the more users will embrace the new technology. Development of a robust charger capable of both on and off-board charging is crucial to
simplify the charging process and meet the increased demand for different sized batteries. On-board charging occurs within the application as AC current is converted to DC current, before it is sent to the battery via the Battery Management System (BMS). Conversely, off-board charging takes place
outside of the machine as the conversion from AC to DC takes place externally before the DC current is sent to the battery via the BMS. For users with a fleet of equipment, the fewer
chargers required, the tidier their working environment can be and the easier it is for them to swiftly place machinery on charge between uses. Additionally, if the same charger is used across a range of different machines, the interactions between the battery packs and the chargers will always be the same. This enables the user to have greater control over the charging process regardless of the battery pack parameters such as cell type or the size of the battery. Using a singular charger that works across multiple applications helps to create a battery
“ecosystem.” This ecosystem ensures that the battery and the charger are working simultaneously throughout the charging process to prevent overcharging. As the charger feeds electrical energy to the battery, the efficient conversion of the current to chemical energy allows it to be stored within the battery. During normal charging processes, heat is given
off as a by-product. A well-developed ecosystem can help to reduce the amount of energy lost during the charging process to maximise charging efficiency. Vanguard chargers have been developed with
this in mind by utilising passive convective cooling. The removal of moving parts helps to reduce the energy usage in the charging process to ensure that more electrical energy is converted to chemical energy and less is lost as heat energy. Similarly, using a battery that has been
developed in unison with the charger will ensure that the internal communications between the charger and the battery work in harmony to prevent overcharging within the individual Li-Ion
14 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • JULY/AUGUST 2022
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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