• • • BATTERIES AND CHARGERS • • •
Specifying LTO battery cell chemistry can be vital to boosting performance of some mobile
industrial robots By Owen McNally, principal design engineer, Alexander Battery Technologies
he demand for battery-powered products has increased exponentially during our lifetime, and in more recent years has been booming in the industrial sector. With more processes relying on battery-powered vehicles and devices, that have wide ranging jobs to do in varied environments, it is inevitable that the design and development of the batteries, that power these products, has also changed. There are now more considerations than ever when making design decisions during battery pack development, one of the critical decisions is which cell chemistry is best suited to the application of the battery pack. The knock-on effect is that more OEMs are choosing custom lithium-ion battery pack designs to enhance the performance of their products because off-the-shelf solutions often don’t meet the specific requirements of their application. Mobile robotics are a relatively new technology that is in increased use across various industrial sectors. As organisations become more reliant on robots performing crucial roles, getting them to perform to an optimum level has never been more important.
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Popular devices include automated guided vehicles (AGVs), used in materials handling and other applications, automated mobile robots (AMRs), for last-mile deliveries, and frame climbers in automated warehouses.
This automation of more processes means the robotic devices require portable battery power systems that can maintain a continuous output without running out of charge or failing prematurely because of a fault or breakdown. Consequently, battery pack technology is developing at a fast pace to keep up with the development of robotics in the workplace. Choosing the right battery chemistry has become critical to ensuring reliable performance. Lithium-based batteries are the most common choice for new industrial batteries today, because of their high energy density and capacity, giving much longer run-time between charges than any other battery chemistry. With so many types of lithium chemistries used in battery cells, it is important to consider and specify the correct cell type, pack design and quality for different environments.
The proliferation of lithium chemistries, and of the components such as battery charge controller ICs that support lithium battery packs, mean that a robot OEM can be faced with a complex set of trade-offs to consider. The decision about the best set of trade-offs needs to be made on an application-by-application basis. A reliable custom battery pack manufacturer, Alexander Battery Technologies, will work in collaboration with OEMs to provide detailed guidance about every other performance attribute of each lithium chemistry, and to advise on the best choice for the OEM’s specific mobile robot application. For example, when it comes to mobile robotics that are required to perform in extreme temperature ranges, we often tend to turn to one of the older chemistry technologies, lithium titanate (LTO).
Mobile robots that operate in a cold environment, such as a refrigerated warehouse, need to take into account the battery temperature as a lithium cell cannot normally be charged when it is colder than 0°C. This might require the use of
16 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • JULY/AUGUST 2024
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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