Case Studies

Battery Cells Prior to Assembly

Smart Battery Pack Manufacturing Test

Posted in Battery Pack Test Systems, Consumer Goods, Green Technology, LabVIEW, Manufacturing Automation and Intelligence, Test & Measurement Automation

Summary

DMC worked with a manufacturer of smart battery packs, which supplies batteries to several major portable instrument and medical device producers, to develop a custom software and hardware system that both programs and functionally tests the entire line of smart battery pack products.

Smart Battery Pack After Assembly

Smart Battery Pack After Assembly

DMC's Test Software Interface

DMC's Test Software Interface

Smart Battery Enabled Medical Device

Smart Battery Enabled Medical Device

Solution

DMC collaborated with the client’s engineering staff to define hardware and software specifications to meet their end need for a universal battery testing system.  DMC then developed a custom Test Software Platform using NI LabVIEW to perform all of the test parameter setup, external instrument communications, Smart Battery Fuel Gauge chip communications, test grading, and data record logging.  The software features the ability to select the exact test steps to run, the test parameters, and pass fail criteria according to the battery pack model.  The software coordinates battery connections and data I/O from five external meters, and can read the RAM / EEPROM / DataFlash registers of over 10 different models of fuel gauge integrated circuits using a variety of hardware protocols.  Thus, the system is able to fully integrate the functionality of several formerly part-specific test stations into a single universal test system, capable of running a prescribed series of tests on any smart battery pack based on its part number.

>> For more information on Battery Pack and BMS Testing see this DMC White Paper.

Customer Benefits

  • Increased Test Capacity
  • Increased Test Flexibility
  • Increased Test Accuracy
  • Reduced Recurring Setup Time
  • Lowered Cost for New Product Introduction

Technologies

  • National Instruments LabVIEW
  • National Instruments VISA
  • GPIB Communications
  • RS232 and RS485 Communications
  • Smart Battery Protocol
  • SMBus Protocol
  • Texas Instruments HDQ and DQ Protocol
  • Maxim 1-Wire Protocol
  • I2C Protocol