Optimizing IoT Battery Performance: Tools and Solutions for Enhanced Efficiency
The Internet of battery-powered things
How many of the “things” that make up the Internet of Things are actually running on battery power?
Numbers are hard to find, the market is very dynamic and changes by the day.
Some studies offer an estimation of 50+ Million batteries that are expected to be disposed of per day by 2025. What we know is that IoT devices count in the billions – and many of them run on battery power.
Optimizing the battery life for any application offers a long list of benefits, some of the obvious ones are listed below in a non-exhaustive list:
- Product cost.
In many cases, the battery is a significant contributor to the product cost. - Customer satisfaction.
Meeting or exceeding customer expectations in terms of battery runtime and/or battery lifetime is a good strategy to grow your business. - Physical optimization.
Many aspects of your product like weight, size, or thermal management impact the physical design and consequently handling, packaging, shipping and user experience – to name just a few aspects. - Battery-change or recharge logistics.
In many applications, the battery is expected to last for months or years without battery change or re-charging. Optimized battery life and the simplified logistics connected to this are competitive advantages. - Environmental impact.
Extended overall product lifetime and minimizing battery capacity and size will inevitably have a positive environmental impact once the product (or battery) reaches the end of its life.
Having the right tools at hand
The new E36731A Battery Emulator and Profiler in combination with the BV9211B PathWave BenchVue advanced battery emulation software solution is the perfect tool to cover use cases from micro-Amperes up to 20A in a voltage range from 0 to 30V with up to 200W of power.
From low-power IoT – sensors to drones and power drills; this solution does not only fit today’s requirements but will also serve you perfectly well in future projects.
The “Swiss Army Knife” for battery
This powerful solution offers all the functionality you will need:
- Create battery profiles from physical batteries.
- Measure and record the real load profile of your device and use it to run simulations with different batteries.
- Measure ageing effects and the impact of different load profiles, recharge cycles and environment conditions.
- Accurate emulation using battery profiles – you can change State-of-charge (SoC), Temperature and different load profiles with the click of a mouse (or automated) to simulate different operating conditions.
- Track the power consumption of your application in detail and measure the real battery runtime under different conditions.
- Optimize battery capacity to meet your target specifications.
- Test your charging circuit and/or BMS to verify the battery is operated in accordance with your safety requirements.
- Optimize your software to extend battery life.
- Integrate the battery test into your CI (continuous integration) environment to verify the impact of software changes in real-time.
- Easily document all your measurements.
There are many more tasks during the complete life cycle of your product this sophisticated – yet affordable – solution helps you to measure, proof and document.
(Image-Source: Keysight)
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Keysight E36731A Battery Emulator and Profiler in combination with the PathWave BenchVue Battery Emulation Software is a powerful and innovative solution for anyone working with batteries. With its advanced battery emulation and profiling capabilities and user-friendly software interface it can help you save time, reduce costs and improve the safety and reliability of your battery-powered devices.
Whether you're testing and validating battery-powered devices, evaluating new battery solutions, optimizing battery management systems, or enhancing battery safety, the E36731A and BenchVue software combination is an excellent investment that will help you to achieve your goals effectively and efficiently.
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