EA Elektro-Automatik, German manufacturer of DC programmable power supplies, bidirectional power supplies and regenerative electronic loads, announced a new automated battery cycler and test system. It said it will enable manufacturers to better test increasingly powerful electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
Its new 10300 Series offers 2000 VDC capacity for testing high voltage battery packs, which it claimed is out of range for most competitive systems.
Each rack can supply and sink up to 2,400 A per rack, and the system offers up to 30,720 A total capacity. The company said it facilitates battery pulse testing, which may require “exponentially higher” current than the battery Ah rating.
It said its off-the-shelf product saves having to build and maintain expensive custom systems. In addition to battery cycling, tests include drive cycle simulations and insulation resistance. The test system can control an environmental chamber and communicate with a battery management system through the CAN bus interface.
Power density is 300 kW from a single 42U-high rack volume, which takes up only 6.5 square feet of floor space. Users may parallel racks for up to 3.84 MW of testing capability.
“Until now, the only way to get this performance was to build and maintain an expensive custom system,” the company said in its statement. “In contrast, the off-the-shelf 10300 Series is a complete COTS turnkey solution. In addition to battery cycling, tests include drive cycle simulations and insulation resistance. The test system can control an environmental chamber and communicate with a battery management system through the CAN bus interface.”
Eric Turner, Americas Director of EA Elektro-Automatik, said: “As consumers demand EV batteries with higher storage capacities, producers need test systems with higher power capability. In addition, the new hydrogen fuel cells coming onto the market will require even more. Voltage levels as a result are increasing; in some cases, power grid batteries need to be tested now at 1500 volts.”
The 10300 Series ATE test system is based on EA Elektro-Automatik’s bidirectional power supply with SiC-based switching for cool, efficient, and fast operation.
The system returns absorbed power to the grid with up to 96.5% efficiency. The company claimed system slew rates are at least twice as fast as other systems. Data acquisition rates are up to 1.5 kHz.
Cost details were not disclosed.
