We have been working on a variety of projects with our customers in Australia and New Zealand that require small volume batteries with high power capacities. This has led many customers to considering rechargeable batteries such as Li-Ion, Li-PO, Li- FePO4 or primary batteries such as LI-SOCL2.

IoT devices, for example often require battery power.  The increasing number on these devices is bringing a few challenges to our technical team.  One great example is the our recent Sigfox case.

Sigfox Challenge Case

Using the Sigfox Wisol module that we support, customers are deploying items including sensors, trackers, metering systems, smoke alarms and alarm systems. These applications usually require the device to be battery powered. The challenge here is for us to work together with our battery suppliers to be able to keep the battery pack small and to be able to guarantee current peak supply required during the small fraction of time the current of the module spikes when transmitting.

We have been adopting two solutions to this problem.

The first solution is a hybrid battery pack with a Supercap in parallel with the battery cell. By adding the capacitor in parallel with the battery cell, the capacitor can provide the current required during peak current. We have to consider many different scenarios to achieve the appropriate balance between capacitor size, operation temperature and the current required.

The second solution is related to a primary battery; we have to carefully choose the construction of the primary battery to be able to provide the peak current. In this case, when using LI-SOCL2, we had to choose a spiral construction instead of a bobbin construction. The spiral construction allows a small battery to provide the required peak, but with reduced capacity that still suits customer applications.

LoRa and Cellular have similar challenges but different peaks and durations, so if you have a project with a battery power device, please contact us, because we are solutions driven.

We can help you with the following battery chemistry types:

  • Ni-MH
  • Ni-CD
  • Li-SOCL2
  • Li-MnO2
  • Li-Ion
  • Li-Polymer
  • Li-FePO4

We work with our suppliers on custom solutions to meet your requirements including circuit protection, cable length and connectors.our requirements including circuit protection, cable length and connectors.

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