Tuesday 28 May 2013

Credit Card Battery meets the needs of design engineers in quality-driven professional electronic devices

The credit card battery was developed by Accutronics in response to its OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) customer’s demands for a compact and rechargeable lithium-ion battery available for delivery on a short lead time.
 
Most OEMs want to be able to integrate a battery into their application, without jumping through hoops to develop a new energy source for every new product. However, finding a product that meets their quality expectations and comes with the right level of functionality and regulatory compliance is no mean feat.
 
Electronic device OEMs in professional markets have difficulty accessing smaller high quality rechargeable lithium ion battery packs for their portable devices. This might seem surprising, given the success of these batteries in consumer electronic devices such as mobile phones and laptop computers. However, the requirements of OEMs in professional markets are very different from those in the consumer sector, and there is often a disconnect between managing expectations and what the battery industry is willing or, indeed, able to provide. For instance, the lifecycle of an average consumer battery is 18 months. In contrast, specialist OEM devices have a lifespan of 15 or more years, which makes the risk of obsolescence very high. This means that embedding a consumer battery, which may become obsolete in just a couple of years, is not a viable solution for manufacturers. Regardless, OEMs often have to buy a battery which was, likely as not, designed for a mobile phone or portable camcorder; but such products don't come with the technical backup required and the OEM is at the mercy of the product life cycle of the consumer device for which the battery was originally intended.
 
The CC2300 and CC3800 credit card batteries were developed by Accutronics in response to these OEM’s demand for a short lead time, compact and rechargeable Lithium Ion battery solution for their portable devices. The batteries are pre-engineered, tooled and qualified before they reach the end user.  They feature 3.7V Lithium Ion cell technology coupled with an impedance tracking fuel gauge, an active protection system that makes them resistant to over-charging, over-discharging and short-circuiting, and a compact connector, all contained in a package with a footprint identical to that of a credit card.
 
 
Full compliance to international safety and transportation standards is assured as Credit Card Batteries are CE marked and meet the requirements of IEC62133 and UN38.3 which means that OEMs do not need to perform additional testing when submitting products to certifying bodies. The Credit Card Battery is excepted from Dangerous Goods regulation which significantly reduces the cost and complexity associated with transportation.  Both batteries are supplied with comprehensive technical back-up and a number of useful accessories which enable the OEM designer to easily integrate the battery into the device system.
 
“The crux of all of our products is the technical support that goes hand in hand with them,” explained Neil Oliver, technical marketing manager at Accutronics. “We believe that our credit card batteries fill a gap in the compact battery market for a fully-supported, OEM oriented battery solution. Device design engineers need technical guidance and feedback when they specify battery products and Accutronics is one of the few companies providing that support as standard. In addition to this, our excellent quality and delivery performance complete the service package that will get the device OEM to market quickly and confidently.”
 
Credit card batteries ship with a standard EEPROM set-up, UL94V-0 grey plastic casing, Accutronics labelling and bulk packaging. These can be customised to meet individual OEM requirements.
 
The credit card batteries are part of the ‘Entellion’ range from Accutronics which are smart, innovative portable power products, designed to meet the emerging needs of professional OEMs and market trends.

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Prefabricerade smarta batterier ger snabbare marknadslanseringar

Accutronics, det oberoende företaget inom design, utveckling och tillverkning av batterier och laddare har lanserat Entellion, en ny serie smarta, innovativa mobila produkter som är utvecklade för att möta de nya behoven hos funktionsrika enheter på de professionella marknaderna.

I Entellion kombineras företagets erfarenhet inom anpassade OEM-batterier med en förståelse för nya krav och trender på OEM-marknaden. Entellion-produkterna är tillgängliga som de är, men de kan även anpassas så att tillverkare av elektroniska bärbara enheter snabbt och säkert kan anpassa sig till sina målmarknader.

De första prefabricerade produkterna var litiumjonbatterierna CC2300 och CC3800 i kreditkortsformat som låter designingenjörer integrera ett smart litiumjonbatteri i nya bärbara enheter med minsta möjliga ansträngning och till mycket låga kostnader. Batterierna är utformade för hög driftsäkerhet och säkerhet och för att förkorta tiden till marknaden samtidigt som kostnader för verktygsanpassningar och certifieringar elimineras.

Den nyaste produkten är de smarta litiumjonbatterierna i VR-serien som innehåller impedansspårning och SMBus- och SBS-kompatibla mätare, LED-laddningsindikatorer med fem nivåer, ett tåligt hölje, kopplingsgränssnitt med sex punkter och glidskenor för enkel montering. Alla batterierna är godkända enligt UN38.3 (transport), IEC62133 och UL2054 (säkerhet) vilket gör att de kan enhetsanpassas till låga kostnader och insatser.

Företaget arbetar tillsammans med, men oberoende av, världens ledande celltillverkare för att kunna välja rätt cell för varje tillämpning, optimera egenskaper som kapacitet, märkkapacitet, livslängd och termiska prestanda.

Uppladdningsbara litiumjonbatterier (Li-ion) är den dominerande batteriteknik som används för bärbara elektroniska enheter. Tack vare en högre gravimetrisk och volymetrisk energidensitet, ger litiumjonbatteritekniken längre driftstider och lägre vikt jämfört med äldre tekniker som nickel kadmium (NiCad), nickelmetallhydrid (Ni-MH) och blybatterier.

”I en värld som domineras av bärbar elektronisk utrustning är behovet att hantera batteriet avgörande”, förklarar Rob Phillips, VD vid Accutronics. Han avslutar med att säga att ”dessa inbyggda smarta elektroniska system gör att batterierna kan hantera laddningen både effektivt och säkert, och inbyggda mätare ger exakt information till värdutrustningen i realtid”.