introduction
With the increasing popularity of wearable devices, mobile phones, tablets, and other mobile electronic devices, lithium batteries, due to their long lifespan, rapid charging and discharging capabilities, and high energy density, are widely used in these portable electronic communication devices as energy storage and power supply components. However, the application of lithium batteries often focuses more on their external characteristics, such as charging or discharging curves, rather than their internal chemical reactions. Therefore, in testing related electronic equipment PCBs, chargers, or small motor control boards involving batteries, using battery prototypes for testing and research is costly in terms of purchasing and maintaining batteries. Furthermore, experiments under extreme conditions often damage the batteries, delaying the development process. Therefore, a battery simulator to replace battery prototypes for testing would not only reduce costs but also accelerate the engineering process and reduce operational and usage inconveniences.
Battery Simulator
A battery simulator is a device that simulates the external characteristics of energy storage batteries. Currently, the battery simulators available on the market are limited in brand and model, and have limited functionality. They cannot achieve bidirectional flow and can only simulate battery discharge conditions, not both charging and discharging characteristics. Furthermore, battery simulators only provide single battery parameter setting functions and cannot realistically fit the battery's charge and discharge curves.
ITECH's newly launched IT6412 dual-channel bipolar programmable power supply features a dedicated Battery module. This module not only enables bipolar positive current output (simulating power supply applications for battery charging tests) and negative current input (simulating load discharging to the battery), but also adds a Simulator battery simulation function. The IT6412 simulates battery characteristics, making it ideal for testing PCB boards or lithium battery protection boards in mobile electronic devices.
The IT6412's simulation capabilities can realistically simulate the capacity-voltage-internal resistance characteristics of a battery, a significant breakthrough compared to traditional battery simulators. The IT6412 achieves voltage accuracy up to 0.02% and can measure minute currents in the μA range for electronic devices in standby mode. Its fast response time of up to 50µs allows for the simulation of step-by-step charge/discharge transitions, perfectly mimicking the high-speed charge/discharge regulation characteristics of a battery.
Battery simulation capabilities can help analyze and optimize the runtime of mobile devices.
The PCB board is one of the core components of mobile electronic devices, directly affecting the performance indicators of many mobile phone functions. A well-designed PCB board not only ensures good communication quality but also reduces power consumption and extends battery standby time. Power consumption testing mainly includes two parts: current testing and voltage testing.
Current testing: power-on current, standby current, power-off current, backlight current, ringing current, etc.
Voltage testing: shutdown voltage, operating voltage, etc.
In the above tests, if the PCB board is powered by a battery prototype, it is necessary to use equipment such as voltmeters and ammeters to measure parameters, and the wiring is cumbersome, which is not conducive to improving production efficiency. If a laboratory power supply is used instead of a battery, the following drawbacks exist:
(1) The standby current of mobile communication equipment is as low as tens of microamps, and the accuracy of laboratory power supplies cannot meet the requirements.
(2) Batteries have better dynamic characteristics, while the dynamic response time of general power supplies cannot meet the requirements.
(3) The internal resistance of a battery is dynamic and cannot be simulated by a power source.
The IT6412 has a power range of 15V/3A/45W and a current resolution of up to 100nA. It can simulate battery internal resistance from 0 to 1 ohm and is specifically designed for mobile communication electronic devices, wearable devices, tablets, etc., filling a gap in the market for low-power, low-current testing accuracy. Furthermore, its unique Simulator function can realistically simulate the capacity-voltage-internal resistance characteristics of a battery.
Connect the IT6412 to the DUT, start the Simulator function, and edit the battery characteristic curve in the menu. This can help engineers analyze the actual battery consumption rate and remaining capacity under different operating conditions, thereby helping to improve and optimize the circuit design and extend standby time.
Supports importing files in the unique CSV format.
To more realistically simulate the characteristic curves of actual batteries, users need to manually input and edit large amounts of dense data to fit the actual battery characteristic curves. This is labor-intensive and requires a powerful host computer, resulting in high costs. The IT6412 makes a significant breakthrough in this area by supporting CSV format files. Users can easily complete battery simulations simply by importing their actual measured battery capacity, voltage, and internal resistance data into the IT6412 device in CSV format.
The IT6412, as a dedicated battery simulation power supply for low-power mobile devices, offers a wealth of data measurement functions. During hardware circuit design and development, it helps engineers easily obtain important parameters such as Umax, Imax, Upp, and Ipp.
