{"id":15235,"date":"2024-05-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dmcinfo.com\/our-work\/cost-effective-battery-pack-test-system\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T16:33:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T21:33:57","slug":"cost-effective-battery-pack-test-system","status":"publish","type":"our_work","link":"https:\/\/www.dmcinfo.com\/our-work\/cost-effective-battery-pack-test-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Cost-Effective Battery Pack Test System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DMC was approached by a battery pack manufacturer\u00a0prepared to use the \u2018out of the box\u2019 software provided with their new battery cycler to perform\u00a0End-of-Line (EOL) battery test sequencing.\u00a0 After several discussions with DMC, they understood the value in procuring a more complete test solution,\u00a0like our Battery Pack Test System (BPT)<\/a>, that could directly control their battery pack\u2019s low voltage interface and provide a safe disconnect mechanism between their battery cycler and the pack under test. They also appreciated the importance of fully integrating\u00a0their new test system with their assembly plant\u2019s MES database, PLC controls, and material handling systems;\u00a0functionalities well beyond the capability of the simple software shipping with their battery cycler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DMC started this project with a clear request to provide a BPT-based system within the Client’s strict budget.  DMC carefully analyzed their battery pack design, interfaces, and operating modes, and their overall testing requirements. This analysis revealed that the Client’s battery pack interface was relatively low-complexity, and their initial testing needs were rather basic. Since their requirements did not necessitate the use of DMC\u2019s more full-featured BPT composition (see this case study<\/a>), we initiated a new, lower-cost design, leveraging existing DMC hardware control modules. The result was a simple modular concept for achieving the basic battery pack tests that this Client required, while also meeting their aggressive budget demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This basic, but very cost-effective, BPT implementation allowed the Client to optimize use of their capital budget by purchasing only the test capability they needed for their current product. However, since this solution leverages the BPT platform software and NI hardware, they can still achieve the flexibility required for later expansion if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardware System<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve this new BPT design, DMC leveraged the modularity of the NI platforms that form the basis of the BPT software and hardware system. Switching out the more capable, but also more costly, NI PXI systems for very cost-competitive NI cDAQ platform modules was easily accomplished with the NI DAQmx interface. DMC quickly transitioned our larger and more flexible BPT Low Voltage battery pack interface to a more basic one for control of all the required interfaces of a typical automotive battery pack: Vbat, IGN, GND, HVIL, CAN (see Figure 1). Similarly, DMC converted our larger and more complex \u2018High Voltage Contactor Module\u201d into the smaller and simpler sub-system shown in Figure 2.  While the resulting hardware system would have easily fit into a smaller test system rack, the Client wanted to reserve room for future expansion and selected a 36U high test rack, as shown in Figure 3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Software System<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the BPT hardware system was optimized for cost though selective hardware design, the software system of BPT was simply expanded to allow full control of the new low voltage and high voltage hardware sub-systems.  As such, users of this more cost-effective BPT system still have full access to the rich BPT software feature set, and full testing capability, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n