Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD
Welcome to the July edition of Power Systems Design. After a hectic beginning to the year, the summer holiday season is upon us and hopefully we can all take a well earned vacation before the busy second half of the year kicks in.
The theme of our Special Report this month is Batteries and Other Storage Devices. Batteries are essential to our everyday lives. They power most of the portable equipment that we carry around, including mobile phones, tables, headphones etc., and they are also becoming much more important in other areas of our lives, for example transportation. We always want more from our batteries - more energy density to power the devices for longer between charges, faster charging, smaller designs, better safety, more environmentally friendly materials and lower costs. Li-ion is the most popular battery type we use presently. It is a good all-rounder and does everything relatively well, but other chemistries should offer advantages if the few remaining drawbacks to their designs can be overcome.
It is unlikely that we will discover a battery chemistry that excels at all of the traits that we desire. Instead, there will be several chemistries that do one thing sufficiently well in the application it is intended to take market share from Li-ion. For example, sodium-ion batteries may not have the outright performance of Li-ion batteries, but they are cheaper, safer, can endure more charge cycles without losing performance, and they are more environmentally friendly. Na-ion batteries may not be ideal for high-end applications, but they will be used increasingly in the renewables sector for longer term energy storage, as well as providing the power source in low-end automobiles and motorcycles.
That diversity will take some pressure off the lithium supply chain, which is stretched at the moment. However, until those other types of storage are widely available on the open market, designers are pushing to get every last drop of performance from Li-ion batteries. Our two Special Report articles this month look at maximizing the performance of Li-ion batteries. The first article comes from Analog Devices and it lays out how battery management systems can be used to charge Li-ion batteries as quickly as possible, while ensuring that the charging and discharging process is safe.
The second article in this month’s Special Report comes from Infineon, and it examines on-board charging. Now that most of the range issues have mostly been sorted in the EV market, the focus of customers has turned to charging time. When a lot of current is supplied to a battery in a short space of time, heat is generated. In the article, the Infineon authors tell us why top-side cooling is the most efficient way to distribute that heat away from the circuit before it can cause safety issues.
As well as the articles in the Special Report, this month’s issue will also feature general power articles in our Tech Focus section, as well as the latest news and views from the industry.
Best Regards,
Ally Winning
European Editor, PSD
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