How Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Should Choose Appropriate Battery Testing Equipment

Dawn of 21^st century saw innovation in consumer electronics industry. Intensive research and economies of scale made these electronic products cheaper and flooded markets with various items like smartphones, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, digital watches, shavers, trimmers etc. These products might use chargeable or non-rechargeable batteries including lead acid batteries, nickel cadmium batteries, nickel metal hybrid batteries, alkaline batteries, zinc carbon batteries, lithium ion batteries, and coin cell batteries. Though, some types of batteries are preferable over others.

Safe and reliable operation of batteries in these products is essential to ensure safety of product and surrounding personnel. To increase the chances of batteries meeting safety and performance expectations, these shall be tested for several parameters. This article will help you choose an appropriate battery testing equipment if you are manufacturing some consumer electronic product and want to make your product more reliable or if you are just a student learning about battery testing equipment.

Before plunging onto knowing about selection criteria for a battery testing equipment for consumer electronic goods, lets learn about basics concepts and relevant terminologies first.

What is meant by Consumer Electronics?

Consumer electronics are also known as home electronics because of their wide use in homes. These could either be digital or analog. These devices are mostly used for entertainment, and communication or contain means for one or both. Example products belonging to these categories are MP3 players, cell phones, cameras, fax machines, gaming consoles, laptops etc.

Home appliances are also categorized as consumer electronics though they are not used for entertainment or communication. For example, washing machines, Air Conditioners (AC), refrigerators, and dispensers.

Of all these consumer electronic products, portable ones rely on battery or battery systems; others operate on mains power.

What Types of Batteries are used in Consumer Electronics?

As mentioned, those consumer electronic devices or gadgets run on batteries which are portable so size and weight of battery becomes a major consideration. Application decides operating environment and usage conditions so this also serves as an important criteria for battery selection. Here, battery types used in consumer electronics, are discussed briefly.

Lithium-ion batteries are most common batteries in consumer electronics because of their high energy density, lower self-discharge, and relatively good cycle life. These features make these batteries good for use in laptops, smartphones, cameras, and tablets.

Alkaline batteries are used in consumer electronics especially remote controls, flashlights, toys, and clocks. These are inexpensive and versatile batteries.

Lithium batteries, Nickel-metal hydride batteries, lead acid batteries, and button batteries are also used in many consumer electronic products.

Why is it Important to Test Batteries used in Consumer Electronics?

Consumer electronics are widely used by laymen, unprofessionals, and even kids. Most of them may not have technical expertise. Many users may not notice signs of abnormal behavior in batteries, which can lead to serious issues. If a battery behaves unusually, it can cause disruptions in functionality, premature failures, or even dangerous situations like ignition or explosions. These potential risks primarily compromise safety, but they do undermine the performance and reliability of the entire product also.

To ensure consumer safety and product quality, international standards have been established to regulate battery testing. These standards are crucial for making sure that batteries used in consumer electronics are safe, reliable, and perform as per expectations. Testing batteries according to these standards helps manufacturers build trust with their customers.

Non-compliance with these testing standards could not only jeopardize user safety but also erode customer confidence in a brand. Therefore, it’s vital for manufacturers to rigorously test the batteries used in their products to avoid mentioned risks.

Types of Tests to be conducted on Batteries Used in Consumer Electronics:

Types of tests for a specific battery depend greatly upon the device or gadget in which battery is to be fitted. Indirectly, application and operating conditions determine types of tests. Anyhow, these tests are widely categorized into 4 types namely Electrical tests, mechanical tests, environmental tests, and abuse tests. Here, all tests under relevant category and examples from consumer electronic goods will be discussed.

Electrical Tests:

Electrical tests are most important tests because these are relevant to basic performance and not good performance of batteries. Following electrical tests are usually performed on batteries in consumer electronics:

1. Voltage measurement is usually taken when battery’s terminals are open or battery is unloaded. This voltage is referred to as OCV or open-circuit voltage and it should be close to rated voltage of battery. This helps determine battery’s health and state of charge. For example, coin battery with below rated OCV, used in toy laser light might not turn the light on.
2. Internal resistance gives an idea of thermal losses within battery cell and highlights its ability to deliver current. Ideally, both DC and AC resistance shall be tested.
3. Load testing is done to see if battery is capable of powering a rated load. This test assesses battery’s health.
4. Capacity test helps determine charge storage capacity of battery. It also helps determine time duration for which battery would keep a device alive. For example, a remote control.
5. Cycle life tests are for rechargeable batteries only which might be used in digital cameras, toys, or shavers etc. This test helps determine number of charge/discharge cycles.
6. There are many other electrical tests also that can be conducted for batteries used in consumer electronics like conductance measurement, ripple voltage test etc. these tests are of secondary importance compared to former tests.

Mechanical Tests:

Mechanical tests are conducted on batteries to assess their physical robustness so they could be transported safely, and handled feasibly. Following mechanical tests are common for batteries:

1. Vibration tests: This test is run through automated testers and simulation tools. In this test, battery is subjected to random or sinusoidal vibrations.
2. Crush tests: Compressive forces and strains are applied onto battery to access if battery could handle collapse or hit situation.
3. Tensile tests: this test examines strength of battery components like electrodes and separators under tensile stress.
4. Similarly, compression tests, adhesion tests, impact tests, and indentation tests are performed to analyze battery’s physical strength under various conditions.

Environmental Tests:

Every consumer electronic product is used under different operating conditions and, thus, those environmental tests are performed on batteries which would resemble more to their operating situation.

1. Temperature testing: this test stands as most common yet important test for any type of battery in environment category. As part of this test, thermal shocks are given or battery is exposed to possible extreme low and high temperatures.
2. Humidity Testing: some gadgets might be placed at humid locations so batteries are tested for moist environmental conditions and it is ensured that battery doesn’t corrode, short, or gets damaged in any other way.
3. Altitude Tests: altitude changes bring pressure changes which might affect internal components of a battery so battery’s performance is simulated at different pressure levels to ensure its various components and battery as a whole system keeps operating well. For example, battery cells used in digital watches might face pressure changes in atmosphere or water (for water proof watches), so altitude tests are important for batteries used in consumer electronics.
4. Fire Tests: if a home electronic product catches fire somehow, battery would also be exposed to fire and extremely high temperature. So fire tests are also conducted on batteries to assess their behavior in such situation.
5. Some other tests related to environmental conditions can also be performed on batteries to understand their performance in better way. These tests include dust testing, salt spray testing, water ingression testing, and nail penetration testing.

Abuse Tests:

Abuse tests are known as destructive safety tests. In these tests, batteries are exposed to conditions which go beyond their normal operating scenarios so their safety and behavior could be analyzed. These tests are further categorized into electrical abuse tests, mechanical abuse tests, and thermal or environmental abuse tests.

1. Electrical Abuse Tests: To conduct these tests, electrical parameters are varied to extreme conditions like overcharging is done, short circuiting is done between battery terminals, over discharging is performed, and over or under voltage is applied.
2. Mechanical Abuse Tests: Just like electrical abuse tests, for mechanical abuse tests mechanical factors are varied beyond specified nominal limits. For example, battery can be subjected to compressive forces to the extent of crushing, or battery could be made to fall under gravity, or it can be rolled over.
3. Thermal Abuse Tests: For these tests battery is exposed to extremely high and low temperatures for longer periods of time. These tests are performed in specially designed thermal chambers.

Factors to Consider While Choosing Battery Testing Equipment for Consumer Electronics:

Once it is clear which tests are important for batteries used in consumer electronics and what are the types of batteries, you can move onto knowing selection criteria for battery testing equipment for any home electronic device, you are manufacturing. Here, all those aspects are mentioned which might affect your decision of buying battery tester.

Battery Type and Size:

Not all battery testing equipment are manufactured to test all kinds of batteries. Each type of battery or chemistry of battery needs specific and compatible testing equipment. So you shall be sure that battery testing equipment, you are going to buy, must be capable of testing type or types of batteries being used in your consumer electronic goods.

Once it is confirmed that targeted battery tester can test type/types of batteries under consideration, you should move onto examining numbers or figures. Now, you shall see if testing equipment can handle current and voltage ranges of your batteries.

Test Types Under Consideration:

Based on the type of product, you are manufacturing, measurement and monitoring of some parameters might be very important while others might be regarded as of secondary importance. For example, a digital camera which is manufactured for sea divers, undergoes humidity, water ingression, pressure alterations, and so on. So chosen equipment shall be able to perform mentioned tests with high accuracy.

Accuracy and Precision:

How much accurate and precise battery testing equipment you need for your battery or battery system, depends upon application or type of consumer electronic product. For example, if you are using battery testing equipment to measure current performance of a battery which is to be used in shaver, it should be adequately accurate as shaver’s speed and cutting depth depends upon supplied current.

Multi-channeling and Load Volume:

You shall also be aware of load or volume of batteries which are to be tested and that too in how much time. If you are manufacturing consumer electronic goods at large volumes, you want batteries tested quickly without any compromise on precision. In such case, you shall go for multi channeled equipment over single channeled equipment.

Safety Features:

Many tests performed on batteries have the potential to lead the situation into catastrophic scenario. So your battery testing equipment must incorporate enough safety features to handle disastrous situations.

Data Logging for Analysis

Does record of your battery tests matters to you? Answer is yes, especially in that case when you want to perform tests repeatedly and want to analyze battery performance over time. So you shall prefer choosing a battery testing equipment that would log data automatically, sort it, and present it visually for the sake of presentation.

User Friendliness:

Battery testing procedures are repeated processes usually. In such case, user-friendliness matters a lot. For example, easy to follow instruction, clear interfaces, simple setup process will make the machine more user-friendly and eliminate need for specially trained person. Moreover, options to schedule tests and automatically running the tests will make a battery testing machine far more user friendly.

Cost:

This is among the most important factors that affect selection process greatly. Optimization between costs, all performance meters, and yield is to be made so you don’t end up buying very expensive equipment or lagging behind in terms of work and progress.

Conclusion:

Batteries lie at heart of portable consumer electronics. For sake of safety, compliance with testing standards, and fulfilment of performance requirements, it has become necessary that a consumer electronics manufacturer tests batteries. Types of tests to be conducted on battery depend upon type of battery, electronic product, application, and environment. While choosing a battery testing equipment many factors are to be considered including type of battery, type of tests, equipment’s hardware and software features. Appropriate tests not just enhance chances of safe operation for your consumer electronic product but also boost client’s trust.