The market for rechargeable batteries, especially lithium-ion batteries, is poised to experience significant growth within the coming years, especially with costs dropping. Rechargeable battery demand is estimated to increase exponentially in the EV market alone by 2017.

However, this introduces an increasing need of testing technologies to ensure only high-quality lithium-ion batteries enter the market. Lithium-ion batteries will experience shorter life when subjected under a high number of discharge/charge cycles. Additionally, a battery’s source of power will rarely be consistent and may even shut off temporarily. A battery with a weak dynamic response will not be able to recover its peak capacity. Having the ability to recover its capacity in a minimal amount of time is desired, creating the needed to perform stress tests on the batteries.

The PSB 9000 is a bi-directional DC power unit that acts as both a power source and power load. It can simulate both the charging and discharging cycles for the lithium-ion battery. This is a feature that is rarely found anywhere else in the electronics industry. Additionally, it is outfitted with regenerative load, allowing it to eliminate waste heat by converting the DC load power back into AC. As a result, cooling costs are minimized.

Additionally, the PSB 9000 has Auto-Ranging, providing higher output current at reduced voltages (and vice-versa) so the source can maintain maximum power output at a wide range of voltage operation (Figure 2). As a result, one does not need a wide array of power sources to test their batteries.

In summary, the PSB 9000 is a DC power unit that can simulate both the charging and discharging of a battery. By allowing the manufacturer to perform stress tests on their product line, they can ensure only high-quality batteries are released in the market.