LiFeP04 Batteries

BATTERY OVERVIEW

LiFeP04 (also known as Lithium Iron Phosphate and Lithium Ferro Phosphate) technology provides a solution to the need for a light weight, higher capacity battery, normally without the need for major testing and tooling investment. The technology is much safer than other lithium chemistries, and has a specific energy between that of Ni-MH and Lithium Ion. Safety is excellent, with it being the battery chemistry of choice for many EV & HEV manufacturers.

Major benefits come from the high cycle life and performance over a wide temperature range.

Batteries can take the form of standard ‘blocks’ as shown on our website, or combined blocks to form custom battery assemblies, each containing a Battery Management System (BMS) to protect against abuse.

Why LiFeP04 Batteries?
        

• Highest cycle life

               Up to 3000 cycles to 60% capacity at 100% depth of discharge (0.5CA). This compares with 500 cycles from Ni-MH and often less from

               Li-Ion.

• Light weight

               1/3 weight reduction from Ni-MH, less than half the weight of VRLA.

• Excellent temperature range

               Operates from -20°C to +60°C, lower temperature storage permissible.

• Capable of high rate discharge

               10C discharge, limited only by the BMS electronics.

• Fast charging

               1C charging possible.

• Available as a ‘drop-in’ replacement for Valve Regulated Lead Acid

               Batteries available as off-shelf solutions with the same footprints as their lower capacity VRLA counterparts.

• Excellent recoverable capacity at high discharge rates

               If you discharge at 1C, you’ll recover full capacity in Ah. If you discharge VRLA at 1C, this is likely to be as low as 60% of the Ah rating.

• Low self discharge

               Better than Ni-MH or VRLA, close to the performance of Li-Ion.

• Parallel connection possible to produce the highest capacities

               Battery blocks can be series or parallel connected to double capacity or voltage. Cells can be series/parallel connected to give a wide

               range of capacities and voltages on custom packs. If this is a requirement, please discuss with our Technical team to advise of the

               possibilities.

• Safe for transportation

               Although LiFeP04 batteries at over 100Wh fall into the UN Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods Class 9 category, they are inherently safer

               than other Lithium technologies, with a thermal runaway temperature approaching twice that of Lithium Cobalt. It is possible to meet the

               UN38.3 testing criteria without a Protection Circuit (PCM), although this is normally included in the BMS, the use of which is advisable to

               maintain cell balancing

 

Case Study - Is this a familiar problem?

A customer with a piece of portable service equipment designed to take a 7Ah VRLA battery had increased the overall power requirement by enhancing some areas of functionality. This had resulted in a lower product operational time. Drawing 2.3A continually while in use, run time was down to 2.34 hours, which wasn’t enough time to complete a days work for the equipment user, resulting in down time while the battery was changed. A larger battery could not be used without extensive product redesign, the space available being based on the footprint of a Yuasa NP7-12.

A simple solution was to replace it with a 10Ah LiFeP04 of the same dimensions. This gave an immediate increase in capacity by 3Ah, but this was enhanced by the LiFeP04 having greater recoverable capacity at the same discharge rate. This increased the run-time to 4.35 hours, or by a massive 86%.

A secondary benefit was that rather than the 180 full depth of discharge cycles the customer had available previously, this has now increased to 2000 cycles, or more than 10 times the life. This alone more than made up for the increased cost, but the user now has a battery which will probably last longer than the equipment, resulting in less down time and more work.

A further benefit is that on a cold winter morning, the equipment can be taken from the users vehicle and go straight into work, even if it’s been left out overnight.

Let us show you how this technology will work for your project. Contact us now.

 

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