Currently we are working on implementing the battery and load profiling feature for the GUI. This will enable actually measuring the impact of peak currents on the battery capacity. The load profile will be analyzed for peak currents, duration and magnitude of the peaks, the voltage recovery time and other factors to arrive at the capacity degradation. This along with the battery model will predict very accurate estimate of the battery life.
We are starting with Lithium 3V batteries like CR2032 to begin with. The battery models will be ASCII files which would be uploaded on the website as and when available. This way the GUI can be released with just one battery type and then the users can add batteries later.
Upcoming releases will also feature options to enable the users to profile the batteries so that they can make their own models. If they share the models with the community, we can soon build exact battery models which would benefit the whole community.
Stay Tuned.....
The GUI 2.0 and above features real world battery models which can be used to accurately estimate the battery life. However modelling of the batteries by the user is not yet supported. This is experimentally done by us in the lab based on measured data and manufacturer's models. There is a plan to add the modelling of the battery within the GUI but this steps takes long measurements of the battery and is still beta stage. In the meanwhile, customers using the tool can send us the model number of the battery to be modeled and we would create new models for those. These can be then added to the user's database.
The GUI ver 1.4.1 supporting the real world battery model is available now for download. This model is empirical model fitted from experimental data. Currently the models for MN1500, CR2032, CR2477 are available along with a generic model which can be edited by users.
Basic model for the popular batteries are now under testing. We start with CR2032, MN1500, CR2477 as these seem to be quite popular. The new estimation now considers the impact of peak currents, the duration and the value of the peaks, recovery time etc along with the battery model to arrive at the overall battery life. Initial results seem to agree well with practical measurements.. Stay tuned for the beta release...