Lithium-ion batteries for telecom applications

As providers broaden their ranger of digital services, there has been an increasing need for more compact energy storage. Manufacturers have responded by offering advanced battery chemistries such as Lithium-ion. However, as with any new technology, there are questions about the relative cost, safety and reliability of these new products. modular energy devices (ModEnergy), an EnerSys company, has created a Lithium-ion solution using redundant cell array technology (RedCA^TM). This approach offers superior reliability over conventional approaches and segments the battery into safer, more manageable cell sections. The use of smaller cells as the primary building block for the battery offers the advantages of leveraging the cost, safety and technology improvements of the portable equipment market. An overview of the architecture and reliability discussion will be provided. Another area of interest is related to the possibility of Lithium-ion batteries offering longer float life over VRLA. Float life data will be presented as well as some discussion about the application of Arrhenius principles to the Lithium-ion chemistry. Modular Energy Devices has been designing a number of products for the telecommunications and CATV market. These products are divided into high energy products offering greater than 2 hours of runtime, and high power products providing from 5 to 20 minutes of runtime. An overview of the product specifications and how they perform across various temperatures and discharge rates is provided.