Situation 

One of world’s leading medical supplies manufacturer initiated collaboration with battery regeneration company Renewcell. The medical supplies manufacturer was seeking ways to improve their forklift battery operations, and to extend their forklifts’ battery life. They decided to utilize a remote solution for battery analytics and monitoring which is powered by Bamomas. Shortly after installation the customer receives notifications about frequent incomplete battery charging. 

Figure 1: Customer receives frequent notifications of incomplete battery charging

Incomplete charging can often occur when there is a need to use the forklift urgently and there is just not enough time for the forklift battery to stay connected to the charger until it reaches 100% charging status. However, in this case incomplete charging was happening even when the battery was connected to the charger for a sufficient amount of time. Frequent incomplete charging has a negative effect on battery life. A battery that is frequently left in such a state eventually loses its ability to accept a full charge, its performance decreases due to sulfation and its life is reduced.

Solution

Upon looking at detailed insights about the customer’s battery usage available through Bamomas battery analytics platform, it became clear that the battery was not receiving enough charging power as can be seen from the battery data below. The nominal capacity of this battery was 930Ah. Such a battery is supposed to be charged with current corresponding to 14-20% of the battery capacity, i.e. 130 - 186A, while the charging current in this case had been only 60A, which was clearly insufficient.

Figure 2: The battery state of charge is repeatedly below 100%, charging current 60 A

The attention quickly turned to the battery charger. The battery charger used on site was a new high frequency charger with modular design. Modular design allows combining multiple charging modules into the same charger enclosure. In case of failure of any charging modules, the charger remains in operation on reduced power. While this is beneficial to keep operation going, when left unnoticed, it can have a severe impact on battery lifespan by not allowing the battery to reach full charge.

Outcome

The customer had no way of identifying the charger issue without having access to detailed information about current and voltage. Ultimately, thanks to the thorough and reliable battery analytics data, the customer was able to fix the issue in time before having any significant damage done to their battery. Once the charger settings were corrected, the battery reached 100% charging level once again.

Figure 3: The battery current increases and it reaches 100% charging again

A good battery fleet monitoring system can help uncover useful and detailed battery insights making it possible to remotely monitor the health of batteries, proactively manage maintenance issues, and budget for replacements. In addition, it provides timely information about an upcoming battery failure, prevents back-up system failures caused by poor battery condition, and prevents destruction of an entire battery set due to failure of one cell.

Want to incorporate battery monitoring to your stationary or motive battery fleets? Reach out to us now on sales@bamomas.com or give a call directly to our sales manager at +358 50 557 6244 who would be happy to tell you in detail about our solution.