Battery Pack Technology

Cell Selection

Palladium Energy is best suited to help you choose and customize your battery pack solutions

Battery Cells Our long history in battery pack design and manufacturing means we understand the trends, demands and challenges of a quickly evolving industry. Because we've been active in the industry for decades, and have nurtured senior-level relationships with every major battery cell supplier, Palladium Energy is best suited to help you choose and customize your battery pack solutions – especially when it comes to cell selection.

When choosing a cell for an application, first take into account the device's construction and design objectives. Other things to consider include: Palladium Energy Battery Design

Cell capacity
Operating temperature and
power range
Cell availability
Shape
Cycle life
Cells in series and/or in parallel
Cost

Lithium-ion vs. NiCd & NiMH

For many years, NiCd batteries were the only suitable battery for portable communication and computing devices. As demands for energy density increased in tandem with environmental concerns, newer, more efficient and more environmentally-friendly designs began to emerge. In the 1990s, NiMH and lithium-ion batteries made their first appearances and began to gain acceptance. Today, lithium-ion is the fastest growing battery chemistry.

Charging

Lithium-ion batteries should be brought to a 40% charge level, and should never be deep cycled like NiCd batteries. (This is one area where NiCd and NiMH batteries still have usefulness – for the high-drain applications such as cordless power tools and toys.) Lithium-ion batteries have a nominal open-circuit voltage of 3.6V and typical charging voltage of 4.2V. The charging procedure is one of constant voltage with current limiting; knowing the minimum and maximum application voltages is critical to the design. In the past, lithium-ion batteries could not be fast-charged and typically needed two hours or more to fully charge. Today's generation of cells can be fully charged in 45 minutes or less with some reaching 90% in as little as 10 minutes.