In testing times, the battery industry needs a reliable partner

As the lead battery sector steps up the industry’s presence in a range of applications, from automotive to energy storage, telecoms and critical power, the subject of expanding R&D has re-emerged as an important topic of discussion at conferences.

At Battery Council International’s annual conference in 2022 panellists and delegates alike called for more investment in R&D and greater efforts to engage government agencies, national laboratories and the next generation of battery scientists and professionals to focus on advanced lead batteries.

R&D was again a topic of debate at BCI’s 2023 annual conference –and is also a constant on the agenda of other global industry bodies including the International Lead Association and the Consortium for Battery Innovation.

R&D focus

Mark Hulse, vice president of sales and marketing for Maccor, acknowledges that the lead battery industry has increased its focus on R&D as lithium and other battery chemistry contenders push further into battery markets —and he welcomes that.

Maccor has strong connections with businesses in lithium ion, lithium metal air and solid state and Hulse is now encouraging the lead battery industry to let Maccor help them as they strive to make the next technological advances in their products.

Hulse has been with Maccor for nearly 30 years and says it is great to see a resurgence of R&D for lead acid. However, he also sees a need to focus on additives and related materials to further improve lead products.

And it’s especially important for Maccor to be forging new partnerships with lead battery makers too, “because we cut our teeth on R&D and supporting advances in technologies”, Hulse says.

Maccor has strong connections with businesses in lithium ion, lithium metal air and solid state and Hulse is now encouraging the lead battery industry to let Maccor help them as they strive to make the next technological advances in their products.

The company does work with systems for some lead acid firms but usually more in areas where those players are also developing products using other battery chemistries.

As lead acid is a mature technology, R&D waned for some years, but with lead acid now firmly on the R&D track, Hulse says “they would greatly benefit from our speed, accuracy, performance and reliability”.

“We have the most accurate systems and one of the fastest systems in terms of control measuring and that is what you need in terms of R&D.

“You need to be able to measure the smallest of changes in equipment and materials and for that the most important thing to have is accuracy.”

Chemistry agnostic

Maccor has sold more test channels than all of its competitors combined and Hulse points out that Maccor’s expertise can supply channels that run down to nanoamp scale.

And while Hulse is keen to expand work with lead acid, Maccor’s testing tech is chemistry agnostic. Of particular importance is that program tests can be tailored to whatever the chemistry or product is.

It does not have to be a battery it could be another kind of energy storage device such as a super or ultra capacitor.

“We’ve been around a long time and that’s what we’ve been about from day one — giving our customers the most accurate and fastest channels.”

Maccor’s ‘Watchdog’ system can also check on internet and PC connections during testing and if a problem occurs, such as a cable being unplugged, can automatically suspend the test and retain results up to that point.

“All of our channels have what we call isolation relays. The isolation relay opens up to isolate the device under test if a test is suspended for any reason. Also, if a customer is having an issue we have the best customer service department in the industry.”

Applications

Existing clients cover a wide range of applications including materials, medical, home & garden, cell manufacturing, pack manufacturing, e-mobility, automotive and aerospace. Maccor is also involved working with US national labs in research for the Department of Energy and federal government.

In terms of cost, Hulse acknowledges that in tough economic times budgeting for the best can be a difficult call for finance chiefs (even if advised to do so by technical managers) but then it is important to think about the cost of not investing in the best testing technology out there.

“If money was no object I know most everybody would come to us because they know we’re the best in the business for everything from testing to performance and reliability and customer service.”

Ownership cost

Hulse said the importance of understanding cost of ownership has grown over the past 20 years or so as cheaper testing systems have emerged. But the comparisons are stark. Maccor has many customer’s with systems that are more than 15 years old and still running reliably with the company’s support.

Compare that to one client that had to be ‘rescued’ by Maccor after they bought a cheaper system that barely lasted a few months before problems with reliability began to emerge, costing the firm time and money. They eventually bought a system from Maccor and the original purchase sits there unused.

Maccor sold its first Windowsbased system nearly 26 years ago now (earlier systems were DOS based) yet they can run even the latest version of Maccor’s software without hardware upgrades.

When a company buys a tester Maccor never charges for software updates as long as they purchased the system from Maccor, which is unique in the business and there is also constant customer support with Maccor’s expert service team via phone and email.

However, Maccor has a strong presence in Asia too, where the vast majority of its customers are involved in batteries but there are also those who need to test fuel cells and rely on Maccor’s precision technology and support.

Looking ahead to how the business will develop in the coming years, Hulse says Maccor is focusing on a new processor coming on line that’s going to allow customers to run even faster speeds – in the range of sub-one millisecond.

Environmental susbtainability

Maccor is also responding to increasing demand for sustainability and climate-friendly services. The company’s new 8500 series is a return to grid system for higher voltage type applications, so it can handle anything ranging from approximately 50v to 1200V.

The 8500 requires less energy to run, therefore making it a powerful but green tech option.

The domestic US market currently represents around 60-65% of Maccor’s market and Hulse says Europe is probably in the lead as far as international markets go, with the UK and Germany being the biggest.

As global demand for sustainable supplies of energy continues to escalate, battery makers will be among those who are best suited to step up and help countries make the most use of renewables.

But battery manufacturers will need a reliable, accurate and trustworthy technology partner to convince power companies to buy their products – and Maccor stands ready to rise to the challenge.