Micropower has a wide program of chargers and building blocks to put customized lithium batteries together into a functional unit. The Applications team at Micropower has expertise of both chargers and batteries and how they seamlessly work together.
Micropower is since more than 20 years working with Automationsteknik AB (atab) a partner of MAXAGV, a successful company with long experience in developing and manufacturing AGVs for various types of material transport.
In connection with Micropower starting to manufacture its own Li-ion batteries in 2017, atab became a Certified LionBrix Partner and gradually increased the usage of Li-ion batteries.
Micropower is since more than 20 years working with Automationsteknik AB (atab) a partner of MAXAGV, a successful company with long experience in developing and manufacturing AGVs for various types of material transport.
In connection with Micropower starting to manufacture its own Li-ion batteries in 2017, atab became a Certified LionBrix Partner and gradually increased the usage of Li-ion batteries.
Challenge
As the charging is done automatically and the Li-ion battery is controlled over CAN, one of the challenges is to get a stable CAN communication between charger and battery.
In order to facilitate Can-bus communication between the Li-ion battery and charger, atab often uses a contact solution where the CAN is connected to pilot contacts.
The difficulty with using a wired CAN transmission between the charger and the AGV, is that dirt and the need of exact positioning over the contacts often cause problems in the communication.
Solution / Result
To solve this the Micropower Applications team developed a wireless communication unit with a Wi-Fi Can bridge (WCB).
One WCB is connected to the charger and one to each AGV.
When the AGV has parked on the charging station, the two WCBs establish contact over Wi-Fi and the charging is performed in a controlled and safe way.
As the charging is done automatically and the Li-ion battery is controlled over CAN, one of the challenges is to get a stable CAN communication between charger and battery.
In order to facilitate Can-bus communication between the Li-ion battery and charger, atab often uses a contact solution where the CAN is connected to pilot contacts.
The difficulty with using a wired CAN transmission between the charger and the AGV, is that dirt and the need of exact positioning over the contacts often cause problems in the communication.
Solution / Result
To solve this the Micropower Applications team developed a wireless communication unit with a Wi-Fi Can bridge (WCB).
One WCB is connected to the charger and one to each AGV.
When the AGV has parked on the charging station, the two WCBs establish contact over Wi-Fi and the charging is performed in a controlled and safe way.
