NI has launched a battery cycler that supports testing packs with a power of up to 150 kW (writes Nick Flaherty).

The High Power System (HPS) 17000, NI’s highest voltage cycler at 1500 V, is modular to support existing EV architectures while leaving room for future higher-voltage variants. It is used to analyse battery function through charge/discharge cycles by measuring the cells’ response over time. A number of parameters can be measured by NI’s software, including capacity, efficiency of the battery and self-discharge.

Deterministic time-sensitive networking allows multiple HPS-17000 units to synchronise with a resolution of 1 µs, so cyclers positioned tens of metres apart can reliably operate in parallel. This gives engineers more freedom to reconfigure their test set-ups and move equipment around the lab to maximise asset usage and optimise their testing.

This synchronisation also extends to high-accuracy current and voltage sensor units so that battery design and test engineers can readily correlate cycler actions with external measurements at microsecond-level resolution, helping them set up, execute, and report on tests faster.

The system has swappable power bricks to reduce downtime, as the system can run safely even if one brick needs repair.

It can also be used for applications other than battery cycling, such as inverter testing or dynamometer applications by using the standardised power break-out sections in the system’s cabinet. That allows the cabinet to also be used by local service technicians to test an EV should a malfunction occur.