Delta-Q Technologies exhibits at The Battery Show North America and The Battery Show Europe. These shows are North America and Europe’s largest showcase of advanced battery technology event covering today’s emerging battery technology for the automotive, military, and utility industries, and vehicle electrification in North America and Europe.
Over the last few years, we have noticed a growing interest towards:
- Robotics, UAVs, and drones
- CAN communication for fleet management and
- Lithium battery technology
Last year, at The Battery Show North America, our Application Engineering team presented 10-minute educational talks, called Delta-Q Tech Talks. To address the growing interest in CAN communication and lithium battery technology, these sessions focused on CAN communication in integrated battery chargers. Attendees discovered how to retrieve charge data via CAN, learned about advanced CAN features, such as authentication, and different ways to charge lithium.
Here is a summary of each of the talks:
Retrieving Data via CAN
Controller Area Network (CAN) bus communication protocols, such as CAN Open or SAE J1939, help facilitate communication between a battery charger and other electric drive vehicle or machine components, which enables safe and efficient on-board charging of lead-acid and lithium battery packs.
But what kind of data is stored in Delta-Q’s chargers and how can you retrieve them via CAN bus?
In the Retrieving Data via CAN session, Sales Application Engineer, Marten, discusses the three types of data users can retrieve via CAN, which are:
- Cycle Data: Data stored within the last three months
- Cycle Summary: Data stored within the last three years
- Cumulative Data: Permanent/non-resettable data throughout the entire life of the charger
and explains how this can help OEMs with debugging, faster troubleshooting and/or warranty claims.
Advanced CAN Features
There are certain advanced CAN features that OEMs can benefit from. For instance, authentication helps a vehicle and battery authenticate a charger, which provides an extra layer of security for an OEMs equipment and protects them in the aftermarket or when a user is servicing their vehicle.
In the Advanced CAN Features session, Sales Application Manager, Conway, presents:
- How Delta-Q’s chargers use authentication
- What reflash over CAN is and how OEMs can use this feature to provide their users with updates, fixes or new software without a service call
- The different customizations Delta-Q can do with CAN for OEMs, such as supporting SAE J1939 or customization of PDO maps for CANOpen set up.
Ways to Charge Lithium
There are three different methods OEMs can use to charge their lithium battery packs with Delta-Q’s chargers: algorithm only, full control over CAN bus or mixed control. In the “Ways to Charge Lithium Batteries” session, Delta-Q Sales Application Engineer, Alessandro, gives a rundown and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these three different charging methods.
Delta-Q recommends that users choose the Mixed Control method, which allows a charger to run a default profile and use the BMS as an option to request voltage/current within the limits of the profile. This method is a combination of the algorithm-only and full control over CAN bus technique. It enables OEMs to customize the charger, based on the battery that is used, and back up safety limits in profiles, which is often required by UL.
We will be releasing the recorded sessions soon, so stay tuned! To learn more about how you can get the most out of your battery chargers using CAN bus, visit Delta-Q Technologies at Stand 1114 at The Battery Show Europe in Stuttgart, Germany from May 7-9, 2019.
About Delta-Q Technologies
Delta-Q Technologies, a leading provider of battery charging solutions that improve the performance and reliability of electric drive vehicles and industrial equipment, has over 20 years of experience helping tier 1 OEMs electrify their products, while its engineering team has a combined experience of over 60 years working with CAN programming and telematic systems. The company has become the supplier of choice to many of the world’s leading manufacturers of electric golf cars, lift trucks, aerial work platforms, motorcycles and scooters, floor care machines, and utility and recreational vehicles. Delta-Q is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada with a local presence in the U.S., Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.delta-q.com.
