Testing batteries: The more things change, the more they stay the same

摘要

It's only a slight exaggeration to call batteries the power behind electronics in the new millennium. To the public, handheld and portable products such as cell phones, wireless-communication devices, computers, peripherals, multimedia players, test instruments, and medical devices exemplify what electronics is all about. Batteries are silently-almost invisibly-at work enabling these minuscule electronic marvels to do their jobs. Although batteries' importance has grown significantly in recent years and battery chemistries and manufacturing processes have seen dramatic improvements, the essential elements of the tests that engineers perform to evaluate and qualify rechargeable batteries for consumer applications have remained surprisingly stable. Still, "smart" batteries, such as those that incorporate SMBus technology, and several new classes of test-and-measurement products are making the characterization and evaluation of batteries and chargers more efficient and less onerous.