military vehicle battery monitoring & management

The Future Of Electrical Power Management

The future of electrical power management

Military Battery PowerManagement & Monitoring

(Aug 2010)



The home of electrical innovationThe home of electrical innovation

2005 – 2007

Development of commercial Powerbank (Vehicle Battery Management System)

‘VBMS’ – Military Vehicle Battery Management System

Some History

2008

Secured first order for Powerbank in the UK for ‘Jackal’ prototypes.

Begin development of ‘VBMS’ (Vehicle Battery Management System) a Militarised version of Powerbank




2009

Orders secured to supply systems for production “Jackal 2” & “Coyote” vehicles for UK MoD use in Afghanistan

Specification of VBMS on a large number of prototype vehicles & marine platforms

Begin VBMS integration with Prime Contractors for GVA (Generic Vehicle Architecture) (UK MoD)




VBMS

What Does It Do?

The Main Benefits


Makes the vehicle charging system ‘intelligent’ and ‘efficient’

It’s expensive and technically challenging these days keeping up with a modern military vehicle’s power requirement by continually fitting bigger alternators, APU’s and generators.

If having purchased that power, you can’t deliver it intelligently to where it can be stored and where it’s needed and the charging source either backs off or dumps its output in heat - the investment is wasted.

Most charging systems are not intelligent.

With VBMS, they can be.


Radically improve long term battery health

Batteries are the vehicles vital power storage medium.

If they are flattened (even a few times) through either ‘blind’ over use or byequipment being left running while the vehicle is parked – two things areguaranteed…

7) On-board systems will begin to fail in service without warning (frightening)

2) You will have to buy and deliver lots of premature replacements (expensive)

Most vehicle systems cannot stop this.

With VBMS, they can.


Let the vehicle crew know how much power they have

Volt meters are the most common form of battery monitor on military vehicles.

What a volt meter will tell you…

• If the battery it’s connected to is on charge or discharge (if you’re trained to understand this) and arguably if it’s already damaged

What VBMS will tell you / do for you…

• The actual useable energy remaining in the battery bank as an easy to understand, stable and reliable % remaining figure • Display this on a clear contrast adjustable LCD screen

• Tell you what battery bank you are looking at and its purpose on the vehicle

• Send this data to your tactical computer (if you have one on-board) to display it on screen for you


VBMS / Tactical Computer Interface


And what else?

• Provides a single (easy to use) control panel for the charging system where: - Batteries can be manually isolated (when they’re not in use) - Battery banks can be paralleled, to help each other when low - VBMS flat battery protection can be overridden in an emergency

• Easy to program / perform real-time diagnostics via VBMS bespoke windows software

• Automatically control the importation and exportation of power from the vehicle based on its own battery power reserves

• Enable or disable very high power consumers automatically based on remaining power reserves (so for example power could be prioritised for tactical systems rather than HVAC)

• Later in 2010, VBMS in-built battery monitor will also report ‘state of health’, ‘time remaining’, ‘temperature’ and ‘net charge / discharge rate’


VBMS Primary Components

VBMS ‘Hub’

Windows programmable device for intelligently controlling ‘Gateways’ via screened cables. Interfaces with remote panels / computer systems (via screened cables).

VBMS ‘Software’

For programming the hub and for diagnostics


VBMS ‘Gateways’

Physically parallel battery bankstogether for charging & separatesthem during discharge. Also physicallycontrols battery isolation, flat battery protection & emergency battery parallel

VBMS ‘Control & Monitoring Panels’

A range of different configurations are available for different vehicle types

VBMS Primary Components




Other Key Military Products




DataCell (RS232 Battery Capacity Monitor)




What is DataCell and what does it do?

DataCell incorporates all the battery monitoring benefits of VBMS, without the management functionality

• Can be specified for either one, two, three or four separate battery banks at either 12 or 24V

• Monitors voltage and state of charge (% of energy remaining), ensuring that the crew know exactly how much power they have in reserve for scenarios such as silent watch. Will also data-log to Excel for calculating silent watch

• Readings can be displayed either via:

- LED read-outs (NVG compatible) - On a PC via Merlin’s comprehensive windows monitoring and data logging software - On compatible tactical computer screens

• Works using mathematical models written for specific battery types to ensure (unlike many compatible monitors), DataCell stays in sync with the batteries long term




Future DataCell Developments

Later in 2010, another DataCell option will be available:

DataCell 2 will include the following additional features:

- ‘State of health’ for each battery bank (predicting battery failures) - ‘Net charge / discharge’ in Amps for each battery bank - ‘Time remaining’ for each battery bank (perfect for silent watch) - ‘Temperature’ for each battery bank




Communication With Wider Architectures

Later in 2010, our Data Bridge option will also be available:

Data Bridge will allow any VBMS, DataCell or combination of units to:

- Communicate via CAN Bus J1939- Via RS485- Via NMEA 2000

Merlin products send out an RS232 or 422 data stream. Perfect for communicating directly with computers.




How Does It All Go Together?


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Common Vehicle Installation




Stand Alone Battery Monitoring

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M-BCM (Military Battery Capacity Monitor)




M-BCM Features / Benefits

Using the same measuring method as VBMS and DataCell, M-BCM is a simple to use, single battery bank physical monitor

• Displays voltage and state of charge for a single battery bank• Factory programmed low state of charge alarm• Mute able audible low SoC alarm

As with all Merlin military battery management and monitoring products:

Designed to comply with DEF-STAN 61-5 (low voltage systems), 59-411 (EMC Land Class A) and 00-35 (environmental).




Thanks For Your Time !

military vehicle battery monitoring & management

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