Stressing / Draining Lithium Battery with PXI battery simulator?

[armendzh]

I have following tools from NI: NI PXIe-1073 and PXIe-4154. Before I was using it as battery simulator to power development boards with power supplied from PXIe-4154.

However, now I would like to drain lithium battery with a certain drain patterns to see the effect on it's battery life. I would like to simulate the load of potential device that the battery will power.

How can I drain actual battery (for example from smartphone) using my battery simulator? Is it possible?

[robo_Jeff · Accepted solution]

Hi armendzh,

No, unfortunately it's not. To drain a battery, you need a load, not another battery. The PXIe-4154 operates in 2 quadrants. It can only source, not sink. It can source a positive voltage and current or a negative voltage and current. A sink has negative power, so it must operate in the two other quadrants: positive voltage with negative current, or positive current with negative voltage (p=iv).

What you need for your application is a variable load and something to measure the load and battery with. If you'd like to consult with someone on what to buy, give us a call at 866-275-6964 and create a new service request.