Battery Chargers and Docking Stations for Data Collection
Micro Power Electronics offers the SelfCHARGE line of custom battery chargers and docking stations for data collection devices. Designing a battery charger starts with understanding the battery. As a complete power system solution provider, Micro Power has the fundamental battery chemistry knowledge that is the keystone of charger design. This allows Micro Power to design and manufacture a battery charger that will seamlessly integrate with a lithium battery pack for exceptional ease of use and maximum energy delivery with a minimum charge time. Micro Power maintains a catalogue of in-house reference designs for use in configuring individual battery charger solutions. Micro Power's high efficiency battery chargers can be stand-alone charger or docking station configurations that best suites the usage model of the portable device.
The range of automatic data collection devices supported by Micro Power includes bar code scanners, handheld readers, portable printers, rugged PDAs, and handheld computers.
Multi-Bay Battery Chargers
For an end user to take full advantage of a portable device, the battery packs must be charged quickly and remain in a high state of readiness. Multi-bay battery chargers are the best way to keep the most demanding users up and running through multiple shifts, and our customer can optimize charge time according to the battery chemistry and the current available to the system. Micro Power routinely designs battery chargers and docking stations with the number of bays ranging from one to eight. Our multi-bay battery chargers employ our unique microcontroller based charging system and are available with the following features:
- Configurable LCD or LED status indicators for various battery conditions
- AC or DC inputs
- Battery management features including battery conditioning and gas gauge calibration
- Battery health and status-of-charge indication
- Power management and conditional charging
- Fast charge regimens
- Custom enclosures that are rugged and have industrial design consistency with the device
- Custom electrical contacts and battery latching schemes
- Custom configurations such as vehicular-mount or desktop versions
- Relevant safety and EMC certifications
Single-Bay Battery Chargers
Micro Power offers stand-alone single-bay battery chargers, in addition to the larger multi-bay battery chargers. These units offer many of the same features as the multi-bay chargers, such as a customer defined charge time, custom plastic, and LED status indicators. Many device manufacturers require both single and multi-bay battery chargers for the same device because of different usage models. Micro Power can design custom battery chargers that are easily applied to numerous configurations.
Docking Stations
Mobile and desktop docking solutions offer features beyond those expected of other chargers. Docking stations provide the user with a repository for the portable device when it is not in active use. Our docking stations can be designed to be mechanically robust for the most demanding environments. The docking station will safely charge the battery, and can provide additional features and functionality. Features that can reside in the docking station include:
- Port replication
- Auxiliary battery power
- RF communications
- Host communications via Rs-232, Ethernet, or USB interfaces
- Printer capabilities
Microcontroller based Charging
Our software controlled microcontroller architectures have the advantages of flexibility and efficiency while low parts count minimize cost. The microcontroller performs multiple duties, including, pulse width modulation control for the charger bays, multi-channel control, user interface control, system communications and logic functions based on dynamic input and output power conditions. Integration of all blocks of the power subsystem into one module yields lower cost and smaller size with less heat, fewer interconnects and superior Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) performance.
Smart Battery Chargers
Micro Power develops battery chargers with varying degrees of intelligence. Smart battery chargers are instructed through the SMBus (i.e. I2C or HDQ bus) by a smart battery pack as to the voltage and current required by the pack. Smart battery chargers allow the battery pack to dictate the charge termination, however, they still have timers to limit each charging phase. The degree of intelligence embedded within smart battery chargers includes;
- Level 2 smart battery charger is a slave device to the smart battery. The smart battery transmits voltage and current instructions, and the smart battery charger accepts these values and charges the batter accordingly.
- Level 3 smart battery charger can initiate commands to the smart battery. The smart battery charger suggests charging voltages and currents, and can request charge initiation due to a system change such as the presence of an AC current or some other event.
Embedded Charging Circuitry
Charging circuitry can be embedded in the portable device, and this scheme yields a number of advantages. Micro Power designs charging circuitry that seamlessly integrates in your portable application and delivers a fully qualified, reliable charger with minimal component count and flexible features. Embedded battery charger assemblies can be used to power the entire device as well as charge the batteries. This provides a clean, regulated DC source voltage to the main system power supply, simplifying design and lowering cost. As an integrated solution, the charger electronics can be accommodated on the same circuit board as the device electronics; this reduces design costs and valuable device real estate.
Power Supply Configurations
Micro Power provides AC/DC and DC/DC power supplies from 5 to 350 watts as an integral piece of our power solutions. Our power supplies range from external off-the-shelf wall-plugs, desktop units, or a custom internal power subsystem with integrated battery charger functions. AC/DC converters, integrated with a micro-controlled charger, provide cost savings, fewer points of failure, and improved mobility. Micro Power offers power supplies that meet all safety and EMC standards including FCC Class B and CISPR 11 Class B emissions standards.
