Smart meters are based on the IoT concept and exchange data between the receiving terminals. The wireless transmission module based on communication technology is often used when transmitting data. However, due to the particularity of the installation location and place of the meters, many scenarios do not have the conditions for installing an external power supply, so only the built-in battery can be used to support the smart meters in the function of power consumption of the corresponding standby operation, command reception, data transmission and other working modes. So, how to choose a suitable battery solution for the IoT meter is particularly significant.
Common IoT wireless transmission technologies mainly include short-distance local area network transmission, such as ZigBee, SSM169MHz, and long-distance WAN transmission, such as GPRS, NB-IoT, LoRa etc. Due to the difference in applicable and data transmission distance, the power consumption of different modules is also varied, often ranging from 100mAh to 2000mAh. But no matter what kind of IoT meter with wireless transmission technology, the intermittent working pulse and the continuity of service life of the meter must be considered.
As one of the major Chinese Lithium battery enterprises, EVE provides comprehensive solutions for smart meters such as electricity meters, water meters, gas meters and heat meters, with more than 16 years of industry application experience. EVE has sold over 1.7 billion batteries worldwide in the smart meter industry and improves the safety and reliability of the power supply and extends the usage time.
ER+SPC Hybrid Power Solution
The battery plays the role of measurement and communication in the smart meter, which needs to meet the requirements of wide temperature (-40℃~+85℃), long-term microcurrent and large current pulse output capacity, long life (10+ years) and so on. Featuring of the highest energy densities of primary batteries, lithium batteries have a wide operating temperature range (-55℃~+85℃), long-time stable discharge platform voltage, low self-discharge rate and long storage and service life, etc., which are widely used in smart meter applications.
However, due to the passivation characteristics of lithium batteries, there will be a voltage delay period of a certain time, leading to the decline of pulse output capacity. When the continuous output of high current is required, the lithium battery cannot meet the output requirements, and the passivation phenomenon as the inherent characteristics of a lithium battery cannot be completely eliminated.
The ER+SPC hybrid power supply, which is composed of a lithium thionyl chloride battery and lithium-ion battery capacitor in parallel, can not be affected by passivation, no voltage lag, and the pulse output capacity is greatly improved. The safety performance has passed the certification of UL1642, UN38.3, ATEX, etc., proving that it has high safety and reliability. ER+SPC hybrid power supply is an ideal power supply solution for long life and high current pulse applications. It is widely used in intelligent meters, smart cities, intelligent security and other IoT fields.
Conclusion
EVE’s comprehensive smart meters solutions include lithium thionyl chloride battery ER battery, lithium manganese dioxide CR battery, and hybrid power ER+SPC. Among them, EVE’s independently-developed ER+SPC solution takes into account the advantages of long lifetime ER battery and super pulse capability output capacitors（SPC）, which can effectively ensure more stable, accurate and long-life operation of the meters.
Note: The above data comes from EVE’s laboratory.
