Battery Power - Spring 2016 - (Page 16)

Feature Top Four Considerations for Battery Management in a Connected World Chris Mangum, CEO and Chairman * Servato Marching towards the world is the Internet of Things (IoT), the technological trend of connecting everything to the Internet. It seems every industry is busily preparing for the rush of updated products and services that will capitalize on IoT. This puts growing pressure and expectations on telecommunications companies, the companies that provide the connectivity that will actually enable an IoT future. The Internet of Things will only be as useful as networks are expansive, fast and reliable. Changes to network communication standards and other network changes are being designed and implemented with coverage and speed in mind to support IoT, but not all companies have been thinking about reliability with the same fresh perspective and urgency. The foundation of network ability to withstand power outages are backup batteries, which today are often not adequately cared for to ensure backup power. For the IoT revolution to truly flourish, this practice must change. Telecom service providers are dependent on these batteries and often have to juggle between high maintenance costs and good service. Keeping track of hundreds or thousands of batteries can be a very expensive proposition, so in many cases managing battery performance has given way to simply replacing them on a preset schedule, whether or not they need replacing. Occasionally these cycles are complemented by manual maintenance checks with unavoidable long stretches in between. All of this means that unmonitored batteries may fail before they are scheduled for maintenance, leaving no reliable backup solution in place. The scale of this battery mismanagement is worth mentioning: 41.8 percent of Stationary Lead-Acid batteries are sold into the telecommunications market to cover hundreds of thousands of wireless towers, central offices and outside plant cabinets. Millions of batteries meant to protect the Internet and enable IoT are not receiving the attention they truly deserve, particularly in the face of more impending growth in telecom infrastructure. There is a concerted push in the market and from the government to improve reliability and speed in rural markets. The Connect America Fund II is committing over $1.5 billion dollars per year to carriers for improvements in these areas. As money flows to building out networks, batteries will continue to be deployed to provide redundancy. However, the maintenance problem could worsen and the risk could grow even greater. With all the batteries sold to telecommunications companies and the growing importance of backup batteries to support the IoT trend, it's time for some of the poor battery management practices to be changed. Outages will become more costly to both residential and enterprise customers, and carriers will face increasing pressure to deliver reliability. There are four key considerations when it comes to thinking about remote battery management: * Reliability: How sure is it that the batteries will turn on when needed. * Uptime: How sure is it that the batteries will provide the necessary amount of uptime? Are there enough batteries and are they healthy enough? How quickly can the site be restored to normal functions? * Maintenance: What steps can be taken to minimize the risk of failure of the backup batteries and thus improve how networks handle outages. * Monitoring/Remote Management: How can IoT technology be leveraged to automate time-consuming maintenance and create other efficiencies? Reliability Reliability can be used as a blanket term for battery management as a whole, but in this article, reliability represents the level of confidence that network backup batteries will actually turn on when an outage occurs. It is a natural starting place, before worrying about other aspects of the batteries we need some indication that they will work to begin with. Within this category are several aspects: proper installation, adherence to standards and recommendations, and an understanding of the many risk factors. 16 Battery Power * Spring 2016 www.BatteryPowerOnline.com http://www.BatteryPowerOnline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Battery Power - Spring 2016

Editor's Choice
Reducing TCO with the Right UPS Architecture and Operating Mode
Decades of Data: Using Analytics to Predict the Future
Top Four Considerations for Battery Management in a Connected World
Conference Preview
Designing and Managing Custom Battery Pack Plastic Enclosures
Assessment of Performance and Safety on Lithium Ion Pouch Battery Under Various Test Conditions
Batteries
ICs & Semiconductors
Charging & Testing
Industry News
Calendar of Events

Battery Power - Spring 2016