BSLBATT Solutions Empower Uninterrupted Power for Medical and Industrial Mobile Workstations

Lithium Ion Battery Manufacturer for Medical Carts & Equipment

What you’ll learn:

1. Which types of medical and industrial devices can be mobilized on workstations with integrated power sources.

2. How BSLBATT lithium ion batteries for medical devices Helped

3. Understand the trends with Li-ion cell chemistry used in medical and industrial workstations.

Which types of medical and industrial devices can be mobilized on workstations with integrated power sources.

If you visit a hospital hallway or patient room, you will see many portable medical devices mounted on mobile carts or technology workstations, commonly called Workstations-on-Wheels. These IT devices include laptops, monitors, barcode scanners, and printers. Among other clinical devices are ultrasounds, patient monitors, telepresence, and imaging machines.

“Switching from lead-acid batteries to lithium ion batteries for medical devices let us focus on our patients and not on our batteries!” medical supplies warehouse Supervisor.

A common theme for medical devices integrated onto mobile workstations is a portable power source for uninterrupted power when mobile. Similarly, if you walk the aisles of a distribution center (DC) for a large retailer, you will see mobile technology carts typically outfitted with IT devices that require uninterrupted power for continuous operation.

How BSLBATT lithium ion batteries for medical devices Helped

When Jon from our clients introduced the facility management to the new Li-ion technology, the warehouse supervisor was interested, but also apprehensive of the possible technology transfer issues and the costs of a transition to the new Li-ion technology. The team made a field visit to another customer of BSLBATT Lithium Batteries, which had been using similar medical devices and successfully made this transition earlier.

Jon: “We quickly noticed that the power of the lead-acid batteries faded throughout the day, the more we used them, which meant we couldn’t perform the same services reliably all day long and had to constantly track how much energy we were using. It’s also damaging to lead-acid batteries to discharge or use more than fifty percent of their stored energy, so we were left with the choice of drastically limiting our energy use, or else risk damaging the batteries. Given that we use a lot of electricity for each of our mobile businesses, we couldn’t place such a severe limit on our energy use. It wasn’t sustainable over the long-term. It also just didn’t make economic sense to continually replace poor-performing lead-acid batteries when we could invest in higher-performing, longer-lasting lithium battery systems.”

Cell Chemistry Options for Workstation Power

All in-base and swappable batteries use lithium-ion rechargeable cells within their battery to store power. The two predominant cell chemistries are lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC). For these smaller format batteries, typical cell formats are 18650 (18 mm diameter × 65 mm height), 21700 (21 mm × 70 mm), or 26650 (26 mm × 65 mm) metal-cased cylindrical cells.

NMC cells are typically in an 18650 or 21700 format, operate at a nominal 3.6-3.7 V, provide 2.5-4.0 Ahr of capacity, and can deliver 15-30 A continuous.LFP cells are typically in a 26650 format, operate at a nominal 3.2 V, provide 3.5-4.0 Ahr of capacity, and can deliver 20-50 A continuous. These individual cells are connected in series and parallel to provide the desired voltage, capacity, and current parameters of the battery.

When in-base power and swappable batteries were introduced, OEMs offered either a LFP or NMC version of their products. Over time, the medical workstation market gravitated toward the LFP chemistry for a couple of key reasons:

Longer cycle life: LFP batteries provide superior cycle life over the life of a mobile workstation.LFP batteries deliver at least 2,000-3,000 full charge/discharge cycles before reaching 80% of original capacity. Typical NMC batteries deliver 500-1,000 full charge/discharge cycles before reaching 80% of original capacity. Assuming that the typical nurse’s shift is eight to 12 hours daily, a single cart could be used continuously across a 24-hour period. This means that the typical battery is fully cycled each day. Industrial workstations experience a similar pattern of usage.

Intrinsically safer: LFP batteries have an intrinsically safer cathode material than NMC batteries, and they don’t decompose at higher temperatures. This means LFP batteries provide the best thermal and chemical stability, resulting in safety that’s superior to NMC batteries. A LFP battery enters a thermal runaway condition at 250-270°C and releases minimal energy during thermal runaway, compared to a NMC battery. All Li-ion batteries are safe, but LFP is the safest Li-ion battery chemistry available. Given the amount of active battery material in a U1 battery offered with in-base batteries (i.e., 500 Whr), the medical industry opted for the safest Li-ion option.

Currently, despite LFP chemistry having a higher cost per watt-hour than NMC, almost all batteries powering workstations utilize LFP chemistry. LFP Batteries demonstrate superior total cost of ownership over SLA and NMC batteries. The upfront cost is higher, but over the lifetime of the workstation, the total cost is lower.

How has your experience been with your BSLBATT lithium ion batteries for medical devices so far?

Jon: “Incredible. It’s night and day compared to what we had to put up with using the old lead-acid battery bank. We now have far more usable battery capacity in the same size space. The BSLBATT Lithium batteries also weigh about a third as much as the lead-acid battery bank, which directly translates to fewer trips to the inpatient ward. We love that we can run them at one hundred percent power throughout the day if we need to as well as discharge them much more deeply than just fifty percent. It feels like a weight has been lifted, no pun intended, to no longer have to hold back on how or when we use energy from the batteries. The BSLBATT Lithium batteries were also really simple to swap out with the lead-acid batteries, as I didn’t have to change out any of the wirings or otherwise. All we had to do was remove the old battery bank and plug in the new one.”

Thanks to solar energy and reliable, long-lasting BSLBATT lithium batteries, Jon have been able to take their mobile businesses to the next level. They also now have greater peace of mind knowing they have more than enough power to last them through each day and won’t have to worry about battery replacement costs every few years.

To purchase BSLBATT Lithium batteries B-LFP12-45 or if you have any questions, please contact us.