Stay Productive Longer
with Intermec’s Customized
Battery Management
WHITE PAPER
Overview
Intermec’s innovative power management and battery monitoring
systems combine to allow you to develop your own customized
battery management policies to enhance your abilities for making
battery replacement decisions, at just the right times, to fully
maximize battery runtimes and overall service life.
With multiple levels of power monitoring capability, total cost of
ownership is decreased through the purchase of fewer replacement
battery packs, less downtime due to battery failures, and
centralized control of battery replacement policies.
Why It Matters
All rechargeable battery packs lose capacity over time, necessitating
periodic replacement when the pack can no longer support the daily
route or shift requirement. Based on a variety of factors, including
usage environments and storage patterns, each individual pack
may lose capacity at a slightly different rate. Traditional methods
of tracking battery capacity are time and labor intensive and can
be very difficult to administer in the field. To prevent disruption of
field operations due to battery-related problems, many customers
proactively replace packs at arbitrary intervals or supply extra
battery packs to their users to address replacement requirements
as they arise. Battery pack
replacements typically occur
much earlier than necessary
and the purchase of additional
battery packs requires additional
investment in auxiliary charging
equipment. These factors
increase ownership costs over
the life of the product.
According to a VDC Research
study, commissioned by
Intermec, battery life was
identified as a key criterion
by customers when making a
mobile device selection. The
mission critical nature of many
business workflows is driving
the need for mobile devices
with a high degree of reliability
and rugged capabilities.
Battery life ranked third out
of eighteen in specific criteria
evaluated when deciding which
mobile device best meets their
work force needs.
This study shows that most
customers routinely replace
battery packs about every 18
months, and typically consume
three battery packs over the
life of the mobile computer.
Intermec’s OMAP™ based
mobile computers are designed
to provide significantly longer
battery service life (up to 100%
longer in some use cases)
with corresponding reductions
in the frequency of required
battery replacements.
2
Solution Components
Intermec’s battery management system provides a high degree of
accuracy regarding battery runtimes and service life, and can be
used to reduce your battery maintenance costs. Intermec’s OMAP
mobile computers, which include the 70 Series and CK3X / CK3R
(when utilizing the optional ‘smart’ battery) support the following
battery management components:
• Battery Tracking – Battery Pack Serial Numbers: Each battery
pack stores in its internal memory chip the battery serial number
that is then reported to monitoring systems. This allows for
tracking individual packs as they move around and helps identify
specific packs that are nearing the end of their useful life - so
they can be replaced.
Lower daily consumption also allows the establishment of a lower
threshold level for battery replacement policies. Where it may
have been necessary to replace a pack when it reached 80% of its
original capacity in previous generations, it may now be possible
to continue using a pack until it reaches an even lower percentage
of original capacity.
• Battery Management – Device Health Monitoring: Integrated
into the 70 Series and CK3X / CK3R mobile computers is a Device
Health Monitoring system which makes battery health information
available for display to the user via the Device Health Dashboard (see
below). The dashboard is driven by rules that can be customized to
track battery life enabling notification to the end user.
• Battery Health – Battery Pack Impedance Tracking: Continuous
real-time tracking of battery impedance provides vision into
the reduction in capacity that occurs as battery packs age. This
capability helps ensure that the pack is not replaced prematurely
(when it still has sufficient capacity). Impedance tracking is a
revolutionary new way to measure battery health easily and
much more accurately than previously possible.
• Battery Service Life – Higher Processor Efficiency: Intermec’s
70 Series and CK3X / CK3R use Texas Instruments’ OMAP
multi-engine processor architecture, which dramatically reduces
power consumption by turning off processing functions when
not in use, and utilizes task-specific Digital Signal Processors
(DSPs) to offload the main processor core. The obvious benefit
to this architecture is extended battery runtimes because of
the reduction in the percentage of battery capacity consumed
to support a given work day. An additional benefit is extended
battery service life. Lithium-ion packs are typically useful for
500 full charge-discharge cycles. As indicated in the chart below,
a system that consumes only 40% of a discharge cycle per day
would be usable for a greater number of cycles when compared to
a system that consumes 80% of its capacity on a daily basis. More
cycles mean more total days in service.
Device Health Dashboard
Battery Details
70 Series device
using 40% of battery
capacity yields 1475
cycles (2.2X better)
Previous generation
device using 80% of
battery capacity yields
only 675 cycles
3
In addition, this battery health information can be made
available for exportation and analysis, and is available to
any device management system that supports the Intermec
Device Health Monitoring functions, including Intermec’s
SmartSystems Foundation (see below).
Multiple reporting methods ensure that data is readily available
to the personnel responsible for decision making. In many cases,
having this data available at the supervisory or management
level is far more effective than only having it available at the end
user level, as it allows for replacement policies and decisions that
optimize the battery investment.
4
How It All Works Together
The battery impedance tracking process, utilized by Intermec’s
OMAP mobile computers, is always available to report the
current available charge and battery health. This data is polled
periodically by the Intermec Device Health Monitoring System
that runs in the background on the handheld device. Device
management software captures the data files produced by the
Intermec Device Health Monitoring system.
For example, the default battery management rule may be to alert
the end user to replace the battery when overall battery health
(determined by charge-discharge cycles etc.) reaches 70% or less.
However, if a device typically consumes only 40% of its capacity
during the day, then an end-of-service alert threshold of 60% may
be sufficient. Customer-specific alert thresholds ensure that battery
packs can be used to their fullest before being replaced. Each
customer’s daily demand will be slightly different. This customized
approach allows for actual
usage (based on impedance
tracking) to be a factor in
determining how long a battery
Indicates current charge
pack can be used without
disrupting routine business.
Combine this capability with
an expanded number of daily
use cycles – made available by
Indicates wear
the multi-engine processor’s
daily reduction in power
consumption – and you have
a solution that effectively
maximizes your battery service
Indicates age and usage
life, limits operator down time,
and minimizes total ownership
costs through the reduction in
total number of batteries used.
Alternative Solutions
Traditional methods of evaluating overall battery
condition are manual, cumbersome, and timeconsuming processes that can produce less accurate
results, and actually consume battery service life
cycles in the process. A battery analyzer device
charges the pack, then allows it to fully discharge
while measuring the time it takes to discharge
(using a full charge cycle on the pack and effectively
shortening its life). The entire process typically takes
24 hours or more and requires local personnel to
manually track the battery packs being analyzed and
then recharge them again before use.
Device management applications, such as Intermec’s SmartSystems
Foundation, can display the data from the mobile computer on
a console (see above). This data is also available for customer
analytics. Although device management tools come preloaded with
default conditions and business rules that trigger an alert condition
for a device, these threshold values can easily be customized to
support each user’s specific applications and workflow.
Some mobile computer products provide a means of
determining battery health via LED indicators on the
pack itself. In these cases, the threshold values for the
various color indications are predetermined and only
modifiable via a cumbersome manual process on the
handheld device. This device-centric approach does not
promote the ability to analyze battery usage patterns,
nor manage battery maintenance replacement policies
from a centralized location. Consider that users will
naturally select batteries with the highest health indicators. This
may lead to batteries being cast aside prematurely - even though
they would be suitable for a specific user’s daily requirements. The
individual use case may be such that the battery pack is still usable,
even though its capacity is less than the factory preset threshold for
changing the battery “health” color indicator.
5
Improved accuracy in life cycle battery health reporting, along
with the flexibility of a centralized battery management system
is a key differentiator of 70 Series and CK3X / CK3R. Intermec
users are provided with the tools to confidently manage their
battery maintenance policies.
North America
Corporate Headquarters
6001 36th Avenue West
Everett, Washington 98203
Phone: (425) 348 2600
Fax: (425) 355 9551
North Latin America
Headquarters Office
Mexico
Phone: (+52) 55 52 41 48 00
Toll Free NOLA:
01800 490 4990
South Latin America
Headquarters Office
Brazil
Phone: (+55) 11 3711 6770
Fax: (+55) 11 5502 6780
Europe, Middle East
& Africa
Headquarters Office
Reading, United Kingdom
Phone: (+44) 118 923 0800
Fax: (+44) 118 923 0801
Media Sales
EMEA: (+31) 24 372 3167
USA: (513) 874 5882
http://intermec.custhelp.com
Sales
Toll Free NA: (800) 934 3163
Toll in NA: (425) 348 2726
Freephone ROW:
00800 4488 8844
Conclusion
With multiple levels of power and battery management
capabilities, Intermec’s 70 Series, CK3X and CK3R reduce total cost
of ownership through the purchase of fewer replacement battery
packs. By continuously collecting user based data to improve the
accuracy of the reported battery health, and providing the ability
for centralized data analysis, Intermec provides the tools to allow
you to enhance your abilities for making battery replacement
decisions to reduce your total ownership costs by proactively and
selectively replacing your battery packs at the right time.
Customer Service
and Support
Toll Free NA: (800) 755 5505
Toll in NA: (425) 356 1799
EMEA: intermec.custhelp.com
Internet
www.intermec.com
Worldwide Locations
www.intermec.com/locations
OEM Sales
Phone: (425) 348 2762
Asia Pacific
Headquarters Office
Singapore
Phone: (+65) 6303 2100
Fax: (+65) 6303 2199
Copyright © 2013 Intermec Technologies Corporation. All rights reserved.
Intermec is a registered trademark of Intermec Technologies Corporation.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
612293-A 07/13
In a continuing effort to improve our products, Intermec Technologies Corporation
reserves the right to change specifications and features without prior notice.
6