Design and Implementation of a Battery Tester
Batteries are an important component of all electronic devices. Battery capacity testers are widely used these days to check the remaining capacity of the battery. This information helps users know when they need to replace the battery. Battery testers are also very crucial for the manufacturers as
2025-06-28 16:26:23 - Adil Khan
Design and Implementation of a Battery Tester
Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject SummaryBatteries are an important component of all electronic devices. Battery capacity testers are widely used these days to check the remaining capacity of the battery. This information helps users know when they need to replace the battery. Battery testers are also very crucial for the manufacturers as these testers help them to design the batteries according to customer’s needs. This project ‘Battery Capacity Tester’ is used to design and implement a tester that will be tested for various dummy loads to find out the capacity and the cycle life of the battery.
In this project, the voltage and the current sensors are used to give a signal to Arduino, this signal prompts Arduino to further generate another signal. The signal generated by Arduino is then fed into load through an LPF. Here MOSFET-based load is used for the constant steering of current. The current proportional to the remaining capacity of the battery will be drawn by the Load.
A GUI will be designed on MATLAB to keep a record of the previous data, to store constant values, and to display the results. Constant current steering is ensured for the healthy life of the battery. The GUI will also have a record of how much to discharge a battery of any particular type. Over discharging can lead to permanent battery damage. An effort will be made to check multiple factors during the determination of the state of the health of a battery including the temperature of a battery during its previous uses, the ability of a battery to accept a charge, and the total amount of energy expended or consumed during discharge and charge respectively.
By the end of the project, the following important objectives will be achieved.
- Determine the capacity of the battery
- Constantly discharge the current, to avoid permanent battery damages
- Test the batteries for industrial loads
- To test the cycle life of a battery
- To find out the discrepancies in the actual capacity of the battery and its rated capacity.
This project will be completed in two phases. The first one is the software phase in which Arduino, Proteus, and MATLAB will be used while the second one consists of the design and development of the hardware.
Hardware phase:
This project ‘battery tester’ works on the principle of a direct experimental method for measuring the battery capacity. In an experimental set up there is a dummy load. This load discharges the battery under test. It derives constant current from it, and an ammeter will measuring this constant current. After this, there’s another block which is a GUI. This will be monitored on a laptop/ computer screen. The voltages will be measured periodically after a constant time. Then Arduino is used which gives the input signal to the FET. It is also used to display the output on the screen. The capacitance of the battery is determined by the number of cycles per unit time, which means how many cycles (charging and discharging) the will battery complete in the given time is its capacity. The results will then be displayed on the LCD screen.
Software Phase:
The GUI and Arduino are made compatible. Through programming, an adjustable C-rating, discharging current and cut-voltages are set up to be displayed. This is because different batteries have different discharging currents and different cut voltages, and we measure the battery on different C ratings, so we have different values of C here.
Battery testers are used to test the battery performance parameters. Following are the areas where this project can be utilized:
- To benchmark the capacities of various batteries available in the market.
- To check the cycle life of the battery.
- The fault diagnosis of a battery can also be made using this.
- To be used in research centers and laboratories for conducting studies.
- To perform operations like measuring the capacity and running the battery through charging and discharging cycles at different current levels.
The final hardware will be composed of a GUI, it will contain various menus and icons. This GUI will be designed on MATLAB. These icons will help the user to select the type of battery they want to test. Different types of batteries can be attached to this tester. MOSFET Based load will be adjusted according to the capacity and the type of the battery attached. The final product will also have heat sinks to prevent the over-heating of the assembly. The hardware set up will be controlled by the software system. The Arduino will control the depth of discharge based on the type of battery attached to it.
The battery will then be discharged and the corresponding voltages and currents will be displayed on the screen. Some important calculations can also be made based upon the values generated.
Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry ManufacturingOther IndustriesCore Technology OthersOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 37210 | |||
| LCD Display | Equipment | 1 | 300 | 300 |
| MOSFETs | Equipment | 20 | 50 | 1000 |
| Capacitors | Equipment | 15 | 30 | 450 |
| Arduino Kit | Equipment | 2 | 2500 | 5000 |
| Ceramic Capacitors | Equipment | 8 | 400 | 3200 |
| ATMEGA 328 Microcontroller | Equipment | 2 | 330 | 660 |
| Printed Circuit Board (PCB) | Equipment | 1 | 400 | 400 |
| Energy Meter | Miscellaneous | 1 | 3000 | 3000 |
| Digital Multimeter | Equipment | 1 | 1500 | 1500 |
| Current Sensors | Equipment | 4 | 630 | 2520 |
| Li-ion Battery | Equipment | 1 | 350 | 350 |
| Lead Acid Battery | Equipment | 1 | 300 | 300 |
| Ni-Cd Battery | Equipment | 1 | 400 | 400 |
| LiPo Battery | Equipment | 1 | 1200 | 1200 |
| Battery holders | Equipment | 4 | 250 | 1000 |
| Dummy Load | Equipment | 1 | 3500 | 3500 |
| Switches | Equipment | 25 | 30 | 750 |
| Glue Gun | Equipment | 1 | 1000 | 1000 |
| Soldering Iron | Equipment | 1 | 2160 | 2160 |
| ACS 712 Current Sensors | Equipment | 4 | 630 | 2520 |
| Connecting Wires | Miscellaneous | 1 | 1000 | 1000 |
| Integrated Circuits | Miscellaneous | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |