Originally, we were looking to use the Raspberry Shake which is an off the shelf, low cost instrument which uses a Raspberry Pi for logging and telemetry (~£1k). The environment can be very windy so equipment needs to be well tethered to avoid damage. The data logger requires continuous power, where as the telemetry requires short busts of higher power. This means low levels of sunlight, temperatures around and below 0 degrees and potential snow cover. We are targeting bedload transport during storms in the autumn and winter in Scotland. The technical development has been carried out by Calum Cuthill who is a PDRA on the NERC funded Sounding Out the River Project funded as part of the Digital Environment Program. In this post, we discuss the BatMan which is a board we have built for power management – primarily for the telemetry box. Geoduino Seismic Logger (Analogue to digital converter and logger for 3 component geophone data).This latter component has seen us develop three pieces of technology. These recycled materials will be used to supply our cell production activities in the future.” Volker Germann, CEO of Audi Brussels, adds: “The development of BattMAN ReLife is a great example of the success that cooperation between the various brands of the Volkswagen group leads to.In the Sounding Out the River project, we had dual aims of showing (i) how to monitor bedload transport during floods using geophones and also (ii) the development of a low cost data collection and telemetry system. Frank Blome, Head of Battery Cell and System at Volkswagen Group Components, says: “We know that recycled battery materials are just as effective as new ones. This “black powder” contains the valuable battery components lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt, and graphite, which are separated by specialized partners using hydrometallurgical means before being processed again into a cathode material. The third option entails efficient recycling in the Volkswagen Group Components pilot plant in Salzgitter, where mechanical processes gently dismantle only the most completely exhausted of batteries into their basic materials such as aluminum, copper, plastics, and “black powder”. This might be in a flexible quick charging station, a mobile charging robot, a driverless transportation system, or a forklift as well as in a home storage or emergency standby power system. In the second option, a battery receives its “second life” when it has a medium-level to good state of health that will permit its continued use outside an e-vehicle for years to come. A number of related concepts are currently in review and preparation. The first is so-called remanufacturing, a process by which the battery, due to its good or very good state of health, can be reprocessed for further use as a replacement part for e-vehicles after undergoing repair work reflecting its current market value. This lets the user determine a battery’s overall state of health. Then a traffic light system indicates the status cell by cell – green means a cell is in good order, yellow means it requires closer inspection, and red means the cell is out of order.” Axel Vanden Branden, Quality Engineer at Audi Brussels, explains: “We are able to measure all a cell’s most important parameters. The system then detects and displays any error messages as well as insulation resistance, capacity, temperatures, and cell voltages. After plugging in the low-voltage connectors, the device first checks whether the battery is even able to communicate and transfer data. Previously, this process took several hours. After several months of programming and testing, BattMAN ReLife emerged as the new analysis solution that provides a reliable first assessment of a battery in just a few minutes to help set its further course. BattMAN then underwent further development in cooperation with recycling experts at Volkswagen Group Components prior to the opening of the pilot plant for battery recycling in Salzgitter. It is already in use as a diagnostics tool for several brands of the Volkswagen group. The first version of the BattMAN (Battery Monitoring Analysis Necessity) software was developed by the Audi Brussels quality management department for the quick and reliable analysis of Audi e-tron’s high-voltage battery. Depending on the capacity that the inspection system detects, a high-voltage battery may be reused in a vehicle either in whole or in part, receive a second life as a mobile or stationary energy reservoir, or the material might be returned to cell production by means of an innovative recycling process.
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