FEATURE
Nobel prize honours lithium
batteries – Huawei prepared
for a lithium battery era
This year’s Nobel Prize in
chemistry was awarded to John
B Goodenough, M·Stanley
Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, for
their contribution to the development
of lithium batteries. John Goodenough,
who is 97, also becomes the oldest ever
Nobel laureate. His lifelong exploration
of lithium batteries is truly admirable.
As one of his important discoveries,
lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) is
currently the safest cathode material for
lithium batteries.
Compared with lead-acid batteries, lithium
batteries are smaller, lighter and have
higher energy density, higher availability,
longer service life and more cycle times.
Data centre
According to a global survey conducted
by Uptime, 10% of data centres use lithium
batteries as backup power. For data centre
operators, the optimal space utilisation
and minimum operating costs (especially
power costs of UPS cooling and battery
maintenance and replacement costs) are
what they are most concerned about.
Lithium batteries can help them meet all
these requirements.
Telecom base station
During the process of 5G evolution, the
total power consumption of a site rockets.
Traditional lead-acid batteries cannot
support smooth capacity expansion to
adapt to 5G evolution because of their
large size and weight, short service life
and inferior performance.
Small, lightweight lithium batteries feature
longer service life and better performance.
They can enable sites to evolve smoothly
to 5G and improve site values. Therefore,
lithium batteries have become the first
choice for 5G sites. Currently, more
than 200 telecom operators use lithium
batteries as their energy store.
In data centres and telecom base stations,
LFP and lithium nickel manganese cobalt
oxide (NMC) cells are most commonly
used. LFP is, at present, the safest cathode
material of a lithium battery for it contains
no heavy metal that is harmful to humans.
Compared with NMC batteries, LFP
batteries are more reliable, which better
meets high reliability requirements of data
centres and telecom base stations.
Why are LFP batteries needed?
1. Stable structure
2. LFP batteries feature high thermal
stability as well as a low rate and
amount of heat yield
3. LFP batteries do not release oxygen in
case of overcharge and over discharge
Though its technology has been
improved a lot, the lithium battery still has
many problems in practical application.
In view of this, Huawei launched the
new-generation data centre lithium
battery solution, SmartLi.
Characterised with high reliability,
efficiency and flexible expansion, SmartLi
is aimed to help customers reduce
investment, simplify O&M and build a
stable and efficient data centre power
supply system.
1. Reliable
• Long Lifespan, cycle life can be up to
5,000 times
• Highly stable LFP cell, no fire when
thermal runaway
• Intelligent voltage balance control,
single module failure system can
work normally
• Three-layer BMS system ensures the
reliability of lithium batteries layer
by layer
2. Efficient
• High power density, save 70% footprint
compared with lead-acid battery
• Intelligent battery management
system, save 80% of daily O&M costs
3. Simple
• Modular swappable design, easy
maintenance
• Active current balance technology,
new and old battery strings can
be connected in parallel, simple
capacity expansion
Based on a deep understanding of
5G networks, Huawei also integrates
intelligent technologies and lithium
battery technologies and launches
BoostLi, the energy storage solution
tailored for telecom base stations.
As an intelligent lithium battery energy
storage system, BoostLi features high
density, intelligent hybrid use, intelligent
voltage boosting and intelligent peak
shaving. It enables smooth site capacity
expansion to support 5G evolution,
reducing evolution costs and shortening
5G deployment time.
Compared with the traditional solution,
BoostLi serves not only as backup power.
Its intelligent features such as peak
shaving enable BoostLi to be fully used
other than in the mains failure scenario.
In this way, the values of the energy
storage system and a site can be
maximised, creating more profits while
ensuring the security of site backup power.
BoostLi works with the temperature
control unit and monitoring system to
greatly reduce site power consumption
and improve site reliability. When used
with the intelligent site management
system, BoostLi can also improve site
O&M efficiency.
BoostLi also integrates multiple antitheft
technologies, such as intelligent
displacement detection and intelligent
software lock. If a BoostLi is stolen from
the site, it will be locked and cannot
be charged or discharged. This greatly
improves energy storage security and
reduces losses caused by theft.
Currently, more than 400,000 BoostLi
products have been delivered to over 100
operators in 90 countries. ◊
46 Issue 17
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