Our BMS and the MAQ-20 products
Dataforth tasked us with creating a battery charging and cell balancing system which they can use to show off their line of products at trade shows and other demonstrations. The Dataforth MAQ-20 products are front and center, providing clean data to our system. All while our intuitive MSP430-based controls are off to the side efficiently cycling a high performance LiPo pack. Professional presentation is important - our design is built for reliability, efficiency, and ease of maintenance.
Read more about our design, the process, and our committment:
Representing the interests of our client
Our product provides clean display and control over the data acquisition and monitoring system. It it useful for full battery management and signal isolation which align with our clients' technical values.
Tools used to create our product
A component list of the hardware and software used in the project.
Dataforth MAQ-20
Hardware provided by Dataforth Corporation for clean and easy data acquisition interface
Code Composer Studio
Software and IDE provided through TI for programming the MSP430 microcontroller
TI MSP430
Hardware provided by TI for use as a primary system control module. We used the MSP430F5529 in particular.
Testing
The MAQ-20 data acquisition system will be tested for communication of data. The baud rate is set and will be matched to our systems' internal I/O along the duplex communication chip. Charging circuitry will be the easiest to test, being it only needs to be switched in a particular order and protected from out-of-order switching.
The discharge circuit has been extensively tested due to its simplicity, but the switching will need to go through the MAQ20 DORLY module which has yet to be tested. The UI elements such as the fault buzzer, display, and control interface will be tested for menuing continuity as well as appropriate signals.
Project design depiction
The battery charger's two central components, the MAQ20 data acquisition system and the MSP430 microcontroller, gather data on each of the battery cells and control the charging and discharging of the unit respectively. The MSP430 takes in data such as voltage, current, and temperature from the MAQ20 and sends control signals to the charging circuit, discharging circuit through the MAQ20 relays, and user interface. These signals allow the charger to respond appropriately to any situation or error condition, such as overvoltage conditions in the cells, overheating conditions in the cells, or excessive charging rate. The MSP430 also sends data to the user interface to display voltage and charging rate, as well as any warnings for error conditions in the battery.