AUTOMATED CHARGE-DISCHARGE FACILITY FOR STUDY OF DIRECT-CURRENT ELECTRICAL POWER SOURCES

The report describes a facility consisting mainly of a controller for charging and discharging electrical power sources. The facility also includes a data storage system and data reduction equipment. The controller has five modes of operation: Constant current and constant voltage charge, constant power and constant current discharge, and an open-circuit voltage period. Each mode has certain preset end points. A comparator monitors cell voltage continuously and can override the end points, causing a printout of ampere-hours, watt-hours, or time. All modes of operation and end points can be set up by diode pins in program boards, and the constant power, voltage, or current level is programmed by a clip-card reader. Twenty-five different modes and sixteen different levels can be preprogrammed in any sequence.