Identifying the need

One of our most valued customers were using 150Ah Carry Case style batteries to power some of their environmental monitoring equipment. This equipment needs to be operational without interruption to monitor the environmental health of construction sites in the UK.

Their existing batteries would require 2 carry case batteries to enable one to be charged whilst the other carries the load. These batteries were performing well, but the limitation of longevity meant the batteries would need to be recharged every three or four days. To overcome this drawback they sought our 460Ah leisure battery with the intention of having the battery power their equipment for a full 14 days without interruption

Working towards a solution - The brief

We met with the client to speak with them about their power requirements and the answer seemed simple enough, build a battery, capable of being deployed by a single human, with a solar mount and various sizes of solar panels to accompany the battery. The aim would be to power the equipment for as long as possible before having to take the battery away for a full mains recharge.

Knowing the harsh environments which these batteries will be deployed we took to building some prototypes from robust, recyclable and weather resistant materials. The Beyond Batteries team are all hands on, practical people, so this part was a simple step.

Running before walking - The Prototype

We essentially needed to mock up a few ideas for the client to gauge their feedback, so the workshop got to work and produced some tangible options. Usually the planning process would lean towards design heavily first, then move to production. Our unique skillset allows us to use different methodology to most manufacturers. By building through trial and error gave us the ergonomic upper hand over the design team.

Once the initial prototype had been agreed as the right direction, we sent the prototype to the design team to reverse engineer, refine, digitise and feed the information into the CNC formats for the manufacturing team.