Saft, a designer and manufacturer of advanced technology batteries for industry, won a contract to supply primary lithium batteries to one of China’s top five gas meter OEMs. The A-size LS17500 cells, developed to ensure reliable, maintenance-free performance over a 10-year plus service life, will power domestic smart meters installed in Zhejiang Province by China’s main gas companies.
This latest contract further extends Saft’s presence in China’s fast growing smart gas meter market, which the China Smart Meter Industry Report 2013-2016 predicts will reach 24.3 million units in 2016. In 2013, Saft won its first ever smart gas meter contract in China, to supply around 500,000 LS series cells over the next four years to a major gas meter OEM.
“Saft is delighted to be working with yet another Chinese OEM as its main battery supplier for smart meter projects,” said Thomas Alcide, general manager of Saft’s Specialty Battery Group. “This latest contract is further evidence of the performance and reliability advantages offered by Saft’s lithium battery technology that provides an important new reference in the smart metering sector.”
Saft has used field and laboratory data collected over more than 30 years to develop a life-time model that enables the expected life of primary cells in this demanding application to be predicted accurately by considering the specific utilization profile. Data used by this model includes base current, pulse currents, cut-off voltage and temperature range. Calculated results are combined with results from bench tests, which sometime require years to conduct, to produce the most accurate life prediction.
Saft Li-SOCl2 cylindrical cells offer a nominal 3.6 V, feature a bobbin construction, are high- pulse optimized and are UL (Underwriters Laboratories) recognised. The cells are non- pressurised at room temperature, feature a non-flammable electrolyte, corrosion-proof hermetically sealed stainless steel containers. Large cells incorporate safety vent and fuse. Furthermore, Saft Li-SOCl2 cells have a low self-discharge rate – less than one percent after one year of storage at +20°C – and demonstrated their reliable performances over long lifetime.
