Why use battery internal resistance tester? - Kongter

08 Sep.,2025

 

Why use battery internal resistance tester? - Kongter

A battery internal resistance tester, also known as a battery impedance tester, is a useful tool for various applications, particularly in situations where batteries play a critical role. Here are some reasons why you might need a battery internal resistance tester:

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  • Battery Health Assessment:
    Internal resistance is a key indicator of a battery’s health and condition. As a battery ages or undergoes wear and tear, its internal resistance tends to increase. By regularly testing the internal resistance, you can assess the overall health of the battery. This is crucial for batteries used in critical applications like emergency backup power systems, electric vehicles, and renewable energy systems.
  • Predictive Maintenance:
    Monitoring internal resistance can help you predict when a battery is nearing the end of its useful life. As internal resistance increases, a battery’s capacity and performance can degrade. By identifying this trend early, you can schedule battery replacement or maintenance before the battery fails completely, minimizing the risk of unexpected downtime.
  • Performance Optimization:
    In applications where batteries are essential for performance, such as electric vehicles or renewable energy storage systems, monitoring and managing internal resistance can help optimize battery performance. High internal resistance can lead to energy losses, reduced power output, and shorter operating times. By identifying and addressing high resistance, you can maintain or improve the battery’s performance.
  • Troubleshooting:
    When a battery-related problem arises, an internal resistance test can help diagnose the issue. For example, if a battery fails to deliver its rated capacity, the internal resistance may be too high, indicating a problem within the battery. Identifying the root cause allows for targeted troubleshooting and maintenance.
  • Quality Control:
    Manufacturers and suppliers of batteries often use internal resistance testing as part of their quality control processes. Ensuring that batteries meet specified internal resistance thresholds helps maintain product quality and reliability, particularly for applications like consumer electronics and medical devices.
  • Safety:
    High internal resistance in batteries can lead to safety concerns, including overheating and, in extreme cases, thermal runaway or cell rupture. By monitoring and managing internal resistance, you can reduce the risk of safety incidents, which is crucial for applications like aerospace, medical devices, and industrial equipment.
  • Cost Savings:
    Identifying and replacing batteries with high internal resistance before they fail can save you money in the long run. It’s more cost-effective to replace or maintain batteries proactively than to deal with emergency replacements and potential damage or downtime.
  • Data Logging and Analysis:
    Battery internal resistance testers often provide data logging and analysis capabilities, allowing you to track the historical performance of batteries over time. This data can be valuable for trend analysis, optimization, and decision-making.

In summary, a battery internal resistance tester is a valuable tool for assessing battery health, optimizing performance, diagnosing issues, ensuring safety, and maintaining product quality. It plays a crucial role in various industries and applications where reliable battery operation is essential. To give you peace of mind, Kongter offer different options of quick handheld tester for test of battery internal resistance/conductance with and without inter-connection resistance test.

Battery Cell Quality Testing in EV Production - NI

Validation engineers use various tests to verify aspects of battery cell quality and performance. Each test has different objectives, advantages, and disadvantages. 

Visual Inspection

Human visual inspection is a simple test to check for physical defects or abnormalities, although it’s prone to subjectivity and human error. An inspector may check electrode coating, weld integrity, and the cell structure.

As automation becomes more prevalent in battery cell manufacturing, robotic systems with cameras and computer vision algorithms can perform visual inspections with speed, consistency, and precision. Automated visual inspection is a valuable tool for streamlining quality control processes, enhancing inspection capabilities, and boosting manufacturing efficiency.

DCIR Impedance Tests

Direct current internal resistance (DCIR) tests measure resistance to direct current flow. The battery is injected with a relatively high intensity current pulse to measure the ohmic response of the cell. Pulses are applied when the battery is at different states of charge to map the response across the cell range, both charging and discharging. This process provides insights into the internal condition of the cell and its functionality.

While DCIR doesn’t provide the most comprehensive analysis, it’s a quick and simple approach to get a baseline measurement of internal resistance. Alternating current internal resistance (ACIR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests provide more information about battery impedance, but they are more time-consuming and require specialized equipment. 

ACIR Impedance Tests

Unlike DCIR, which measures resistance to direct current, ACIR evaluates the impedance of the battery under alternating current flows. A sinusoidal current is applied to the cell, and the voltage reaction is measured at specific frequencies (typically 1 kHz). 

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By analyzing the voltage response, engineers can characterize the AC dynamic of the cell and detect critical defects. The results reveal information about various electrochemical processes, aging effects, and internal resistance variations across different frequencies.

EIS Impedance Tests

EIS tests are the most advanced type of impedance test. Instead of applying the sinusoid at one frequency and amplitude like an ACIR test, the stimuli are applied at many frequencies, typically from 0.1 Hz to 10 kHz or more. 

Defects that would otherwise go undetected by ACIR and DCIR tests are captured with EIS because these tests evaluate performance across a larger spectrum and wider frequency range. This method can help identify issues like premature aging. These insights improve the lab’s diagnostic capabilities and provide deeper insights into battery behavior. 

OCV Tests

Open circuit voltage (OCV) tests measure the cell voltage when no load is applied to it and no current is flowing outside the battery. This simple, non-intrusive test indicates whether a cell was correctly activated and characterizes how the cell degrades over time. However, this test provides limited insights into the cell’s internal condition. A cell with an OCV that is too low or too high indicates a cell quality concern.

OCV tests are often used to estimate the leakage current of a cell in the formation, pack assembly, and throughout the battery's lifecycle, rating its performance and checking its health. For example, OCV tests are used to sort and match cells during pack assembly.

Leakage Tests  

Leakage tests are helpful for the early detection of leaks, cell damage, or deterioration. These tests are performed in numerous ways to assess the quality of battery cells and packs. Most commonly, periodic OCV tests are performed to detect leakage when the cell is left to age in a climatically controlled environment. 

The industry is researching advanced methods. For example, a voltage can be imposed on a cell, and an additional current is supplied to stabilize that voltage. The additional current required to stabilize the voltage is an estimate of the internal leakage current. Unfortunately, this technique is time-consuming and does not produce repeatable results.  

Another method under investigation is similar to an EIS test. The cell is scanned with different current profiles at various states of charge and the response is measured. This approach is more promising, providing more consistent results, but still under development.

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