Custom battery pack design plays a crucial role in ensuring optimal performance, longevity, and safety across a wide range of applications. Whether you're designing for high-power industrial systems, lightweight consumer electronics, or mission-critical medical devices, every aspect of battery selection and integration impacts efficiency, reliability, and compliance. In this webinar, we cover key design factors, including how different battery chemistries, such as Li-Ion, LiFePO4, and NiMH affect performance, safety, and cycle life. We’ll discuss the importance of balancing capacity and voltage to meet power demands while maximizing efficiency. Charging configurations also play a major role, whether prioritizing fast charging or long-term battery longevity. Additionally, environmental conditions, including temperature extremes and space constraints, influence battery performance, requiring careful design considerations. For more information on our custom battery pack solutions, visit https://www.epectec.com/batteries/.

1. Manufacturing That Eliminates Risk & Improves Reliability
Custom Battery Pack Design
Considerations for Performance
and Safety
08.21.25

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Agenda
 Understanding Key Battery Pack Design Factors
 Optimizing Battery Performance for Specific Application
 Safety & Reliability: Preventing Failures
 Real-World Case Studies: Designing a High-Performance Custom
Battery Pack

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Understanding Key Battery Pack Design Factors

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Cell Selection
 Chemistry
– Li-ion
– LiFePO4
– NiMH
– etc.
 Cell Format
– Cylindrical
– Prismatic
– Pouch

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Optimizing Battery Performance for Specific
Applications

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Performance Considerations
 Capacity (Ah or mAh)
 Voltage
 Cycle life
 Temperature performance

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Battery Management System (BMS)
 Cell balancing
– Active vs. passive
 Protection features
– Overcharge, over-discharge, short
circuit, overcurrent, temperature
 State of Charge (SOC) & State
of Health (SOH) monitoring
 Communication interfaces
– SMBus, CANbus, I2C, UART

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Electrical Design
 Series/parallel configuration to meet voltage and capacity targets
 Current requirements
– Peak and continuous
 Fuse and circuit protection
 Connectors and wiring
– Gauge
– Length
– Insulation

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Thermal Management
 Heat generation during charge/discharge
 Cooling/heating systems
– Air
– Liquid
– Phase-change materials
 Temperature sensors and controls

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Mechanical Design
 Enclosure materials
– Plastic
– Aluminum
– Steel
 Ingress protection (IP rating)
– For moisture and dust
 Shock and vibration resistance
 Size and weight constraints

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Safety & Reliability: Preventing Failures

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Safety & Compliance
 Certifications
– UL 2054
– UL 62133
– UN38.3
– IEC 62133
– CE
– etc.
 Redundant safety mechanisms
 Fail-safe design principles

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Life Cycle & Reliability
 Expected cycle life and calendar life
 Environmental aging
 Cell matching and quality control

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Manufacturing & Serviceability
 Assembly method
– Welding
– Soldering
– Compression contacts
 Ease of maintenance /
replacement
 Production scalability
 Traceability
– Barcoding
– Cell tracking

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Cost & Supply Chain
 Cell availability and lead times
 Material and component costs
 Design for manufacturability (DFM)
 Long-term supplier relationships

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Real-World Case Studies:
Designing High-Performance Custom Battery Packs

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Case Study #1
Battery Pack for Portable
Medical Blood & Fluid Warmer
Challenge
Epec was asked to redesign a
portable blood and IV fluid
warmer used by EMS crews,
hospitals, and the military to
help prevent hypothermia due to
fluid transfers under adverse
field conditions.
Customer needed an alternative
to the current SLA battery, which
was too heavy, too large, and not
powerful enough.

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Case Study #1
 Solution
– Using our in-house product development and engineering services, Epec
worked with the customer to jointly develop the specifications of the new
product.
– Because this was a new development and incorporating new technology,
Epec was able to recommend more features that were designed into the
product.

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Case Study #1
 Epec produced the whole
product from start to finish,
including the design of internal
components and the external
plastic enclosure of the battery.
 6 weeks to completion
 Epec managed all testing and
certifications to include UN38.3
and UL

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Case Study #1
 Result
– The product (start to finish) included:
• The internal battery intelligence
• The plastic enclosure for the housing to include using our in-house ultrasonic
welding process
• Custom labeling to meet the customer’s product aesthetics
• Design a custom fuel gauge membrane switch

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Case Study #2
 Custom Battery Pack For A Portable X-ray Machine
 Challenge
– The challenge was to develop a lithium battery pack for a portable x-ray
machine to replace a customer's current plug-in AC version with a DC
battery model that could be mobile. The new model would provide the
necessary power requirements with dimensional size limitations. The
battery solution would also need to meet the targeted charging times and
dimensionally fit within the customer's pre-developed enclosure size.

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Case Study #2
 Solution
– The first step was to provide the
customer with working engineering
samples to verify the concept. The
customer needed to demonstrate
their device at their trade show as
a potential product launch. The
samples were designed and
produced in 6 weeks, met the
trade show timeline, and the
device was demonstrated with
well-received interest.

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Case Study #2
 We then proceeded to engage our plastic design team with the
customer's team to create the internal design of their battery case.
 The battery case requirements were as follows:
– Compatible with the battery pack
– Incorporate interface and fuel gauging features
– Pass all required transportation and safety testing

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Case Study #2
 This design and approval step was completed in 8 weeks, once again
meeting the timeline for the customer development.
 We then produced a 50-piece lot that was assembled and tested
without issue.
 The UN38.3 regulatory testing was facilitated, and the customer was
provided additional samples for further pilot/field testing.

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Case Study #2
 Result
– Common with most battery pack designs, at least one revision is required
before the final design and regulatory submissions. With an understanding
of the customer's objectives and timeline, our design team worked closely
with the customer's engineering team to define the scope of work and
minimize the need for design revisions.
– We collaborated on the internal design of the enclosure to ensure it met all
safety and regulatory requirements. We also designed the product labels
for the customer. The regulatory testing was a success, and production is
underway, exceeding the customer's expectations.

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Summary

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Summary
 Designing custom battery packs requires balancing performance,
safety, and reliability through the right cell chemistry, format, and
system integration. A strong BMS, thermal and mechanical design,
and compliance with safety standards ensure dependable operation,
while smart manufacturing and supply chain planning support cost
and scalability.
 Real-world case studies highlight how collaboration and engineering
expertise turn these considerations into high-performance, certified
solutions.

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Our Products
Battery Packs Flex & Rigid-Flex PCBs Cable Assemblies Printed Circuit Boards
CNC Machining User Interfaces Flexible Heaters EC Fans & Motors

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Q&A
 Questions?
– Enter any questions you may have
in the control panel
– If we don’t have time to get to it, we
will reply via email

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Thank You
Check out our website at www.epectec.com.
For more information email sales@epectec.com.
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