Smart Power for Downhole and Other Oil & Gas Applications

For over 35 years, Excell Battery has been a leading OEM supplier of ruggedized battery systems for critical Oil & Gas applications including:

• Measurement While Drilling (MWD)
• Logging While Drilling (LWD)
• Rotary Steerable Tools
• Near-Bit Subs
• Production Logging
• Pressure Gauges
• Setting Tools
• Pipeline Inspection (PIG Tools)

Critical downhole battery requirements

Battery-powered downhole tools are critical components used by the oil and gas industry for exploration, drilling, and production. A wide range of high technology tools are available to oilfield service companies enabling oil and gas to be extracted in areas not accessible even a few years ago. These tools require reliable power for communication, sensors, and other electronics. In most cases, battery power is the only option. Batteries used in the downhole environment must be designed to withstand very high temperatures, along with extreme shock and vibration. Batteries must not only be able to survive these conditions but they must operate and deliver power to these downhole tools.

As advancements in downhole tool technology require higher operational performance, ruggedness and reliability, Excell Battery continues to innovate its battery technology and manufacturing capabilities in several areas:

• Integrated battery monitoring electronics (Criterion)
• Careful selection of high-temperature capable lithium primary cells
• Battery pack components selected to withstand the environment
• Potted fiberglass, and high-temperature heat shrink covered batteries
• Shipping certifications to ship globally
• Quality manufacturing (ISO 9001:2015)

Smart batteries for pipeline inspection tools

The knowledge and expertise at Excell Battery is applied across many industries including Pipeline Inspection. Our ability to design and assemble custom battery packs utilizing cells from a variety of tier-one manufacturers ensures each customer has the best product for their pigging tools. As battery packs are mission-critical, Excell also offers in-house designed fuel gauge and data analysis options to aid in a high first-run rate of success.

Learn more about Excell’s pigging products here.

Delivering a range of battery expertise

Excell Battery has in-depth experience and expertise in assisting downhole tool design engineers to choose the right cell type for their downhole battery-powered devices. We produce battery solutions based on a range of lithium thionyl chloride or lithium sulfuryl chloride cells available on the market. Our engineers are involved from the inception of the project to select the best lithium cell solution along with a battery pack design that reliably and safely operates in the downhole environment.

Lithium primary cell chemistries offer the highest energy density of any type of battery chemistry to enable power-hungry downhole tools to last as long as possible. Excell Battery’s high-temperature lithium battery solutions are safe and highly reliable and include smart battery technology (Criterion) that enables users to have a complete picture of the battery usage along with downhole conditions. 

Selecting and qualifying top-performing cells

Excell Battery works only with top-tier battery high-temperature lithium cell suppliers to meet the demanding requirements of the oil and gas industry.

We independently qualify all cells in our in-house test labs to guarantee that they perform according to their specifications.

Integrating smart battery technology

Excell Battery’s world-leading Criterion 4 technology meets the requirements of oil and gas downhole tool users by providing complete information on battery pack usage along with the capability to analyze downhole conditions. The CR4 is integrated into batteries and provides users with capacity used, voltage, temperature, shock and vibration, rotation, and stick-slip.

Criterion 4 provides several benefits:

• Accurate measurement of how much life is left in the battery
• A highly reliable record of downhole conditions
• An additional source of information to verify a downhole tool’s own data collection
• Software-based analysis tools for recorded data

Our advanced smart battery technology also includes Criterion software: a sophisticated, intuitive, easy-to-use application for accurate data access and analysis

Customizing full lifecycle design to volume manufacturing

Excell Battery’s packs are designed to conform to a range of downhole applications. Our dedicated engineering and support teams include electrical, mechanical, thermal and quality experts who will work with your development team to understand your application requirements and will guide you through all of your design, safety and regulatory requirements.

We also can help you conform to global regulatory standards, including managing and supporting certifications from safety and shipping to environmental standards.

Our teams are best equipped to support our downhole tool customers early in their development process, to ensure the best-fit battery solutions and the best end-equipment performance.

See Diversified Battery Design for more about our full life-cycle design and manufacturing process.

Securing high-quality, safe and reliable battery packs

Excell has multiple redundant manufacturing and test facilities in North America to reduce supply risk and maintain high-quality production standards.

Working closely with our customers, we optimize the manufacturing process for high volume production from assembly to final testing. We exceed stringent manufacturing quality standards, including ISO 9001, ISO 13485, UN38.3, and others.

We also always source multiple suppliers for our battery packs to mitigate design and supply risks.