[ TBOS TECH ] What Are Those Holes on the Tanktwo String Cells?

Someone called me the other day and asked what the holes on the string cells’ outer shells are. He thought he had figured out how our system works but couldn’t come up with a logical explanation for those holes. So he reached out because he had to know.

The reason is much simpler than you might expect.

The four holes on the shell’s contact area provide the pathway to connect its outer contact surface to the inner one, which connects to the electronics.

What about these six holes in the center?

That’s where the software and hardware meet to make our technology groundbreaking.

When the cells roll off the manufacturing line, we have to install a piece of software to turn them from a tin can of battery chemicals into smart cells that we can control from a computer screen. Besides installing the bootloader software, we assign each cell a unique serial number and encryption key to enable secure tracking and analytics. 

At that point in production, an engineer, an assembly line worker, or a robot can put blank cells into a bootloader flashing jig to receive the keys and bootloader firmware through these six holes. We only use this connector once — all subsequent telemetry data flows through other channels (typically wirelessly.)

The software not only turns the battery into smart cells. It also allows us to collect data securely, monitor each cell’s state of health (SoH), and leverage analytics to maximize performance when the cells are in use. Operators can use the software to control various parameters on the fly via a simple interface on a computer — next to the equipment or halfway around the world.

Want to learn more about Tanktwo and our technology? Get in touch.