InoBat and Analog Devices plan intelligent BESS prototype

InoBat and Analog Devices have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore development of an intelligent battery energy storage architecture for AI data centres, hyperscale computing and utility-scale applications. Their proposed i-Power+ platform would combine InoBat’s battery technology with wireless battery management and edge and cloud analytics from Analog Devices. The October announcement establishes a prototype programme, not a commercially available or independently validated product.

The first phase is planned through ADI Catalyst in Limerick, Ireland. The partners intend to define the architecture, select co-development companies and suppliers, and build a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) container prototype for evaluation with prospective customers. They have described a pathway to a minimum viable product, but neither a completed prototype nor an accepted customer installation has been announced. The companies have not provided certified performance figures or a timetable for volume manufacturing.

Wireless battery management is one component to be assessed in that prototype. Conventional cell and module monitoring relies on signal wiring to convey voltage, temperature and other measurements to local monitoring electronics. Wireless links can replace certain cell-to-management-unit communications, but do not remove the power cabling, switching, isolation or protection equipment needed to operate a battery system. The design will need testing for interference, measurement continuity, cybersecurity and appropriate responses to lost communications before claims about field reliability can be made.

The proposed diagnostic layer incorporates electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), which investigates a cell’s electrical response to small applied signals across a range of frequencies. A change in impedance can reflect internal processes linked to ageing or operating condition, but it cannot be interpreted without reference to chemistry, temperature, state of charge and test conditions. Converting measurements into reliable maintenance alerts or remaining-life forecasts requires models tested against actual cell behaviour. The memorandum supplies no measured accuracy improvement or comparative life-extension result.

InoBat and Analog Devices intend to combine voltage and temperature measurements with EIS data and anomaly-detection algorithms to develop estimates of state of charge and state of health. The first describes available charge within a defined operating range; the second compares battery condition with an appropriate reference. Neither can be established from a single sensor reading. The companies are aiming to improve estimation and battery life, but those are development objectives awaiting prototype measurements and customer validation, not already demonstrated advantages of i-Power+.

The proposed edge and cloud architecture raises a practical controls question: which measurements and decisions must remain available locally when remote connectivity is lost? Battery protection, isolation and fault response require an appropriate local design, while longer-term trend analysis may use remotely aggregated data. The companies have not yet disclosed the allocation of control and analytics functions or a tested communications-failure strategy. Those design details will have to be established during development before the platform can be assessed for high-availability electrical environments.

The first prototype is expected to use LFP cells, a chemistry already deployed in stationary storage, while the research programme concentrates on monitoring and controls. Sodium-ion storage has been mentioned as a possible subsequent application, not as the cell chemistry of the announced first prototype. Different cell behaviour and degradation pathways would require fresh calibration of impedance interpretation, state estimation and protection thresholds. The memorandum does not indicate that a sodium-ion version has been built or qualified.

Data centres rely on coordinated power conversion, protection, switching and backup infrastructure, with electrical response times and continuity requirements determined by each installation. A future BESS platform might provide flexibility or support particular electrical functions if suitably designed and integrated, but the announced project does not establish an uninterruptible power supply replacement, a specific ride-through interval or an approved operating architecture. No i-Power+ output rating, energy capacity, power quality specification or fault-response test result has been published.

At grid scale, battery condition data can also inform maintenance and operational scheduling, provided measurements are trustworthy and linked to actual cell degradation. The value of more detailed diagnostics is not demonstrated merely by collecting more data: algorithms must distinguish normal temperature and state-of-charge effects from emerging defects without creating excessive false alarms. A prototype programme offers the opportunity to test those distinctions under repeatable conditions and against independent reference measurements.

InoBat’s other stationary-storage work includes a separate European supply partnership with Palmer Energy, which involves different products and counterparties. The Analog Devices memorandum establishes another development route through ADI Catalyst rather than an extension of a finished deployed architecture. The substantive next checkpoints are system architecture definition, a functioning LFP container prototype and independently interpretable validation results. Until those exist, claims for cycle life, accuracy, reliability and commercial readiness remain unproven.