cb-engineering energy and systems engineering

Electrical and energy systems, from first concept to series production.

cb-engineering is the independent development practice of Christof Biner — 35 years of electronics, mechanics and systems engineering, with a specialism in mobile power and battery systems.

Start a project See the in-house setup
Rendering of a custom lithium-ion battery pack with charge-level indicator

Engineering power for batteries

Energy and electrical engineering

System engineering and product development

35 yearsLeading R&D and quality management in electronics and mechanical engineering
Board levelDevelopment manager and managing director in international power-tool battery businesses
DIN/ISO · IEC · UL · IPCQualification and validation to the standards your product has to pass
Concept to seriesOne partner from feasibility study through to mass production
Christof Biner, founder of cb-engineering
Christof BinerFounder, cb-engineering

Three decades of engineering, in one direct line to you

You work with the engineer who does the work. No account layer, no hand-over between departments — and enough shop-floor and boardroom experience to keep an interdisciplinary project moving.

Background

  • Development manager and managing director in international power-tool battery businesses
  • Product development and systems engineering for batteries, primarily power tools
  • Coordinating and leading interdisciplinary teams across sites and suppliers

Education

  • Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering
  • Bachelor's degree in energy technology
  • Executive MBA in business administration

Core competencies

  • Electronics and mechanical development (R&D)
  • System integration and optimisation
  • Advanced battery management technologies

What that means for a project

  • A grounded reading of what the market actually needs from a mobile energy solution
  • Technical teams across several disciplines, managed to a schedule

Services

Take on a whole development programme, or a single stage of it. Most projects start with a concept study or an assessment of something that already exists.

Project planning, design and implementation

  • Project planning and full implementation, from specification to handover
  • Electronics, software and mechanical development
  • Prototyping, industry-specific assembly and series production capability
  • Tailored chargers and battery packs for consumer and industrial applications

Concept studies

  • Feasibility studies in systems engineering
  • Design and construction using QFD, FMEA and related methods
  • Trade-off studies that settle the architecture before development money is committed

Analyses and optimisations

  • Performance analyses and technical optimisation, including FEM
  • Circuit and control system simulation
  • Qualification and validation to DIN/ISO, IEC, UL and IPC

Expert assessments

  • Independent assessments and second opinions on an existing design
  • Field failure analysis, tracing a fault back to its cause
  • Detailed supplier audits

Consultations

  • Expert consulting on energy, electrical and battery technologies
  • Specialised training courses for your engineering team
  • Coordination with industrial designers, prototype builders and series suppliers

In-house tools and equipment

Design, build and test happen under one roof, so a change to a circuit or a housing can be measured on a real pack within days rather than weeks.

Three-dimensional view of a small uninterruptible power supply board with two USB-C connectors and holders for two 18650 cells
A small UPS with two 18650 cells. Trickle-charged from the e-bike controller, it keeps a phone running for navigation. At the 500 mA a common e-bike display system delivers, the two cells cover a full day of riding.
Three-dimensional view of a fan controller board with screw terminals, a relay and an ATmega microcontroller
Fan controller on an ATmega 328P. Layout and firmware both in-house, with the firmware written in Pascal.
1

Design

Mechanics, electronics and simulation

Mechanical 3D CAD (Alibre CAD)
Parts and moulding tools
PCB CAD (KiCad)
Multilayer printed circuit boards
CAE software
CNC machining preparation and simulation
FEM (Z88Aurora)
Structural, thermal and mechanical analyses
Scilab
Mathematical modelling and control system simulation
PSpice
Circuit analysis, validation and optimisation
2

Prototyping

From bare board to assembled module

Welding station
Battery module assembly
SMD soldering station
Surface-mounted device soldering
CNC milling machine
Battery components, fixtures and assembly tools
3

Testing & validation

Evidence, not estimates

Lifecycle test stations for cells and packs
Long-term durability assessment
Measurement instruments
Validation of nominal specifications and performance data
Safety test equipment for Li-ion
Overcurrent, overvoltage, undervoltage and short-circuit testing
Measured cycle-life data for a 2S4P 18650 pack: charge and discharge capacity, energy and efficiency over 107 cycles
Cycle life of a 2S4P 18650 pack, measured over 107 cycles. Charge and discharge capacity, delivered energy and efficiency, logged from April to September across five test runs. Discharge capacity falls by roughly 199 mAh per 100 cycles — a shallower slope than the cell datasheet’s limit of 80 % at 500 cycles. Numbers like these are what a lifetime claim has to rest on.

Experience from projects over the years

Battery packs, chargers and electronics developed for hand-held tools and professional field equipment.

Cordless drill driver with a lithium-ion battery pack
Cordless power toolsPacks, chargers and electronics for professional hand tools
Compact cordless drill with a slide-on battery
Hand-tool platformsShared pack and charger architecture across a tool range
Battery-powered olive harvester in a tree
Agricultural equipmentField-going harvesting tools with body-worn power
Cordless strapping tool for industrial packaging
Industrial strapping toolsHigh-current packs for repeated peak loads
Worker carrying a backpack power supply for cordless equipment
Body-worn power packsBackpack energy supplies for long working shifts

Tell me what you're building

A short description of the application, the load profile and the deadline is enough to start. You'll get an honest read on what is feasible, what it takes, and whether I'm the right partner for it.

Write to cb-engineering
Email
info@cb-engineering.ch
Address
cb-engineering
Gibulweg 8
CH-3925 Grächen