Bruen, Thomas (2017) Control of active cell balancing systems : innovation report. EngD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Lithium-ion battery packs are increasingly being used for high power and energy applications such as electric vehicles and grid storage. These battery packs consist of many individual cells connected in series and/or parallel. Manufacturing tolerances and varied operating conditions mean that each cell will be different one from another, being able to store different amounts of energy and deliver different amounts of power. This also means some cells will finish charging or discharging before others, resulting in unutilised energy in the remaining cells.

Passive balancing systems are often used in multi-cell battery packs to ensure that all of the cells can be fully charged. However, this does not account for differences in cell capacity, meaning that not all cells will be fully discharged. Active balancing systems have been developed to transfer energy between the cells, in theory allowing for stronger cells to compensate for weaker ones. However, their perceived cost and complexity have prevented them from being widely adopted in commercial applications.

In this work, an innovative control strategy was developed to determine how and when to energy balance a set of battery cells, with the aim of maximising battery pack energy utilisation. A model-based control system was designed, using state of charge to evaluate the level of energy imbalance between cells. Real-time implementation using second-hand electric vehicle cells and commercial balancing hardware demonstrated that the control strategy can decrease the amount of unused charge in the battery pack from 8% with passive balancing to 1% with active balancing, which has significant impact for battery pack energy throughput, physical size, mass, and long-term health.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (EngD)
Subjects:	T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Lithium ion batteries, Lithium cells, Electric vehicles -- Batteries -- Management
Official Date:	September 2017
Dates:	Date Event September 2017 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Manufacturing Group
Thesis Type:	EngD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Marco, James
Sponsors:	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council ; Jaguar Land Rover (Firm)
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xiv, 190 leaves : illustrations, charts
Language:	eng

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