Different cell-balancing circuits have been stated in the literature [14]#[41].

The
circuits are categorized as passive or
active depending on their energy trading approaches. Passive cell-balancing
circuits [14], [15], also known as dissipative
cell-balancing circuits, operate by eliminating excess energy of the cells in the
form of heat by connecting a shunt resistor
to each cell. The passive approach has advantages, such as simple implementation,
small size and low cost. However, it
has some drawbacks, such as energy loss, heat problems and its need for a
relatively long time to achieve the SoC balancing
of cells. Active cell-balancing circuits [16]#[41] are designed to transfer energy
among the cells without shunt resistors,
where the energy is moved from cells with high energy to cells with low energy.
Accordingly, the drawbacks of the
passive approach have been overcome. The active approach can be categorized into
three distinct methods based on induc-
tors [16]#[18]/transformers [19]#[23], capacitors [24]#[28] and energy converters
[29]#[41].