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Design of Battery Balancing Unit of Satellite Using BQ77PL900

Conference Paper · October 2019

DOI: 10.1109/ICECOS47637.2019.8984482

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 International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (ICECOS) 2019

Design of Battery Balancing Unit of Satellite Using

BQ77PL900
Zulkurnain Abdul-Malek* Muhammad Abu Bakar Sidik
Muhammad Affan
Institute of High Voltage and High Dept.of Electrical Engineering
Dept.of Electrical Engineering
Current, School of Electrical Universitas Sriwijaya
NED University of Engineering and
Engineering Palembang, Sumatera Selatan 30128,
Technology
University Technology Malaysia Indonesia
Karachi 75270, Pakistan
81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Mehmood Ali
Dept.of Electrical Engineering Mona Riza Mohd Esa Zainuddin Nawawi
NED University of Engineering and Institute of High Voltage and High Dept.of Electrical Engineering
Technology Current, School of Electrical Universitas Sriwijaya
Karachi 75270, Pakistan Engineering Palembang, Sumatera Selatan 30128,
University Technology Malaysia Indonesia
81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Abdullah Munir
Dept.of Electrical Engineering
NED University of Engineering and
Technology Muhammad Irfan Jambak
Karachi 75270, Pakistan Dept.of Electrical Engineering
Universitas Sriwijaya
Institute of High Voltage and High
Palembang, Sumatera Selatan 30128,
Current, School of Electrical
Indonesia
Engineering
University Technology Malaysia
81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Abstract— Multi-cell batteries play crucial role in satellite
operation by ensuring power storage capability. However, due
to their higher failure rates, battery management systems are
used in satellite batteries to perform cell balancing, monitoring
and protection to avoid over/under voltage. This ensures safe
operation and prolongs battery life. The conventional methods
use inadequate dissipative techniques causing excessive heating
and power losses in the batteries. This paper proposes a scalable,
modular and optimal design technique for battery balancing.
This proposed design performs cell balancing using an
intelligent passive cell balancing technique based on Texas
Instruments BQ77PL900. The results have shown that the
design is the economical yet effective solution for the given
problem having low power consumption along with high
reliability.
Keywords— Satellite, Passive cell balancing, Multi-cell
batteries, BQ77PL900.
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, satellites have become the necessity for
countries and companies for meeting the requirement of
communication, navigation, exploration, spying etc. [1].
Geocentric Satellites i.e. satellites revolving around the earth
are classified by their altitude, inclination and eccentricity [2].
Commonly used altitude-based classifications are Low Earth
orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and High Earth
Orbit (HEO) satellites [2]. Majority of satellites are placed in
the category of LEO [3]. It offers features like cheap
placement, aided remote sensing, better communication and
near view of earth surface [4], [5]. A typical LEO satellite
consists of structural, electrical power, telemetry, altitude and
orbit control subsystems. Among all subsystems, electrical
power subsystem is considered as the most important one,
without it no other part of satellite can operate properly.
Electrical Power System (EPS) has the responsibility to
harness and convert heat energy from the sun to electrical
energy for satellite operation and store it for backup power
during eclipse period. This satellite subsystem itself has four
units namely battery (BAT), Solar Power Unit (SPU),
Electrical Power Conditioning Unit (EPCU) and Electrical
Power Distribution Unit (EPDU). The SPU performs solar to
electrical energy conversion which is then provided to the
EPCU. This power is regulated and then supplied to the BAT
system for storage and to EPDU for further distribution in
other parts of the satellite. Li-Ion cells in the BAT unit are
carefully charged by EPCU’s smart charger. Two telemetries
of temperature and voltage from the BAT is provided to
EPCU. Thus, it can control BAT charging process based on
feedback values. For operational and safety purposes, it also
measures charging and discharging currents. Typically, a
LEO satellite has a time duration of 90 minutes including
approximately 35 minutes’ eclipse period. BAT unit acts as a
secondary power source of the satellite. It fulfills the worst-
case power requirement of 32W for 35 minutes during the
launch to deployment and eclipse period. Block diagram of
electrical power subsystem of satellite is shown in Fig. 1.
The main design consideration of the BAT unit requires
that it should not charge during the eclipse phase, while it
must not discharge during the non-eclipse period. The BAT
unit has a 28V DC unregulated bus connection with the PCU
for charging and discharging. BAT unit itself has two major
blocks namely the cell pack and the Battery Management
System (BMS). Cell can be of any type and connected in any
formation depending on the requirement. But, mostly for
upper space applications, Li-ion cells are used worldwide due
to numerous reasons including high energy density, low cost,
light weight, no memory effect, high voltage, low self-
discharge rate, good reliability and less safety concerns [6],

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 International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (ICECOS) 2019
[7]. Despite all these features, Li-ion batteries are highly
vulnerable to battery unbalance phenomena [6]–[8]. Cell
unbalancing may occur in multi-cell batteries due to
difference in voltages among connected cells. In multi-cell
batteries, individual cells in pack are prone to higher failure
rates in comparison to single cell batteries. The larger number
of cells worsen the reliability. Therefore, BAT unit is
designed in such a way that its major purpose is to avoid
hazardous over or under voltage event during charging or
discharging [9]. In short, BMS has the responsibility to
monitor, protect and maintain healthy operation of Battery. In
BAT unit of satellite, voltages and temperature are the two
concerning parameters that are being monitored
Fig. 1. Conceptual block diagram for the Power SubSystem of Satellite
In technical literature, two major techniques i.e. active
and passive cell balancing are used for multi-cell balancing
[10], [11].
A. Passive Cell Balancing
It is a dissipative technique that selects and discharges the
highest charge/ voltage cell in the pack through bypass
resistor until the voltage level of that cell becomes equal to
voltage level of others. Long equalization time, energy
wastage and poor pack performance are some limitations of
passive balancing [12]. It could also drain the battery if
operated continuously. Due to these reasons, it is usually not
preferred in high-tech applications. Still, it is the lowest cost
solution available today for battery balancing.
B. Passive Cell Balancing
This technique, transfer charges from one or more highly
charged cells to one or more lower charged cells. Since, every
cell cannot be charged simultaneously, balancing is done
sequentially but their equalization time is long. Since, a good
design of BAT unit is considered to have high reliability and
have no single point failure [13]. This paper presents the low
cost and high reliability passive cell balancing technique with
optimal performance and minimal complexity.
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Power requirement, cell selection and formation
The average power requirement of the satellite is 32 W
considering voltage of satellite must be greater than or equal
to 28V [14]. Theoretically, Li-ion cell has maximum and
nominal voltage of 4.2V and 3.7V respectively [15].
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Therefore, the only reasonable solution is 1 string of 8-cell in
series (8S1P) as it provides 8 x 4.2=33.6V in fully charged
condition whereas 8 x 3.7 = 29.6V typically. Thus, in
nominal case 29.6V will be the voltage of power subsystem.
If the current drawn by the load is :
I = P/V = 32W / 29.6V ≅ 1080 NA (1)
The maximum current required by the satellite at any instant
is 1080mA. Therefore, Li-ion cells are selected such that they
can meet the above requirements. With given constraints,
Rechargeable LeiFire 18650 3.7V 3000mAh Li-ion cells are
selected [16]. The configuration under consideration is 8S1P
(8 cells in series) having the total pack capacity of 3000mAh
(3000 x 1). Thus, pack can provide 3000mAh for 1 hour
theoretically or atleast, 1080 mA for 35 minutes during the
eclipse period. Further, to avoid single-point failure this
circuit can be duplicated for two strings or cell-bypass feature
can be added.
B. Other components
The integrated circuit (IC) BQ77PL900 is used for cell
balancing in this project, it is a 5 to 10 cell series cell lithium
ion battery pack protector [17], [18]. The overall function of
the battery balancing circuit is explained by the systematic
analysis of its pins in the proposed scheme section.
The DB9 or DB15 connectors are used for serial
connections in this circuit, allowing the asynchronous
transmission of data as provided by standard RS-232 (RS-
232C).
C. Schematic Design
For schematics and PCB layout design electronic
computer aided design software PROTEUS is used.
III. PROPOSED SCHEME
The IC bq77PL900 can be used in two different modes
namely Standalone mode and Host controlled mode, host
being micro controller. Standalone controlled mode is used
for this design to minimize complexity and to make it low
cost.
Fig. 2 depicts the basic block level implementation of the
proposed design whereas schematics could be referred from
appendix (Fig. 3). In the following paragraphs, pin
configuration, block functionalities and related components
are discussed.
The IC pins from (10 to 20) perform the task of
balancing, these pins perform the task of sensing input
voltage and current. These 10 pins are connected in order
from the most positive cell to the least positive cell in a
numerical order i.e. pin (10) is connected to the most positive
cell and pin 19 is connected to the least positive cell. This IC
perform cell balancing based on voltage divergence
principle. This technique performs cell balancing by
comparing cell voltages to the required threshold. If any cell
reaches the threshold, it’s charging is halted, and internal
bypass is enabled until other cells reach the same voltage
level.
One major drawback of this technique is that impedance
imbalance can also contribute to the voltage divergence. This
 International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (ICECOS) 2019
problem can be avoided by selecting and sorting cells based
on their Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) values.
For desired voltage level 8-lithium ion cells are employed
in string in this schematic design, the balancing pins are from
10 to 20, all cells have been connected in the numeric order,
(pins 10,11,12 have been intentionally shorted to incorporate
the eight cells).
The initial pins of the IC i.e. (1,3,4,5,6) perform the task
of charge pump as specified by data sheet, charge pumping is
the DC to DC conversion in which an energy storage element
is employed(capacitor) that can either provide a high or low
voltage to the pin as per requirement. The bottom pins (22,23)
with some electronic circuitry are for current monitoring and
sensing from both battery pack ground (sink) and cell pack
ground, the current and voltage sensing and monitoring is
important for protection of the battery system from over
current or voltage catastrophe, pin (29) has also been used for
current measurement, pin 31 for voltage measurement. The
pins 40 and 42 are for regulated output of 3.3v and 5V
respectively. These pins are merely used for status LEDs for
troubleshooting and monitoring purposes.
Fig. 2. . Block Diagram of BAT Unit
Transient Protection part of the circuit is used for the
protection and smoothing purpose. Electronic components
are highly vulnerable to the overvoltage spikes, the
components involve in the battery management system must
be protected against these unwanted voltage spikes, Zener
diode is usually used for transient voltage suppression [19].
The characteristic of a transient voltage protection circuitry
requires that it should respond to over voltages faster than
other common overvoltage protection components [20].
Metal oxide varistors can also be used but they are subjected
to heat during high magnitude voltage spikes. Capacitors can
also be used to smoothen the voltage spikes to eliminate the
danger of spiky voltage that can cause excessive heating of
electronic components resulting from a sudden rise in
temperature.
Communication block uses I2C communication. It
connects low-speed devices like microcontrollers,
EEPROMs, A/D and D/A, I/O devices and other similar
peripherals in embedded systems serially. The connector in
this block is connected to the EEPROM pin (24) of the IC.
The other two pins of connector are connected with two IC
Pins (SDATA and SCLK) i.e. pins 26 and 27 respectively, it
is important to mention a brief explanation of these pins,
actually these pins are related to the open drain concept of
I2C communication. Both Serial Clock line (SCL) and Serial
Data line (SDA) are open-drain. It means that the circuit can
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turn its output low but not high. So, a pull-up register is
connected to the 5V supply to drive it high. Pull up resistor is
special resistor which works on floating principle connected
between Vcc and ground, it either pulls the voltage up to
Vcc(5V/3.3V) or down to ground (0V). Two resistors, one
from the SCL and one from SDA line to the 5V supply should
be connected, 10-k ohm pull up resistor is used internally
connected with VLOG PIN (32) which could be either
connected with 5V(VREG1) or 3.3V(VREG2) having pin 42
and 40 respectively. The remaining are the DB connectors
and TM outputs for communication with other modules of the
same satellite.
The estimated cost of the proposed scheme is 114 USD,
much less than the previously proposed topologies [13], [21]–
[23]. For instance, active Single Switch Capacitor (SSC)
based technique presented in [13] estimated to cost 810 USD
approximately. Although, [13] is highly modularized
approach but costs 7 times more than the proposed scheme.
Moreover, our technique is smaller in size and cost-effective
than [13], [21]–[23] (based on the evaluation presented in
[24]). Also, unlike any other topology, the proposed scheme
can even operate with sense resistor of value as low as 1mΩ
and with supply current as low as 450µA. Reliability is
another key aspect used for quantifying battery balancing
topologies. Any kind of redundancy in topology excluding
monitoring, protection and timers increases the overall
reliability of the system [25]. The proposed scheme has
comparable or added reliability over previously discussed
techniques due to multi-mode operation (with indifference to
each other), bypass path capability for any of the one series
element (to avoid single point failure), configurable
protection thresholds and parity check options [18].
IV. CONCLUSION
The BAT balancing scheme for Li-Ion cells proposed in
this paper possess reliability, flexibility and space heritage.
Moreover, the proposed design is relatively low cost as
compared to other market products and has all the necessary
features. This design will work with its optimum performance
and the design parameters are almost near to the International
Standards.
V. FUTURE WORK
This circuit can be designed using BQ77PL900 in host
control mode. The host mode will provide more precise
control, real time monitoring and other factors making BAT
module more reliable/.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors wish to acknowledge Malaysian Ministry of
Education (4F828), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (18H10 &
01M44) and Universitas Sriwijaya (4B345 & 4B379) for the
financial support.
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 International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (ICECOS) 2019

APPENDIX A

Fig. 3. . BAT Unit Schematic

APPENDIX B

Fig. 4. Bill of Material

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