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Model Comparison and Selection for Battery Digital Twin Development using
PyBaMM

Conference Paper · April 2023

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 Model Comparison and Selection for Battery
Digital Twin Development using PyBaMM
Judith Nkechinyere Njoku ∗ , Cosmas Ifeanyi Nwakanma† , Jae-Min Lee ∗ , and Dong-Seong Kim
∗ IT Convergence Engineering, † ICT Convergence Research Center, Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Korea.
Abstract—Due to the inability of embedded systems used for
battery management systems (BMS) to store vast amounts of
data, it is difficult to obtain accurate state estimations in real-
time. To resolve this issue, digital twin technology is being ex-
plored. To develop a digital twin (DT) for BMS, it is essential that
the best model be used to mimic the battery’s behavior. The main
objective of this paper is to simulate different electrochemical
models for the development of DT and compare them with real
data. Variants of three electrochemical models were employed in
this study, and the single particle model with electrolyte (SPMe)
and thermal effect attained the best performance in voltage
RMSE and voltage R2 of 70.56mV and 0.7397 respectively.
Index Terms—digital twin, NMC, battery, lithium-ion
I. I NTRODUCTION
Battery management systems (BMS) have the primary role
of monitoring the conditions of batteries, detecting faults, and
proferring a remedy. To achieve these, BMSs need to process
large amounts of data and predict the battery state in real-time.
However, the conventional BMS have a specific challenge;
They are unable to store vast amounts of data on the embedded
board [1]. As a result, they can only obtain very minimal
data from the battery in real-time which consequently makes
it difficult to provide very accurate estimates. To develop a
more efficient BMS, one concept being explored is the ‘digital
twin’ which relies on one or more of the previously highlighted
technologies.
Digital twins (DT) refer to the virtual replica of physical
objects [2]. As a solution to the BMS issues, Digital batteries,
and BMS will be able to access more storage and hence pro-
cess more data. However, in developing these digital batteries,
the behavior must be modeled with minimal error [3]. To
mimic the battery behavior so effectively, it is important to
consider the best model for the target batteries. One major
model that has been extensively considered in literature is the
electrochemical model, which takes the diffusion, kinetics, and
intercalation within the battery into consideration [4].
There are various types of electrochemical models [5].
These models also behave differently when the thermal dy-
namics are considered. The aim of this paper is to determine
the best model that can be used to mimic the behavior of a
lithium-ion battery. To that end, we (i) review the literature
for the merits and demerits of each electrochemical model
(ii) simulate six different models under similar conditions as
the battery under study, and (ii) compare the performance of
these models with the real battery based on cell temperature
and voltage.
∗
Algorithm 1 Algorithm for SPMe model with thermal effect
Require: Define constants, initial state variables & parameters
Ensure: Define final state variables
while t < tf inal do
(1) calculate current density, i.
(2) update li-ion concentration in electrolytes, C.
(3) update potential, ϕ.
(4) update temperature, T .
(5) update time and check for convergence.
if convergence achieved? then
update previous values & continue
else
reduce time step & try again.
end if
end while
II. M ETHODOLOGY
A. Models
This section introduces all models that were employed in
this paper.
1) Single particle model (SPM): This model describes the
lithium transport, thermodynamics, and kinetics of the
reaction in a lithium-ion battery. It is assumed that each
electrode of the SPM is a particle and the distribution of
the current is uniform across the electrodes.
2) Single particle model with electrolyte (SPMe): This
model is an extension of the SPM previous model which
includes an electrolyte. This electrolyte model considers
the diffusion of ions between electrodes and electrolytes,
as well as its effect on this process.
3) Doyle Fuller Newman (DFN) model: This model con-
siders the electrochemical behavior of every component
of the battery, including the electrolyte, anode, separator,
cathode, etc. While this is the most robust model, it is
the most computationally expensive of the three models.
Despite the robustness of some of these models, they still
have certain disadvantages. Table. I provides a review of the
characteristics of each of these models. Furthermore, these
electrochemical models do not include effects that are consid-
ered physical, including mechanical, degradation, or thermal
effects. Thus, in addition to modeling the electrochemical
properties of lithium-ion batteries, this paper also considers
the thermal effects. Algorithm 1 provides a basic summary of
how SPMe with thermal effect works.
 TABLE I
R EVIEW OF THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF EACH ELECTROCHEMICAL MODEL

Metric/Model SPM SPMe DFN

Complexity simplest slightly complex very complex
Accuracy fairly accurate fairly accurate most accurate
Simulation time fastest faster fast
Modeling domain only solid electrode only solid electrode and electrolyte entire battery
Spatial resolution less spatially resolved less spatially resolved more spatially resolved
Electrolyte modeling not included included in porous electrode complex one included

B. Battery dataset While SPMe with thermal model achieved the lowest RMSE
The dataset used in this study is an LG lithium-ion battery and highest R2 values for voltage, DFN achieved the lowest
dataset obtained from [6]. The data is based on an NMC RMSE and highest R2 values for temperature. As evidenced
positive electrode and graphite negative electrode for a 21700 by the results of simulation time, DFN cannot be adopted,
cylindrical cell of 5Ah nominal capacity. Experiments were as it incurs the most time, with a very wide margin. Hence,
conducted for datasets obtained at a C-rate of 2 and an ambient SPMe with thermal is the most suitable model for developing
temperature of 0o C. This C-rate implies that the discharge the battery DT.
IV. C ONCLUSION
current will discharge the battery in 30 minutes.
In this study, variants of three electrochemical models
C. Simulation set-up
were evaluated for the possible development of digital twins
All models were implemented in PyBaMM (Python Battery for battery systems. The models were simulated using the
Mathematical Modelling) Python package [7]. The thermal and PyBaMM application and evaluated based on terminal voltage
electrochemical parameters were obtained from Table I in [6]. and cell temperature.
Details of some of the parameters used are illustrated in Table
II. Other parameters include initial electrolyte concentration ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ce,init , electrolyte diffusivity De , electrolyte conductivity σe , This research was supported by Priority Research Cen-
electrolyte volume fraction ζk , amongst others. ters Program through the NRF funded by the MEST
(2018R1A6A1A03024003), MSIT Korea (1711175292/2022-
TABLE II IT-RD-0084-01), and by MSIT under the Innovative Human
E LECTROCHEMICAL AND THERMAL PARAMETERS USED IN THE Resource Development for Local Intellectualization support
SIMULATION
program (IITP-2023-2020-0-01612) supervised by the IITP.
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