Name: Surajit Saha, Entry Number: 2022EEZ8194

Introduction to Electric Vehicles (CTL703)

Report on Lecture 32

● Passive balancing: The easiest approach to cell balancing is to equalize cell voltages. a
battery-pack protector for series cells, is used in cordless power tools, power-assisted bicycles
and scooters, uninterruptible power supplies, and medical equipment. The stand-alone battery-
protection system, comparing cell voltages with programmable thresholds to determine if cell
balancing is needed. If any particular cell hits the threshold, charging is halted and an internal
bypass is enabled. The charging is halted until the high-voltage cell hits the recovery limit,
when the cell balancing will stop. Cell-balancing algorithms that use only voltage divergence
as a balancing criterion have the disadvantage of overbalancing or under balancing because of
the different impedance between cells. The problem is that cell impedance also contributes to
voltage divergence during charging. The pack protector using simple voltage-based cell
balancing cannot tell if the voltage difference is caused by the capacity or the impedance
imbalance. Therefore, this type of balancing cannot guarantee that all cells will reach 100%
capacity at full charge.

Passive cell balancing based on voltage

● Battery cell voltage sensing and balancing:

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BMS active front end uses for,
1. Measuring each cell voltage and setting it to MCU,
2. Measuring temperature (usually via NTC) with suitable filters,
3. Balancing circuitry for each cell,
4. Passive cell balancing,
5. Cell overvoltage and undervoltage protection,
6. Charge and discharge mode detection,
7. Communication to the host device,
8. Supports master-slave control and communication.

● Active Balance Techniques: There are four active balancing techniques,

1. Cell to cell: energy is moved between adjacent cells,
2. Cell to battery: energy is taken from the most charged cells and sent to the entire battery
3. Battery to cell: energy is taken from the entire battery and sent to the least-charged cells,
4. Bidirectional: either cell to battery or battery to cell, depending on the need.
A comparison of these four techniques shows that: • Cell to cell is fine for small batteries. •
Cell to battery is the simplest, and has the highest efficiency. • Battery to cell is best if using a
charger with N outputs for N cells. • Bidirectional is best for redistributions.

Active balancing topologies: (a) cell to cell, (b) cell to battery, (c) battery to cell, and (d)
bidirectional

Main objective is to make the SoC of each cell of the pack at a constant value, i.e., make

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Qi
= constant for all cells.
Ci

Capacities of the cells are unequal, C1 ≠ C2 ≠ ⋯ ≠ Cn

Charges of each cell are unequal, Q1 ≠ Q2 ≠ ⋯ ≠ Qn
Icell,i
In order to balance the cell, = constant, have to be ensured.
Ci

Ci ≠ Cmin
Nominal conversion ratio (Vout /Vin ) of DC-DC converter, M = Vpack /Vcell

Ci = Cnominal ± ∆C
For active balancing, Csystem = Cnominal.

● The rate of the readings depends on the application. A. For a backup power application, one
reading per minute or per 10 seconds is acceptable. B. For applications where the current varies
rapidly (such as vehicles) one reading per second is acceptable. C. For research application,
scientists may like to see 10 to 100 readings per second. If the BMS must calculate the internal
resistance of the cells, and the pack current varies rapidly, the voltages of all cells should be
measured simultaneously, or almost simultaneously, so they may all be correlated to what the
pack current was at the time of measurement. Otherwise, there will be errors in the calculations
of resistance for the cells whose voltage was measured at a different time than when the pack
current was sampled. As long as the readings were all taken simultaneously, they may be
reported sequentially, afterwards.

Cell voltage measurement methods: (a) discrete, (b) single-end multiplexed, and (c) differential
multiplexed

● Battery connections and protection system: Over-current protection mechanism ensures

that the current flowing into the battery is kept below a maximum permissible value. It is quite
clear that one cannot push current into a load unless the impressed voltage is set to a value such
that the required current flows against the load resistance. Thus, voltage control is an essential
part of current control. some systems may also provide active cooling or heating controls to

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ensure that the battery temperature stays within a prescribed range. Temperature is a relatively
slowly changing quantity. In control systems parlance, temperature has a rather large time
constant as compared to other physical quantities, such as voltage or current. So, temperature
control in battery management systems is mostly implemented using simple on/off control with
varying time intervals, depending on how close the temperature is to the limiting value. Reverse
polarity protection ensures that unintended high current does not flow into or out of the battery.
During charging a battery may look like a load, and while discharging the battery acts as a
source of energy. Connecting incorrect polarity of the battery to the charger results in a large
potential difference and hence an almost uncontrolled current flow ensues, limited only by the
resistance of the connecting leads. This large current flow is, most of the times, enough to
damage the charger permanently. Some chargers use an MCB rated for the given DC duty at
the output of the charger to provide the above protections. However, the MCB is rated only for
a few fault events and cannot be reused indefinitely over and over again to break the same
current each time reliably. Also, general MCBs are better suited for AC currents, which contain
a natural zero crossing that naturally reduces the instantaneous current flow and helps break
the current flow with lesser damage to the breaker elements.

● Ultracapacitors: Ultracapacitors have high specific power (about 3 kW/kg) and very poor
specific energy.
Battery + Ultracapacitors can give high specific power and energy density as per the vehicle
performance specifications.
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CV2c
2
State of energy (SoE) = 1
CV2charged
2

● Hybridization of energy sources:

1. Hybrid power sharing mode:

High specific energy storage

Power converter Load

High specific power storage

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2. Power split mode:

High specific energy storage

Power converter Load

High specific power storage

3. Hybrid charging mode:

High specific energy storage

Power converter Load

High specific power storage