Federico Baronti

Battery Management System: An Overview of Its Application in the Smart Grid and Electric Vehicles

With the rapidly evolving technology of the smart grid and electric vehicles (EVs), the battery has emerged as the most prominent energy storage device, attracting a significant amount of attention. The very recent discussions about the performance of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in the Boeing 787 have confirmed so far that, while battery technology is growing very quickly, developing cells with higher power and energy densities, it is equally important to improve the performance of the battery management system (BMS) to make the battery a safe, reliable, and cost-efficient solution. The specific characteristics and needs of the smart grid and EVs, such as deep charge/discharge protection and accurate state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH) estimation, intensify the need for a more efficient BMS. The BMS should contain accurate algorithms to measure and estimate the functional status of the battery and, at the same time, be equipped with state-of-the-art mechanisms to protect the battery from hazardous and inefficient operating conditions.

Online Adaptive Parameter Identification and State-of-Charge Coestimation for Lithium-Polymer Battery Cells

Real-time estimation of the state of charge (SOC) of the battery is a crucial need in the growing fields of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and smart grid applications. The accuracy of the estimation algorithm directly depends on the accuracy of the model used to describe the characteristics of the battery. Considering a resistance-capacitance (RC)-equivalent circuit to model the battery dynamics, we use a piecewise linear approximation with varying coefficients to describe the inherently nonlinear relationship between the open-circuit voltage (VOC) and the SOC of the battery. Several experimental test results on lithium (Li)-polymer batteries show that not only do the VOC-SOC relationship coefficients vary with the SOC and charging/discharging rates but also the RC parameters vary with them as well. The moving window least squares parameter-identification technique was validated by both data obtained from a simulated battery model and experimental data. The necessity of updating the parameters is evaluated using observers with updating and nonupdating parameters. Finally, the SOC coestimation method is compared with the existing well-known SOC estimation approaches in terms of performance and accuracy of estimation.

Batteries and battery management systems for electric vehicles

The battery is a fundamental component of electric vehicles, which represent a step forward towards sustainable mobility. Lithium chemistry is now acknowledged as the technology of choice for energy storage in electric vehicles. However, several research points are still open. They include the best choice of the cell materials and the development of electronic circuits and algorithms for a more effective battery utilization. This paper initially reviews the most interesting modeling approaches for predicting the battery performance and discusses the demanding requirements and standards that apply to ICs and systems for battery management. Then, a general and flexible architecture for battery management implementation and the main techniques for state-of-charge estimation and charge balancing are reported. Finally, we describe the design and implementation of an innovative BMS, which incorporates an almost fully-integrated active charge equalizer.

Design and Verification of Hardware Building Blocks for High-Speed and Fault-Tolerant In-Vehicle Networks

This paper presents the design, implementation, and validation of a FlexRay transceiver and a SpaceWire (SpW) router and interface, which constitute the main hardware building blocks of the two in-vehicle communication standards. The FlexRay protocol features data rates up to 10 Mb/s and time- and event-triggered transmissions, along with scalable fault-tolerance support, and it is expected to become the standard network for X-by-wire and active safety automotive systems. However, collision avoidance and driver-assistance applications based on camera/radar sensors require data rates up to hundreds of megabits per second as well as fault tolerance, features that can hardly be covered by current or expected automotive standards. In this scenario, a promising technology seems to be the new SpW protocol, currently used in avionics and aerospace.

High-Efficiency Digitally Controlled Charge Equalizer for Series-Connected Cells Based on Switching Converter and Super-Capacitor

The charge stored in series-connected lithium batteries needs to be well equalized between the elements of the series. We present here an innovative lithium-battery cell-to-cell active equalizer capable of moving charge between series-connected cells using a super-capacitor as an energy tank. The system temporarily stores the charge drawn from a cell in the super-capacitor, then the charge is moved into another cell without wasting energy as it happens in passive equalization. The architecture of the system which employs a digitally-controlled switching converter is compared with the state of the art, then fully investigated, together with the methodology used in its design. The performance of the system is described by presenting and discussing the experimental results of laboratory tests. The most innovative and attractive aspect of the proposed system is its very high efficiency, which is over 90%.

Raman-based distributed temperature sensor with 1 m spatial resolution over 26 km SMF using low-repetition-rate cyclic pulse coding

We experimentally investigate the benefits of a new optical pulse coding technique for long-range, meter and submeter scale Raman-based distributed temperature sensing on standard single-mode optical fibers. The proposed scheme combines a low-repetition-rate quasi-periodic pulse coding technique with the use of standard high-power fiber lasers operating at 1550 nm, allowing for what we believe is the first long-range distributed temperature measurement over single-mode fibers (SMFs). We have achieved 1 m spatial resolution over 26 km of SMF, attaining 3°C temperature resolution within 30 s measurement time.

A self-calibrating delay-locked delay line with shunt-capacitor circuit scheme

This paper describes a CMOS 32-tap delay-locked delay line, realized with a shunt-capacitor circuit scheme, with an on-chip calibration circuit that allows the on-field reduction of the delay-line differential nonlinearity (DNL) down to values close to 1%. The cells are calibrated one by one in a serial way and the silicon area occupied by the calibration circuit is roughly the same as that occupied by the delay line itself. The prototype chips, realized with a 0.6-/spl mu/m CMOS technology, demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the technique with a great reduction of the delay-line DNL. The nonlinearity calibration technique presented in this paper is of general use since the number and area of the shunt-capacitor configurable loads can be properly chosen according to the process mismatch parameters and the desired calibration range and resolution.

Modeling and online parameter identification of Li-Polymer battery cells for SOC estimation

Finding an accurate and easily to implement model of batteries is an essential step in properly estimating the state of charge (SOC) of the battery in real-time. In this paper, an equivalent circuit based battery model with nonlinear relationship between the open circuit voltage (VOC) and the SOC is projected into several piece-wise linear functions. Moving window Least Squares (LS) parameter identification technique is then utilized to estimate and update the parameters of the battery model in each sampling time. The continuously updated parameters are fed to a linear observer to estimate the SOC of the battery. The effectiveness of the proposed modeling and estimation approach are verified experimentally on Lithium Polymer batteries.

Enhanced model for Lithium-Polymer cells including temperature effects

An accurate model of the elementary accumulation device is fundamental for sizing and controlling the battery pack to be used in electric and hybrid vehicles. Indeed, the implementation of such a model within the Battery Management System makes it possible to evaluate the status and the behavior of the battery pack in every condition and to apply a correct control strategy. This work shows the characterization and modeling of a commercial Lithium-Polymer cell, which properly considers thermal effects on cell behavior. The specific designed thermostatic chamber is described and the experimental results are presented and compared to those simulated with the developed model.

On the differential nonlinearity of time-to-digital converters based on delay-locked-loop delay lines

A theoretical analysis of the effects of the delay-line differential nonlinearity (DNL) on the typical performance parameters of high-resolution time-to-digital converters (TDCs) based on delay-locked-loop (DLL) delay lines has been developed. The theoretical study is based on the knowledge of the delay-line nonlinearity values that can be measured, with the desired precision, by means of a statistical code-density test. In particular, the effects on the TDC time resolution and error standard deviation curve as a function of the measured time interval are investigated. An a posteriori linearization technique, consisting in a proper correction of the TDC readouts, is then analyzed and its advantages are theoretically demonstrated. Finally, the theoretical results are superimposed on experimental data coming from a real TDC. The measured deviations from the ideal behavior are thus justified and can just be ascribed to the delay-line nonlinearity.