Automotive Battery Equalizers Based on Joint Switched-Capacitor and Buck-Boost Converters

Abstract

A series of integrated equalizers based on joint buck-boost (BB) and switched-capacitor (SC) converters are proposed for balancing the voltages of series-connected battery packs. All these equalizers realize the any-cells-to-any-cells (AC2AC) equalization mode without increasing the count of MOSFETs and drivers. Corresponding operational principles are analyzed and the expressions of balancing currents are derived by analytical methods and verified by experimental waveforms. According to the comparative balancing experiments for four and six series-connected Li-ion cells, one proposed CBB-PCSC equalizer, which achieves the dual AC2AC balancing modes through the integration of both coupled buck-boost (CBB) and parallel-connected switched-capacitor (PCSC) converters, leads to the highest balancing speed and efficiency. Moreover, compared with several conventional equalizers, this CBB-PCSC topology also has the compact size and low cost, making it become a well-performing integrated topology for automotive battery voltages equalization.