BYOE: Learning tool for lithium-ion battery management system

Abstract

Electrochemical batteries are the primary selection of energy storage systems in electric-drive vehicles (electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles) and renewable energies. As the market share of electric-drive vehicles and renewable energy sectors are increasing, safety and reliability of their battery systems are the top concerns of drivers/users. Battery Management System (BMS) handles all of the monitoring, control, cell balancing, and safety of this high-power battery pack which comprises numbers of battery cells series-connected in long strings. It is challenge to teach and train students in BMS for series-connected lithium-ion battery cells in classroom and laboratory environment due to safety and time consuming. This paper presents the development of an interactive and computer-controlled unit that serves as a learning tool for the BMS. The developed learning tool emulates the battery terminal voltage for up to 12 serially connected cells. By manually changing the cell voltage on the fly, the overcharge, over-discharge and balancing condition of each cell can be emulated for student doing the laboratory experiments. This laboratory unit serves an ad hoc learning tool to two undergraduate courses. The developed BMS learning tool not only enhances the advanced energy storage training and education, but also inspires students' interest in the green movement of transportation and renewable energy.