A Proof-of-Concept Battery Management System

Issue: With the rapidly evolving technologies of electric vehicles, consumer electronics (e.g., cell phones, computers), and aircraft and aviation, the battery has emerged as the most prominent energy storage device. A battery management system is any system that monitors and/or manages batteries. Since batteries are found in nearly all portable systems that require power, the need for battery management systems (BMS) is tremendous. It is important to improve the performance of the battery management system to make the battery a safe, reliable, and cost efficient solution.

Objective: The goal of this project is to develop a simulation-based BMS for battery packs. The students will develop and implement a proof-of-concept BMS for electric vehicles and other applications. More specifically, the proposed BMS is designed to (i) monitor the state of the battery (e.g., voltage, temperature, and current) in real time, (ii) estimate the battery State-of-Charge (SOC), (iii) collect and report data via two-way communication, and (iv) protect the battery pack from damage and prolong the life of the battery.

Student Involvement: Four sample problems that students will address are to: (i) study equivalent electrical models for battery pack, (ii) implement battery monitoring units with two-way communication capability, (iii) implement basic algorithms for real-time SOC estimation, and (iv) develop a LabVIEW-based GUI for battery monitoring and state estimation.