Individual Charge Equalization Converter Using Selective Two Current Paths for Series Connected Li-ion Battery Strings

This paper proposes an individual charge equalization converter using selective two current paths for series connected lithium-ion battery strings. In the proposed equalizer, a central equalization converter acting as a controllable current source is sequentially connected in parallel with individual batteries through an array of cell selection switches. A flyback converter with a modified rectifier realizes a controllable current source. A central equalization converter is shared by every battery cells through the cell selection switch, instead of a dedicated charge equalizer for each cell. With this configuration, although the proposed equalizer has one dc-dc converter, individual charge equalization can be effectively achieved for the each cell in the strings. Furthermore, since the proposed equalizer would not allocate the separated dc-dc converter to each cell, such that the implementation of great size reduction and low cost can be allowed. In this paper, an optimal power rating design guide is also employed to obtain a minimal balancing size while satisfying equalization requirements. A prototype for eight lithium-ion battery cells is optimally designed and implemented. Experimental results verify that the proposed equalization method has good cell balancing performance showing small size, and low cost.