Battery Equalization Method for Parallel-connected Cells Using Dynamic Resistance Technique

As the battery capacity requirement increases, battery cells are connected in a parallel configuration. However, the sharing current of each battery cell becomes unequal due to the imbalance between cell's impedance which results the mismatched states of charge (SOC). The conventional fixed-resistance balancing methods have a limitation in battery equalization performance and system efficiency. This paper proposes a battery equalization method based on dynamic resistance technique, which can improve equalization performance and reduce the loss dissipation. Based on the SOC rate of parallel connected battery cells, the switches in the equalization circuit are controlled to change the equivalent series impedance of the parallel branch, which regulates the current flow to maximize SOC utilization. To verify the method, operations of 4 parallel-connected 18650 Li-ion battery cells with 3.7V-2.6Ah individually are simulated on Matlab/Simulink. The results show that the SOCs are balanced within 1% difference with less power dissipation over the conventional method.