• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.350-352
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• 2007

Modularized charge equalization converter for HEV lithium-ion battery cells is proposed in this paper, in which intra-module and inter-module charge equalization can be achieved at the same time. For intra-module charge equalization, the conventional flyback DC/DC converters of low power and small size are employed, in which all of the primary sides are coupled in parallel for selective charge of the specific under charged cell within the module. For inter-module charge equalization, the flyback DC/DC converters are also added, in which all the secondary windings are electrically linked in parallel for automatic charge balancing among the modules. An engineering sample of forty cells hiring the proposed cell balancing scheme is implemented and its experimental result shows that the proposed modularized charge equalization circuit has good cell balancing performance.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.186-196
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• 2013

This paper presents a low voltage-stress AC-linked charge equalizing system for balancing the energy in a serially connected, valve-regulated lead acid battery string using a modular converter that consists of multiple transformers coupled together. Each converter was coupled through an AC-linked bus to increase the overall energy transfer efficiency of the system and to eliminate the problem of the unbalanced charging of batteries. Previous solutions are based on centralized and modularized topologies. A centralized topology requires a redesign of the hardware and related components. It also faces a high voltage stress when the number of batteries is expanded. Modularized solutions use low-voltage-stress, double-stage, DC-linked topologies which leads to poor energy transfer efficiency. The proposed solution uses a low-voltage stress, AC-linked, modularized topology that makes adding more batteries easier. It also has a better energy transfer efficiency. To ensure that the charge equalization system operates smoothly and safely charges batteries, a small intelligent microcontroller was used in the control section. The efficiency of this charge equalization system is 85%, which is 21% better than other low-voltage-stress DC-linked charging techniques. The validity of this approach was confirmed by experimental results.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.535-537
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• 2008

This paper proposes a modularized two-stage charge equalization converter for a series-connected lithium-ion battery string. In this paper, the series-connected battery sting is modularized into M modules, and each module has K cells in series. With this modularization, low voltage stress on the electronic devices can be achieved. A two-stage dc-dc converter with cell selection switches is employed. The first stage dc-dc converter steps down the high bus voltage to about 10 V. The second stage dc-dc converter integrated with selection switches equalizes the cell voltages. A prototype for 88 lithium-ion battery cells is optimally designed and implemented. Experimental results verify that the proposed equalization method has good cell balancing performance showing low voltage stress, small size, and low cost.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.343-352
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• 2007

This paper proposes a modularized charge equalization converter for hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) lithium-ion battery cells, in which the intra-module and the inter-module equalizer are Implemented. Considering the high voltage HEV battery pack, over approximately 300V, the proposed equalization circuit modularizes the entire $M^*N$ cells; in other words, M modules in the string and N cells in each module. With this modularization, low voltage stress on all the electronic devices, below roughly 64V, can be obtained. In the intra-module equalization, a current-fed DC/DC converter with cell selection switches is employed. By conducting these selection switches, concentrated charging of the specific under charged cells can be performed. On the other hand, the inter-module equalizer makes use of a voltage-fed DC/DC converter for bi-directional equalization. In the proposed circuit, these two converters can share the MOSFET switch so that low cost and small size can be achieved. In addition, the absence of any additional reset circuitry in the inter-module equalizer allows for further size reduction, concurrently conducting the multiple cell selection switches allows for shorter equalization time, and employing the optimal power rating design rule allows fur high power density to be obtained. Experimental results of an implemented prototype show that the proposed equalization scheme has the promised cell balancing performance for the 7Ah HEV lithium-ion battery string while maintaining low voltage stress, low cost, small size, and short equalization time.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.393-400
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• 2012

The modularized equalizers normally use additional components among the modules in the long series-connected lithium-ion battery string. In these approaches, the overall systems are heavy, bulky, and high-priced. Furthermore, the losses related to additional components decrease the system efficiency. To avoid these problems, a modularized equalizer, which has no additional components among the modules, is required. This paper proposes a novel control scheme using the magnetizing energy of the multi-winding transformer for the module equalization. In this scheme, the high duty cycle is applied to the module where the voltage is higher than the reference voltage and the low duty cycle is applied to the module where the voltage is lower than the reference voltage. Due to the different duty cycle, more electric charges are transferred from high voltage module to the low voltage module during the turn-off switching interval. Using the proposed control scheme, the equalizer system does not suffer from the size, cost, and loss related to the modularization. The experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed modularized equalizer.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.37-39
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• 2008

In this paper, a three-port bidirectional modular circuit applied in charging and discharging equalization for lithium-ion battery strings is proposed. This circuit consists of four MOSFETs and one transformer which provide a simple structure to be easily modularized. Compared to conventional individual cell equalization schemes, it utilizes the transformer as the energy transfer element, allowing direct transfer of energy between arbitrary two cells of three-cell battery module, thus improving the equalization efficiency significantly by using much less number of equalizers for long battery strings. Simulation results are presented to validate the circuit operation and confirm its capability to equalize the three-cell battery module.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.629-638
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• 2016

This paper proposes a State-of-Charge (SOC) balancing control of Battery Power Modules (BPMs) for a modularized battery for Electric Vehicles (EVs) without additional balancing circuits. The BPMs are substituted with the single converter in EVs located between the battery and the inverter. The BPM is composed of a two-phase interleaved boost converter with battery modules. The discharge current of each battery module can be controlled individually by using the BPM to achieve a balanced state as well as increased utilization of the battery capacity. Also, an SOC balancing method is proposed to reduce the equalization time, which satisfies the regulation of a constant DC-link voltage and a demand of the output power. The proposed system and the SOC balancing method are verified through simulation and experiment.