Passive Balancing Battery Management System for Cal Poly Racing\u27s Formula SAE Electric Vehicle

This senior project aims to replace the current battery management system (BMS) on Cal Poly’s Formula SAE electric vehicle with a more versatile, advanced, and reliable system. A BMS manages a rechargeable battery by ensuring the battery device operator’s safety, protecting battery cell integrity, prolonging battery lifetime, maintaining functional design requirements, and sending optimal usage information to the application controller. Passive balancing maximizes a battery pack’s capacity by dissipating excess energy through heat to regulate cell state of charge

Development of a CAN Based Electric Vehicle Control System

Abstract The Intelligent Systems and Automation Lab (ISAL) at the University of Kansas has been working on developing new electric vehicle drivetrain and battery technology using an electric bus as a development platform. In its preexisting state the bus featured an unreliable control system to manage load control and drive enable functions. As a result this thesis presents the design of a Controller Area Network (CAN) based control system to be used as a replacement for the existing system. The use of this new system will allow for easy expansion, higher efficiency and greater reliability in further developing the ISAL electric bus concept vehicle. Controller Area Network protocol allows the system to easily implement smart features allowing multiple modules to work together as well as reduce the overall wiring complexity of the control system. CAN networks utilize a single twisted pair cable and differential transmission to reliably transmit data to all modules featured in the control system. Additionally, because CAN is a common network protocol used in automotive electronics it will be easy to interface with other existing automotive electronics. This thesis shows the development of six different CAN modules as well as a proposed implementation for the complete system. Developed modules include an Interior Lighting Module, Headlights and Accessories Load Module, Accelerator Pedal Sensor Module, Battery Voltage Sensor Module, Input Module, and Speed Sensor and Display Module. Modules serve the purpose of reading sensors, controlling electric loads and displaying pertinent information to the driver. A prototype of this system featuring one of each module has been created for display and test purposes and is fully functional

Battery Pack Cells Mon itoring for Intelligent Charging

This dissertation intends to create a system capable of cell charging, cell balancing or both at the same time for batteries with multiple cells connected in series. It also tries to understand why there is only few literature connected with cell balancing and cell charging at the same time. For that purpose, this dissertation presents a review on the state of the art of many concepts related both to balancing and charging in order to pick the right methods and equipment to achieve the objectives of this work. This dissertation includes literature review on batteries, cell balancing methods and topologies, cell charging methods and a small review on state of charge estimation methods. Later on, this document studies and explains hardware and software requirements and choices in order to understand the final developed circuit. Lastly, development difficulties, results and conclusions are presented.Esta dissertação pretende criar um sistema capaz de carregar, balancear ou ambos em simultâneo num pack com diversas células ligadas em série. Tenta ainda perceber a razão de haver tão pouca bibliografia que junte em simultâneo carregamento e balanceamento de baterias. Para alcançar estes objetivos, esta dissertação conta com uma revisão do estado da arte de vários temas relacionados tanto com balanceamento como com carregamento de forma a perceber os métodos e equipamentos mais adequados para implementar. A dissertação inclui revisão bibliográfica em baterias, métodos de balanceamento e suas topologias, métodos de carregamento de baterias e ainda alguma revisão sobre métodos de estimação de estado de carga. Posteriormente, este documento estuda e explica os requisitos de software e hardware e as escolhas feitas para o desenvolvimento do circuito. Finalmente apresentam-se as dificuldades de desenvolvimento encontradas, os resultados e ainda algumas conclusões

Monitoring and Fault Location Sensor Network for Underground Distribution Lines

One of the fundamental tasks of electric distribution utilities is guaranteeing a continuous supply of electricity to their customers. The primary distribution network is a critical part of these facilities because a fault in it could affect thousands of customers. However, the complexity of this network has been increased with the irruption of distributed generation, typical in a Smart Grid and which has significantly complicated some of the analyses, making it impossible to apply traditional techniques. This problem is intensified in underground lines where access is limited. As a possible solution, this paper proposes to make a deployment of a distributed sensor network along the power lines. This network proposes taking advantage of its distributed character to support new approaches of these analyses. In this sense, this paper describes the aquiculture of the proposed network (adapted to the power grid) based on nodes that use power line communication and energy harvesting techniques. In this sense, it also describes the implementation of a real prototype that has been used in some experiments to validate this technological adaptation. Additionally, beyond a simple use for monitoring, this paper also proposes the use of this approach to solve two typical distribution system operator problems, such as: fault location and failure forecasting in power cables.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Government of Spain project Sistema Inteligente Inalámbrico para Análisis y Monitorización de Líneas de Tensión Subterráneas en Smart Grids (SIIAM) TEC2013-40767-RMinisterio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Government of Spain, for the funding of the scholarship Formación de Profesorado Universitario 2016 (FPU 2016

Electric Vehicles Charging Stations’ Architectures, Criteria, Power Converters, and Control Strategies in Microgrids

Electric Vehicles (EV) usage is increasing over the last few years due to a rise in fossil fuel prices and the rate of increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The EV charging stations are powered by the existing utility power grid systems, increasing the stress on the utility grid and the load demand at the distribution side. The DC grid-based EV charging is more efficient than the AC distribution because of its higher reliability, power conversion efficiency, simple interfacing with renewable energy sources (RESs), and integration of energy storage units (ESU). The RES-generated power storage in local ESU is an alternative solution for managing the utility grid demand. In addition, to maintain the EV charging demand at the microgrid levels, energy management and control strategies must carefully power the EV battery charging unit. Also, charging stations require dedicated converter topologies, control strategies and need to follow the levels and standards. Based on the EV, ESU, and RES accessibility, the different types of microgrids architecture and control strategies are used to ensure the optimum operation at the EV charging point. Based on the above said merits, this review paper presents the different RES-connected architecture and control strategies used in EV charging stations. This study highlights the importance of different charging station architectures with the current power converter topologies proposed in the literature. In addition, the comparison of the microgrid-based charging station architecture with its energy management, control strategies, and charging converter controls are also presented. The different levels and types of the charging station used for EV charging, in addition to controls and connectors used in the charging station, are discussed. The experiment-based energy management strategy is developed for controlling the power flow among the available sources and charging terminals for the effective utilization of generated renewable power. The main motive of the EMS and its control is to maximize usage of RES consumption. This review also provides the challenges and opportunities for EV charging, considering selecting charging stations in the conclusion.publishedVersio

Zips Racing Electric Battery Management System

Zips Racing Electric currently uses a bulky, off-the-shelf battery management system to monitor and manage the voltage, temperature, and state-of-charge of an electric formula-style racecar battery pack (accumulator). The objective of this project is to research current battery management methodologies and apply said research to design and create a lightweight, compact, custom battery management system that is integrated with existing vehicle systems. This will allow for cleaner accumulator packaging and improved communication between the battery management system and the rest of the vehicle

Rapid Battery Exchange Safety and Sensing

The Rapid Battery Exchange system (RBX) swaps batteries in an electric van, allowing almost continuous operation of the vehicle. The RBX system is designed and built by The Cal Poly Electric Vehicle Engineering Club (EVEC). The system includes the exchange ramp, two battery packs, and the electric “G-Van.” While the vehicle drives using one of the battery packs, the other pack charges in the exchange ramp. When the van’s battery depletes, it drives onto the ramp and swaps the dead battery for the charged one, and the process repeats. The RBX battery pack safety and sensing project divides into two main parts – voltage isolation and voltage sensing. Voltage isolation disconnects the battery pack voltage (216 VDC) from the outside of the pack when the pack is not charging or powering the van. This ensures operator, technician, and rider safety. The project also senses and records battery voltages over time, allowing technicians and engineers to find dead batteries in the pack and monitor the pack performance over time

INCOBAT

Electro-mobility is considered as a key technology to achieve green mobility and fulfil tomorrow’s emission standards. However, different challenges still need to be faced to achieve comparable performances to conventional vehicles and finally obtain market acceptance. Two of these challenges are vehicle range and production costs. In that context, the aim of INCOBAT (October 2013 – December 2016) was to provide innovative and cost efficient battery management systems for next generation HV-batteries. INCOBAT proposes a platform concept that achieves cost reduction, reduced complexity, increased reliability and flexibility while at the same time reaching higher energy efficiency.• Very tight control of the cell function leading to a significant increase of the driving range of the FEV;• Radical cost reduction of the battery management system with respect to current solutions;• Development of modular concepts for system architecture and partitioning, safety, security, reliability as well as verification and validation, thus enabling efficient integration into different vehicle platforms. The INCOBAT project focused on the following twelve technical innovations grouped into four innovation groups, which are summarized in this book:• Customer needs and integration aspects• Transversal innovation• Technology innovation• Transversal innovatio

Low-cost modular battery emulator for battery management system testing

This paper discusses the implementation of a custom battery emulator, specifically designed for functional testing of battery management systems at the end of the production line. Particular care has been paid to make the design of the battery emulator modular and low cost. These characteristics are sought in relatively low-volume medium-power battery applications, where the adoption of conventional hardware-in-the-loop solutions is not viable. A prototype of battery emulator has been implemented, validated, and successfully used to test a battery management system for 12 series-connected cells