Design, Development and Thermal Analysis of Reusable Li-Ion Battery Module for Future Mobile and Stationary Applications

open access articleThe performance, energy storage capacity, safety, and lifetime of lithium-ion battery cells of different chemistries are very sensitive to operating and environmental temperatures. The cells generate heat by current passing through their internal resistances, and chemical reactions can generate additional, sometimes uncontrollable, heat if the temperature within the cells reaches the trigger temperature. Therefore, a high-performance battery cooling system that maintains cells as close to the ideal temperature as possible is needed to enable the highest possible discharge current rates while still providing a sufficient safety margin. This paper presents a novel design, preliminary development, and results for an inexpensive reusable, liquid-cooled, modular, hexagonal battery module that may be suitable for some mobile and stationary applications that have high charge and or discharge rate requirements. The battery temperature rise was measured experimentally for a six parallel 18650 cylindrical cell demonstrator module over complete discharge cycles at discharge rates of 1C, 2C and 3C. The measured temperature rises at the hottest point in the cells, at the anode terminal, were found to be 6, 17 and 22 °C, respectively. The thermal resistance of the system was estimated to be below 0.2 K/W at a coolant flow rate of 0.001 Kg/s. The proposed liquid cooled module appeared to be an effective solution for maintaining cylindrical Li-ion cells close to their optimum working temperature

Trade-off analysis and design of a Hydraulic Energy Scavenger

In the last years there has been a growing interest in intelligent, autonomous devices for household applications. In the near future this technology will be part of our society; sensing and actuating will be integrated in the environment of our houses by means of energy scavengers and wireless microsystems. These systems will be capable of monitoring the environment, communicating with people and among each other, actuating and supplying themselves independently. This concept is now possible thanks to the low power consumption of electronic devices and accurate design of energy scavengers to harvest energy from the surrounding environment. In principle, an autonomous device comprises three main subsystems: an energy scavenger, an energy storage unit and an operational stage. The energy scavenger is capable of harvesting very small amounts of energy from the surroundings and converting it into electrical energy. This energy can be stored in a small storage unit like a small battery or capacitor, thus being available as a power supply. The operational stage can perform a variety of tasks depending on the application. Inside its application range, this kind of system presents several advantages with respect to regular devices using external energy supplies. They can be simpler to apply as no external connections are needed; they are environmentally friendly and might be economically advantageous in the long term. Furthermore, their autonomous nature permits the application in locations where the local energy grid is not present and allows them to be ‘hidden' in the environment, being independent from interaction with humans. In the present paper an energy-harvesting system used to supply a hydraulic control valve of a heating system for a typical residential application is studied. The system converts the kinetic energy from the water flow inside the pipes of the heating system to power the energy scavenger. The harvesting unit is composed of a hydraulic turbine that converts the kinetic energy of the water flow into rotational motion to drive a small electric generator. The design phases comprise a trade-off analysis to define the most suitable hydraulic turbine and electric generator for the energy scavenger, and an optimization of the components to satisfy the systems specification

The Impact of Virtual Environments for Future Electric Powered-Mobility Development Using Human-in-the-Loop: Part A - Fundamental Design and Modelling

The use of virtual tools will be discussed across two complimentary chapters, Part A explores the fundamental concepts of electric vehicle systems modelling and a design procedure for human-in-the-loop virtual environments; Part B demonstrates how this architecture can be applied to assess energy optimization strategies. In Part A, this research investigates the design and implementation of simulation tools used to predict the energy consumption and strategic tool for the development of an electric vehicle. The case study used is an electric prototype race car for Ene-1 GP SUZUKA competition. Engineering effort is re-directed from physical product design, optimisation and validation to digital tools, processes and virtual testing. This virtual platform is characterised by the integration of two different simulation models—mathematical model of the electric vehicle systems represented by Matlab/Simulink, which accounts for the representation of the powertrain performance prediction that taking into account the resistance motion; and a virtual environment represented by Cruden Software, which accounts recreate topography of real world environment in a driving simulator and incorporate human driver behaviour

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 355)

This bibliography lists 147 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during October, 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

A Partial Discharge Measurement Technique for Applied Square Pulse Voltage with 50 NS Rise Times

During the fabrication of solid electrical insulation, small cavities known as micro voids may form in the material. As electrical stress increases in this micro void, the breakdown probability also increases. This type of electrical breakdown is commonly known as partial discharge. Magnitudes of partial discharge currents are typically small but enough to cause degradation of the electrical insulation. To study degradation for fast-rise time voltage square pulse train, partial discharge measurement is needed. In current studies, partial discharge pulse widths have been measured in the range of nanoseconds. The best approach for measurement at ultra wide band frequencies is a bridge type measurement system, to reduce external noise and improve sensitivity to PD currents. The bridge configuration can be used with samples instead of one sample and one coupling capacitor. Identically created samples will have a close match for impedance and frequency response. This type of bridge also helps to reduce other sources of measured current such as the high displacement currents due to fast rise time square pulse voltage on the samples. Further improvement includes simultaneous measurements using a “linked” bridge configuration, where bridges share a common sample. A directly connected measurement current shunt should be used for high sensitivity with a uniform ultra wide band frequency response. Post-measurement digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms will perform the task of pulse discrimination and time delay from the pulse front. This research presents a method to improve the measurement of partial discharge when applied voltage is non-sinusoidal, with high frequency components. The improvements are apparent when square pulse voltage rise times are less than 50 ns. Ultra wide band measurements of physical samples will be performed for short time duration with a digital storage oscilloscope. A DSP algorithm is used to filter residual noise from the partial discharge current. The presented measurement technique for samples for this study is an original approach. Sample results demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique

A Three-Step Methodology to Improve Domestic Energy Efficiency

Increasing energy prices and the greenhouse effect lead to more awareness of energy efficiency of electricity supply. During the last years, a lot of technologies have been developed to improve this efficiency. Next to large scale technologies such as windturbine parks, domestic technologies are developed. These domestic technologies can be divided in 1) Distributed Generation (DG), 2) Energy Storage and 3) Demand Side Load Management. Control algorithms optimizing a combination of these techniques can raise the energy reduction potential of the individual techniques. In this paper an overview of current research is given and a general concept is deducted. Based on this concept, a three-step optimization methodology is proposed using 1) offline local prediction, 2) offline global planning and 3) online local scheduling. The paper ends with results of simulations and field tests showing that the methodology is promising.\u

Off-line programming and simulation for 2-axis wire EDM

U radu je predstavljena metodologija za uspostavljanje off-line sistema za programiranje sa verifikacijom putanje alata i simulacijom koja uključuje vizuelizaciju procesa obrade, orijentaciju pribora i pomeranja mašine. Ova metodologija je opisana pomoću IDEF0 dijagrama i razrađena pomoću PTC Creo CAD/CAM sistema. U radu je prikazan modelirani detaljni virtuelni prototip mašine Evis, sa definisanim svim kinematičkim vezama između pokretnih delova, kako bi bilo moguće uključiti virtuelni model mašine u simulaciju. Off-line programiranje omogućava višestruku verifikaciju programa, posle koje se program može odmah izvršavati na mašini. Off-line programiranje je verifikovano na realnom primeru verifikacijom i izvršenjem programa za njegovu obradu.This paper presents a methodology for establishing off-line programming system with toolpath verification and simulation including visualization of the machining process, fixture orientation and machine movements. This methodology is described using IDEF0 diagrams and is elaborated by using PTC Creo CAD/CAM system. This paper describes modeled detailed virtual prototype of WEDM machine Ewis, with all kinematic relationships between moving components being defined, with the aim to include virtual machine model in machine simulation. Off-line programming allows immediate execution on the machine of multiple verification programs after verification. Therefore, the off-line programming is verified using the real example and its program verification and execution

Off-line programming and simulation for 2-axis wire EDM

U radu je predstavljena metodologija za uspostavljanje off-line sistema za programiranje sa verifikacijom putanje alata i simulacijom koja uključuje vizuelizaciju procesa obrade, orijentaciju pribora i pomeranja mašine. Ova metodologija je opisana pomoću IDEF0 dijagrama i razrađena pomoću PTC Creo CAD/CAM sistema. U radu je prikazan modelirani detaljni virtuelni prototip mašine Evis, sa definisanim svim kinematičkim vezama između pokretnih delova, kako bi bilo moguće uključiti virtuelni model mašine u simulaciju. Off-line programiranje omogućava višestruku verifikaciju programa, posle koje se program može odmah izvršavati na mašini. Off-line programiranje je verifikovano na realnom primeru verifikacijom i izvršenjem programa za njegovu obradu.This paper presents a methodology for establishing off-line programming system with toolpath verification and simulation including visualization of the machining process, fixture orientation and machine movements. This methodology is described using IDEF0 diagrams and is elaborated by using PTC Creo CAD/CAM system. This paper describes modeled detailed virtual prototype of WEDM machine Ewis, with all kinematic relationships between moving components being defined, with the aim to include virtual machine model in machine simulation. Off-line programming allows immediate execution on the machine of multiple verification programs after verification. Therefore, the off-line programming is verified using the real example and its program verification and execution

Virtual Inertia Emulation to Improve Dynamic Frequency Stability of Low Inertia Microgrids

Due to low inertia and the intermittent nature of photovoltaic systems, dynamic frequency stability issues arise in microgrids with large photovoltaic systems. This limits the maximum amount of photovoltaic systems that can be penetrated in the microgrid. In order to increase the penetration of photovoltaic systems, the dynamic frequency controller, that is faster than the primary frequency controller (governor control) needs to be added in the microgrid system. For dynamic frequency control, inertial response can be provided from the energy storage system (such as battery, ultra-capacitor, photovoltaic system, etc.), which is termed as virtual inertia. A virtual inertia can be defined as the combination of an energy storage system, a power electronics converter and a proper control algorithm that improves the dynamic frequency stability of the microgrid. A virtual inertia supplies or absorbs the active power to and from the energy storage system to improve the dynamic frequency stability. This thesis presents the design and implementation of a hardware prototype of 1 kW virtual inertia in a microgrid with a real diesel generator and a load. For a step change in load, the virtual inertia improved the frequency response of the system from 57.39 Hz to 58.03 Hz. This improvement in frequency response proves the concept of existing proportional derivative based virtual inertia experimentally. With the addition of virtual inertia, the frequency of the system returns to the nominal frequency slower. Once the primary controller (governor control) of the system takes the action to regulate the frequency, virtual inertia no longer needs to add inertia to the system. So the dynamics of the VI needs to be improved so that the frequency returns to nominal frequency faster. This thesis also proposes an online learning controller based virtual inertia using adaptive dynamic programming that learns online and improves the dynamics of the controller of existing VI. The output of this controller supplements the output of the existing proportional derivative controller of virtual inertia. The supplementary controller is trained to increase the dynamics of the outer controller and to bring the system frequency to nominal frequency faster. Due to faster dynamics, the net energy delivered by the VI can be reduced significantly and improve the total possible discharge cycles from the battery. For performance evaluation, the proposed controller was implemented in a microgrid with a photovoltaic system, a diesel generator and a variable load. With the proposed controller, the frequency of the system returned to nominal frequency faster. The net energy delivered by the proposed controller in a photovoltaic diesel generator microgrid was 46.14% of the net energy delivered by the existing virtual inertia. Due to the decrement in the total energy delivered, the total number of possible battery discharge cycles with ADP based VI was 2.17 times of the total number of possible battery discharge cycles from VI