No abstract

State of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) are key issues for the application of batteries, especially the absorbent glass mat valve regulated lead-acid (AGM VRLA) type batteries used in the idle stop start systems (ISSs) that are popularly integrated into conventional engine-based vehicles. This is due to the fact that SOC and SOH estimation accuracy is crucial for optimizing battery energy utilization, ensuring safety and extending battery life cycles. The dual extended Kalman filter (DEKF), which provides an elegant and powerful solution, is widely applied in SOC and SOH estimation based on a battery parameter model. However, the battery parameters are strongly dependent on operation conditions such as the SOC, current rate and temperature. In addition, battery parameters change significantly over the life cycle of a battery. As a result, many experimental pretests investigating the effects of the internal and external conditions of a battery on its parameters are required, since the accuracy of state estimation depends on the quality of the information regarding battery parameter changes. In this paper, a novel method for SOC and SOH estimation that combines a DEKF algorithm, which considers hysteresis and diffusion effects, and an auto regressive exogenous (ARX) model for online parameters estimation is proposed. The DEKF provides precise information concerning the battery open circuit voltage (OCV) to the ARX model. Meanwhile, the ARX model continues monitoring parameter variations and supplies information on them to the DEKF. In this way, the estimation accuracy can be maintained despite the changing parameters of a battery. Moreover, online parameter estimation from the ARX model can save the time and effort used for parameter pretests. The validation of the proposed algorithm is given by simulation and experimental results.

To describe rational drug prescribing in general practice for elderly patients, using patients age, sex, encounters and the occurrence of some predefined inappropriate drug prescribing, according to Beer's criteria, drug-drug interaction of common OTC drugs and WHO essential drug list. A retrospective study on rational drug prescribing patterns in geriatric patient was carried out using prescriptions issued to the geriatric patients, 65 years and above, attending the outpatient and inpatient department of various hospitals and clinics of Hyderabad. Of the 150 prescriptions consecutively selected, Anti diabetics (142, 15.58%) were the most commonly prescribed medicines with metformin being the most prescribed anti diabetic. The medications prescribed by generic names were 92 (10.08%). 40% of medicines were prescribed from the WHO essential drug list. 17 (11.3%) prescriptions had one or more potentially inappropriate medicines from Beer's criteria and in 16 (10.6%) prescriptions drugdrug interactions were ascertained according to drug -drug interactions of common OTC drugs. The drug prescribing pattern among the elderly is still suboptimal. Appropriate interventions are needed for both health care providers and patients alike.

No abstract

In recent years, electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) have become very popular. Therefore, the use of secondary batteries exponentially increased in EV systems. Battery fuel gauges determine the amount of charge inside the battery, and how much farther the vehicle can drive itself under specific operating conditions. It is very important to provide accurate state-of-charge (SOC) information of the battery module to the driver, since inaccurate fuel gauges will not be tolerated. In this paper, a model-based approach is proposed to estimate the SOCs of multiple lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery cells, connected in a module in series, by using a nonlinear state observer (NSO) and an online parameter identification algorithm. A simple method of estimating the impedance and SOC of each cell in a module is also presented in this paper, by employing a ratio vector with respect to the reference value. A battery model based on an autoregressive model with exogenous input (ARX) was used with recursive least squares (RLS) for parameter identification, in an effort to guarantee reliable estimation results under various operating conditions. The validity and feasibility of the proposed algorithm were verified by an experimental setup of six Li-ion battery cells connected in a module in series. It was found that, when compared with a simple linear state observer (LSO), an NSO can further reduce the SOC error by 1%.