Development of Smart Battery Cell Monitoring System and Characterization on a Small-Module Through In-Vehicle Power Line Communication

A Smart Cell Monitoring System Based on Power Line Communication—Optimization of Instrumentation and Acquisition for Smart Battery Management

“…This article will focus on the need for a communication system with signal processing capability at an individual cell or module level, lessening the load on a central BMS. In our previous work we have shown a proof-of-concept communication and data acquisition system for use with externally instrumented cells [14]. We extend upon this work by showing internally instrumented cells, with processing and data acquisition performed at an individual cell level.…”

“…In environments where dedicated communication wiring is not desired (perhaps in remote locations, or space constrained applications), PLC offers an excellent solution to provide communications via existing power line infrastructure. Our previous studies have successfully shown that PLC is suitable for use with li-ion cells in a small module configuration [14,15]. PLC is of particular interest inside a vehicle battery pack, as it does not suffer from environmental challenges affecting wireless networks, for example signal attenuation due to objects blocking the signal path, or the need to be contained within a structure consisting of a material with poor signal penetration [16].…”

“…distributed fiber optics [41], or miniature thermocouples [42]). Also in our previous work, we have shown thermistors along with miniature current and voltage sensors can create datasets to aid understanding of cell operation and future pack development [14]. The handling of these datasets, i.e., addressing point (ii), is not usually studied in the literature.…”

“…coolest and hottest temperatures and their locations) can be transmitted back to the BMS. In previous work our PLC solution, reported with 8 cells 4S2P [14], relied upon polling cells for data, thereby limiting scalability without sacrificing polling rate. The trade-off is between the volume of data collected and the time between sampling sensors for a given cell -assuming the system polls cells in a set order via a loop.…”

“…The CAN bus requires cabling for power and communication, which increases the necessary wiring harness around the module and interconnections. In this design the PLC boards are configured to minimize wiring between cells (1 modem per cell), although this design could be reconfigured for a group of cells to share an interface board, as demonstrated in our previous work [14]. The interface board acquires data from the sensors; firmware then transmits the data by the three medium (USB, PLC and CAN).…”