A Two-Stage Module Based Cell-to-Cell Active Balancing Circuit for Series Connected Lithium-Ion Battery Packs

This article addresses a two-stage module based cell-to-cell active equalization topology based on a modified buck-boost converter for series connected Lithium-ion battery packs. In the proposed topology, initially module based equalizing currents are controlled. Subsequently, cell-based equalizers are controlled in parallel within each battery module. The proposed topology significantly reduces the balancing time by transferring higher balancing current from a strong cell to the weakest cell in a module directly. With the proposed topology's modularized design, reduces voltage stress on long strings of switches, resulting in improved performance with fewer components. The operating principle, control strategy and design constraints are analyzed in detail. The MATLAB/Simulink platform is utilized to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technique for balancing the energy in series connected battery cells. To reduce the complexity of the control approach, the digital control is implemented using an FPGA control board. Further, a laboratory prototype is developed to show the feasibility and operability of the proposed topology.