Descripció del projecte
The project focuses on the development of an advanced battery management system (BMS) for application in electric vehicles. The research project to be carried out in collaboration with IREC is linked to a European project where a new type of battery for electric mobility is developed with innovative capabilities and functionalities. Below are some of the aspects that should be covered in the design of both hardware and software and in the implementation of an advanced BMS.
The proposed BMS will include the ability to integrate different communications systems besides the automotive standard. The new communications protocols to be developed will have to be implemented in the new BMS; in addition the receiver / emitter of the physical communications channel will have to be incorporated into the BMS system even though the design of the communications system is outside the scope of the doctorate
The BMS must have the ability to incorporate sensor data that is not incorporated in current electric vehicles. In addition to having the ability to read voltage, current and temperature measurements, other sensors that are used to improve the functionalities of the battery should be taken into account in the design of the BMS, especially regarding the type of signal and its range of operation. The designs of the sensors themselves or their application are not included in the proposed research project.
New security systems that must be incorporated into the battery design must also be managed from the new BMS based on readings received by the sensor system. The BMS must have the ability to control actuators added to the current standards and by means of a state machine to perform the management of alarms, emergency signals and proceed to safe stops when necessary.
The design of the BMS must be done in a flexible and modular way, in this sense it must be able to operate with modules that incorporate different numbers of cells and with batteries that have different number of modules. The software to be developed will have to be able to work with batteries of different sizes, always focused on electric mobility and therefore can work on motorcycles, cars, buses or trucks. At the hardware level, modular structures that can combine the hierarchy of control boards and data acquisition in master / slave systems can be combined or analyze solutions that include expansion modules so that the final product is adaptable to the battery with no need for modifications.
A strategy to analyze is the application of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) functionalities and their impact on the definition of the BMS and the use of the battery. The system must be prepared for bidirectional interaction with the electricity network through the charging system and provide assistance to the stabilization of the electrical system as well as other ancillary services. The implications of the use of this strategy in the whole system to be developed will be part of the doctorate research and will not be part of the internal development of the European project that frames the doctorate.
Another feature to incorporate in the BMS is its usefulness in second-life applications of the battery. In this regard, it must be taken into account that the BMS must have the capacity to operate the battery when it is not integrated into a vehicle by correctly applying other protocols and communication systems with the exterior that allow the integration and the use of the battery in other areas. The analysis of second-life applications at the module level is also proposed so that the controlling part of the module within the BMS can work in isolation to allow the use of the separate module of the battery. The study of the resulting profile of the battery in the second life and potential applicability in other fields are outside the field of the doctorate, only the capacity of the BMS to work correctly in these new applications will be considered.
In summary, it is proposed to carry out an integral design of hardware and software that integrates a BMS for electric vehicles focused on offering robustness, flexibility, safety and a long life span that goes beyond the primary use of the battery. The development of cell models and state estimation methods are not considered within the research project since the designed BMS must be able to work with different types of batteries based on different chemical compositions including a range of cell voltage levels.
