dSPACE’s new offerings for developing in-vehicle battery management systems (BMS) simplify the development of critical battery management algorithms by enabling precise, fast measurement and control of cell voltages for modern Li-ion batteries. Complex systems like a BMS interact with several vehicle systems such as the powertrain, energy management, vehicle safety, infotainment, etc. These systems therefore cannot be developed in isolation and require easy-to-use, in-vehicle rapid control prototyping (RCP) systems that allow quick iterations with maximum control capability. dSPACE is now extending its RCP portfolio to fulfill this need.
dSPACE’s new development system for battery management systems meets all the requirements for performance and safety when using high-voltage Li-ion battery packs during development. The in-vehicle modular system can be assembled to create configurations of up to 200 battery cells, and 846 V total voltage. It provides measurement precision of ±3 mV for each cell with a frequency of up to 1 kHz, regardless of the number of cells. This even makes it possible to study the performance characteristics of various cell chemistries in a real-world environment.
The system features critical cell-balancing functionality to maintain the individual cell charges at the same level, enhancing operational safety by preventing thermal runaway conditions and extending battery life. In “manual balancing” mode, users have the option to balance cells individually or collectively, and at any desired time intervals. The “automatic balancing” feature allows users to conveniently specify target voltages and cut-off times, leaving them free to focus on the more important BMS algorithms.
Reliable safety measures are vital for handling the high voltage of a Li-ion battery pack. dSPACE’s new Battery Cell Voltage Measurement and Balancing system provides extensive cell monitoring, error detection and alarm functions. These safety features include warnings about errors in hardware, communication and synchronization, cell overheating, isolation faults, and undervoltages and overvoltages at both cell and pack level.
The Battery Cell Voltage Measurement and Balancing system from dSPACE performs high-precision measurement and control of cell voltages in Li-ion batteries.
