Performance Evaluation of Lithium‐Ion Batteries on Small Electric Bus

We evaluate performance of lithium‐ion batteries on the small electric bus, conducting tests of cell and battery pack using discharge/charge machine. We suggest the test item on distinction between good and bad of a battery. In the discharge/charge cycle tests of cell at environmental temperature (25 °C), the relative capacity was 60% at 10,000 cycles. In the discharge capacity test of battery packs on the small electric bus, the relative capacity maintained more than 90% in progress for approximately 900 days. Finally, based on these results, we analyzed about influence factor on a battery discharge capacity.     

Thermal behavior of small lithium‐ion secondary battery during rapid charge and discharge cycles

The secondary batteries for an electric vehicle (EV) generate much heat during rapid charge and discharge cycles above the rated condition, when the EV starts quickly consuming the battery power and stops suddenly recovering the inertia energy. During rapid charge and discharge cycles, the cell temperature rises significantly and may exceed the allowable temperature. We calculated the temperature rise of a small lithium‐ion secondary battery during rapid charge and discharge cycles using our battery thermal behavior model, and confirmed its validity during discharge cycle at current smaller than the discharge rate of 1C. The heat source factors were measured by the methods described in our previous study, because the present batteries have been improved in their performance and have low overpotential resistance. The battery heat capacity was measured by a twin‐type heat conduction calorimeter, and determined to be a linear function of temperature. Further, the heat transfer coefficient was measured again precisely by the method described in our previous study, and was arranged as a function of cell and ambient temperatures. The calculated temperature by our battery thermal behavior model using these measured data agrees well with the cell temperature measured by thermocouple. Therefore, we can confirm the validity of this model again during rapid charge and discharge cycles. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 157(3): 17–25, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20249 Copyright © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Field trial on a rack‐mounted DC power supply system with 80‐Ah lithium‐ion batteries

Using an industrial lithium‐ion battery that has higher energy density than conventional valve‐regulated lead‐acid batteries, a rack‐mounted DC power supply system was assembled and tested at a base transceiver station (BTS) offering actual services. The nominal output voltage and maximum output current of the system are 53.5 V and 20 A, respectively. An 80‐Ah lithium‐ion battery composed of 13 cells connected in series was applied in the system and maintained by the floating charge method. The DC power supply system was installed in a 19‐inch power rack in the telecommunications equipment box at BTS. The characteristics of the 80‐Ah lithium‐ion battery, the specifications of the DC power supply system, and field‐test results are presented in this paper. \copy 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 174(3): 1–8, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21067     

Double‐Switch Series‐Resonant Cell‐Voltage Equalizer Using a Voltage Multiplier for Series‐Connected Energy Storage Cells

Series connections of energy storage cells, such as lithium‐ion cells and electric double‐layer capacitors (EDLCs), require cell‐voltage equalizers to ensure years of operation. Conventional equalizers require multiple switches, magnetic components, and/or secondary windings of a multiwinding transformer in proportion to the number of series connections, which usually makes them complex, expensive, bulky, and less extendable with increasing series connections. A double‐switch series‐resonant equalizer using a voltage multiplier is proposed in this paper. The double‐switch operation without a multiwinding transformer achieves simplified circuitry and good modularity at reduced size and cost, compared to conventional equalizers. Operational analyses were separately performed for the following two functional parts of the proposed equalizer: a series‐resonant inverter and a voltage multiplier. The mathematical analyses derived a dc‐equivalent circuit of the proposed equalizer, with which simulation analyses of even an hour's duration can be completed in an instant. Simulation analyses were separately performed for both the original and equivalent circuits. The simulation results of the derived circuit correlated well with those of the original circuit, thus verifying the derived dc‐equivalent circuit. A 5‐W prototype of the proposed equalizer was built for eight cells connected in series and an experimental equalization was performed for series‐connected EDLCs from an initially voltage‐imbalanced condition. The voltage imbalance was gradually eliminated over time, and the standard deviation in the cell voltages decreased to approximately 5 mV at the end of the experiment, thus demonstrating the equalization performance of the proposed equalizer.     

Electric double‐layer capacitor module with series‐parallel reconfigurable cell voltage equalizers

When electric double‐layer capacitors (EDLCs) are connected in series, a cell voltage imbalance occurs due to nonuniform cell properties. Cell voltage imbalance should be minimized to prolong cycle lives and maximize the available energy of cells. In this study, we propose a series‐parallel reconfigurable cell voltage equalizer that is considered suitable for energy storage systems using EDLCs instead of traditional secondary batteries as the main energy storage sources. The proposed equalizer requires only EDLCs and switches as its main circuit elements, and it utilizes EDLCs not only for energy storage but also for equalization. An equivalent circuit model using equivalent resistors that can be regarded as an index of equalization speed is developed. Current distribution and cell voltage imbalancing during operation are quantitatively generalized. Experimental charge–discharge tests were performed on the EDLC modules to demonstrate the performance of the cell voltage equalizer. All the cells in the modules could be charged/discharged uniformly even when a degradation‐mimicking cell was intentionally included in the module. The resultant cell voltage imbalances and current distributions were in good agreement with those predicted by mathematical analyses. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 181(4): 38–50, 2012; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.21287     

Online SOC Estimation of Battery for Wireless Tramcar

Wireless tramcars (battery‐driven tramcars) are developing to the actual application stage. The most important information to be considered while operating a wireless tramcar is the state of charge (SOC) of the battery. The purpose of this study is to develop an online method for SOC estimation. This method employs a new equivalent circuit of a lithium‐ion battery. SOC estimation using a conventional equivalent circuit results in a large error during fast current transients. In order to improve the accuracy of the estimation, we propose a new equivalent circuit of a lithium‐ion battery. Because the parameters of the proposed equivalent circuit depend on temperature, we propose a new method for SOC estimation in which the temperature estimation is taken into account. This method requires only instantaneous values of the voltage and current, and therefore no temperature measurement is required. Experimental results show that the accuracy of the proposed method is significantly improved when the temperature is taken into account. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 186(2): 83–89, 2014; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21174     

Running Test of Contactwire‐less Tramcar Using Lithium Ion Battery

The basic specification of lithium ion battery‐type tramcar was established using DC600V‐type tramcar with a weight of 40 t. Forty five kilo Watt hour of manganese‐type lithium ion battery was used. The running test was carried out for the first time in Japan in the business line. The relation between running time and voltage, current and integrating watt was investigated in detail. The tramcar was run when the lithium ion battery module was discharged between 660 and 480 V. On one charge, the tramcar could run for about 25 km. The mileage of contactwire‐less tramcar improved two times that of tramcar. The running performance of contactwire‐less tramcar was equivalent to the tramcar. Copyright © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Performance and maximum load capacity of uninterruptible power system using double‐layer capacitor

Power service interruptions cause problems in various facilities. Even an instantaneous voltage drop may give rise to serious problems in computer systems or electronic equipment. The uninterruptible power system (UPS) has been used to compensate for the power service interruptions. Also, the instantaneous voltage drop compensator using the electrolytic capacitor has been developed for the instantaneous voltage drop. Recently, the double‐layer capacitor has been considered as a new energy storage element. This capacitor has many advantages such as no maintenance, long lifetime, and quick charge/discharge characteristics with large current and it has higher energy density than the electrolytic capacitor. Therefore, we developed the UPS using the double‐layer capacitor. In this paper, the performance of the UPS using the double‐layer capacitor is shown by simulated and experimental results. Furthermore, the discharge characteristics of the double‐layer capacitors are investigated on the basis of the equivalent circuit including the capacitors and a voltage booster. Finally, the maximum load capacity to compensate is clarified for the system. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 154(3): 73–81, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20190     

Prediction of Behavior of Low‐Power Noncontact Charger

This paper proposes a method to predict the charging current, the output power, and the power transfer efficiency of a low‐power, noncontact charger with reasonable accuracy. The low‐power, noncontact charger model considered in this paper consists of a sinusoidal voltage source, a sending and receiving coil, a full wave rectifier circuit, and an AA nickel metal‐hydride battery. The capacitor that is connected in series in the sending coils of the low‐power noncontact charger model to improve the power factor was also examined. The self‐inductance, the mutual inductance, and the resistances of the coils were calculated using axisymmetric finite element analysis, and were substituted into the circuit equations. The circuit equations were solved by using the Runge‐Kutta method. The calculated charging current, output power, and power transfer efficiency were in good agreement with the experimental results.     

A systematic method for the development of a three‐phase transformer non‐linear model

In this work, a novel three‐phase transformer non‐linear model is developed. The proposed model takes into account the magnetic core topology and the windings connections. The non‐linear characteristic curve of the core material is introduced by its magnetization curve or by its hysteresis loop using the mathematical hysteresis model proposed by Tellinen or the macroscopic hysteresis model proposed by Jiles–Atherton. The eddy currents effects are included through non‐linear resistors using Bertotti's work. The proposed model presents several advantages. An incremental linear circuit, having the same topology with the magnetic circuit of the core, is used in order to directly write the differential equations of the magnetic part of the transformer. The matrix L _d that describes the coupling between the windings of the transformer is systematically derived. The electrical equations of the transformer can be easily written for any possible connection of the primary and secondary windings using the unconnected windings equations and transformation matrices. The proposed methods for the calculation of the coupling between the windings, the representation of the eddy currents and the inclusion of the core material characteristic curve can be used to develop a transformer model appropriate for the EMTP/ATP‐type programs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Survey of integrated‐circuit‐oscillator phase‐noise analysis

This tutorial distills the salient phase‐noise analysis concepts and key equations developed over the last 75 years relevant to integrated circuit oscillators. Oscillator phase and amplitude fluctuations have been studied since at least 1938 when Berstein solved the Fokker–Planck equations for the phase/amplitude distributions of a resonant oscillator. The principal contribution of this work is the organized, unified presentation of eclectic phase‐noise analysis techniques, facilitating their application to integrated circuit oscillator design. Furthermore, we demonstrate that all these methods boil down to obtaining three things: (1) noise modulation function; (2) noise transfer function; and (3) current‐controlled oscillator gain. For each method, this paper provides a short background explanation of the technique, a step‐by‐step procedure of how to apply the method to hand calculation/computer simulation, and a worked example to demonstrate how to analyze a practical oscillator circuit with that method. This survey article chiefly deals with phase‐noise analysis methods, so to restrict its scope, we limit our discussion to the following: (1) analyzing integrated circuit metal–oxide–semiconductor/bipolar junction transistor‐based LC, delay, and ring oscillator topologies; (2) considering a few oscillator harmonics in our analysis; (3) analyzing thermal/flicker intrinsic device‐noise sources rather than environmental/parametric noise/wander; (4) providing mainly qualitative amplitude‐noise discussions; and (5) omitting measurement methods/phase‐noise reduction techniques. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementation and design of high‐power fast charger for lithium‐ion battery pack

The high‐power fast charger (HPFC) incorporating a power stage with a controlling loop is presented in this paper. A power stage is composed of an inter‐leaved boost power factor correction and a DC‐DC full‐bridge phase‐shifted (FBPS) converter, and that the HPFC can supply a constant‐voltage (CV) or a constant‐current (CC) power to charge a secondary lithium‐ion battery pack. In addition, the ripple current can be reduced due to the DC‐DC FBPS converter combines with the current‐doubler rectifier at HPFC's output side. Also, the controlling loop is equipped with a voltage compensator and a current compensator, and this design is for the sake of HPFC, which can either operate in CV or CC output mode. Moreover, the shut‐down situation will be prevented by proposed bi‐phase charging controller, when the charging current is adjusted from the fist CC level to the second CC level. Analysis and design considerations of the proposed circuits are presented in details. Experimental results agree well with the theoretical predictions and confirm the validity of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical model for the oscillation frequency,the amplitude and the phase‐noise of MOS‐current‐mode‐logic ring oscillators

This paper presents a new model for the frequency of oscillation, the oscillation amplitude and the phase‐noise of ring oscillators consisting of MOS‐current‐mode‐logic delay cells. The numerical model has been validated through circuit simulations of oscillators designed with a typical 130 nm CMOS technology. A design flow based on the proposed model and on circuit simulations is presented and applied to cells with active loads. The choice of the cell parameters that minimize phase‐noise and power consumption is addressed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A power‐efficient current‐mode neural/muscular stimulator design for peripheral nerve prosthesis

This paper presents a 16‐channel power‐efficient neural/muscular stimulation integrated circuit for peripheral nerve prosthesis. First, the theoretical analysis is presented to show the power efficiency optimization in a stimulator. Moreover, a continuous‐time, biphasic exponential‐current‐waveform generation circuit is designed based on Taylor series approximation and implemented in the proposed stimulation chip to optimize the power efficiency. In the 16‐channel stimulator chip design, each channel of the stimulator consists of a current copier, an exponential current generator, an active charge‐balancing circuit, and a 24‐V output stage. Stimulation amplitude, pulse width, and frequency can be set and adjusted through an external field‐programmable gate array by sending serial commands. Finally, the proposed stimulator chip has been fabricated in a 0.18‐μm advanced complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor process with 24‐V laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor option. The maximum stimulation power efficiency of 95.9% is achieved at the output stage with an electrode model of 10‐kΩ resistance and 100‐nF capacitance. Animal experiment results further demonstrate the power efficiency improvement and effectiveness of the stimulator.     

MOS‐integrable circuitry for multi‐scroll chaotic grid realization: A SPICE‐assisted proof

A MOS‐integrable circuit realization of the class of Multi‐Scroll Grid attractor using an implementation of nonlinear transconductor is presented. The design can be seen as the MOS‐integrable circuit implementation of modified jerk equations presented in the literature (Int. J. Bifurcat. Chaos 2002; 12 (1):23–41). The proposed design of Multi‐Scroll Grid attractor is adequately supported by SPICE simulation results. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New Dynamic Self‐Consistent Mathematical Model and Torque Characteristics of Permanent‐Magnet Synchronous Motors with Magnetic Cross‐Coupling

This paper proposes a new dynamic mathematical model of permanent‐magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) with magnetic cross‐coupling and presents a new analysis of the torque characteristics of the motors. Generally speaking, dynamic mathematical models used for the design and analysis of PMSM control systems must consist of three basic equations that describe the main motor characteristics as an electrical circuit, torque generator, and electromechanical energy converter. In order to obtain reasonably compact models, some characteristics have to be approximated. However, in the case where the approximations used in the three basic equations are different from each other, the dynamic mathematical model often loses self‐consistency and becomes self‐contradictory. The proposed model, which takes the magnetic cross‐coupling into account, is self‐consistent and compact, and its effectiveness is validated by experimental data. Using the self‐consistency and compactness, this study presents a new analysis of the torque characteristics of PMSMs, focusing on efficient torque generation. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 184(1): 42–55, 2013; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.22382     

一种改进的基于车载锂电池数据的SoC估算方法

针对车载锂离子电池的SoC(State of Charge)估算,面临两个主要问题:电池充放电过程中的极化效应,SoC与OCV(Open Circuit Voltage)关系曲线受电池内阻等因素影响,精度较低。从自主设计的锂电池等效电路模型入手,改进现有的Thevenin模型,用一个新的极化模型来代替传统的RC模块克服锂离子电池的极化效应,增加模型的精度。利用改进后的模型,基于DualEKF(dual-Extended Kalman Filter)估计方法,克服传统方法中无法消除电池内阻误差的缺点。对照实验结果表明,在保证较低计算复杂度的情况下,使估算误差保证在6%以内。     

Charge and Discharge Control to Save Regeneration Energy for Overhead Line and Energy Storage Device Hybrid Power Source Three‐Level Inverter

Hybrid power source three‐level inverter is proposed as a main circuit system with energy storage device for increasing regenerative power. This paper proposes a charge and discharge control method to utilize the regenerated energy. The proposed method is verified by experimental tests with a scaled‐down model and numerical simulation.     

Dynamic joint model of capacitive charge pumps and on‐chip photovoltaic cells for CMOS micro‐energy harvesting

On‐chip energy harvesting by means of integrated photovoltaic cells in standard CMOS technology can be successfully used to recharge or power‐up integrated circuits with the use of charge pumps for voltage boosting. In this paper, a tool to facilitate the design of such structures is proposed consisting of an accurate model of the joint dynamics of the micro‐photovoltaic cell and a capacitive DC/DC converter in the slow‐switching limit regime. The model takes into account both the top and bottom parasitic capacitances of the flying capacitors. We assume a classical model for the photodiode whose photogenerated current is extracted from device‐level simulations. The joint model is verified by circuit‐level simulations achieving high accuracy and computation time savings of up to 1700×. The joint model shows that the voltage generated by an integrated photovoltaic cell connected to a capacitive DC/DC converter is not constant even under constant illumination. This phenomenon can only be reproduced through the joint model and failing to take it into account results in an error in the estimation of the time needed by the DC/DC converter to reach a given output voltage. We also demonstrate that the maximum output voltage reached by a DC/DC converter in the slow‐switching limit regime when a photovoltaic cell is used as energy transducer depends on the switching frequency. Finally, the applicability of the model is illustrated through the optimization of time response and charge efficiency for the Dickson, Fibonacci, and exponential topologies in the case of implantable devices. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于BP神经网络法估算动力电池SOC

精确估计电动汽车用动力锂离子电池荷电状态(SOC)对于电动汽车的续航里程的估计和动力电池的安全保护具有重要的意义。针对锂离子电池的非线性关系,采用BP神经网络法来估算SOC。以3.2 V/100 Ah的磷酸锂铁电池为研究对象,在恒温条件下采用Arbin BT2000系列的充放电测试仪进行充放电实验采集原始数据,并将数据导入到神经网络模型中去训练和验证。验证结果表明:用BP神经网络法估算SOC的误差能控制在5%以内,验证了模型的准确性,为相似的SOC估计算法的改进提供参考和依据。