Feature: Batteries


Figure 1: An EV battery pack during assembly Creating safe and sustainable


battery cells By Joseph Notaro, VP Global Sales and Marketing, Dukosi


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arge-capacity rechargeable batteries are a vital part of the clean-energy future. Tey mitigate supply challenges during peak periods and sudden demand surges in


utility-scale renewable energy, as well as enterprise installations and residential uses. Tey are also essential for the future of electric vehicles (EVs) and industrial transportation, which require them to be extremely reliable, safe and high- performance, suitable for the rigours of the road and consumer applications. Achieving reliable and safe batteries that


are also extremely high in performance was once thought an oxymoron: to ensure the former you had to sacrifice the latter. Tis was largely due to the fact that most


22 April 2024 www.electronicsworld.co.uk


battery packs incorporate large buffers for safety, to compensate for the lack of fine- grained monitoring circuits within their designs. For instance, temperature sensors – essential for battery safety during charge and discharge – are typically restricted to one per pack module due to manufacturing complexity and cost. A module can have 8-16 cells, so even if we assume one temperature sensor per eight cells, then some 88% of the cells per module have no direct temperature reading. Fortunately, emerging innovations will


change this.


Re-evaluating battery design In a typical battery set-up, the intricacy of cell monitoring is also limited by the amount of wiring needed. As mentioned,


this can lead to design decisions such as area-based temperature monitoring, as opposed to single-cell monitoring. Yet, individual cell monitoring creates safer, more reliable, more sustainable high- performance batteries, with longer life. By monitoring every cell, there


are no gaps, enabling fine-grained temperature awareness for effective battery management. Tis enables better system optimisation and more usable energy from every cell, as the battery management system (BMS) can determine the effectiveness of each cell. Furthermore, long before a cell goes into thermal runaway and reaches an abnormal temperature condition, the monitoring chip can alert the BMS (and therefore the user) much sooner, increasing system safety.


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