Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NEXTBMS (NEXT-generation physics and data-based Battery Management Systems for optimised battery utilization)
Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2024-11-30
NEXTBMS is to achieve a best-in-class advanced BMS hard- and software solution concerning technical performance, adaptiveness, and cost, for first life perspective as well as end-of-life (second life) management.
The overall objectives of NEXTBMS are:
1) Increased battery utilisation with relation to operational limits (i.e. increasing the battery's usable SoC window, increasing its maximum full equivalent cycles, enabling fast charging at low and high outside temperatures) and overall energy throughput over lifetime (incl. first and second life, and recycling).
2) Shortened the time-to-market for new battery packs, operating with new and novel battery chemistries, by means of scalability and fast parameterisation of battery cell models with only minimal a priori knowledge of the characterisation of the cells.
3) Maintaining the high level of safety and reliability status of battery systems especially in enhanced operation conditions and during end-of-life management incl. second life applications.
4) Demonstrated enhanced BMS performance via a single battery module with complete functionality.
NEXTBMS will for the first time enable consistent simulation of electrochemical phenomena in battery management. It will use advanced physics-based models which run partly on the on-board BMS and partly in the cloud. AI models will be used to adapt parameters of the physics-based model and to analyse the big data on the cloud. This ultimately leads to improved physical and safety related battery state estimations during operation. These more precise internal cell states and derived overall battery system states help to enhance battery utilisation and to minimize internal energy losses. This directly improves the BMS calibration boundaries that are currently set with conservative values leading to suboptimal utilization.
Pathway to impact:
On the economic impact, the first step for the industrial partners in the two years after the project is to raise the advanced BMS to TRL 5-7 and from there to TRL 8 and 9. This involves amongst others the extensive demonstration of prototypes in a relevant environment, qualifying the implementation of the NEXTBMS in the design and production of future battery cells and packs. Furthermore, the project partners will establish commercial relations with ≥ 5 suppliers and ≥ 3 OEMs, among others for the licensing of IP and technology and will expect to use the generated outcome also in their own products on battery and BMS testing on battery test benches. The potential impact in the five years after the project is the roll-out of the innovative BMS solutions in the growing EV automotive sector.
On the societal front, the first steps are to involve policy makers and the European public. Once the NEXTBMS project is completed, concrete steps can be taken in the further development of new generation BMSs. The consortium will inform policy makers and European (battery project) platforms like BATT4EU and BRING, so they can assess the information (e.g. to get a better view on the impact of future enhanced physiochemically BMS models) and adjust future research calls or guidelines in their policies. By promoting the innovations, the European public can learn what has been achieved, and what these innovations mean for the battery cells and battery packs that will become available on the market.
On the scientific front, the research partners will take the NEXTBMS innovations and develop them further for other battery management systems for other applications, such as the elaboration of the approach (applying equivalent circuit models with physicochemical consistency for batteries) to make it more applicable (bring it to a higher TRL > 4), to improve the quality of battery passports regarding failures and availability of mission critical data, and to provide a more reliable system. Also, thanks to its accessibility and growth potential, the NEXTBMS battery management enhanced circuit model will result in the knowledge transfer in advanced BMS modelling and HW development and open a direct pathway between researchers and industrial partners. The exploration of NEXTBMS’s systems supports EU applied research activities and the development of flexible and adaptable BMS topologies, components, data links and control standards as a common basis for efficient development pipelines and final cost benefits for every kind of user in the entire society.
The overall objectives of NEXTBMS are:
1) Increased battery utilisation with relation to operational limits (i.e. increasing the battery's usable SoC window, increasing its maximum full equivalent cycles, enabling fast charging at low and high outside temperatures) and overall energy throughput over lifetime (incl. first and second life, and recycling).
2) Shortened the time-to-market for new battery packs, operating with new and novel battery chemistries, by means of scalability and fast parameterisation of battery cell models with only minimal a priori knowledge of the characterisation of the cells.
3) Maintaining the high level of safety and reliability status of battery systems especially in enhanced operation conditions and during end-of-life management incl. second life applications.
4) Demonstrated enhanced BMS performance via a single battery module with complete functionality.
NEXTBMS will for the first time enable consistent simulation of electrochemical phenomena in battery management. It will use advanced physics-based models which run partly on the on-board BMS and partly in the cloud. AI models will be used to adapt parameters of the physics-based model and to analyse the big data on the cloud. This ultimately leads to improved physical and safety related battery state estimations during operation. These more precise internal cell states and derived overall battery system states help to enhance battery utilisation and to minimize internal energy losses. This directly improves the BMS calibration boundaries that are currently set with conservative values leading to suboptimal utilization.
Pathway to impact:
On the economic impact, the first step for the industrial partners in the two years after the project is to raise the advanced BMS to TRL 5-7 and from there to TRL 8 and 9. This involves amongst others the extensive demonstration of prototypes in a relevant environment, qualifying the implementation of the NEXTBMS in the design and production of future battery cells and packs. Furthermore, the project partners will establish commercial relations with ≥ 5 suppliers and ≥ 3 OEMs, among others for the licensing of IP and technology and will expect to use the generated outcome also in their own products on battery and BMS testing on battery test benches. The potential impact in the five years after the project is the roll-out of the innovative BMS solutions in the growing EV automotive sector.
On the societal front, the first steps are to involve policy makers and the European public. Once the NEXTBMS project is completed, concrete steps can be taken in the further development of new generation BMSs. The consortium will inform policy makers and European (battery project) platforms like BATT4EU and BRING, so they can assess the information (e.g. to get a better view on the impact of future enhanced physiochemically BMS models) and adjust future research calls or guidelines in their policies. By promoting the innovations, the European public can learn what has been achieved, and what these innovations mean for the battery cells and battery packs that will become available on the market.
On the scientific front, the research partners will take the NEXTBMS innovations and develop them further for other battery management systems for other applications, such as the elaboration of the approach (applying equivalent circuit models with physicochemical consistency for batteries) to make it more applicable (bring it to a higher TRL > 4), to improve the quality of battery passports regarding failures and availability of mission critical data, and to provide a more reliable system. Also, thanks to its accessibility and growth potential, the NEXTBMS battery management enhanced circuit model will result in the knowledge transfer in advanced BMS modelling and HW development and open a direct pathway between researchers and industrial partners. The exploration of NEXTBMS’s systems supports EU applied research activities and the development of flexible and adaptable BMS topologies, components, data links and control standards as a common basis for efficient development pipelines and final cost benefits for every kind of user in the entire society.
Activities and main achievements:
• WP1 - Due diligence, requirements capture and impact assessment:
o Relevant mobile and stationary energy storage applications and their use cases are identified and selected.
o Definition of clear and transparent needs and requirements for enhanced BMS systems, starting from upcoming trends in battery cell design, including those from (circular) economy, ecology EU legislative.
o Use cases for mobile and stationary are derived.
o First version of requirements for SW, HW and cloud are derived.
o First version of BMS specification is available
• WP2 - Physics and data-based models and BMS software:
o Development of the initial version of the computationally efficient electrochemical battery model capable for running on the embedded MCU.
o Development of the methodology for extracting physics-based parameters from the EIS measurements with the high-fidelity electrochemical model (published paper with NextBMS acknowledgement).
o Development of FIM-based methodology for assessing uniqueness of model parametrisation.
o Acquisition of cell characterisation test data for developing physics-based cell model and state estimators.
• WP3 - Development and prototyping modular battery modules with BMS hardware:
o A comprehensive design for a fault-tolerant battery module with integrated sensors and diagnostics were derived based on partners contributions and regular discussions.
o Development of the BMS hardware, including detailed design for the entire BMS board (i.e. slave control unit, master control unit, battery protection unit, EIS measurement, and balancing circuit).
o Sensor design of the battery module ready: fiber optic and printed foil sensors ready for implementation.
o Detailed single-line diagram of the E/E architecture was developed ensuring compatibility between sensor interfaces and BMS, plus system control via CAN bus communication.
o The 3D CAD battery module design was finalized, including mechanical, thermal, and electrical aspects.
o The required parts for the module prototypes can be ordered (BOM created) and the assembly can start as planned in PR2.
• WP4 - Use case realisation on lab-scale and upscaling towards system level validation:
o The use case preparation/planning and the virtual upscaling of the battery started in M12 with follow up meeting on monthly basis.
o Detailed Excel sheet compiled containing all required data (including grid application related information and operational specifications) to develop the upscaling of the battery cell-module-pack for the emulation of the TOFAS vehicle on the open vehicle powertrain platform (demonstration).
o For the use case preparation real-life grid profiles have been collected.
o The specification of the HiL test plan for stationary applications was started (the specific HiL test plan is used to validate the performance improvement attributed to the physics-based and data driven algorithms running on the BMS and in the cloud).
• WP1 - Due diligence, requirements capture and impact assessment:
o Relevant mobile and stationary energy storage applications and their use cases are identified and selected.
o Definition of clear and transparent needs and requirements for enhanced BMS systems, starting from upcoming trends in battery cell design, including those from (circular) economy, ecology EU legislative.
o Use cases for mobile and stationary are derived.
o First version of requirements for SW, HW and cloud are derived.
o First version of BMS specification is available
• WP2 - Physics and data-based models and BMS software:
o Development of the initial version of the computationally efficient electrochemical battery model capable for running on the embedded MCU.
o Development of the methodology for extracting physics-based parameters from the EIS measurements with the high-fidelity electrochemical model (published paper with NextBMS acknowledgement).
o Development of FIM-based methodology for assessing uniqueness of model parametrisation.
o Acquisition of cell characterisation test data for developing physics-based cell model and state estimators.
• WP3 - Development and prototyping modular battery modules with BMS hardware:
o A comprehensive design for a fault-tolerant battery module with integrated sensors and diagnostics were derived based on partners contributions and regular discussions.
o Development of the BMS hardware, including detailed design for the entire BMS board (i.e. slave control unit, master control unit, battery protection unit, EIS measurement, and balancing circuit).
o Sensor design of the battery module ready: fiber optic and printed foil sensors ready for implementation.
o Detailed single-line diagram of the E/E architecture was developed ensuring compatibility between sensor interfaces and BMS, plus system control via CAN bus communication.
o The 3D CAD battery module design was finalized, including mechanical, thermal, and electrical aspects.
o The required parts for the module prototypes can be ordered (BOM created) and the assembly can start as planned in PR2.
• WP4 - Use case realisation on lab-scale and upscaling towards system level validation:
o The use case preparation/planning and the virtual upscaling of the battery started in M12 with follow up meeting on monthly basis.
o Detailed Excel sheet compiled containing all required data (including grid application related information and operational specifications) to develop the upscaling of the battery cell-module-pack for the emulation of the TOFAS vehicle on the open vehicle powertrain platform (demonstration).
o For the use case preparation real-life grid profiles have been collected.
o The specification of the HiL test plan for stationary applications was started (the specific HiL test plan is used to validate the performance improvement attributed to the physics-based and data driven algorithms running on the BMS and in the cloud).