Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2016 October 18

= October 18 =

In a li-ion battery, does the chip distribute the tear and wear?
In common mainstream li-ion batteries, does the controller distribute the use across all cells all the time? Or could it be that one cell gets weared out sooner than the others? That is, could a used battery have some cells that are still good, even if the battery has lost 30-40% of its capacity? --Llaanngg (talk) 17:56, 18 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Here's an excellent web resource: This Week in Batteries, an informal blog maintained by the fine folks who run the Chemical Engineering 198 class, Battery Technologies and Markets, at Berkeley.
 * They have a lot of great resources to help you understand modern battery management systems - the engineered devices around the electrochemical cell that make sure the cells are operating correctly.
 * It would be irresponsible to categorize all lithium-ion battery systems into the same bucket - there are immensely variable configurations in modern systems. Some battery management and power-supply systems certainly perform load balancing.
 * One of the easiest, simplest, most straightforward ways to do load-balancing is to connect the cells in series. There is a good reason, based on solid fundamental science, to explain why this works so surprisingly well - but it has alarming shortcomings and serious impact to total system performance.
 * Nimur (talk) 18:27, 18 October 2016 (UTC)
 * From the publication list hosted at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, here is Modular approach for continuous cell-level balancing to improve performance of large battery packs (2014), available at no cost from IEEE. NREL actively investigates and sponsors research in battery control algorithms, including active cell balancing technology.  Nimur (talk) 00:19, 19 October 2016 (UTC)
 * The OP's question is a concern common to the thousands of owners of the ageing but popular Toyota Prius hybrid electric cars. Individual cells of the series-connected Li-Ion traction battery do indeed wear out (lose capacity) prematurely. The on-board diagnostic program gives an error code when it detects imbalance. There are video guides  on line about how to rejeuvenate the battery by replacing individual cells but it must be warned that this requires working in a high voltage circuit that is dangerous for an amateur without full knowledge and precautions. The manufacturer's battery warranty will not cover an unauthorized repair. AllBestFaith (talk) 12:59, 19 October 2016 (UTC)
 * The BMW i3 has an active cell balancing mechanism to ensure that all cells are correctly managed. See https://issuu.com/brycheinsltd/docs/evs_and_i3 for details.--Phil Holmes (talk) 14:36, 19 October 2016 (UTC)


 * What are "common mainstream li-ion batteries" these days? It's a fast-moving field, it's hard to know.
 * Many battery packs, even single cells, incorporate a protection board whose main function is to avoid over-discharging the cell, either too quickly (too much current, risk of letting the smoke out) or for too long (damaging the cell). This doesn't have a balancing function though. Larger capacity multi-cell packs (radio control models are a leading example) have a separate connector with the inter-cell connections, used to balance the cells during charging. The balancing is done by a smart charger, not an on-board controller or protection circuit.
 * Where developments seem to be going now though are to avoid the traditional series-connected battery, in favour of single cells and a DC-DC boost converter to produce the voltages needed. For Li-ion (unlike lead-acid) it's also possible to make a battery pack by parallel connection of cells, giving the energy capacity needed, and avoiding balance problems, and letting the DC-DC converter deal with voltage. Andy Dingley (talk) 10:21, 20 October 2016 (UTC)