德国工程师开发了新的传感器技术，可以降低电动车(EV)和其他类型的锂离子电池的重量和成本。
菲利普·多斯特是波鸿鲁尔大学的电力系统技术和电力机电一体化研究团队的一员，该团队开发了一个新的概念，用于监测电池的电流和电压，可以减少电池的技术负担，以及添加新的功能。
通常，EV电池由可包含多达12个电池的单个电池组成，每个电池由其自身的电压传感器监控。传感器对于监测电池的锂电池很重要，如果它们过热或过度工作，则有可能燃烧起火。
在典型的EV电池中，有一个电流传感器和多个电压传感器来做这项工作，Dost说。 “EV电池中，传感器是一个相当大的重量和成本驱动器。”
▲电动车辆电池可能会变得更轻，更便宜，这得益于在德国波鸿鲁汶大学康斯坦丁诺斯Sourkounis教授(左)的指导下，由工程学生Philip Dost(右)组成的团队开发的新传感器技术。 (来源：Ruhr-UniversitätBochum)
为了减少一些这种重量，Dost和他的同事们提出了一种方法将此前EV电池需要监测电流和电压的传感器数量降低为一个，而不管电池具有多少个单体。传感器还可以提供通常作为单独的技术组件 – 来实现EV电池中的电池均衡。这个功能确保电池中的能量被均匀地重新分配。
电池均衡对于维持EV电池的最大能量产出是至关重要的，特别是当它们老化时，Dost说。每个电池在充电和放电期间不同地反应，使得在过程结束时，一些电池比其它电池更多地充电。但是一旦一个电池完全充电，其他电池的充电停止，这可能导致电池的劣化，如果存在能量分布的不平衡。电池平衡功能可以反作用这个过程，并保持甚至更低的电池工作效率，他说。
研究人员说，该团队开发的传感器系统可以扩展到具有不同数量细胞的电池中。它还可以应用于其他电池类型，如平板电脑或笔记本电脑，无线电动工具，不间断电源系统和太阳能储能系统，以减少其重量和成本，并提高电池的使用寿命。
Dost的同行Florian Langner在他的大学电力系统技术和电力机电研究所的硕士论文中开发了传感器的原型 - 它很快就要进入商业化的道路。 “一些工业企业已经表达了对我们的创新的兴趣，” Dost说。
鲁尔大学的工程师们将继续努力改进技术，更密切地评估他们的原型和更换单个部件，以满足汽车行业的要求，Dost补充说。
原文链接：
Engineers in Germany have developed new sensor technology that could reduce both the weight and cost of electric-vehicle (EV) and other types of lithium-ion batteries.
Philip Dost, who is studying power-systems technology and power mechatronics at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, is part of a team that’s developed a new concept for the sensors that monitor the current and voltage of EV batteries that can reduce the technological burden of the batteries, as well as add new functionality.
Typically EV batteries are comprised of individual blocks that can contain up to 12 cells, each monitored by its own voltage sensor. The sensors are important to monitor the lithium cells of the battery, which have the potential to be flammable if they overheat or are overworked.
In typical EV batteries, there is a current sensor and a number of voltage sensors to do this work, Dost said. “Just like the cells, the sensors are a considerable weight and cost driver,” he said.
To reduce some of this burden, Dost and his colleagues have come up with a way to reduce the amount of sensors an EV battery needs to one each for current and voltage, regardless of the number of cells the battery have. The sensors also can serve an additional function that typically is present in an EV battery as a separate technology component—cell balancing. This function ensures that the energy in a cell is redistributed evenly, he said.
Cell balancing is critical to maintaining the maximum energy yield of EV batteries, especially as they age, Dost said. Each cell reacts differently during charging and discharging so that by the end of the process, some are more charged than others. But once one cell is fully charged, charging of the other cells stops, which could cause degradation in the battery if there is an imbalance of energy distribution. The cell-balancing function can counter-act this process and keep even older batteries working efficiently, he said.
The sensor system developed by the team can scale for deployment in batteries with a varied number of cells, researchers said. It also can be applied to other battery types—such as tablets or laptops, wireless electrical tools, uninterruptible power-supply systems, and solar-energy storage systems—also to reduce their weight and cost and improve the batteries’ longevity.
Dost’s fellow research Florian Langner developed a prototype of the sensors-- which could soon be on their way to commercialization--in his master’s thesis at the university’s Institute of Power System Technology and Power Mechatronics. “Some industrial enterprises have already expressed their interest in our innovation,” Dost said.
The Ruhr-Universität engineers will continue their work to improve the technology by more closely evaluating their prototype and replacing individual components to meet the requirements of the automotive industry, he added.
