Model-based Design Methodology for Inductor-based Equalization Circuits for Lithium-ion Battery Packs

This paper proposes a design methodology for inductor-based equalization circuits able to maximize their performance in terms of balancing current by taking into account relevant characteristics of both battery pack and power electronics components involved. Despite the proposed design methodology can be extended to all the inductor-based architectures, the coupled or multi-inductor configuration is considered as case study and a detailed analytical model is presented considering ideal and real conditions, which also include an efficiency model that takes into account for conduction and switching losses of the switches. Then, based on the overall model developed, the proposed design methodology allows for sizing the main components of the multi-inductor architecture in order to achieve the desired performance in terms of efficiency and balancing current. Experimental results are presented for demonstrating the goodness of the proposed design methodology, considering an optimized layout for the multi-inductor prototype.