Voltage imbalance between battery cells is a crucial technical issue in electric vehicle development. This issue not only reduces battery efficiency and lifespan but also poses safety risks such as overheating, which can lead to damage or fire.
To answer this challenge, Samsul Hafiz, a new Doctor from the Physics Study Program, initiated an innovative battery voltage balancing system that is faster and more efficient, without increasing the complexity of the existing circuit or control system.
This innovation is outlined in his dissertation entitled “Battery Voltage Balancing Method Based on Parallel Switched Capacitor: Open Circuit Voltage”, which is a significant contribution to the development of battery technology for electric vehicles and other energy storage systems.
“This research focuses on modifying the conventional parallel switched capacitor (PSC) structure into a proposed PSC, a new design that does not require additional components or modifications to control signals. The main advantage of the proposed PSC is its ability to increase the speed and efficiency of voltage balancing between battery cells,” said Dr. Samsul Hafiz in his presentation at the Open Doctoral Promotion Session held by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) of the University of Indonesia (UI) on Friday (4/7), at the Prof. Dr. G.A. Siwabessy Hall, FMIPA UI, Depok.
This session was led by Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Budiawan, Vice Dean for Education, Research and Student Affairs of FMIPA UI, with a team of advisors consisting of Dr. Budhy Kurniawan R. as promoter, Drs. Sastra Kusuma Wijaya, Ph.D. as co-promoter 1, and Dr. Edi Kurniawan, S.T., M.Eng. from the Photonics Research Center (BRIN) as co-promoter 2. In recognition of his contribution, Dr. Samsul Hafiz received cum laude honors.
Based on a circuit analysis of six battery cells with unbalanced initial conditions, the proposed PSC shows the potential for speed improvement of up to five times compared to a basic switched capacitor (BSC) and 2.5 times compared to a conventional PSC.
Simulation results using MATLAB Simulink on seven imbalance scenarios confirm a speedup of up to 6.3 times compared to BSC and 3.2 times compared to conventional PSC. In terms of efficiency, the proposed PSC also shows superior performance with an improvement between 3.44% and 7.50% compared to conventional PSC, as well as more stable and consistent efficiency compared to BSC, especially in extreme cell position imbalance scenarios.
“This innovation is highly relevant in the context of the global transition to clean energy, where electric vehicles are the primary solution for reducing carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels,” he added.
Battery technology, particularly lithium-ion batteries, plays a central role in the success of electric vehicles, and the battery management system (BMS) is a vital component in ensuring battery performance, efficiency, and safety.
The proposed PSC developed in this research offers an efficient and practical approach to support future BMSs, particularly in applications with large cell counts such as electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage systems.
