VRLA battery intelligent node

This paper presents a battery management architecture with an organisation based on a generic node. The node contributes to both the monitoring and control activities that satisfy lowlevel requirements for battery management. The technology implemented here is based on advanced general-purpose microcontrollers that benefit from both high degrees of integration and low power consumption. The solution could potentially be embedded within the battery, allowing for dynamic changes to the monitoring and control role through the node's software. Battery group equalisation is used here as an example for monitoring and control. Energy available among the group of cells is shared in a manner that allows for online and continuous equalisation of the cell voltages. Energy sharing is performed at a rate suitable for both requirements of: (a) charging process; and (b) hardware optimisation. Low power electronics have been employed here for energy routing through the sense line. This approach benefits both rapid recharge and safe float boost. Depending on the controller resources, the generic node could accommodate processing modules that support the key monitoring functionality. This will substantially reduce the levels of supervisory and management computation. Furthermore, the organisation allows for in-system programming, which facilitates remote updates to the node knowledge.