Multi-Cell Emulation for Battery Management System Validation

The validation of a Battery Management System (BMS) is a complex task that involves hardware and software components such as an analog front-end (AFE), a balancing circuit and a microcontroller with estimation algorithms and fault management. Test conducted with real batteries can become time-consuming and a Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulator can be more efficient and safer when it comes to testing situations outside the normal range of operation. In this paper, a cell emulator circuit has been designed to create a custom HIL system for BMS validation that can be used with any standard real-time computer or signal generation hardware. This HIL emulates the behavior of battery cells dynamic in order to validate the voltage monitoring and state-of- charge (SOC) estimation function of the BMS. The system can supply current directly to the BMS to test the balancing function of the BMS. Initial tests show good performance of the cell emulator system compare to a real cell discharge. This system can standardize the validation of BMSs while being an affordable solution for simulation test systems.