Simplified Thermal Identification and Modelling of Li-PO Batteries for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Fixed wing UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) with VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) are often equipped with hybrid propulsion and energy management systems in which lithium cells are subjected to quite discontinuous loading profile (short peaks with prolonged periods of relatively negligible loads). Electric performances of these storage systems can be strongly affected by their thermal behavior. In this work authors introduce the preliminary study of simplified identification and modelling procedures that should be applied on commercial lithium polymer cells in a way that is compatible with the fast development of innovative prototypes.