Capacity Fade and Aging Effect on Lithium Battery Cells: A Real Case Vibration Test With UAV

This article presents an analysis of the capacity and the state of health (SoH) of 3-Ah lithium battery cells operating in a real case vibration stress scenario based on drones. An unmanned aerial vehicle (quad-copter) is adopted to acquire real vibration profiles during different phases of flight. First, the possible capacity fade and aging effect on lithium cells are investigated by considering vibrations applied to the radial and longitudinal battery axes with both short-term and long-term (aging) tests. Then, the cruise-flight vibration profiles are applied and characterized. A comparison with standard (no vibrations) cycling aging is also presented and discussed. The experimental results show that no significant effect on capacity fade can be observed between standard and real case vibrating operating conditions.