Sensor Data Communication via Light Guide Body for Monitoring Vehicle Batteries

In this paper, we present a solution for sensor data communication within an electric vehicle battery module, which is based on an optical transmission channel without any optical fibers. Instead, the communication is implemented via a transparent plastic component integrated in the battery package. The development of such a light guide body is discussed. Using this physical layer, the concept of the dedicated sensor network follows the idea of a decentralized signal processing. Thereby, parallel operating cell controllers at each cell are implemented. The solution is compared to the state-of-the-art wired communication as well as to alternative methods. Besides the functional demonstration, the implementation of a double-stack communication protocol is also discussed. This ensures a flexible and scalable integration with different sensors and battery setups in the future.