Research on Equalization Strategy Based on Credibility Factor Inference for Lithium-Ion Battery Packs

In this paper, a two-stage equalization topology based on Zero-Voltage Switching Quasi-Resonant Converter (ZVS QRC) is proposed to solve the problems of long equalization time and low energy utilization of series lithium-ion battery packs. The equalization topology is divided into two forms: intra-group and inter-group, ZVS QRCs are adopted in both intra-group and inter-group, which can equalize any single cell within a group, and the equalization circuit within each pack can equalize simultaneously, which greatly reduces the equalization time, and reduces the switching loss during the equalization process by introducing quasi-resonant circuit to improve the energy utilization. Taking the State of Charge (SOC) as the equalization target, a group equalization strategy based on the Credibility Factor (C-F) inference model is proposed. The strategy defines the SOC unbalance degree of a single battery, gets the group unbalance degree according to the C-F inference model, and gets the group equalization state from the unbalance degree, to control the group for equalization. Matlab/Simulink software is used to build the model and simulate it. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed topology saves approximately 25% of the equalization time compared to the traditional Buck-Boost group equalization topology. Under the same static and charge/discharge conditions, the equalization time is reduced by about 21% and the energy utilization is improved by about 6% after using the C-F inference model for equalization compared to the fixed-threshold method.