Project Details
[Return to Previous Page]Wireless health monitoring of lithium-ion batteries using RFID
Company: Mechatronics Research Lab
Major(s):
Primary: ME
Secondary: EE
Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO
Intellectual Property: NO
Motivation: Battery monitoring is critical for safe operation and durability of battery systems. A conventional electric vehicle’s battery pack consists of multiple modules in which battery cell states such as voltage, SOC and current are continuously monitored. Distributed temperature and pressure sensing for individual battery cells is a critical safety need for future Lithium ion batteries. The two major challenges in monitoring individual cell temperature and pressure includes power source and extensive wiring. Passive RFID sensors may be a possible solution to this problem. Passive RFID sensors do not need a power source, since they are powered by the reader. The antenna of a passive RFID tag receives the radio waves from the reader and directs them to the microchip, where the energy is harvested and utilized to send back radio signals to the reader. Project Objective: The objective of this project is to test the application of RF communication between RFID sensors and readers in a battery pack for cell state monitoring. The project deliverables include the creation of multiple small-scale battery packs either using cylindrical cells or pouch cells. The cylindrical cell pack should include equally spaced 9 cells in a square configuration 3x3 with RFID tag attached to the middle cell. The pouch cell battery pack should include 2 cells with RFID sandwiched between the two cells with different spacings. For both the cylindrical and pouch cell packs, a 3D printed cell holder should be made that allows for different gaps and filler materials between the cells. The students should then test the ability of the reader to read the RFID tags for the two packs with at least two different gaps and at least one case where the gap is filled by intercellular material typical of battery packs. The readability should be documented as a function of the distance of the reader from the pack and at different positions around the pack.