Smart Real-time Battery State and Health Diagnostics System

Description

Battery storage systems have been widely used in residential, commercial, and industrial applications. Many of them are located in unattended or remote sites. Operators have to conduct on-site visual inspection of the service condition of the batteries regularly. Thus, unexpected premature battery failure cannot be discovered easily and accurately. To ensure serviceability, those batteries are typically replaced after a few years of service, depending on the site condition and the maintenance practice and experience of the operators. This project aims at developing a diagnostics system for conducting real-time estimation of the state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH) of the batteries. The estimated SOC and SOH can help operators determine the optimal charging profile, discharging control, and capacity balancing scheme for extending the lifetime of the batteries. The system allows operators to monitor remotely the battery state and health, and conduct replacement exercise at optimal time before any failure or incident occurs. Thus, it could save resources on regular site inspection. As the batteries are to be replaced near the end of their life cycle, it will also reduce undesired electronic waste. A prototype system will be built and evaluated with the support of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department.