Second-Life EV Battery Pack Pairing for Series-Parallel Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing energy storage systems (ESS) face high costs due to the lack of efficient integration and management of second-life electric vehicle batteries, which are not optimized for series and parallel electrical configurations, leading to inefficiencies in energy delivery and storage.
Innovation Solution
An integrated battery energy storage system that aggregates electric vehicle battery packs in series/parallel arrangements, utilizing a battery pack controller and smart combiner to balance and manage the batteries, ensuring efficient energy transfer and storage while maintaining optimal operating conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If second-life electric vehicle batteries are deployed in stationary storage applications without optimized integration, then the levelized cost of storage is reduced, but the efficiency of energy delivery and storage deteriorates due to lack of management for series/parallel configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the battery management into individual pack-level controllers that independently manage each battery pack's series/parallel connections. This segmentation allows flexible reconfiguration of battery packs into different series/parallel arrangements to optimize energy delivery efficiency while maintaining cost-effectiveness of second-life battery deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The battery management system dynamically reconfigures the series/parallel connections of battery packs based on real-time conditions such as state of charge, state of health, and power demands. This dynamic reconfiguration optimizes energy delivery efficiency without requiring new batteries, thereby maintaining the cost advantage of second-life battery deployment.
2Power
If a large number of batteries are deployed in series and parallel configurations to deliver energy at high voltage and current levels, then the power output is increased, but the system complexity increases making integration and management more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the large-scale battery array into modular segments, each managed by dedicated battery pack controllers. This segmentation enables high power output through series/parallel configurations while reducing overall system complexity by localizing management functions to individual manageable units rather than requiring centralized control of all batteries.
Solution Approach 2:
Battery pack controllers serve as intermediary devices between the individual battery packs and the central energy management system. These intermediaries handle the complexity of series/parallel configurations and real-time monitoring, allowing the system to achieve high power output without proportionally increasing management complexity at the central level.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If electric vehicle batteries with varying states of health are integrated into the energy storage system, then the usable lifetime of the system is extended, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring optimal configuration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback monitoring of each battery pack's state of health, state of charge, and performance metrics. This feedback enables the battery management system to detect and measure the optimal series/parallel configurations in real-time, allowing the system to extend usable lifetime by dynamically adapting to varying battery conditions while keeping detection and measurement manageable through automated monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
Each battery pack controller autonomously monitors and reports its own state of health and performance, enabling self-service detection and measurement of optimal configurations. This distributed self-monitoring approach extends the usable lifetime of batteries with varying states of health while reducing the central system's burden in detecting and measuring configuration optimality.
Data Source
AI summary
An energy storage system and method employing second-life electric vehicle batteries. The system includes a plurality of electric vehicle battery packs; and a processor configured to: couple the plurality of electric vehicle battery packs in a series/parallel arrangement, the series/parallel arrangement including a plurality of series strings of electric vehicle battery packs, each of the plurality of series strings of electric vehicle battery packs includes at least two of the plurality of electric vehicle battery packs coupled in series, and the plurality of series strings are connected in parallel; and wherein the coupling of the plurality of electric vehicle battery packs includes one or more of connecting electric vehicle battery packs with lower voltages in series, connecting electric vehicle battery packs with higher voltages in series, connecting electric vehicle battery packs with majority voltages in series, and connecting electric vehicle battery packs within a programmed voltage connection window in parallel.