The Power of Balance
ALP's proprietary battery management software monitors the voltage and temperature of each cell and actively equalizes its state of charge.
The system uses a central control unit interfaced with a network of microprocessors controlling the battery modules. Each module’s cell protection electronics measures voltage and temperature, as well as balances the charge of each series element of the battery pack. The boards communicate over a CAN bus with a Battery Control Unit (BCU), which analyzes the cell data, maintains the voltage limits, activates the balancing circuits and controls the thermal management system. The BCU also communicates with the vehicle control system over the separate CAN channel to provide the information about the battery status and to execute the vehicle’s control commands.
The control software can be quickly customized for specific applications using a model-based rapid control prototyping approach that allows engineers to minimize time and cost. The control system also includes a data logging and remote monitoring module that records battery data and transmits it to a remote server via cellular link or a WiFi network for real time monitoring or further off-line processing. The battery key status data can be displayed on a dashboard LCD display.
