A modular high power battery system for pulsed power applications

This paper presents the design of a scalable, high power battery system for pulsed power operations. The battery system is modular in design, with each module containing four Lithium Ion Polymer (LiPo) cells and a custom designed cell management board that actively monitors the voltage and temperature of each cell and also provides cell balancing functionality. The system is designed to be scalable by adding up to 25 modules in a series configuration. While the battery management system should be compatible with any lithium ion cells, this implementation uses 8 Ah capacity dual-core LiPo cells, rated for a 150 C discharge rate; allowing for a peak current output of 1,200 A. With 25 modules (96 LiPo cells) the system would have an open circuit voltage of 385 V and be capable of providing up to 1,200 A at 355 V for a peak output power of 420 kW. Special attention has been placed on safety features including overvoltage, undervoltage and temperature monitoring of every cell in the system. The charging/balancing system is capable of automatically shutting down if any of the voltages or temperatures exceeds established limits. The management circuitry is designed to have a low off-state power draw in order to maximize battery life when the system is not in use.