Lithium-Ion Battery Cycler

A battery cycler or battery cycling machine is a device that provides current, and voltage loads to charge/discharge a battery. Such equipment provides quality data with high resolution to analyze battery behavior. This motivates the urge to build a battery testing setup to introduce students and researchers to sustainable energy resources and accelerate battery R&D. The battery cycler supplies current and voltage profiles that range from low to high values with the flexibility to change with time to create a time-variable profile. The cycler will help analyze battery function through charge/discharge cycles by measuring the cell’s response over time. Besides, the variable behavior of the battery with respect to different profiles, the temperature is one of the main variables in determining the behavior of the battery. This motivates the usage of a temperature chamber, The chamber will ensure, as much as possible, that the battery is isolated and subjected to a homogenous temperature distribution inside the chamber. During battery cycling, several parameters can be recorded, however, we are majorly concerned with recording the voltage, current, temperature, time stamp, and state of charge (SoC) of the battery. The recorded quantities will be used to calculate other metrics such as capacity, efficiency, etc. All in all, these metrics will help us evaluate and assess the behavior of the battery.

In addition to the hardware part, there will be software where the user can set the test type (HPPC, Lifecycle Assessment, etc.) and the configuration. Also, the user needs to input the max. min voltage/current that the battery can withstand for safety concerns. After, inputting such information, the user will be able to place the cell in the machine and start the experiment from the software.

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