Analysis and Optimization of Star-Structured Switched-Capacitor Equalizers for Series-Connected Battery Strings

Due to the adjacent cell-to-cell equalization, the classical switched-capacitor equalizer (SCE) has seriously low balancing speed and efficiency for a long battery string. Therefore, a series of star-structured switched-capacitor equalizers are proposed to achieve high balancing speed and efficiency independent of the cell number and the cell voltage distribution without significant influences on the size, cost, control, and reliability compared with the classical SCE. The proposed topologies use the least MOSFETs and capacitors to achieve the most direct balancing paths between any two cells, being the optimal switched-capacitor structures. An analysis method for the slow switching limit and the fast switching limit impedances of the proposed equalizers is proposed to provide a theoretical guidance for the selection of the switching frequency. The inherent advantages of the proposed systems are the small size, low cost, simple control, high efficiency, fast speed, easy modularization, and high reliability. A prototype for four lithium-ion battery cells is set up. Experimental results show improved balancing performances with strong robustness. Moreover, the measured peak balancing efficiency is about 93.1% despite faster balancing speed.