This article is from WeChat_HMS Industrial Networks
Applications: Lithium Ion Battery
Application Products: Ixxat USB-to-CAN
Use of geographic areas:Netherlands
Solution: Ixxat CAN technology helps the Dutch company Super B to get more energy out of its state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries.
As the world strives to move away from fossil fuels and towards greener sources of energy such as solar and wind, problems are arising, and one of the key issues is how to store the electricity generated. Batteries have long been a weak link in this chain, but as demand increases, so does the development of battery technology.
One of the companies using HMS's Ixxat products to push battery technology forward is Super B from the Dutch battery industry.
Case background
≡ about lithium battery technology ≡
A lithium-ion battery is a rechargeable battery in which lithium ions move from the negative electrode to the positive electrode when discharged and back again when charged. Lithium batteries have been known to be used for some time in consumer electronics such as computers and cell phones, but in more demanding applications such as marine, automotive, and aircraft, lithium battery safety is often an issue. This is due to the fact that conventional ionic batteries contain either lithium cobalt or lithium manganese, which can be quite dangerous in the event of damage, not only having irreversible effects on the equipment associated with the entire system, but also posing a corresponding personal safety issue.
In response, Super B has developed a new type of lithium-ion battery using lithium iron phosphate (pictured above). Compared to other lithium ion chemistries, lithium iron phosphate batteries offer two important advantages - thermal and chemical stability, both of which improve battery safety.
≡ Enhancing performance through electronics ≡
Super B batteries offer state-of-the-art performance despite the slightly lower energy density of lithium iron phosphate. One of the main reasons for this is the proprietary electronics built into the batteries; a CAN and CANopen based Battery Management System (BMS) has been developed within Super B. This reduces losses somewhat when the batteries are chained together and therefore increases the overall output power delivery. This reduces the losses in the chain connection of the batteries to a certain extent and therefore increases the overall output power supply. Another important advantage is the increased possibility of connecting the battery to external systems.
Solutions
≡ Ixxat technology makes battery communication possible ≡
To establish a connection to the “outside world”, Super B uses the Ixxat USB-to-CAN V2. The Ixxat USB-to-CAN V2 allows the battery to be connected to a PC-based application. Super B commissioned Twincomm, a Dutch specialist in industrial communication integration, to design Super B commissioned Twincomm, a Dutch specialist in industrial communication integration, to design a monitoring system - as part of the battery management system - that monitors the electrical conditions in the battery pack and warns of over- or under-voltage conditions, as well as over-current or over-temperature.
In addition to the Ixxat USB-to-CAN V2 interface, Twincomm utilizes the Ixxat protocol software as the operating system basis for the CANopen-based monitoring system.
≡ Add standard CANopen protocols to the system ≡
Super B has been very pleased with the support and assistance they have received from Twincomm and HMS, being a major player in advanced electronics, they have high expectations.
Super-B has very skilled in-house engineers working on their own electronic systems, but needed outside help to implement the CANopen protocol portion of the system. Twincomm did a great job of integrating the system, implementing it, and the Ixxat USB-to-CAN V2 product ran beautifully with little to no problems. The whole system needed a secondary development of our Super-B's protocol contents to make them work the way we wanted, and the fast and efficient support from Twincomm and HMS was very much appreciated by Super-B.
Organizational Structure
The Super B Battery Management System has the groundbreaking ability to adjust balancing based on battery charging and discharging currents, as well as balancing individual batteries in series over the CAN bus.
The system is also used to monitor battery status, calculate and report secondary data, protect the battery, control its environment and balance it. This is accomplished by transmitting battery messages and alarms to the CAN interface so they can be viewed on a PC. The system handles overvoltage, undervoltage, deep discharge, overcharge and temperature control as well as complete battery performance history. In addition, Ixxat provides a CANopen bootloader to remotely update the processor firmware in the battery.
“The Ixxat protocol software is particularly well suited to this project because they enable very fast reconnections,” said Kurt van Buul, Twincomm's Super B project manager. “The batteries are always on, and even though the batteries are not releasing energy, the CAN buses can be moved up and down, so reconnections don't take a long time, which is important.”
With power management systems in place, not only does SuperB face a wide market, but Ixxat products will provide more excellent solutions for battery technology and more industries.
Ixxat USB to CAN - Active USB port!
- One device supports both CAN and LIN;
- Cost-effective and extremely powerful;
- Supports all standard PC interfaces;
- High data throughput with guaranteed low latency
