Introduction to battery-management systems

This course can also be taken for academic credit as ECEA 5730, part of CU Boulder’s Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree.

This course will provide you with a firm foundation in lithium-ion cell terminology and function and in battery-management-system requirements as needed by the remainder of the specialization. After completing this course, you will be able to:
- List the major functions provided by a battery-management system and state their purpose
- Match battery terminology to a list of definitions
- Identify the major components of a lithium-ion cell and their purpose
- Understand how a battery-management system “measures” current, temperature, and isolation, and how it controls contactors
- Identify electronic components that can provide protection and specify a minimum set of protections needed
- Compute stored energy in a battery pack
- List the manufacturing steps of different types of lithium-ion cells and possible failure modes

Battery Boot Camp
-This week, you will learn some important terminology used to describe battery cells, and will learn the principles of operation of standard electrochemical battery cells.

How lithium-ion cells work
-This week, you will learn some of the principal advantages of lithium-ion cells versus standard electrochemical battery cells, what are their primary components, and how they work.

BMS sensing and high-voltage control
-This week, you will begin to learn about BMS requirements, and will study the requirements for sensing and high-voltage control in detail.

BMS design requirements 2-5
-This week, you will continue to learn about BMS requirements, studying requirements for protection, interface, performance management, and diagnostics in detail.

How are cells made? How can they fail?
-This week, you will learn in more detail than before how lithium-ion cells are made and how they can fail.