Abstract
A large number of lithium-ion batteries are arranged in series and parallel in battery packs, such as those in electric vehicles or energy storage systems. As battery packs age, their output power and energy density drop because of voltage deviation, constant and non-uniform exposure to abnormal environments, and increased contact resistance between batteries; this reduces application system efficiency. Despite the balancing circuit and logic of the battery management system, the output of the battery pack is concentrated in the most severely aged unit cell and the output is frequently limited by power derating. In this study, we implemented a cell imbalance detection algorithm and selected parameters to detect a sudden decrease in battery pack output. In addition, we propose a method to increase efficiency by applying the measured testing values considering the operating conditions and abnormal conditions of the battery pack.