Modeling and Validation of 48V Mild Hybrid Lithium-Ion Battery Pack 2018-01-0433

As part of the midterm evaluation of the 2022-2025 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Standards, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed simulation models for studying the effectiveness of 48V mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV) technology for reducing CO₂ emissions from light-duty vehicles. Simulation and modeling of this technology requires a suitable model of the battery. This article presents the development and validation of a 48V lithium-ion battery model that will be integrated into EPA’s Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis (ALPHA) vehicle simulation model and that can also be used within Gamma Technologies, LLC (Westmont, IL) GT-DRIVE™ vehicle simulations. The battery model is a standard equivalent circuit model with the two-time constant resistance-capacitance (RC) blocks. Resistances and capacitances were calculated using test data from an 8 Ah, 0.4 kWh, 48V (nominal) lithium-ion battery obtained from a Tier 1 automotive supplier, A123 Systems, and developed specifically for 48V mild hybrid vehicle applications. The A123 Systems battery has 14 pouch-type lithium-ion cells arranged in a 14 series and 1 parallel (14S1P) configuration. The RC battery model was validated using battery test data generated by a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) system that simulated the impact of MHEV operation on the A123 systems 48V battery pack over U.S. regulatory drive cycles. The HIL system matched charge and discharge data originally generated by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) during chassis dynamometer testing of a 2013 GM Chevrolet Malibu Eco 115V MHEV. All validation testing was performed at the battery test facility (BTF) at the U.S. EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory (NVFEL) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The simulated battery voltages, currents, and state of charge (SOC) of the HIL tests were in good agreement with vehicle test data over a number of different drive cycles, and excellent agreement was achieved between RC model simulations of the 48V battery and HIL battery test data.