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Active Battery Cell Balancing

Kevin Scott and Sam Nork
Analog Devices, Inc.

With passive and active cell balancing, each cell in the battery stack Lower Capacity Cells
is monitored to maintain a healthy battery state of charge (SoC). This Discharge Faster

extends battery cycle life and provides an added layer of protection by

preventing damage to a battery cell due to deep discharging because of
overcharging. Passive balancing results in all battery cells having a similar
SoC by simply dissipating excess charge in a bleed resistor; it does not,
however, extend system run time.1 Active cell balancing is a more com-
plex balancing technique that redistributes charge between battery cells
during the charge and discharge cycles, thereby increasing system run
time by increasing the total useable charge in the battery stack, decreas-
ing charge time compared with passive balancing, and decreasing heat
generated while balancing.
Active Cell Balancing During Discharge
The diagram in Figure 1 represents a typical battery stack with all cells
starting at full capacity. In this example, full capacity is shown as 90%
of charge because keeping a battery at or near its 100% capacity point
for long periods of time degrades its lifetime faster. The 30% discharge
represents being fully discharged to prevent deep discharge of the cells.
Charged
90%
Charged
90%
Discharged
30%
Unused Capacity
Figure 2. Mismatched discharge.
It can be seen that even though there may be quite a bit of capacity left
in several batteries, the weak batteries limit the run time of the system. A
battery mismatch of 5% results in 5% of the capacity being unused. With
large batteries, this can be an excessive amount of energy left unused.
This becomes critical in remote systems and systems that are difficult to
access. As a result, there is a portion of energy that cannot be used, which
results in an increase in the number of battery charge and discharge cycles.
Furthermore, this unused energy reduces the lifetime of the battery and
leads to higher costs associated with more frequent battery replacement.
With active balancing, charge is redistributed from the stronger cells to
the weaker cells, resulting in a fully depleted battery stack profile.

Discharged
30% Charged
90%

Figure 1. Full capacity.

Over time, some cells will become weaker than others, resulting in a
discharge profile, as represented by Figure 2.

Discharged
30%

Figure 3. Full depletion with active balancing.

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 2 Active Battery Cell Balancing

Active Cell Balancing While Charging With active balancing charge redistribution during the charging cycle, the
stack can reach its full capacity. Note that factors such as the percentage of
When charging the battery stack without balancing, the weak cells reach
time allotted for balancing and the effect of the selected balancing current on
full capacity prior to the stronger batteries. Again, it is the weak cells that
the balancing time are not discussed here, but are important considerations.
are the limiting factor; in this case they limit how much total charge our sys-
tem can hold. The diagram in Figure 4 illustrates charging with this limitation.
Analog Devices Active Cell Balancers
Analog Devices has a family of active cell balancers, with each device target-
Lower Capacity Cells
Charge Faster ing different system requirements. The LT8584 is a 2.5 A discharge current,
monolithic flyback converter used in conjunction with the LTC680x family of
Charged multichemistry battery cell monitors; charge can be redistributed from one
90%
cell to the top of the battery stack or to another battery cell or combination of
cells within the stack. One LT8584 is used per battery cell.
The LTC3300 is a standalone bidirectional flyback controller for lithium
and LiFePO4 batteries that provides up to 10 A of balancing current. Since
it is bidirectional, charge from any selected cell can be transferred at high
Discharged
efficiency to or from 12 or more adjacent cells. A single LTC3300 can balance
30% up to six cells.

Figure 4. Charging without balancing.

Module+

2.5 A Average
Module+
Discharge V+
•

+ •
Bat 12 Module– Read Cell Parameters
C12
LT8584 ► VCELL
S12 ► IDISCHARGE
Enable Balancing Measurable Cell ► VREF
Parameters ► Temperature

2.5 A Average
Discharge Module+ LTC6804
• Battery
Stack
+ • Monitor
Bat 2 Module– Read Cell Parameters ► RCABLE plus RCONNECTOR
C2 ► Switching Faults
LT8584 Extractable Cell
S2 ► Undervoltage
Enable Balancing Parameters
► Serial Faults
► Coulomb Counting
2.5 A Average
Discharge Module+
•
+ •
Bat 1 Module–
Read Cell Parameters
C1
LT8584 S1 V+/C0
Enable Balancing

Module–

Figure 5. 12 cell battery stack module with active balancing.

 Visit analog.com 3

Next Cell Above

Conclusion
Serial
+ 3 Data Out Both active and passive cell balancing are effective ways to improve system
Charge Supply Charge Return Cell 12 LTC3300-1 to
(ICHARGE 1 to 6) (IDISCHARGE 1 to 6)
LTC3300-1
health by monitoring and matching the SoC of each cell. Active cell balancing
3 Above redistributes charge during the charging and discharging cycle, unlike passive
+ cell balancing, which simply dissipates charge during the charge cycle. Thus,
Cell 7
active cell balancing increases system run time and can increase charging
•
Charge IDISCHARGE + efficiency. Active balancing requires a more complex, larger footprint solution;
Cell 6
Return passive balancing is more cost effective. Whichever method works best in
• 3 your application, Analog Devices offers solutions for both, which are integrated
into our battery management ICs (such as the LTC6803 and LTC6804) and
complementary devices that work in conjunction with these ICs to provide a
precise, robust battery management system.
LTC3300-1
•
Charge
ICHARGE + References
Return Cell 1
Serial
Data In
1
K evin Scott and Sam Nork. “Passive Battery Cell Balancing.”
• 3
from Analog Devices, Inc.
LTC3300-1
Below

Next Cell Below

Figure 6. High efficiency bidirectional balancing.

The LTC3305 is a standalone, lead acid battery balancer for up to four cells.
It uses a fifth reservoir battery cell (Aux) and continuously places it in parallel
with each of the other batteries (one at a time) to balance all battery cells
(lead acid batteries are rugged and can handle this).

10 µF
25 V

Charger
VREG CM CP 1.33 kΩ Supply
En1 249 Ω Ngate 5 ICHARGE
1 µF En2 Boost 6.04 kΩ Battery
6V Mode 10 µF Stack
Term 1 25 V Charger
Term 2 V4
Ngate 4
+
10 µF 6.04 kΩ Bat 4
UVFLT 25 V
OVFLT
DONE V3
100 kΩ Ngate 3
BAL +
Each 10 µF 3.01 kΩ Bat 3
PTCFLT
BATX 25 V
BATY V2
Ct on Ngate 2 +
10 nF LTC3305 10 µF 6.04 kΩ Bat 2
25 V
Ct Off V1
100 nF 10 µF Ngate 6 Ngate 1 +
25 V 6.04 kΩ Bat 1
6.04 kΩ
Ct Bat
10 nF 9
Ngate 1 to 9 Ngate 7
VL 6.04 kΩ
PTC
27.4 kΩ
Aux P +
VH 10 µF Aux
42.2 kΩ 25 V 6.04 kΩ
Aux N Ngate 8
ISET Gnd
12.1 kΩ
6.04 kΩ
Ngate 9

Figure 7. Four battery balancer with programmed high and low battery voltage fronts.
 About the Authors Online Support
Kevin Scott works as a product marketing manager for the Power Community
Products Group
About at Analog Devices, where he manages boost, buck-
the Author Engage with the
boost and isolated converters, LED drivers, and linear regulators. He Analog Devices technology experts in our online support
Thomas
previouslyBrand began
worked as ahis career
senior at Analog
strategic Devices,
marketing Inc., in creating
engineer, Munich
in October 2015 as part of his master’s thesis. From May 2016 to community. Ask your tough design questions, browse FAQs,
technical training content, training sales engineers, and writing or join a conversation.
January
numerous 2017, he was
website part of
articles a trainee
about programadvantages
the technical for field applica-
of the
tion engineers
company’s at Analog
broad productDevices.
offering.Afterward,
He has beenin February 2017, he
in the semiconduc-
moved into the role as field applications engineer. Within this role, Visit ez.analog.com
tor industry for 26 years in applications, business management, and
he is mainly responsible
marketing roles. for large industrial customers. Furthermore,
he specializes in the subject area of industrial Ethernet and supports-
Kevin graduated
related matters infrom Stanford
Central University in 1987 with a B.S. in electri-
Europe.
cal engineering and started his engineering career after a brief stint in
He
the studied
NFL. Heelectrical engineering
can be reached at the University of Cooperative
at kevin.scott@analog.com.
Education in Mosbach before completing his postgraduate studies
Sam
in Nork joinedSales
International Linearwith
Technology
a master’s (now part of
degree at Analog Devices) as a
the University
senior
of product
Applied engineer
Sciences in at the company’s
Constance. Milpitas,
He can CA headquarters
be reached at in
1988. In 1994, he relocated to the Boston area to start up and manage
thomas.brand@analog.com.
an analog IC design center where he continues to work today. Sam has
personally designed and released numerous integrated circuits in the
area of portable power management, and is inventor/co-inventor on
seven issued patents. As director of ADI’s Boston Design Center,
Sam leads a team of nearly 100 people and oversees day-to-day
development activity for a wide variety of analog integrated circuits in
areas including portable power management, high speed op amps,
industrial ADCs, system monitors, and energy harvesting. Previously,
Sam also worked for Analog Devices in Wilmington, MA as a product/
test development engineer. He received A.B. and B.E. degrees from
Dartmouth College. He can be reached at samuel.nork@analog.com.

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