#TIL: How much time do we have Mr. Battery?
By Shilpi Samantray
What is a Battery Management System?
Battery Management System (BMS) is an electronic system that manages and monitors the health of a battery. BMS is like the doctor who constantly monitors the output, charging/discharging and provides notifications on the status of the battery pack. It also provides critical safeguards to protect the batteries from damage thereby guaranteeing a safe and reliable battery operation.
Why is it important?
Battery is an electro-chemical product which performs differently under different operational and environmental conditions. This uncertainty of battery performance creates a challenge for the user. Therefore, monitoring and managing the health of the battery is crucial for its performance and efficiency.
Is the BMS of an EV battery the same as any battery (say in a phone or laptop)?
Smaller, portable electronics such as phones, laptops also consist of BMS. However, the BMS for EVs are more complicated than those of a phone or laptop because of the bigger size of a vehicle’s battery. EV batteries will need high voltage, high current and are designed to be long-lasting for the high power energy system.
How does it work?
The below diagram gives a high-level overview of the different components inside the BMS. It constantly feeds in data like temperature, voltage, current etc. and processes them at its end to provide meaningful information to the user.
Today I learnt (TIL) is a weekly series by OMI that brings you interesting nuggets of information that you didn’t know you needed.
