Assessing Cell-to-cell Variations in Commercial Batteries

Successful battery management relies on the fundamental understanding of cell variations that are inhered from cell manufacturing processes and further developed in the cell operation. The ability to address and handle such cell variations in a battery system remains a challenging issue that underpins the safety and reliability of battery system operation. We recently reported that cell-to-cell variations from the manufacturing processes could be assessed via a careful analysis of cell conditioning data with proper protocols [1]. We also reported [2] that a semi-empirical model derived from extensive cell testing could be used to simulate and predict accurate cell behavior in commercial cells. In the process of scaling a single cell model to a battery pack, we also demonstrated that the cell-to-cel