2.
671 Measurement and Instrumentation
EFFECTS OF BATTERY IMPEDANCE ON DISCHARGE TIME AND CAPACITY
Andre Rodriguez
MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering
Cambridge, MA, USA
ABSTRACT
Lithium-ion batteries are used in all kinds of
electronic devices, and battery waste is on the rise. Since
these batteries are difficult to recycle, it would be
beneficial to the health of the planet to use each cell for as
long as possible, meaning that manufacturers need a way
to characterize the relationship between a battery’s
capacity and its age. Internal battery impedance increases
with age, and battery life and capacity decrease. In order to
determine the relationship between impedance, discharge
time, and capacity, a set of cells with representative
impedances was selected and each cell was discharged at a
constant load. The average discharge time and capacity of
each cell was analyzed, and no statistically significant
dependence of discharge time or capacity on impedance
was found. Therefore, manufacturers do not need to factor
in cell age when using lithium-ion batteries.
Keywords: Battery, Impedance, Capacity, Discharge
Curve, Lithium-Ion
INTRODUCTION
We live in an age where battery demand is
skyrocketing. Global production of lithium-ion batteries is
expected to increase from 455 GWh in 2020 to 1,447 GWh
in 2025, due in large part to the rise of electric vehicles [1].
With more production, of course, comes more waste, and
batteries are notoriously difficult to recycle due to the
number of different metals and chemicals within them [2].
One easy way to produce less waste is simply to use
each battery for more time. Institutions such as Battery
University have shown that lithium-ion cell capacity
decreases with increasing age [3]. Others, such as Andreas
Bildberg of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, have
noted that internal battery impedance increases with
increasing age [4]. Therefore, newer batteries are
inherently better than older batteries.
By factoring in the deterioration of batteries into
product design, manufacturers could specify an estimated
Tuesday PM
Dr. Cullen Buie
5/15/2023
maximum age of a battery that works with their system. In
order to expedite this process, this experiment seeks to
quantify the relationship between battery impedance and
its discharge time and capacity.
In order to find the discharge time and capacity of a
set of lithium-ion cells, each of 36 cells had their
impedances measured. Representative samples were
selected, and each sample was charged to full capacity then
discharged at a known amperage until it reached the
minimum voltage for lithium-ion batteries, 2.5 V.
Discharge times were recorded and capacity for each cell
was computed, and a comparison was made between cells.
Also, discharge curves were created for each cell as a way
to visualize the relationship between time and cell voltage
during discharge.
BACKGROUND
BATTERY IMPEDANCE
In theory, batteries are pure voltage sources. In
practice, due to chemical and mechanical properties that
are outside of the scope of this paper, real batteries have
more complicated dynamics. As Thakkar has shown, there
are multiple different battery models that range from a
voltage source in series with a resistor all the way to
dependent current and voltage sources in series with
capacitors and resistor networks [5]. In the interest of time
and simplicity, this paper will assume the simplest model:
a voltage source in series with a resistor, as shown in
Figure 1. This model conveniently has the same AC
impedance as it has DC resistance; it will react to DC
inputs just the same as it will react to sinusoidal inputs.
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Figure 1: A schematic diagram of the battery
modeled as a voltage source in series with a resistor.
V0 represents the open circuit voltage, R int represents
the internal battery impedance, and Vt represents the
voltage measured across the terminals of the battery.
DISCHARGE CURVES
A battery discharge curve plots the terminal voltage
of a battery against its state of charge (SoC). A state of
charge, expressed as a percentage, shows the level of
charge of a battery relative to its capacity. Effectively, the
SoC measures how much energy is left in a battery before
it is fully depleted and cannot provide more energy without
discharging to dangerous levels.
Lithium-ion batteries, such as the ones being used for
this project, have a discharge curve that is (ideally) similar
to the curve shown in Figure 2. Li-ion batteries are
designed to output relatively constant voltage when at SoC
between ~20% and ~80%. At high and low SoC, lithium-
ion batteries will experience a rapid, non-linear drop in
voltage. If the battery is allowed to discharge past 0% SoC,
or recharge past 100% SoC, the cell might swell, explode,
or otherwise catch fire.
Though a “true” discharge curve could not be
constructed during the course of this experiment, as it
requires Coulombic counting equipment that is very
difficult to obtain due to high cost, an approximation was
made using time on the horizontal axis instead of SoC.
Figure 2: A typical lithium-ion battery discharge curve. A
constant 3.7 V voltage can be seen in SoC between ~20-80, and
nonlinear effects can be seen outside of this range [6].
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
EQUIPMENT
The equipment used in this experiment included a BK
Precision 8510 DC Electronic Load (DC Load), a Vernier
Differential Voltage Probe (DVP), and 36 SPIM08HP 3.7
V 16 Ah lithium-ion battery cells. The DC Load has a
current measurement resolution of 0.1 mA and a voltage
measurement resolution of 1 mV. The DVP has a voltage
measurement resolution of 3.1 mV.
IMPEDANCE TESTING
Each cell had its terminal (open-circuit) voltage (VOC)
measured over an average of one second (in order to reduce
the effects of noise) by the DVP and this voltage was
recorded in a spreadsheet. The DC Load was then
connected to the battery. A constant 30 A load (I) was
applied across the terminals of the battery and the DVP
once again measured the terminal (loaded) voltage (VLoad)
over an average of one second. The internal impedance was
calculated from these values using Ohm’s Law,
𝑉𝑂𝐶 −𝑉𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑
𝑅= . (1)
𝐼
CELL DISCHARGE
Three cells with representative impedances were
selected from the larger sample set. Each cell was charged
to the maximum voltage for lithium-ion batteries, 4.2 V.
Each cell was then connected to the DC Load and
discharged at 50 A while the DVP recorded voltage. The
cell was discharged until it reached the minimum voltage
for lithium-ion cells, 2.5 V. A discharge curve was
constructed from the voltage taken during discharge, and
discharge time was defined as the final time where the cell
was discharging, before the DC Load detected 2.5 V and
stopped discharging. Capacity was determined using the
2 Andre Rodriguez 5/15/23
discharge time, tdischarge, and the load amperage, I, using the a)
capacity formula
𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝐼 ∗ 𝑡𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 . (2)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
After performing an ANOVA test on the discharge
times and capacities, no statistically significant
dependence of capacity or discharge time on impedance
was found, p = 0.2002.

IMPEDANCE TESTING
The model being used requires only a measure of
internal impedance in order to fully characterize the
system. Therefore, each of 36 cells had their impedances
measured, and the results of the testing are shown in Figure
3. Measuring the impedances of a large group would reveal
the distribution of impedance within the data set, and a
representative sample could be chosen as a way to analyze
the entire dataset with only a few data points. b)

Figure 3: Impedance testing on batteries. Minimum

cell impedance was found to be 2.10 mΩ while
maximum was found to be 22.84 mΩ. Median was
found to be 10.17 mΩ and mean was 9.89 mΩ. a) The
data shown as a box-and-whisker plot. This shows
that the first, second, and third quartile lie below 15
mΩ impedances, and a small fraction has impedances
greater than 15 mΩ. b) The same data shown as a
histogram.
The cells in the sample set had impedances ranging
from 2.10-22.84 mΩ. Of this sample set, cells with 2.10,
8.44, and 22.84 mΩ internal impedance were selected for
discharge testing in order to create a representative sample.

3 Andre Rodriguez 5/15/23

DISCHARGE CURVES
Each of the selected cells was discharged three times
at a constant 50 A load and voltage was measured
throughout the entire discharge process. Figure 4 shows the
discharge curves obtained from each cell cycle.
a)
b)
Figure 4: Discharge curves obtained at a load of 50
A. Three trials were run for each of three cells. a) The
curves shown at the same scale as the theoretical
discharge curve shown in Figure 1. b) The same data
but with a tighter window in the vertical direction to
allow easier viewing of the different cutoff voltages.
Here, it is important to note that the cutoff voltages
(the voltage at which the DC Load detected 2.5 V on the
battery and shut down the discharge test) were not very
consistent among the trials, not even for each cell. This is
partially because the DC Load sensed voltage on the same
port that injected current, so its voltage measurement was
very sensitive to electrical noise and therefore not very
accurate. In fact, the DC Load displayed very different
voltages during discharge than the DVP, the instrument
was used to obtain these curves.
Discharge times were recorded from the curves in
Figure 4 and were averaged together for each cell, as
shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Average discharge times for each cell, with
error bars showing the uncertainty from averaging.
As shown, uncertainty on these measurements is very
high, as the cell with minimum impedance did not have a
consistent discharge time between trials. However, it is
important to note that even the smallest error bar overlaps
into the values of the cell with maximum impedance, an
early sign that there is no statistically significant
dependence of discharge time on impedance even before
performing more detailed tests. Nonetheless, the data was
used to calculate capacity using equation 2, and the results
are shown in Figure 6.
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Figure 6: Capacity vs. Impedance scatter plot.
Here, it is clear to see that the capacities of the cells
are very similar to one another, within about 10% of each
other. It is important to realize that equation 2 simply
performs a scalar multiplication, there has been no
fundamental change in the variance of data.
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE (ANOVA)
As a final step in the analysis, a one-way analysis of
variance was performed to compare the effect of cell
impedance on discharge time and capacity. It revealed that
there was no statistically significant dependence of
impedance on discharge time or capacity, p = 0.2002.
DISCREPANCIES
This result might take the reader by surprise, as it may
be intuitive that batteries have a shorter discharge time as
they get older and their internal impedance increases.
However, a few explanations may exist for this conclusion.
First, the chosen model may not have been
sufficiently complex for the problem. Other models
proposed by Thakkar take the dynamic behavior more
deeply into account by modelling the effects of cell
capacitance as well as impedance [5].
Secondly, as previously discussed, the DC Load did
not stop the discharge at a consistent voltage across the
nine trials. This variance may have significantly changed
discharge times from the actual values, leading to
potentially drastically different conclusions.
Finally, it is important to note that while the sample
set of cells had a variety of impedances, they are all
assumed to be about the same age. In other words, while
this experiment was looking to find the correlation
between impedance (as some function of age) and
discharge time, age was still held constant and the variation
of impedances was taken as a simulation of cell age.
Perhaps the age itself matters much more than the
impedance of the cell: there might be some internal
chemical effects that happen over time that causes the loss
of cell capacity that we are all familiar with.
CONCLUSIONS
The above experiments have shown that there is no
statistically significant dependence on impedance and
discharge time or capacity with 95% confidence. This
conclusion might seem surprising, but potential
explanations might exist for this result. The model chosen
might have been too simple, the instruments used might
have had internal imperfections that led to imprecise data,
or the cells themselves might not have been different ages.
To make up for these potential imperfections, future
experiments might take care to measure more cell
characteristics, such as capacitance, and use that in the
analysis along with a more sophisticated model. Future
experiments might also use a different DC Load, one that
cuts off discharges at a more consistent voltage, perhaps
by sensing voltage and injecting current on two separate
circuits. Finally, future experiments might take care to note
the exact age of each cell and repeat the same procedure
with a set of cells with a wide range of ages, not just
impedances.
Nonetheless, if the reader is willing to believe this
conclusion, internal impedance not having a statistically
significant effect on discharge time or capacity is
potentially very important. For cells of similar age, small
variations in internal impedance do not cause a significant
change in capacity. Therefore, cell manufacturers will not
need to account for the variation in internal impedance for
lithium-ion cells except in very specific cases.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Dr. Hughey, Dr. Buie, Dr. Roldan,
and Aditya Mehrotra for their continued help and guidance
throughout this project, and to MIT EVT for a space to
work and for the batteries used throughout the semester.
Thank you to Connie Ly for feedback and support during
the early stages of the research process.
REFERENCES
[1] “Top Electric Vehicle Markets Dominate Lithium-Ion
Battery Capacity Growth | S&P Global Market Intelligence”
5 Andre Rodriguez 5/15/23
[Online]. Available:
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-
insights/blog/top-electric-vehicle-markets-dominate-lithium-
ion-battery-capacity-growth. [Accessed: 11-Mar-2023].
[2] “Lithium Batteries’ Big Unanswered Question - BBC
Future” [Online]. Available:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220105-lithium-batteries-
big-unanswered-question. [Accessed: 24-Apr-2023].
[3] 2010, “BU-806: Tracking Battery Capacity and
Resistance as Part of Aging,” Battery University [Online].
Available: https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-806-tracking-
battery-capacity-and-resistance-as-part-of-aging. [Accessed: 24-
Apr-2023].
[4] Blidberg, A., 2012, “Correlation between Different
Impedance Measurement Methods for Battery Cells.”
[5] Thakkar, R. R., 2021, Electrical Equivalent Circuit
Models of Lithium-Ion Battery, IntechOpen.
[6] “Li-Ion Voltage Analysis” [Online]. Available:
https://siliconlightworks.com/li-ion-voltage. [Accessed: 10-
Mar-2023].

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