A Grid-Tie Battery Energy Storage System

Hao Qian1, Jianhui Zhang2 and Jih-Sheng Lai1

Future Energy Electronics Center1
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA 24061, U.S.A
National Semiconductor Corporation2
Santa Clara, CA 95051, U.S.A
hqian@vt.edu, Jianhui.zhang@nsc.com, laijs@vt.edu

Abstract—Battery energy storage system are widely used and
become the most popular form of energy storage system. This
paper proposes a grid-tie Lithium-ion battery based energy
storage system, which consists of LiFePO4 battery based energy
storage and a high-efficiency bidirectional ac-dc converter. The
battery management system (BMS) estimates the state of charge
(SOC) and state of health (SOH) of each battery cell in the pack
and applies active charge equalization to balance the charge of all
the cells in the pack. The bidirectional ac-dc converter works as
the interface between the battery pack and the ac grid. A 1-kW
prototype has been designed and implemented to further validate
the proposed architecture.
Keywords-Battery energy storage system, battery management
system, bidirectional ac-dc converter, inverter mode, rectifier mode
I. INTRODUCTION
Intermittent renewable generations, such as wind and solar,
are emerging as an attractive energy source for applications
such as distributed generation power systems and electrical
vehicles [1]. California has mandated that 20% of its power
come from renewables by 2010 and 33% by 2020. Many other
states and countries have similar regulations. As a result of
these requirements, the stresses caused by renewables will
increase. Energy storages such as battery or ultra-capacitor
systems can be used to stabilize the systems with wind and
solar because they provide fast frequency regulation, load
following and ramping services [2]-[12]. The heart of this kind
of system is the BMS and the bidirectional ac-dc converter
which can be built in off-grid, on-grid and mixed configuration,
such as utility backup system.
In a Lithium-ion battery system, BMS is the key component
to ensure all cell voltages being strictly kept in boundaries for
safety operation and cycle life. First, the BMS monitors the
status of all the series connected Lithium-ion battery cells in
the system and determine the SOC, SOH and capacity of each
battery cell. Second, the BMS applies active charge
equalization to balance the charge of all the cells in the pack
and to ensure all the cells operate in the designed SOC range.
The high efficiency bidirectional ac-dc converter that
developed in the paper adopts opposed current half bridge
inverter architecture [13]. Since it consists of two buck
converters and also has features of the conventional half bridge
inverter, it is named as dual buck half bridge inverter [14]. The
converter exhibits two distinct merits: First, there is no shoot-
through issue because no active power switches are connected
in series in one phase leg; second, the reverse recovery
dissipation of the power switch is greatly reduced because there
is no freewheeling current flowing through the body diode of
power switches. It can also support reactive power flow and
seamless energy transfer. For the control scheme, the
admittance compensator along with a quasi proportional-
resonant controller (QPR) is adopted to allow smooth startup
and elimination of the steady-state error over the entire load
range. The converter efficiency peaks at 97.5% at 50-kHz
switching frequency for both rectifier and inverter modes.
In this paper, a grid-tie lithium-ion battery based energy
storage system is proposed. A 1-kW prototype has been
designed and implemented to further validate the proposed
architecture.
II. BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM
As shown in Fig. 1, the energy storage system consists of
three subsystems, a LiFePO4 battery pack and associated BMS,
a bidirectional ac-dc converter, and the central control unit
which controls the operation mode and grid interface of the
energy storage system.
The BMS monitors and reports all battery cells parameters
in the pack, these include cell voltage, temperature, and
current. Based on these parameters, the BMS controller
estimates the SOC and SOH of each battery cell in the pack.
The SOC information is then used to control the active cell
balancing circuits to mitigate the mismatch among the series
connected cells. The SOC and SOH information is also used by
the central control unit to determine the operating mode of the
energy storage system.
The bidirectional ac-dc converter works as the interface
between the battery pack and the ac grid, which needs to meet
the following requirements: (1) bidirectional power flow, (2)
improved power quality at ac side in terms of high power factor
and low THD, and (3) well-regulated dc power.
The central control unit communicates with the battery
management system and bidirectional ac-dc converter. It
combines the SOC information and power command coming
from the grid side to control the bidirectional power flow
between ac grid and dc battery energy storage.

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 + AC-DC inhomogeneous ageing and temperature difference within the
Bidirectional battery pack, there are SOC or capacity imbalances between
Converter iac battery cells. Minimize the mismatches across all the cells are
important to guarantee the power or energy performance of the
Battery pack, as they are limited by first cell which goes beyond the
……

Vdc … Management vac

System boundaries. In this system, an inductive based active cell
balancing approach is used to regulate the amount of charge in
and out of each individual cell to balance the mismatches
_ across the cell to maintain the homogeneous status across the
battery pack.
Pref*
System
Qref*
Coordinator IV. BIDIRECTIONAL AC-DC CONVERTER
a1 D2 L1 vac
Figure 1. Simplified diagram of the Lithium-ion battery energy storage C1
system. +
_ Vdc
L2 C2
D1 a2
III. BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Fig. 2 shows the configuration of the proposed BMS. It
Figure 3. Circuit diagram of the proposed bidirectional ac-dc converter
consists of module controllers, which manage up to twelve
series connected battery cell, and central controller which Fig. 3 shows the circuit diagram of the proposed dual-buck
manages the series connected battery modules, reports cell converter based bidirectional ac-dc converter. The converter
status and control the relays to protect the battery pack from works as an inverter when the power is transferred from dc
over-charging or under-charging conditions. High voltage source to ac grid. Alternately, it works as a rectifier when the
isolated CAN bus is used to communicate between the module power is transferred from ac grid to dc source. The circuit
controllers and central controller. consists of two power switches a1 and a2, two diodes D1 and
D2, two inductors L1 and L2, and two split dc bus capacitors C1
and C2.
i

(a)

a1 D2 iac C1 a1 D2 iac C1
L1 L1
+
_ Vdc +
_ Vdc
L2 _ v + L2 _ vac+
D1 a2 ac
D1 a2
C2 C2

(b) (c)

a1 D2 C1 a1 D2 C1
L1 L1
+_ Vdc +
_ Vdc
L _ L2 + v _
D1 a2 iac 2 + vac D1 a2 iac ac
C2 C2
Figure 2. Proposed battery management system configuration
(d) (e)
There are two key functions in the designed BMS. First, the
Figure 4. Operating under rectifier mode with pure active power transferring,
BMS monitors the status of all the series connected Lithium- (a) conceptual voltage and current waveform, (b) a1 is on, (c) D1 is on, (d) a2
ion battery cells in the system. The parameters being monitored is on, (e) D2 is on.
includes cell voltage, cell temperature, charging or discharging
current. The information is processed by the BMS controller to As shown in Fig. 4, for the rectifier mode with pure active
determine the SOC, SOH and capacity of each battery cell, and power transferring, there are four sub-operating modes
protect all the cells operate in the designed SOC range. depending on the conducting status of a1, a2, D1 and D2. In the
Second, the designed BMS applies active balancing to positive half cycle, leg a1 and D1 operates. When a1 is on,
equalize the cells in the pack. In a Lithium-ion battery system, current iac is increased because the voltage across inductor L1 is
all cell voltages need to be strictly kept in boundaries to ensure positive. Capacitor C1 is discharged, and the energy of both C1
safety operation. However, due to production deviations, and C2 is transferred to the dc sources. When a1 is off and D1 is
on, current iac is decreased because the voltage across inductor

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L1 is negative. Capacitor C2 is charged, and the energy of both voltage vac [15]-[17]. The voltage balance compensator Gvb(s)
C1 and C2 is transferred to the dc sources. In the negative half is designed to balance the voltage across the two dc split
cycle, leg a2 and D2 operates. When a2 is on, current iac is capacitors, vc1 and vc2. The current loop controller Gi(s) is
increased because the voltage across inductor L2 is positive. designed to compensate the error between iref and the feedback
Capacitor C2 is discharged, and the energy of both C1 and C2 is sensed current ifb. By feeding the output of the current loop
transferred to the dc sources. When a2 is off and D2 is on, controller to the PWM block, which is represented by Fm, the
current iac is decreased because the voltage across the inductor output signal is gating signal d. The output current iac can be
L2 is negative. Capacitor C1 is charged, and the energy of both derived in (1)
C1 and C2 is transferred to the dc sources. Overall, in the
positive half cycle C1 is always discharged, but C2 is always iac ( s ) = Gid ( s ) ⋅ d − Giv ( s) ⋅ vac (1)
charged. However, in the negative half cycle C1 is always where
charged, but C2 is always discharged. The charge balance is
maintained through the entire line cycle. iac ( s ) Vdc / 2
Gid ( s ) = = (2)
For the inverter mode with pure active power transferring, d ( s) sL
all the analysis is similar to that of rectifier mode except that
the current and voltage are in phase; therefore, the energy is iac ( s ) 1
Giv ( s ) = = . (3)
transferred from dc sources to ac grid. Based on the above vac ( s ) sL
analysis, it can be concluded that C2 is always charged in the
positive half cycle and C1 is always charged in the negative The admittance compensator Gc(s) can be expressed in
half cycle, and the charge balance maintains through the entire
line cycle. Giv ( s ) 1
Gc ( s ) = = (4)
Fm Gid ( s ) Fm (Vdc / 2)
a1 D2
C1 L iac v In order to reduce the steady-state error at the fundamental
+_ ac
frequency, or 60 Hz in the designed case, the QPR controller,
C2 L
D1 a2 which is shown in (5), is adopted for the current loop controller
vc2 Gi(s), which can provide a high gain at 60 Hz without phase
_ d Hi(s) Hv(s)
vc1 offset.
Gvb(s) Fm
+
+ i 2kr ωc s
iref + Gi ( s ) = k p + (5)
s + 2ωc s + ω02
2
err
Pref Gi(s)
Current _ i
fb
Qref reference
calculation Look-up Phase Here, kp is a proportional gain, kr is a resonant gain, and ωc is
table lock loop (PLL) an equivalent bandwidth of the resonant controller. The QPR
controller is designed to have the following parameters: kp =
Figure 5. Circuit diagram of the proposed converter with current control loop 1.5, kr = 50, ωc = 10 rad/s, and ωo = 2π × 60 rad/s.
Fig. 5 shows the complete circuit diagram that includes a
unified current-loop controller. Current command iref is V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
obtained from the active power command Pref and the reactive The 120-V battery pack only allows a maximum ac line
power command Qref, which are commanded by the battery voltage 42 V rms with the use of dual buck type inverter;
SOC and grid, and the ac voltage phase information, which is therefore, a 1:4 ratio transformer is connected between the
produced by a digital phase-locked loop (PLL). battery energy storage system and ac grid (120V rms) to
provide required ac voltage and isolation.
Giv(s)
-180° < θ ≤ 180° Gc(s)
sin(ωt +θ ) _
vac Hv(s)/ + iref + ierr + + d + iac
× _ Gi(s) Fm Gid(s) vac (20V/div) iac (30A/div)
vpk sinωt PLL +
ifb Ti(s)
θ Gvb(s)
Pref
Hi(s)
Calculate Im vc1 +
Qref
θ and Im vc2 _

Figure 6. Block diagram of the current control loop with the adding
admittance compensator

Fig. 6 shows the block diagram of the compensated system

that adds Gc(s), Gi(s) and Gvb(s). Here Giv(s) is current-to-
t (10ms/div)
voltage transfer function and Gid(s) is current-to-duty transfer
functions. Hv(s) and Hi(s) are voltage and current sensor gains. (a)
The admittance compensator Gc(s) is designed to reject the
disturbance from Giv(s), which is caused by converter ac

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 The SOC balancing control is to keep each of the twelve
unit SOC values in a module equal to the mean SOC value of
vac (20V/div) iac (30A/div) the corresponding module. In the experiment, each unit consists
of four parallel connected cells except one unit is configured to
have three parallel connected cells. Thus there is a 25%
capacity mismatch inside the module.

3.6

3.4 Discharging without SOC balancing

3.2
12
t (10ms/div) 3

Voltage (V)
2.8
(b)
2.6
Figure 7. Simulation results under (a) inverter mode and (b) rectifier mode,
both with vac = 30 Vrms and iac = 23 Arms. 2.4

2.2

2
iac (30A/div) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
vac (20V/div)
t (min)

(a)

3.6
Charging without SOC balancing
3.4
12
3.2

3
Voltage (V)

t (10ms/div)
2.8

(a) 2.6

2.4

2.2
vac (20V/div) iac (30A/div)
2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
t (min)

(b)

3.6

3.4 Discharging with SOC balancing

3.2
t (10ms/div) 12
3
Voltage (V)

(b) 2.8

Figure 8. Experimental results under (a) inverter mode and (b) rectifier 2.6
mode, both with vac = 30 Vrms and iac = 23 Arms.
2.4

Figs. 7 and 8 show the simulation and experimental results 2.2

under both inverter and rectifier modes for the bidirectional ac-
2
dc converter, respectively. Fig. 7(a) shows the simulated 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
inverter mode current and voltage, which are in phase. Fig. 7(b) t (min)
shows the simulated rectifier mode current and voltage, which
(c)
are 180° phase shifted. Fig. 8(a) shows experimental inverter
mode current and voltage, which are in phase. Fig. 8(b) shows
experimental rectifier mode current and voltage, which are
180° phase shifted.

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3.6
Charging with SOC balancing
3.4
12
3.2
3 a Cascade PWM Converter”, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 24, no.
Voltage (V)
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2 2009.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
t (min)
(d)
Figure 9. Experimental results of discharging and charging of one battery
module, (a) discharging without SOC balancing control, (b) charging without
SOC balancing control, (c) discharging with SOC balancing control, (d)
charging with SOC balancing control.
For the test without SOC balancing, all the twelve units are
charged up to 100% SOC in the initial point. For 1 C
discharging, the total time for discharging the module from
100% SOC to 0 % is limited by the unit consisting of three
parallel connected cells, which is around 45 minutes. For 1 C
charging, the total time for charging the module from 0% SOC
to 100 % is limited by the unit consisting of three parallel
connected cells, which is about 45 minutes. For the testing with
SOC balancing, the corresponding discharging and charging
time are 55 minutes and 55 minutes. It can be concluded that
the system with SOC balancing has 22% more capacity than
the system without SOC balancing.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
A grid-tie battery energy storage system is proposed in this
paper. The system consists of three subsystems, a battery pack
and associated BMS, a bidirectional ac-dc converter, and the
central control unit which controls the operation mode and grid
interface of the energy storage system. The dual buck type
inverter is utilized as the bidirectional ac-dc converter for
bidirectional power flow operation, which has not been used in
rectifying mode operation before. Since there is no shoot-
through issue with the dual buck type inverter, the power
switches can switch at a high switching frequency, which is
designed at 50-kHz in this system. The admittance
compensator along with a QPR controller has been designed to
significantly reduce the zero-crossing distortion. A 1-kW
prototype has been designed and implemented to validate the
proposed architecture.
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