The additional components of the cooling mechanism also add weight to the BMS, reducing the efficiency of batteries used for transportation. Large amounts of power must be used to operate the cooling mechanism, far more than active liquid cooling. The major disadvantage of air cooling is its inefficiency. Commercially, the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius both use active air cooling of their battery systems. Such systems can be passive, relying only on the convection of the surrounding air, or active, using fans for airflow.

Air cooling is advantageous in its simplicity. The BMS will also control the recharging of the battery by redirecting the recovered energy (i.e., from regenerative braking) back into the battery pack (typically composed of a number of battery modules, each composed of a number of cells).īattery thermal management systems can be either passive or active, and the cooling medium can either be air, liquid, or some form of phase change.

Current: current in or out of the batteryĮlectric vehicle systems: energy recovery.Coolant flow: for liquid cooled batteries.Temperature: average temperature, coolant intake temperature, coolant output temperature, or temperatures of individual cells.Voltage: total voltage, voltages of individual cells, or voltage of periodic taps.Safety circuit for four-cell LiFePO4 batteries with a balancer Monitor Ī BMS may monitor the state of the battery as represented by various items, such as:

Saves battery mode takes load your