DESIGN & DEVELOP AUTOMATIC BATTERY CYCLIC TESTER …umpir.ump.edu.my/4871/1/cd6759_95.pdf · Tindak balas kimia dalam setiap bateri berubah maka memberi kesan kepada prestasi bateri

DESIGN & DEVELOP AUTOMATIC BATTERY CYCLIC TESTER

ZULFADHLI BIN SOHOK

This thesis is submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Power System)

Faculty of Electrical & Electronics Engineering

University Malaysia Pahang

21ST JUNE, 2012

v

ABSTRACT

Environmental concern due to fuel combustion from conventional automobile

vehicles has lead to the development of Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV). Crucial part

of Electric Vehicles (EV) is the battery life that presently limiting the realization of

economically viable EV since the battery provides power to the EV.

In EV and HEV, the power battery must capable of performing charge and

discharge for longer period of time implies that longer life cycle of the battery.

Hence, batteries are required to undergo cyclic battery test. However, the cyclic test

is time consuming that will result in long waiting time for the test to complete. In

addition of conventional battery cyclic test, it costs great expense for battery

manufacturer to verify battery life cycle. Each of battery produced under same

factory doesn’t mean that all battery performance for particular application is all the

same. Chemical reaction in each battery are varies thus affecting the battery

performance.

Thus, the need for fully automated cyclic test station is appear. Therefore in

this project will focus on the design and development of automation of battery cyclic

tester. Microsoft Visual Basic will be used to enable automatic battery testing. As

proposed, the result from this project is expected to reduce man-hour waiting time

during conducting battery testing.

vi

ABSTRAK

Kebimbangan alam sekitar disebabkan oleh pembakaran bahan api

daripada kenderaan konvensional telah memacu pembangunan Kenderaan Hybrid

Elektrik. Bahagian terpenting dalam Kenderaan Hybrid Elektrik ini adalah jangka

hayat bateri yang mengekang daripada terhasilnya Kenderaan Elektrik yang

ekonomik kerana bateri menjadi fakto kekangan utama.

Dalam Kenderaan Elektrik dan Kenderaan Elektrik Hybrid, kuasa bateri mesti

mampu menjalankan process pengecasan dan dinyacas untuk jangka masa yang

lama, ini mengambarkan kitaran jangka hayat operasi bateri tersebut. Maka, bateri

haruslah melalui ujian kitaran bateri. Namun demikian, ujian kitaran bateri ini

memakan masa maka, masa yang lama diambil untuk ujian ini selesai. Tambahan

pula, ujian kitaran bateri yang konvensional melibatkan kos yang tinggi kepada

pengeluar bateri untuk tujuan pengesahan. Setiap bateri yang dikeluarkan oleh kilang

yang sama tidak semestinya prestasi bateri tersebut untuk aplikasi tertentu adalah

sama. Tindak balas kimia dalam setiap bateri berubah maka memberi kesan kepada

prestasi bateri.

Jesteru, keperluan untuk stesen ujian kitaran automatik telah muncul. Maka,

projek ini berfokuskan kepada merekabentuk dan membangunkan penguji kitaran

bateri automatik. Microsoft Visual Basic akan digunakan untuk membolehkan ujian

kitaran bateri berjalan secara automatik. Seperti dicadangkan, hasil daripada projek

ini akan mengurangkan masa manusia untuk menyelia ujian kitaran bateri ini.

vii

TABLES OF CONTENTS CHAPTER CONTENTS PAGE

TITLE i

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF FIGURES x

LIST OF APPENDICES xii

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Background 1

1.3 Problem Statement 3

1.4 Research Objective 4

1.5 Research Question 4

1.6 Research Scope 5

1.7 Sagnificant of Study 5

1.8 Thesis Outline 6

1.9 Conclusion 7

viii

2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORY 8

2.1 Introduction 8

2.2 Battery Invention 8

2.3 Cell Design and Theory 9

2.4 Battery Testing 12

2.5 Microsoft Visual Basic 14

2.5.1 Microsoft Visual Studio 14

2.5.2 The .Net Framework 15

2.5.3 Visual Basic 15

2.6 PC Interfacing 16

2.5.1 Data Acquisition System 17

2.7 Previous Research on Automatic Battery 18

Cyclic Test

2.8 Conclusion 21

3 METHODOLOGY 22

3.1 Introduction 22

3.2 Project Overview 23

3.2.1 Project Flow Chart 24

3.2.2 GUI Programming Flow Chart 25

3.2.3 DAQ Interfacing Flow Chart 26

3.3 Cyclic Test Procedure 27

3.4 Visual Basic as Programming Language Platform 30

3.5 Software Design & Development 33

3.5.1 Graphical User Interface Design 35

3.5.2 GUI Framework 35

3.5.3 Database Design 36

3.6 Data Acquisition System (DAS) 37

3.6.1 Advantech USB 4716 38

3.6.2 DAS Programming 40

ix

3.7 Software Simulation 42

3.7.1 Experimental 44

3.8 Conclusion 46

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 47

4.1 Introduction 47

4.2 Battery Cyclic Tester GUI 47

4.3 GUI Programming 55

4.4 GUI Improvement 56

4.5 DAQ Programming 59

4.6 Database Programming 60

4.7 Conclusion 62

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 63

5.1 Introduction 63

5.1 Summary 63

5.2 Recommendation 65

REFERENCES 66

APPENDIX 67

x

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

3.1 Process Timer Duration 28

3.2 Charge Voltage and Current for 20Ah Battery 29

33 USB 4716 LED Status 40

4.1 Input and Output Ranges for Sensors 60

xi

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE 1.1 Battery Cyclic Test Flow Chart 3

2.1 Basic battery construction without connected 11

external circuit

2.2 Battery is connected to external power supply 11

2.3 Battery is connected to external load 12

3.1 Automatic battery cyclic tester system block 23

diagram

3.2 GUI Programming Flow Chart 25

3.3 DAQ Interfacing Flow Chart 26

3.4 Cyclic Test Procedure Flow Chart in 27

GUI Programming

3.5 Visual Basic Welcome Page 31

3.6 Visual Basic Form Template 31

3.7 Visual Basic Toolbox 32

3.8 Battery Cyclic Tester Software Interface 34

3.9 Battery Cyclic Tester Software Interface with 35

DAQ System

3.10 Visual Basic Data Source Component 36

3.11 Local Database Using Microsoft Excel 37

3.12 Advantech USB 4716 38

3.13 Data Acquisition Program Flow Chart 41

3.14 Calling Device Procedure 42

xii 3.15 Deploy Battery Cyclic Test GUI 43

3.16 Analog Input Reading Configuration 45

3.17 Analog Output Channel Measurement 45

4.1 Cyclic Test Main GUI 49

4.2 Cyclic Test Main UI- Intialization Stage 50

4.3 Cyclic Test Main UI- Charging Stage 50

4.4 Cyclic Test Main UI- First 30 Mins Rest After 51

Charging

4.5 Cyclic Test Main UI- Second, 30 Mins Rest After 51

Charging

4.6 Cyclic Test Main UI- 60 Mins Rest After 52

Charging

4.7 Cyclic Test Main UI- Discharge Stage 52

4.8 Cyclic Test Main UI- 60 Mins Rest After 53

Discharging

4.9 Cyclic Test Main UI- Automation Cyclic Test 53

4.10 Cyclic Test Main UI- End Of Cylic Test 54

4.11 Initialization Timer Program Code 55

4.12 Cyclic Automation Program Code 56

4.13 Previous Developed GUI 57

4.14 GUI With Error 58

4.15 Resume After Error 58

4.16 Resume With Charging Process 59

4.17 Battery Voltage Data Logging Using Text File 61

4.18 Automatic Battery Cyclic Test Database Using 62

Excel 2007

xiii

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Project Flow Chart 67

B Software Development Life Cycle 68

C USB 4716 Start Up Manual 69

D Software Source Code 73

E Tested Battery Datasheet & SOC Reference 80

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This chapter will cover about introduction of “Design & Development of

Automatic Battery Cyclic Tester”. Background of the study is related to the battery

application in Electric Vehicle field. Problem statement regarding to this project is

described and thus aims the project objective to be achieved.

1.2 Background

In recent years, development in battery technologies has made possible the

usage of rechargeable batteries in new systems such as in telecommunication

systems, electric vehicles and so on [1]. The storage battery is the power source of

electric vehicle, in order to keep the good capability of the battery pack and long

usage life, some necessary administer and control for them is needed. Method to

obtain the battery state of charge (SOC) accurately and reliably has become the most

basic and first task, because the SOC value reflects the state of battery directly.

2

There are several method can be used to monitor the battery parameter which

is specific gravity, open circuit voltage, load voltage and coulometric measurement

[2]. Specific gravity and open circuit voltage are used to measure the state of charge

however load voltage is used to measure the usable capacity [2, 3]. The last

technique measures the amount of amp-hours taken out of (or put into) a battery,

which can be thought of as an indirect indication of usable capacity [2]. It must be

pointed out that a long time (7-8 hours) is necessary to recharge the battery, if above

methods are employed. Different methods have been proposed to minimize the

negative effects (mainly, a premature battery ageing) of increasing charging current

Thus, the efficiency of charging process in each case must be determined by

testing. Testing batteries implies to study the evolution of battery parameters like

voltage (V), current (I), temperature (T), and pressure (P), for hundreds and hundreds

of charging-discharging processes [4]. In concise battery testing is a very time

consuming operation and the need for a fully automated test station is appeared [5].

The battery cyclic test procedure involves the repetition process of charging

and discharging the battery until a complete 500 cycles is achieved. During

transaction between charging and discharging process, the battery is left rest for

duration of 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Measurements regarding battery parameter

and charging parameter should be taken for further analysis. Sub-topic problem

statement illustrates the flow of battery cyclic test.

1.3 Problem Statements

This project focus

shows the standard procedure of cyclic battery

a Graphical User Interface (

developed

equipment (charging and discharging controller) Data Acquisition System is design

and programmed in the Cyclic Test GUI.

voltage output

parameter.

relay that control charging and discharging

Microsoft Visual Basic is identif

develop automation of the battery testing

user interface

C++ Builder but it comes free

Microsoft

While Advantech USB 4716 is chosen as DAQ device for this project due to real

plug and play through USB port.

Problem Statements

This project focus


Graphical User Interface (

developed. In order to enable fo



output from sensor

parameter. An analog output is used to send signal to the driver circuit and energizes




interface environment


and simpl



Problem Statements

This project focuses on developing an automatic battery tester.


Graphical User Interface (GUI

In order to enable fo



from sensors for each bat

An analog output is used to send signal to the driver circuit and energizes




environment and easy programming language that seem identical to


and simple programming process through Net.Framework intellisense.



Figure 1.1: Battery Cyclic Test Flow Chart

on developing an automatic battery tester.


GUI) software for automation battery cyclic test is

In order to enable for the software to read



for each battery’s parameter and charging



Microsoft Visual Basic is identified

develop automation of the battery testing [11]

and easy programming language that seem identical to

C++ Builder but it comes free (Visual Basic 2010 Expres

programming process through Net.Framework intellisense.



: Battery Cyclic Test Flow Chart


shows the standard procedure of cyclic battery testing.

software for automation battery cyclic test is

r the software to read and sent signal to the hardware


and programmed in the Cyclic Test GUI. Analog input channels are used to read

tery’s parameter and charging


relay that control charging and discharging switch of the battery.

ied as programming software platform

[11]. This programming platform provides


(Visual Basic 2010 Expres





testing. This project is done in which


and sent signal to the hardware


Analog input channels are used to read

tery’s parameter and charging


of the battery.

as programming software platform

This programming platform provides


(Visual Basic 2010 Express Edition only)




on developing an automatic battery tester. Figure 1

This project is done in which





tery’s parameter and charging-discharging


as programming software platform



s Edition only)



3

Figure 1.1

This project is done in which





discharging


as programming software platform to



s Edition only) from



4

A PC based system for testing batteries in full controlled environment has to

be developed. The system must able to perform fully-automated battery cyclic test.

Also, with this system all parameters involved in battery charging-discharging

processes are obtained. Finally, system provides database with all sampled data. In

this way, in future data processing and analysis is possible.

1.4 Research Objectives

i. Design & develop software that simulate battery cyclic test.

ii. Program the DAQ System into the developed software.

iii. Software is able to read signal from DAQ device and DAQ device can

produce output signal throughout in the software to the hardware.

1.5 Research Questions

i. How to make battery cyclic tester automatic?

ii. How to create a GUI software that can read parameters of the battery and able

to perform cyclic test onto the battery automatically via DAQ Card?

5

1.6 Scope of Research

The scope of this research is to create GUI Software that simulates battery

cyclic test procedure as mention in Figure 1.1 in sub-topic Problem Statement.

Microsoft Visual Basic (VB) is identified as a programming language platform tool

to be used to create the software. VB is good platform for beginner and intermediate

programmer to create GUI software [11]. GUI programming offers friendly and easy

control to the user to supervise, monitor and authorize battery cyclic test. Real time

DAQ system is programmed into the system to obtain experimental parameter.

Parameters such as charging voltage, charging current, discharging current, battery

voltage and battery temperature are obtained from the hardware via DAQ device.

The design of DAQ system is made of Advantech USB 4716 device and the device

driver is Advantech Navigator 3.0.

1.7 Significance of Study

Significance of this project is that the software that can be used to investigate

life cycle performance of battery. This project can contribute in battery technology

development especially in green vehicle technology.

6

1.8 Thesis Outline

This thesis is organized into 5 chapters and they are outlined as below:

Chapter 1 explains the introduction, background study and problem

statement of Design & Develop Automatic Battery Cyclic Tester, research objective,

the scope of project, significant of the study and the thesis outlines.

Chapter 2 describes the architecture used in the project. It gives a brief

review of battery technology in various applications, battery cell design and theory,

various battery testing methods, programming language used for developing GUI,

PC Interfacing between GUI Software and DAQ device Advantech USB 4716.

Chapter 3 provides description and discussion on the design of the GUI

Software and PC Interfacing of the DAQ device, Software Framework, Data

Acquisition System, software simulation and Database design. This chapter intends

to explain the methodology of this project.

Chapter 4 shows the results and discussions about software simulation

results and finalized software design with DAQ device is programmed in the develop

software.

Lastly, chapter 5 summarizes the overall conclusion for this thesis and a few

suggestion and recommendation for future development.

7

1.9 Conclusion In this chapter, the problem statement of this research project is stated clearly

with the help of background study. Thus, research objective and research scope can

be listed properly. With all the comprehension of research framework, all in this

chapter component could be used to mapping and drive this research to completion.

In next chapter, the literature review of this research component will be described

briefly and concise.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the literature review of research component. Project

component that reflect to this research such as battery technology, battery testing

method, GUI Software programming and DAQ System design are explained in term

of literature review and theoretically.

2.2 Battery Invention

It is Volta who’s discovered the first battery in 1800. In his research, a

continuous flow of electrical force is generated when certain fluids were used as

ionic conductors to promote an electrochemical reaction between two metals

electrodes [9]. The basic construction of electricity storage is called voltaic cell. A

battery in definition is an electrical device that capable of converting chemical

energy into electrical energy and vice versa.

9

Lead acid battery was found by Goston Plante a France Scientist in 1859

[10]. Perhaps, it is the oldest rechargeable battery was created in human history.

Since then the application for rechargeable battery is increase in various field and

demand. In some way, lead acid battery can be either advantages or disadvantage

regarding particular application. Nevertheless, battery is solely device that capable

of storing electrical energy for portable application purpose since electrical power

system cannot be reach in mobile application.

Today, the advancement in battery technology had made great contribution in

humanity. Battery is widely used as power storage generated from renewable energy

such as Photovoltaic (PV), Solar Energy, Wind Energy and others small scale

energy. Power stored in the battery in term of chemical reaction that will produce

potential difference that converts chemical reaction into electricity. Battery is widely

used in UPS application, conventional vehicle, hybrid vehicle, aircraft, military,

telecommunication and etc. When high security in power supply becomes an issue,

in order to mitigate power interruption a particular battery type is used to provide

power during blackout. Type of battery will depend on variety of battery application

that requires a particular current (Amp) to be supplied into a desired load

2.3 Cell Design and Theory

Lead dioxide (PbO2) in the positive plate, sponge lead (Pb) in negative plate

and a solution sulphuric acid (H2SO4) in water as electrolyte are the active material

in lead acid cell. The chemical reaction during discharge and recharge is normally

written:

PbO2 + Pb + 2 H2SO4 2PbO4 + 2H2O

Discharge

Charge

10

This reaction gives the ideal proportions by weight of the reactants to deliver

capacity at a very low discharge rate when the amount of PbO2, lead and sulphuric

acid would be simultaneously depleted to zero. In practical, the reactions during

discharge are not carried to completion and the theoretical capacity of reactant is

never delivered.

Basically, three components must exist in battery construction; the negative

electrode (cathode), positive electrode (anode) and electrolyte or known as aqueous

solution that provide ionic positive and negative charge. The chemical reaction

known as Oxidation-Reduction transfers charge from ions in solution to conducting

electrons in the electrode.

Electrical conduction mechanism is via migration of ions via diffusion or drift

that occurred within the electrolyte. Up until diffusion within electrolyte replenishes

ions near electron, excess electrons are created in lead electrode (anode), and

electron deficit (decrease) is created in lead-dioxide electrode (cathode). Electric

field is generated at electrode surfaces and particularly opposes the flow of ions. The

excess electron creates potential difference across battery terminal (Figure 2.1).

By connecting the battery to electrical power source (Figure 2.2), electrons

will be forced to flow from positive to negative terminals; this will increases the

charge and the voltages at the electrodes. The chemical reactions are driven in the

reverse direction converting electrical energy into stored chemical energy. As the

charge increases, the acid electrolyte becomes stronger.

On the other hand, when connecting the battery into external circuit (Figure

2.3) that contains load (resistance), the connection allows electrons to flow from

negative to positive terminals. This reduces the charge and the voltages at the

electrodes. The chemical reactions are able to proceed, generating new electrons and

generating the power that is converted to electrical form to provide supply for

11

external electrical load. As the battery is discharged, the electrodes become coated

with lead sulphate and the acid electrolyte become weaker.

Figure 2.1: Basic battery construction without connected to external circuit

Figure 2.2: Battery is connected to external power supply (charging)

12

Figure 2.3: Battery is connected to external electrical load (discharging)

2.4 Battery Testing

Battery testing is carried out to obtain important information regarding the

battery status. Battery testing answers technical question about state-of-charge,

state-of-health, battery performance, life prediction, capacity and others important

battery specification and behavior. In order to conduct several of battery testing, it is

crucial to understand how battery parameter is measured. There is two type of

measurement in battery testing, direct measurement and indirect measurement [9]

[12].

There is few type of battery testing [13]:

Qualification test

Abuse test

Cycle test

Load test

13

Each test aims to seek answer of battery behavior. In this project, cycle test

will be implemented on the battery to analysis life cycle of 12V lead acid battery.

Cyclic test is perhaps the most important of the qualification tests. Battery is

subjected to repeated charge - discharge cycles to verify that the cells meet or exceed

the manufacturer's claimed cycle life. Cycle life is usually defined as the number of

charge - discharge cycles a battery can perform before its nominal capacity falls

below 80% of its initial rated capacity. These tests are needed to verify that the

battery performance is in line with the end product reliability and lifetime

expectations and will not result in excessive guarantee or warranty claims.

Temperature, charge and discharge rates, and the Depth of Discharge (DOD)

each have a major influence on the cycle life of the battery [11]. Depending on the

purpose of the tests, the temperature and the DOD should be controlled at an agreed

reference level in order to have repeatable results which can be compared with a

standard. Alternatively the tests can be used to simulate operating conditions in

which the temperature is allowed to rise, or the DOD restricted, to determine how the

cycle life will be affected.

Similarly cycle life is affected by over charging and over discharging and it

is vital to set the correct voltage and current limits if the manufacturer's specification

is to be verified. Cycle testing is usually carried out banks of cells using multi

channel testers which can create different charge and discharge profiles including

pulsed inputs and loads. At the same time various cell performance parameters such

as temperature, capacity, impedance, output power and discharge time can be

monitored and recorded. Typically it takes about 8.5 hours for a controlled full

charge discharge cycle. Hence, testing up to 500 cycles will take 177 days assuming

working 7 days per week 24 hours per day. Thus it takes a long time to verify the

effect of any ongoing improvements made to the cells. Because the ageing process is

continuous and fairly linear, it is possible to predict the lifetime of a cell from a

smaller number of cycles. However to prove it conclusively in order to guarantee a

product lifetime would require a large number of cells and a long time. For high

power batteries this could be very expensive.

14

2.5 Microsoft Visual Basic

Visual Basic (VB) is a programming environment from Microsoft in which a

programmer uses a graphical user interface (GUI) to choose and modify preselected

sections of code written in the BASIC programming language. Visual Basic is fully

object-oriented and compatible with many other languages using the .NET

Framework. The VB studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is

incredibly powerful and provided hundreds of tools for building and modifying

projects. Thus provides easy platform for new beginner or intermediate personal in

software programming.

Microsoft Windows uses a graphical user interface, or GUI (pronounced

“gooey”). The Windows GUI defines how the various elements look and function.

When create a new windows it is called as form. Then when use the toolbox to add

the various elements, it is called controls. The projects that are written follow a

programming technique called object-oriented programming (OOP).

2.5.1 Microsoft’s Visual Studio

The latest version of Microsoft’s Visual Studio, called Visual Studio 2010,

includes Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C# (C sharp), Visual F# (F sharp), JScript,

and the .NET 4 Framework.

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DESIGN & DEVELOP AUTOMATIC BATTERY CYCLIC TESTER …umpir.ump.edu.my/4871/1/cd6759_95.pdf · Tindak balas kimia dalam setiap bateri berubah maka memberi kesan kepada prestasi bateri