BMS for industrial Battery Storage Systems

The Stercom Battery Management (BMS) consists of the “Dynamic Cell Balancing” (DCB) boards integrated in the battery module and the higher-level String Management Units (SMU). With large battery stacks, each SMU evaluates up to 32 DCB series or parallel modules, organizes the optimal balancing strategy, controls and monitors the protective components such as fuses, DC isolators, pre-charging or insulation monitoring and communicates with the higher-level energy or charging management.

The DCB recognizes any asymmetries and deviations of Cells, that occur at an early stage and also counteracts them immediately, even during the peak load phase. This ensures that each individual cell is always operated in the optimal and safe area, much faster and more efficiently than any other method.

In large systems, up to 30 such SMUs are connected in a master-slave arrangement to form a battery cluster, with one SMU taking on the master function and being responsible for controlling and monitoring the entire battery cluster.

The extremely precise voltage and temperature measurement of the individual cells by the DCB as well as the highly accurate current / charge measurement in the SMU are the basis for a reliable SoC and SoH determination in the stack. Stercom's battery models allow a precise determination of the aging condition for many Li-cell technologies such as LFP, NMC or LTO cells, but also for SuperCaps. With the differential measurement method, even deviations in the SoH of individual cells in the stack can be detected quickly and reliably.

This enables a careful and adapted charging strategy and the operation of each individual cell in the optimal range.