Improved Battery Lifetime

About

Background Renewable electrical energy systems require energy storage solutions to capture energy when they are not being used, and supply energy when renewable sources are unavailable. Storage devices such as lithium-ion batteries contribute significantly to total system costs, encouraging innovation in reducing the total cost-of-ownership. Technology Overview This work proposes a new energy storage system to improve the lifetime of the electrochemical batteries while utilizing the maximum available solar/wind energy. A pulsed charging and discharging method is employed in split battery banks to improve the longevity of the Li-ion batteries. In this approach, the harvested energy from solar panels is alternatively stored in the battery banks to prevent losing free green energy and thus reducing the consumer electricity cost. The primary studies show that the method can improve the battery lifetime by more than 20%. Stage of Development: Experimentally verified in lab setting.