Ford, General Electric and the University of Michigan are working together to develop a smart, miniaturized sensing system to extend the life of car batteries over conventional battery systems used in electric vehicles (EVs).
GE will use its ultrathin battery sensor system with sophisticated modeling of cell behavior to control and optimize battery management systems for improving the life of EV batteries.
Currently, sensors are used inside EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) to measure the health of the battery and look at factors such as temperature, voltage, and current.
Main aim of the ARPA-E project will be to develop small, cost effective sensors with new measurement capabilities.
The small size of the sensors will be placed in areas of the battery where the larger existing sensor technology commonly used can't be located.
The smaller sensors will allow a better understanding of battery performance and life inside current EVs.
GE Global Research principal investigator and mechanical engineer Aaron Knobloch said that improvements in the range, cost and life of the battery will all be needed for EVs to be competitive.
"With better sensors and new battery analytics, we think we can make substantial progress at increasing battery life," Knobloch said.
"This, in turn, could help bring down its overall cost and the cost entitlement of buying an electric car."
The use of sensors in combination with real-time models will allow novel algorithms that optimize how the battery system is managed to extend its life.
In order to reveal the capabilities of the sensor system and analytics, Ford will place the new system in one of its EVs for validation.
