A Single-Inductor Based Active Cell Balancing Circuit for Lithium-Ion Battery Packs in Electric Vehicles
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: The growing adoption of electric vehicles has increased the demand for efficient battery management systems capable of ensuring safe and reliable operation of lithium-ion battery packs. Cell imbalance caused by manufacturing tolerances, aging, and temperature variations can significantly degrade battery performance, lifespan, and safety. This paper presents a single-inductor active cell balancing topology designed to reduce circuit complexity, component count, and equalization time while maintaining high efficiency. The proposed system employs complementary pulse-width modulation (PWM) control to enable bidirectional energy transfer between adjacent cells using a reduced number of switching components. Simulation results obtained in MATLAB/Simulink demonstrate that an initial voltage mismatch of approximately 3.5 V among six cells is eliminated within 87 s, while the state-of-charge (SOC) imbalance, ranging from 70% to 95%, converges to approximately 78% for all cells within 178 s. Compared with conventional balancing techniques, the proposed topology achieves rapid equalization while reducing hardware complexity, component count, and implementation cost. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed topology is a practical and efficient solution for advanced battery management systems in electric vehicles and renewable energy storage applications.
Language: English
Subfield: Automotive Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7204452978