Study of numerical models of Lithium Ion batteries

Abstract

The continuos grow of drone technologies and their applications, makes it crucial to have a better understanding of their power sources and their power consumption. LiPo batteries, one of the main subjects of this project, are the most popular power sources for drones and many other electrical devices. First step of the project was to get familiar with some the terms and technology involved. Some research was made in other to comprehend lithium ion technology and most importantly to understand what makes LiPO batteries so popular. The main part of the project consisted of calculating and developing a mathematical model, which can be use to represent a LiPO battery. For the calculation, it was necessary to make multiple controlled experiments with some LiPO batteries. The data recover from the experiment was analyze and use to find the parameters needed for the numerical model of the batteries. Once the parameters needed were found, the model was put to test, using some telemetry data obtained from flight tests. A number of flights were conducted in two different sessions. For the first set of flights, telemetry data simulating actual working conditions was obtained. These flight simulated applications such as precise agriculture and transmission tower inspections. For the second set of flights, four flights were conducted. Two of those flights were very important, since they were done using the same batteries as the ones used to calculated the numerical models. For these flights, one was conducted using a payload of about 1100 grams. Telemetry and videos taken from flights were used to see the effect of certain maneuvers on power consumption.