Lead-acid Battery Automatic Grouping System Based on Graph Cuts

The inconsistent parameters of different lead-acid batteries in the same battery pack will result in the reduction of battery pack capacity and life. It is difficult to fundamentally solve the inconsistent parameters problem of lead-acid batteries. Battery grouping is a simple and effective approach for solving the performance inconsistency problem by packing batteries with close characteristic parameters. The traditional manual grouping method is labor intensive and prone to errors in measurement that will result in wrong grouping. In this article, a novel lead-acid battery automatic grouping system is developed based on graph cuts. This system consists of a PC server end, a wireless router, and several portable grouping devices. Based on embedded real-time operating, the proposed system realizes battery parameters characterization, data uploading, and automatic grouping processes. Using this battery automatic grouping system, batteries with close charge and discharge characteristics will be grouped into the same battery pack. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can provide superior performance over traditional manual methods.