Parameter estimation of an electrochemistry-based lithium-ion battery model using a two-step procedure and a parameter sensitivity analysis

Lithium-ion batteries are indispensable in various applications owing to their high specific energy and long service life. Lithium-ion battery models are used for investigating the behavior of the battery and enabling power control in applications. The Doyle-Fuller-Newman (DFN) model is a popular electrochemistry-based model, which characterizes the dynamics in the battery through diffusions in solid and electrolyte and predicts current/voltage response. However, the DFN model contains a large number of parameters that need to be estimated to obtain an accurate battery model. In this paper, a computationally feasible two-step estimation approach is proposed that only uses voltage and current measurements of the battery under consideration. In the two-step procedure, the parameters are divided into 2 groups. The first group contains thermodynamic parameters, which are estimated using low-current discharges, while the second group contains kinetic parameters, which are estimated using a well-designed highly-dynamic pulse (dis-)charge current. A parameter sensitivity analysis is done to find a subset of parameters that can be reliably estimated using current and voltage measurements only. Experimental data are collected for 12 Ah nickel cobalt aluminum pouch lithium-ion cell. The voltage predictions of the identified model are compared with several experimental data sets to validate the model. A root mean square error between model predictions and experimental data smaller than 16 mV is achieved.