Battery Systems

The increasing electrification in many areas of our everyday life, but especially in industry and technology, would hardly be possible without the use of modern batteries. The challenges of the energy transition to sustainable energy supply (Energiewende) and electromobility require high-performance battery systems that are optimized specifically for the purpose of each application.

In the Battery Systems group at Fraunhofer IISB we meet the growing demand by developing innovative solutions for rechargeable electrical energy storage systems, such as lithium-ion or redox flow batteries in mobile or stationary applications. Our focus lies on the safety, lifetime and reliability of the systems. We cover the entire development process, starting with the electrical, mechanical and thermal design of battery modules and packs, and ending with commissioning and integration. This also includes cell characterization, modeling, advanced state estimation algorithms (e.g. state of health (SOH)) hardware and software development for battery and energy management systems (BMS) and energy management systems (EMS), as well as and the design of complex energy storage systems.

Our battery systems are used, for example, in electrical vehicles (EV), racing cars, motorcycles and other road vehicles as well as in aircraft, ships and submarines. We also develop stationary storage systems, e.g. for smart grid applications in combination with renewable energies. Our development processes and our documentation are requirements-driven and optimized to support our customers in their application-specific certification processes (e.g. by FAA, TÜV).

With foxBMS® 2 Fraunhofer IISB delivers the second generation of its open-source battery management system (BMS). foxBMS® 2 is a flexible research and development platform that offers a high level of functional safety and advanced edge cloud capabilities. With complete documentation and comprehensive features, foxBMS® 2 provides the foundation that enables developers to implement their own solutions and proof-of-concepts. Solutions with individual requirements can be quickly developed and validated. foxBMS® 2 is designed for prototypes of advanced lithium-ion battery systems of any size, especially for systems that require the highest availability and safety. The necessary hardware and software for almost any type of mobile and stationary application using advanced rechargeable electrochemical energy storage systems is already available. These systems include lithium-ion, lithium-sulfur, lithium-metal, aluminum-ion, and redox-flow batteries and fuel cells. Our services cover customer-specific and certification ready adaptations of foxBMS® 2, for example for the automotive, aerospace, marine, industrial and renewable energy sectors.

foxBMS® 2 is particularly suitable for:

• R&D and test engineers: as a flexible, powerful and well-documented BMS platform
• Engineering companies: as a maintained and serviced BMS for their developments
• Small companies: as a royalty-free, open and sustainable BMS for the development of their products
• Research institutions: as a modular and universal BMS development platform
• Students: as a BMS platform with a free and open software development toolchain

The increasing energy density of lithium-ion batteries leads to increasing safety requirements in battery systems, especially in mobile applications such as urban air mobility or drone applications. These requirements can be addressed with adapted sensors and actuators, such as low-cost temperature sensors or high-power antifuses. We are working on specialized sensor and actuator solutions to improve the safety and reliability of lithium-ion battery systems. In collaboration with key players in the field of battery technology, system architecture, Tier 2, Tier 1 and OEM, we are developing distributed battery monitoring systems beyond state-of-the-art.

These systems integrate electronics and sensors to the battery cell, dramatically reducing system development costs as well as development time. Together, we develop intelligent solutions for your battery monitoring system that meet current and domain-specific safety standards and are designed to maximize battery system reliability.