Hardware design of a BMS Gateway for High Voltage wireless battery monitoring

In the quest for sustainable transportation, electric vehicles (EVs) are emerging as a prominent solution in terms of reduced emissions, energy efficiency and lower maintenance requirements. However, critical concerns persist regarding safety and range limitations of these vehicles. Therefore, the development of a system aimed at addressing these issues is deemed necessary. This master thesis endeavors to design and develop a new concept of a Battery Management System (BMS), a crucial and essential system that typically performs advanced tasks to ensure optimal efficiency and management, thereby extending the battery life and driving range of EVs. Firstly, the basics of the most common EV architectures are introduced, with a specific focus on Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and their Energy Storage Systems (ESS) technologies, topologies, and compositions. Furthermore, the main electrical and automotive standards that were used as guidelines and the common practices to be followed for a proper High Voltage (HV) Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design are discussed. Secondly, an overview of the state-of-the-art in BMS is presented, providing the reader with a concise analysis of the common requirements, architectures, and features of Wired BMS systems. Additionally, the following chapters explain the main aspects covered during the design process, such as features analysis, component selection, simulations, schematic design, and PCB design. The goal of the project was to develop a modular system composed of two stackable boards: a Wireless MCU (WMCU) board, which handles the logics and communication side, and a Battery Management Unit (BMU) board that manages both Low Voltage and High Voltage signals and actuation inside the battery pack and the communication towards the vehicle. The peculiarity of this board is that it acts as a gateway toward a centralized system which will run the sophisticated algorithms, migrating the complexity to a high performance Electronic Control Unit (ECU) outside the battery pack, communicating and collecting data from the sensors with a wireless protocol. This project will serve as a reference for future designs inside Bylogix s.r.l, a company with headquarters in Grugliasco (TO) with the primary focus on providing electrical and electronic engineering services and solutions for the Automotive Industry to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers.