ENERGY

Battery Management System

1. LiFePO4 Version
Ashwoods Energy has developed its BMS technology with the benefit of more than 2 Million miles
of real world recorded data in demanding hybrid drive cycles. Ashwoods real world experience
with lithium powered hybrid Light Commercial Vehicles has highlighted some significant deficiencies
in Battery Management Systems. These deficiencies reduce the Lithium battery packs ability to
perform to its full potential in a self sustaining hybrid vehicle application.

Ashwoods Energy BMS addresses these key BMS deficiencies:

Current drain from the battery packs when not in use which unbalances and discharges the
battery pack during storage.
Long time constant balancing caused by low balance current which, whilst acceptable
for EV charging, is ineffective on a Hybrid application. This can be compounded by slow
communication from the battery management system which makes it difficult for the system
to maintain an accurate picture of the battery packs state of health.
Cost and Complex Integration to battery pack.

Ashwoods Energy supplies a range of BMS software to suit different applications.

The information below details the features of the following:

Generic features present in all Ashwoods BMS products (hardware and software)
Ashwoods Energy BMS specific features
OEM BMM Populated PCB with mounting holes
Standard Battery Management Module (BMM) Populated PCB mounted in a die-cast
Aluminium Chassis

1 of 6
Ashwoods Automotive Ltd.
www.ashwoodsenergy.org

Ranked No.1 in Top 25 Fastest Growing Cleantech

Companies in Europe

Bob Beckwith, Global Applications Manager, 01392 341 157

mobile 07918 768 024, bob.beckwith@ashwoods.org

ENERGY

Battery Management System

2. Ashwoods Energy BMS Generic Features and Functions

Distributed modular digital balancer with 8 cells managed per BMM

Two remote temperature sensors for each 8 cell module.
Cell voltage measurement accurate to 10mV
Isolation voltage from chassis Ground 1kV minimum.
Module Operating Temperature range -40C to +65C.
Modules are field reprogrammable via CAN boot loader. This facilitates rapid firmware
updates without dismantling battery pack assemblies.
Zero Quiescent current drain for Cells during storage resulting in significantly longer storage
Multi parameter balance algorithm based on cell voltage and temperature
CAN Bus data rate 250 or 500Kbits/s, Bus termination is split method on the first and last
modules in chain to improve EMC immunity and performance.
Externally powered from isolated 12V bus for maintenance charge to maintain pack
readiness during storage. Cells are always primed, balanced and ready to use.
Whole pack balance strategy without the requirement for centralised master to control. This
ensures all cells are balanced within the pack rather than just balanced locally to the battery
management module, which provides safe optimal output operation of the battery pack.
Isolated high speed CAN communication between battery management modules.
Robust automotive standard communications with good Electro Magnetic Interference
Immunity and significantly higher data throughput when compared to serial communication
schemes.
BMM are designed for 1kV DC peak operation with all contact edges and mounting holes of
the module at chassis ground potential for safe mounting. Reliable integration without the
need for secondary insulation on mountings and fasteners.
Isolated fault line parallel accessed by all modules.
Continuity check provided by fault line idling high, the pull up is provided by last module in
chain.
Fault event count and cycle count logging.
Wired balance connection optional using 2mm pitch JST XH connector series.

3. Cell Protection
Cell Over voltage protection, any cell >3.9 V exceeding fault time activates fault line and CAN
protection message
Cell Under voltage protection, any cell <2.1 V exceeding fault time activates fault line and
CAN protection message.
Cell over temperature protection, any cell >55C exceeding fault time activates fault line and
CAN protection message.
Cell rate of change of temperature (dT/dt) protection. This provides redundant protection
against over charge, over discharge or short circuit conditions if a voltage monitoring fault
occurs. If dT/dt exceeds safety threshold fault line is activated and CAN protection message
broadcast.
Balance Current up to 900mA
BMM update rate 20Hz per 8 cells
High speed maintenance charge algorithm

2 of 6
Ashwoods Automotive Ltd.
www.ashwoodsenergy.org

Ranked No.1 in Top 25 Fastest Growing Cleantech

Companies in Europe

Bob Beckwith, Global Applications Manager, 01392 341 157

mobile 07918 768 024, bob.beckwith@ashwoods.org

ENERGY

Battery Management System

4. Ashwoods Energy BMS features
Cell impedance tracking algorithm to significantly improve balance rate and accuracy of cell
State of Health (SOH) / lifetime monitoring.
CAN charger communication to known pre-calibrated chargers
CAN Motor controller broadcast message with appropriate current limits
PC based configuration of cell parameters and current limit profiles (OEM only tool)
Active balance strategy whenever required based on impedance corrected cell voltages.
Fuel Gauge algorithm monitors and broadcasts each cells state of charge (SOC) and state of
health (SOH).
Each module broadcasts the maximum charge and discharge current limits that are possible
based on cell temperature, SOC, SOH and module balance.

5. OEM BMM Dimensions

3 of 6
Ashwoods Automotive Ltd.
www.ashwoodsenergy.org

Ranked No.1 in Top 25 Fastest Growing Cleantech

Companies in Europe

Bob Beckwith, Global Applications Manager, 01392 341 157

mobile 07918 768 024, bob.beckwith@ashwoods.org

ENERGY

Battery Management System

6. OEM BMM Mounting Locations

7. Standard BMM

4 of 6
Ashwoods Automotive Ltd.
www.ashwoodsenergy.org

Ranked No.1 in Top 25 Fastest Growing Cleantech

Companies in Europe

Bob Beckwith, Global Applications Manager, 01392 341 157

mobile 07918 768 024, bob.beckwith@ashwoods.org

ENERGY

Battery Management System

8. Standard BMM Dimensions
The Advanced BMM mounting chassis provides 6 x M3 mounting positions as indicated in the
drawing above. There is also a 1mm lip around the base to facilitate through panel mounting.
The heatsink chassis option above allows the advanced BMM to operate at full Automotive
specification + 85c.

9. BMM Connection topology.

All Battery Pack data is available on the CANbus at all times. To aid system integration, Ashwoods
offer Interface modules for specific customer applications such as the System Interface Module (SIM)
Hybrid Battery Interface Module (HBIM) and Electric Vehicle Interface Module (EBIM). These can be
used to either convert CANbus to RS232 format for simple applications or for interfacing to Motor
Controllers, providing Charger Enable/Disable lines and relay outputs that can be used to drive 12 V
coil contactors. The Ashwoods CANbus Current Sensor (CCS) can also be used to drive contactors.

5 of 6
Ashwoods Automotive Ltd.
www.ashwoodsenergy.org

Ranked No.1 in Top 25 Fastest Growing Cleantech

Companies in Europe

Bob Beckwith, Global Applications Manager, 01392 341 157

mobile 07918 768 024, bob.beckwith@ashwoods.org

ENERGY

Battery Management System

Examples of output configurations are:

Charge Inhibit Signal / Over Cell Voltage Protection: Request to halt charging event due to high
cell voltage event. This can output can also be used as a charge complete signal.
Charge Cut back / Balance signal: Request to reduce charging current to allow cell balancing
to continue without causing an over voltage event. This signal can also be used to request
reduced charging current in low temperature conditions.
Discharge Inhibit Signal/ Low Cell Voltage Protection: Request to halt discharging due to a low
cell voltage event.
Discharge Cut back/ Low SOC: Request to reduce discharge current due to low pack state of
charge. This signal can also be used to request reduced discharge current in low temperature
conditions.
Temperature Protection: This signal indicates that the cells have reached their maximum
charge or discharge temperature limit.
Ashwoods also provide free PC Monitoring Software, which allows customers to monitor
all battery pack cells and parameters and also to update BMS firmware as required without
opening the battery pack.

6 of 6
Ashwoods Automotive Ltd.
www.ashwoodsenergy.org

Ranked No.1 in Top 25 Fastest Growing Cleantech

Companies in Europe

Bob Beckwith, Global Applications Manager, 01392 341 157

mobile 07918 768 024, bob.beckwith@ashwoods.org