A Research on the Estimation Method for the SOC of the Lithium Batteries Using AC Impedance

Lithium batteries are widely used in mobile electronic devices due to their higher voltage and energy density, lighter weight and longer life cycle compared to other secondary batteries. In particular, high demand for lithium batteries is expected for electric cars. In case of lithium batteries used in electric cars, driving distance must be calculated accurately and discharging should not be done below the level of making it impossible to crank. Therefore, accurate information about state of charge (SOC) becomes an essential element for reliable driving. In this paper, a new method of estimating the SOC of lithium polymer batteries by using AC impedance is proposed. In the proposed method, parameters are extracted by fitting a curve of impedance measured at each frequency on the equivalent impedance model and extracted parameters are used to estimate SOC. Experiments were conducted on lithium polymer batteries with similar capacities made by different manufacturers to prove the validity of the proposed method.