Ultrasonic Nondestructive Diagnosis of Cylindrical Batteries Under Various Charging Rates

Lithium-ion batteries have been used increasingly as electrochemical energy storage systems for electronic devices and vehicles. It is important to accurately estimate the state of charge (SoC) of a battery management system to control the battery operation to optimize performance, lifetime, and safety. The current work experimentally leverages ultrasonic diagnostic technology to investigate the SoC of lithium-ion batteries during the charge/discharge processes. A cylindrical-type nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA)–based 2500mAh 20A (INR18650-25R) battery was used for ultrasonic measurements with various charge/discharge rates of C/10.4, C/5.2, and C/1.3 at constant currents. The ultrasonic signals were analyzed for extracting wave velocity and wave attenuation. For all the testing rates, wave velocity increased in the charge process and decreased in the discharge process. Velocity profiles corresponding to lower rates of C/10.4 and C/5.2 exhibited primary peaks at the maximum SoCs, whereas the absolute wave velocity of C/1.3 rate showed primary peaks that occurred slightly after the SoC peak, indicating a delayed maximum Young's modulus. The wave attenuation computed for the C/10.4 rate had local maxima in the charge and discharge processes and depicted negative correlations with SoC, ranging from 0% to 18%, and positive correlations with SoC from 18% to 85%. On the other hand, the wave attenuation curves of the C/1.3 rate showed no local peaks and had negative correlations with SoC, ranging from 0% to 28%, and positive correlations with SoC ranging from 28% to 53%.