What is a battery management system (BMS)?

The BMS protects the battery from operating outside the specifications, balances it, monitors the health of the cells and communicates the battery status to higher-level systems. STMicroelectronics provides a range of integrated circuits allowing to build up battery management systems for Lithium-Ion batteries.

What is BMS technology for stationary energy storage systems?

This article focuses on BMS technology for stationary energy storage systems. The most basic functionalities of the BMS are to make sure that battery cells remain balanced and safe, and important information, such as available energy, is passed on to the user or connected systems.

What is BMS balancing?

The balancing approach is typically used to classify BMS types, although other design aspects play important roles, such as different approaches to state estimation and information flows. Cells, or electrochemical cells, like lithium-ion cells are the smallest unit of energy storage within a pack.

What makes a good BMS design?

The single most important factor in BMS design is the team and its expertise. Traditionally, BMS design has been the domain of electrical engineers, who are indeed best placed to design the circuitry, but don’t typically have much knowledge of the inner workings of batteries.