A Constrained Intersubmodule State-of-Charge Balancing Method for Battery Energy Storage Systems Based on the Cascaded H-Bridge Converter

In the operation of battery energy storage systems (BESSs) based on the cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converters, it is desirable to balance the state of charge (SoC) among the submodules (SMs) within each phase arm. However, there are constraints on the active power distribution among the SMs that intend to balance the SoC. For instance, each SM in a practical system is designed with a specific power rating and can be damaged if it is exceeded. Therefore, a novel rule-based method is proposed in this article to achieve a fast SoC balancing, while respecting the power constraints of the SMs. The proposed method is general and readily applicable to hybrid BESSs, where the SMs are integrated with heterogeneous energy storage. Experimental results are obtained to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and to compare its performance with respect to existing methods.