Health-Aware Fast Charging Using Homogenized Model with Heterogeneous Internal State Reconstruction

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel homogenized model and control strategy for lithium-ion battery fast charging that prevents lithium plating by estimating heterogeneous anode potentials in real-time.

Contribution

It introduces a homogenized electrochemical model coupled with a virtual sensor for non-invasive potential estimation, enabling safe, efficient fast charging control.

Findings

Successfully maintains anode potentials above plating threshold during fast charging.

Reduces computational cost compared to high-fidelity models.

Demonstrates safe charging with model-based control in simulations.

Abstract

Fast charging of lithium-ion batteries is limited by lithium plating, which occurs when the anode potential drops below 0 V vs Li/Li+. Model-based control aims to maximize charging current while maintaining anode potentials above this threshold. In this work, a plating-free fast charging strategy is demonstrated using a Homogenized Model (HM) coupled with a classical PID controller. The HM, derived from homogenization theory applied to the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations, retains the physics of the Doyle-Fuller-Newman model while capturing electrode microstructural heterogeneity in a one-dimensional double-continua formulation. By reconstructing three-dimensional distributions of electrochemical variables from precomputed closure variables, the HM enables non-invasive estimation of heterogeneous anode potentials, acting as a virtual sensor. Through MATLAB-COMSOL co-simulation, a PID controller regulates current to maintain the full 3D anode potential distribution above the plating limit, achieving model-based fast charging at a fraction of the computational cost of high-fidelity models. The results demonstrate the potential of HM-based control for safe, degradation-aware, and efficient fast charging of lithium-ion batteries.