Device optimization and application study of low cost printed temperature sensor for mobile and stationary battery based Energy Storage Systems

One of the most important physical parameters for state estimation in battery based Energy Storage Systems (ESS) is the temperature. This physical quantity does not only strongly influence state estimation for battery management systems, but also significantly affects lifetime and return on investment finally. Thus, monitoring the cell temperature is essential when high performance and efficiency is demanded. Contrary to this fact, less temperature sensors than battery cells are implemented in state of the art battery systems, to limit system costs. In this paper a low cost temperature sensor is presented. Based on printed electronics technology, a broad spectrum of designs and substrates is processable which leads to a variety of possible applications. After the selection of design and concept for battery applications, the processing of the sensor device is described. The main part of the paper is about the experimental validation of the printed temperature sensor performance. In a high power charge and discharge cycle of a single battery cell, the printed sensor is directly compared to state of the art temperature sensors implemented in mobile or stationary battery systems. Finally, the results are discussed and future perspectives are given. Both, the advantages and disadvantages of the printed temperature sensor are shown, whereas for the latter possible solutions are pointed out with respect to further developments.