SPEEDAM 2008

International Symposium on Power Electronics,

Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion

 Improved Lead -Acid Battery Modelling for

Photovoltaic Application by Recurrent Neural
Networks
G. Tina*, G. Capizzi*
* Department of Electric, Electronic & Systems Engineering University of Catania
Viale A. Doria 6 -95125 Catania, Italy

performance and economics of PV. The application of

energy management is based on State of Charge (SOC)
monitoring aimed to minimize battery SOC stress, or
supply the power by the batteries.
Several models have been reported in the literature in
order to simulate the performance of different kinds of
batteries. Circuital model networks, linearized mathematical battery models are widely used to calculate and
predict the complex battery discharge phenomena.
Nowadays the contributions on battery modeling show
different levels in accuracy so as in easily of parameters
identification.
Extensive comparisons and evaluations with some
selected models, generally recognised as reliable have
shown that further efforts are needed to make refinements
on the single battery cell model [1]-[10].
The RNN based approach is proposed in order to obtain
an improved discharge battery modelling by using our
improved mathematical model in conjunction with the
neuro-procedure processing of the experimental voltage
data at constant current discharge regime. An RNN based
SOC observer can be usefully exploited to improve the
battery modeling especially at low rate discharge regime.
In fact it was observed that the mathematical discharge
battery models can provide terminal voltage behaviour
with high level of accuracy only at fast and deep
discharge regime. In some operating regimes
underestimated and overestimated SOC values, depending on the simulated models, lead to failures in cell
voltage prediction. It provides more accurate SOC
values estimation with respect to the merely based
mathematical battery cell model, so achieving an
improved voltage modeling at low rate discharge regime.
The main simulation results reported in the paper are
compared with the experimental and model-calculated
data. The battery modeling was made by using a 6x4x3x2
RealTime Recurrent Neural Networks (R-T RNN) .

Abstract--The paper presents some multilayer Recurrent

Neural Networks (RNNs) to improve the highly non linear
behaviour modelling of lead acid cell battery. Dynamic
RNNs, keeping into account the non-linear dynamic
behavior of both input-output variables of the battery
charge-discharge processes, provide a powerful tools in the
above mentioned problem, despite the higher computational
burden involved respect to the feed-forward networks. Since
the electric current supplied by the battery is dependent
upon the user application, it can be regarded as the only
effective external input of the dynamic system described by
the equations, and then of the RNNs. The basic variables of
the discharge process are in fact both voltage and SOC.
Index Terms-- Battery modelling, Neural network
applications, Nonlinear circuits, Recurrent neural networks.

I. INTRODUCTION
While extensive research has been carried out to
develop new types of batteries and converters to convert
appropriately the batteries output, very little work has
been done in modeling the battery itself. The fact that
most power converters are now switched at relatively
very high frequencies (much higher than 50Hz) will
require new model of the batteries to take into account
the operation of the battery under this high switching
mode (dynamic behavior).
The State Of Charge (SOC) evaluation is a fundamental
step, especially in energy flows management problems of
stand alone Photovoltaic (PV) hybrid systems, in fact
Lead-acid batteries are the dominant energy storage in the
PV stand-alone systems. Nevertheless, uneconomical
lifetime of the battery is one typical feature of such
systems. During the last decade, the attention of system
developers has concentrated on analysing the reasons for
this premature battery failure. Sensitivity of the battery
and severe operating conditions of the PV systems
stimulate the battery ageing mechanisms and result in
rapid degradation of its capacity. Therefore the battery
always suffers from short life-cycle under stand alone PV
systems. However, there is some technological
development on the component level that allows to
obtain special solar batteries, which have s relatively
longer life cycle under PV operating conditions. These
technologies are still expensive and rarely available in the
current markets of developing countries. On the other
hand, operation control plays an important role in the

978-1-4244-1664-6/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE

II. THE PROPOSED BATTERY MODELING

The complex, nonlinear behavior of electrochemical
batteries can be conveniently modeled using equivalent
electric networks. Although these networks contain
elements that are nonlinear and depend on battery stateof-charge and electrolyte temperature, they are very
useful for the electric engineer, since they allow to think
in terms of electric quantities, instead of internal battery
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The battery capacity model of CT has been tested by

using data available from several lead-acid battery
manufacturers. In fig. 2 is shown one of this test.

electrochemical reactions. There have been many

electrical models of batteries, from lead-acid to polymer
Li-ion batteries. Most of these electrical models fall
under three basic categories: Thevenin [3][9],
impedance [10], [11], and runtime-based models [12].
The Thevenin approach presented here belongs to the
first category which allows us to reach the best result in
terms of generality and accuracy. This category is
commonly approached by an electric circuit with a
voltage source E in series with an internal resistance 0
as shown in fig. 1. The internal electrochemical
electromotive force (emf ) E and the internal resistance
0 are functions either of internal electric parameters or
electric quantities observable at the terminals. Moreover
the battery capacity CT (Ahour at a specified discharge
time t ) must be carefully modeled in a consistent manner
with the capacity drop at increasing discharge current,
than related to the time history of the battery. The
proposed dynamic discharge battery model takes into
account the changing either in the internal resistance or in
the internal electrochemical emf.

Fig. 2. Capacity versus Current (HOPPECKE 12V 20PzS100).

III. BATTERY CELL MODELING BY DINAMICAL RNNS

APPROACH
The analysis of a non linear electric circuit with a
voltage source in series with an internal resistance related
respectively to the internal electrochemical electromotive force (emf) E and the internal resistance R0 both
functions either of internal electric parameters or electric
observable quantities at the terminals, provides simple
and powerful tool to evaluate the battery performance.
At present the tuning procedure of the empirical
coefficient needed to use the circuital model reported in
the previous section is performed in a heuristic manner.
The use of RNN leads to improvement in the battery
discharge modeling, and the extraction of the parameters
to be used in circuital models.
As stated by some researchers RNN behaviour is similar
to the IIR filter behaviour, whose output response
depends on the previous outputs value. The weight vector
of the network is WT =[aT bT ] and a e b are the weight
vectors related respectively to the external input vector xi
(the supplied electric current i) and the state vectors
(SOC and voltage v) of a FIR filter. The basic block
diagram of RNN is shown in fig.3
In order to estimate the unknown vectors a e b, a training
procedure with a set of input-output data pattern is
required and a recursive gradient type scheme has to be
used for the training of the network [13].
The battery modeling was made by using a 6x10x10x8x2
real time RNN as depicted in fig 4.
Relevant considerations and guidelines about choice,
design and training of the selected RNN lie in. the
accurate evaluation of the learning curves and output
response by changing the learning rate value, so as the
pattern data input choice and normalization [13 ].

Fig. 1. Equivalent circuit of the lead-acid battery model.

A. The proposed Mathematical battery model

The basic dynamic battery discharge equations are the
following:

E0  E e ln( SOC )

R0  R1 ln(J /(J  q / CT ))

CT

C0 

(1)

where:
q is the so-called extracted charge, i.e., the charge
that has been actually extracted from the battery
starting from a completely full battery (battery is
full when t=0 );
C0 is the nominal capacity;
SOC = 1  q / C0 is the State Of Charge;
CT is the battery capacity at current i;
R0 is a constant parameter;
Ee , R1 J, E are empirical coefficients.

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calculate the model parameters are established as

follows. Let us consider the equation (1). If the no-load
battery emf is measured, this equation provide also the
ohmic resistance R0. This is an important calculation
because at low discharge rate the value of R1 is lower
than R0.. Reversely increasing the discharge rate, the
value of R1 rise. up to 4*R0 due to the increasing non
linearity. At the beginning of the discharge process by
constant rated current, the calculation of Ee is performed
exploiting the slope of the voltage curve and the SOC
values evaluated by the RNN output traces.
The proposed procedure to predict the battery discharge
behaviour by RNN battery cell modeling
and
mathematical model leads to set some parameters in a
systematic manner over a wide range of discharge
operation. The effect of aging and operating temperature
on the battery performance will be incorporate in the
neural modeling by changing the value of thresholds and
the parameters of activation function.

Fig. 3. Schematic of a basic RNN.

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT
The validity of the proposed SOC evaluation model is
based on and verified by means of a series of
experimental tests In the test setup, battery voltage and
battery current waveforms are taken from Hall-effect
voltage and current transducers by means of the analog
interface. The data are sampled at 5 Hz, and recorded on
a PC, using a data acquisition system. The data
acquisition system used consists of LabView software, a
data acquisition card and a sample-and-hold card
(DAQPad-6015) from National Instruments. The
DAQPad-6015 converts analog inputs to digital data at
0.2 MS/s rate with 16-bit resolution. It has 16 singleended analog inputs . The collected data are processed by
MATLAB software, and the time variations of battery
voltage, battery current and SOC are obtained for
different charge-discharge strategies.
The test are conducted on 4x12 V, 100-Ah rated capacity
HOPPECKE mod. 2OPzS100 open vase, lead-acid
battery. The manufacturers data giving the necessary
constant currents to be supplied to the tested batteries to
discharge them to 1.75 V/cell level for different time
durations.
Four charge tests at 7 A, 10 A, 18 A constant currents,
three discharge tests at 2A, 5A and 7A constant currents
and two tests at cyclical current at 2A and 7A, with 15
and 20 minutes switching time respectively were carried
out.

Fig. 4. The selected recurrent neural networks for lead acid cell
modeling.

The 36 neurons are arranged in five layers: an input layer,

three hidden layers and an output layer. The number of
processing recurrent neurons in the hidden layer is 28.
Then the slots of the recurrent weights matrix of the
network are filled by 256 weights. The four synaptic
weights matrix were calculated according to the real time
recurrent learning algorithm implemented in Matlab.
Training of the RNN was done under both current
constant discharge rate and cycling behavior. A more
detailed description of the training algorithm can be
found in [13].
The learning curves showed that, by changing the
learning rate in the range 0.01-0.9, with fixed momentum
factor D, we get the target by the RNN outputs after
20000 iterations.

A. Charging tests
Charging tests were carried out with constant current
ensured by the power supply system throughout all the
experiment, whose target was the upper voltage limit
given by the manufacturer.
In these conditions, nearly all the current does not tend
to charge the battery, but rather causes a marked
gasification of the electrolithic solution.

IV. MODEL PARAMETERS ESTIMATION BY RNN OUTPUTS

EXPLOITATION
Accurate model parameters determination and tuning
is needed to avoid overestimated terminal voltages
values.
By a simple measurement of the no load battery voltage
and by exploitation of the RNN output a procedure to

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B. Discharge tests
In carrying out discharge tests, a constant current load
was applied until a minimum voltage threshold was
reached, depending both on the applied current and
temperature, with the same law indicated for the charging
process.
During discharge it is important not to go down this
threshold, so as to avoid precipitation phenomena that
might badly damage the battery.

The use of RNN in photovoltaic application leads to

significant improvement in battery discharge modelling
problems, and in the extraction of the parameters to be
used in circuital models. Simulation results show the
improved lead-acid battery modeling also at low
discharge rate and also the consistency of the proposed
procedure of parameters calculation. The preliminary
RNN training process can be obtained by simulated
current profiles, voltage and SOC values evaluated by the
tuned circuital models. The actual values of electric
currents to provide as external input to the proposed RNN
employed to model the dynamics of the battery discharge
cycling behaviour, can be obtained from on board data
acquisition systems.
Simulation study is a very important tool both to
investigate convenient discharge current profile, related
to the selected trajectories, for increased available
capacity, by analysis of battery SOC and voltage under
cycling operation, and to design hardware devices
implementing the circuital network battery model or
RNN.

VI. SIMULATION RESULT

In order to provide easy charge-discharge model
simulation, by the several current profiles as input data
pattern to the RNN, obtained from the available model
simulation and experimental data, the developed
simulation tool is split into two main Matlab routines.
The first one provides processing of the available data to
be used for further neural processing, while the second
one is the basic program used to perform dynamic
simulation. The effectiveness of the procedure described
in the previous section relies on a proper handling of the
experimental data by the neural net to be exploited for
accurate parameters calculation. The simulation results
of fig.5, fig.6 and fig.7 show that the experimental curve
and. simulated traces, obtained with the recurrent
neuroprocessing, are well matched, while the model
provides overestimated values..
The model with the parameters tuned by exploiting the
RNN traces (model improved) confirms the effectiveness
of both the model and parameters calculation procedure
presented in the previous sections. As shown by the
voltage traces shown in fig.5, fig.6 and fig.7, the model
prediction is improved compared with the already used
model.
A. Battery Cycling Behavior
During cycling discharge behavior of the battery
storage and at highly variable discharge currents, the
SOC values change dynamically and so does the terminal
voltage, strongly depending upon the time history of the
SOC values, rated discharge currents and its rated
change. Because the weights are expected to change, one
more training of the selected RNN was performed
providing as inputs the cycling current shown in fig. .
The main aim of these investigations (looking for the
maximum weights deviation) was to develop a single
trained RNN to be used for lead acid battery at any
discharge current shape. The simulation was performed
for 36 cycles.
In this case too it can be seen that the better agreement
with experimental data is obtained through the proposed
neural model.

Fig. 5. Battery voltage versus time at discharge current of 2A

VII. CONCLUSIONS
Fig. 6. Battery voltage versus time at discharge current of 5A

The potential of RNNs with respect to other neural

network approach is that they are able to take into
account the earlier value of current, SOC and voltage
when the battery discharge phenomenon is in progress.

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Fig. 7. Battery voltage versus time at discharge current of 7A

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