Simulation of the current distribution in lead-acid batteries to investigate the dynamic charge acceptance in flooded SLI batteries

Measurements show that the dynamic charge acceptance (DCA) of flooded SLI lead-acid batteries during micro-cycling in conventional and micro-hybrid vehicles is strongly dependent on the short-term history, such as previous charge or discharge, current rate, lowest state of charge in the last 24 h and more. Factors of 10 have been reported. Inhomogeneous current distribution, especially as a result of acid stratification, has been suggested to explain the DCA variability. This hypothesis was investigated by simulation of a two-dimensional macrohomogeneous model. It provides a spatial resolution of three elements in horizontal direction in each electrode and three elements in vertical direction. For an existing set of parameters, different current profiles were analyzed with regard to the current distribution during charging and discharging. In these simulations, a strong impact of the short-term history on current, charge and acid density distribution was found as well as a strong influence of micro-cycles on both charge distribution and acid stratification. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.