Electrochemical balancing of lithium-ion cells by nickel-based cells

This paper presents a topology to passively balance two types of lithium-ion cells without using additional active electrical components or employing any algorithm based balancing management systems. We connect nickel-metal hydride or nickel-zinc cells in parallel to lithium-ion cells. The hydrogen/oxygen recombination process of the nickel-based cells can be used to balance lithium-ion cells. Two serially connected lithium iron phosphate cells, combined each with two serially connected nickel-zinc cells, show a successful balancing of 8% of the lithium iron phosphate cell's initial capacity. A lithium titanate cell connected in parallel to two nickel-metal hydride cells can be fully charged without suffering from over-voltage effects by constant current charging.