Kalman Filter Based on SVM Innovation Update for

Predicting State-of Health of VRLA Batteries

Li Chang and Jiang Xiaoluo

College of physics and electronic information engineering

WenZhou University
WenZhou, China
a1L3381@tom.com

Abstract. This paper describes the dynamic model of valve regulated lead-acid
(VRLA) battery and presents application of state-estimation techniques for
online prediction of the state-of-health (SOH) and state-of-charge(SOC) of
VRLA batteries. Specifically, approach of Kalman filter (KF) based on the
innovation obtained through support vector machine (SVM) is presented. In the
proposed approach, factors related with the capacity of a VRLA battery have
been taken into account as elements of the multi-dimensional input vector while
time series is trained by SVM to predict future innovation. Then step by step
prognosis is implemented through Kalman predictor with innovation obtained
through SVM. Measurements using real-time data are used to verify the
capability of the proposed method for estimating SOH and SOC of VRLA
batteries. Experiment results show that our proposed methodologies are suitable
for monitoring the SOC and SOH of the battery, with accuracy in determining
the SOH and its trend of deterioration within 4%. Moreover, by accounting for
the nonlinearities present within the dynamic cell models, the application of KF
prediction based on SVM innovation update is shown to provide verifiable
indications of SoH.

Keywords: Kalman Filter, state of charge, state-of health, SVM, VRLA battery.

1 Introduction
Due to advantages of maintenance-free, large capacity, low prices, VRLA batteries
have been widely applied in various fields: power of communication systems, UPS
system, power DC panel, hybrid-electric vehicles and so on. It will play a positive
role if capacity of the batteries could be forecasted accurately and work-state of the
batteries could be predicted exactly.
With accurate measurement of SOC and exact prediction of SOH, it has a special
significance in the cases of ensuring the batteries to function properly; Only with the
exact separation of batteries with deterioration or the failed ones from a battery bank,
could the monitoring system play an efficient role to facilitate safely and operate
correctly. The predicted available capacity of a battery is an important performance
parameter in electrochemical industry, many laboratory methods and several
commercial devices have been reported and reviewed to predict this SOC status [1].

D. Zeng (Ed.): ICAIC 2011, Part II, CCIS 225, pp. 455–463, 2011.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
456 C. Li and X. Jiang

Method of load discharge test is usually an accurate and accepted way to measure
SOC of a battery, which is recommended by most of the manufactures. However, this
proposed method shows its own limitation if requirement of online supervision is
taken into the consideration, which restricts the scope of its application. Methods of
online test rely on measuring the transient voltage electric current and inner
resistance or the combination of these quantities. Method of measuring the resistance
can provide the accuracy better than 80% relatively since the electrolyte density of an
aged battery is reduced and its resistance is increased [2].However, VRLA battery is a
complex electrochemical system because the actual SOC and SOH of the tested
batteries are co-vary with temperature, cycles of charge and discharge, depth of
discharge, and many other factors. How to improve the prediction accuracy of the
residual capacity and the efficiency in the use of battery becomes a focus of research
in battery industry.
Different methods have been proposed in literatures for the SOH estimation [3].
These proposed methods for the SOH determination in literatures can be divided into
tow categories:
The first one is to determine the SOH in laboratory by measuring the extrinsic
parameters of a battery based on the relationship between the parameters and the
residual capacity, which rely on the theory of the internal workings in VRLA battery.
Due to the complexity of the theory, few methods works well enough while varieties
of batteries with different bands are taken into the consideration.
The other one is to determine the SOH based on system identification and
estimation of the model parameters, using the AC and DC impedances and
conductance measurements. VRLA battery is viewed as a black box in these
approaches and modeled as a nonlinear system which will be estimated by Kalman
Filter neural networks and fuzzy logic algorithms. The SOH of a VRLA battery can
be estimated accurately by measuring the voltage, appearing in the early stages of the
battery discharge [4][5]. Combination of these intelligence algorithms becomes a
trend in the research works on determining the SOH of VRLA batteries.
In this paper, expert system for status supervisory and fault diagnosis with real-
time prediction for SOC of VRLA batteries is presented with a dynamic model based
on the electrochemical operation of the battery and variations of terminal voltage and
current. Support vector machine is introduced with Kalman Filter while the unknown
model of the battery is estimated by means of system identification. Factors related
with the capacity of the VRLA battery have also been considered while time series is
trained by means of SVM to predict future innovation. Then step by step prognosis is
implemented as Kalman predictor with the updated innovation obtained by means of
SVM. One of the main advantages of the proposed method is that it can improve the
accuracy of the prediction and identify the trend of the deterioration correctly as an
online estimator for the SOH of these failed batteries.
This paper is organised as follows. Section 2 illustrates the model of VRLA
batteries and model-based state-estimation techniques using Kalman Filter. Section 3
provides the scheme of support vector machine and its application in the estimation
process while KF is employed to predict SOC and SOH of the batteries. Section 4
shows the experimental results. Section 5 gives a brief conclusion of the paper.
 Kalman Filter Based on SVM Innovation Update for Predicting State-of Health 457

2 Model of VRLA BATTERIES AND Kalman Prediction

A. Equivalent model of VRLA Batteries and its state-space description
Fig 1 shows a simplified equivalent model of VRLA batteries. This model has been
employed before to simulate the response of VRLA cells to constant current and
dynamic power cycles. In this figure, Rt is the lumped resistance due to the cell
interconnections.Re and Rs are the surface resistance and end resistance, respectively,
meanwhile, the capacitance Cb models the charge storability of the battery, Cs models
surface capacitance and diffusion effects within the battery. The voltage across the bulk
and surface capacitors are denoted Vb and Vs , respectively. Voltages and currents
describing the characteristics of the net-work shown in Fig.1, are given by
VO = IRt + I b Re + Vb (1)

VO = IRt + I s Rs + Vs (2)
After some algebraic manipulation, yields:
I b ( Re + Rs ) = IRs + Vs − Vb (3)
dVb
Since Ib = Cb , (4) can be rearranged to give
dt
dVb Vb Vs IRs
=− + + (4)
dt Cb ( Re + Rs ) C b ( Re + Rs ) Cb ( Re + Rs )

Fig. 1. Equivalent circuit of a VRLA battery

dVs Vs Vb IRs
=− + + (5)
dt C s ( Re + Rs ) C s ( Re + Rs ) Cs ( Re + Rs )
A state variable description relating the voltages and currents is obtained as follows:
⎡ dVb ⎤ ⎡− 1 1 ⎤ ⎡ Rs ⎤
⎢ dt ⎥ ⎢ Cb ( Re + Rs ) Cb ( Re + Rs ) ⎥ ⎡ b ⎤ Cb ( Re + Rs ) ⎥
V ⎢ (6)
⎢ dV ⎥ = ⎢ 1 1
⎥ ⎢ ⎥+⎢
Re
⎥ I
⎢ s⎥ ⎢ − ⎥ ⎣Vs ⎦ ⎢ ⎥
⎣ dt ⎦ ⎣⎢ C S ( Re + Rs ) C s ( Re + Rs ) ⎦⎥ ⎢⎣ C s ( Re + Rs ) ⎦⎥
458 C. Li and X. Jiang

The output voltage, as a function of terminal current, is given as follows:

⎡ Rs Re ⎤ ⎡Vb ⎤ ⎡ Re Rs ⎤
VO = ⎢ ⎥ ⎢V ⎥ + ⎢ Rt + ⎥I (7)
⎣ Re + Rs Re + Rs ⎦ ⎣ s ⎦ ⎣ Re + Rs ⎦
dI
Since the rate of change of terminal current is negligible, it is obvious: ≈ 0 , (6)
dt
can be rearranged to give:

dVo ⎡ Rs Re ⎤
= ⎢− + 2⎥
Vb
dt ⎣ Cb ( Re + Rs ) 2
C s ( Re + Rs ) ⎦
⎡ Rs Re ⎤
+⎢ − 2⎥
Vc (8)
⎣ Cb ( Re + Rs ) Cs ( Re + Rs ) ⎦
2

⎡ Rs
2
Re
2
⎤
+⎢ + 2⎥
I
C (
⎣ b e R + Rs ) 2
C s ( Re + Rs ) ⎦
The complete state variable description of the model can be obtained as follows:
⎡ dVb ⎤ ⎡− 1 1
0 ⎥
⎤
⎢ dt ⎥ ⎢ Cb ( Re + Rs ) Cb ( Re + Rs )
⎢ dV ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎡Vb ⎤
0 ⎥ ⎢⎢Vs ⎥⎥
1 1
⎢ s ⎥=⎢ −
⎢ dt ⎥ ⎢ C s ( Re + Rs ) C s ( Re + Rs ) ⎥
⎢ dVO ⎥ ⎢ ⎢ ⎥
A3,1 0 A3,3 ⎥ ⎣Vo ⎦
⎢⎣ dt ⎥⎦ ⎢ ⎥ (9)
⎣ ⎦
⎡ Rs ⎤
⎢ C (R + R ) ⎥
⎢ b e s
⎥
⎢ Re ⎥I
+
⎢ C s ( Re + Rs ) ⎥
⎢ B3,1 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ ⎦
2
Rs Rs
A3,1 = − +
C b Re ( Re + R s ) 2
C s ( Re + R s ) 2
Rs Re
+ +
C b ( Re + R s ) 2
C s ( Re + R s ) 2

Rs 1
A3,3 = −
Cb Re ( Re + Rs ) C s ( Re + Rs )
 Kalman Filter Based on SVM Innovation Update for Predicting State-of Health 459

2
Rs Rs Rt
B3,1 = −
C s ( Re + Rs ) 2 Cb Re ( Re + Rs )
Rt Re Rs
+ +
C s ( Re + Rs ) C s ( Re + Rs ) 2

(9) can be simplified as follow:

⎡ dVCb ⎤
⎢ dt ⎥ ⎡VCb ⎤
⎢ dV ⎥
⎢ Cs ⎥ = A × ⎢⎢VCs ⎥⎥ + B × I
(10)
⎢ dt ⎥ ⎢⎣ Vo ⎥⎦
⎢ dVo ⎥
⎢⎣ dt ⎥⎦

B. Kalman prediction and its shortcomings

Assuming the applied input is the current I , a discrete-time equivalent model of
the system is given by
x(k + 1) = Ax(k ) + Bu(k ) + τ (k )
(11)
y (k + 1) = Cx(k ) + Du(k ) + ζ(k )
τ (k ) and ζ(k ) denote the fault term and high order term in the state equation and
output equation, respectively [6]. The former represents system disturbances and
model inaccuracies caused by deterioration in the batteries. The latter represents the
effects of measurement noise. However, disturbances caused by deterioration will
lead the linear model to a non-linear one or a local linear one. Kalman Filter is used to
estimate the approximate linear system as follows:
^ ^
x(k + 1) = A x(k ) + Bu(k )
^
y (k + 1) = Cx(k + 1) + Du(k + 1) (12)
^
ε (k + 1) = y (k + 1) − y (k + 1)
^ ^
x(k + 1) = x(k + 1) + K (k + 1)ε (k + 1)
As a matter of fact, the predicted innovation ε (k ) presented in formula (12)
corresponds to model error caused by deterioration in the battery. Because the output
in the future time is unknown due to the variation of the model, Kalman prediction
will loss the function of the correction to model bias caused by the deterioration in the
battery, the iteration in the KF algorithm is doomed to failure. It is necessary to
modify the innovation to meet the variation of battery model caused by the
deterioration while KF prediction is carried out.
460 C. Li and X. Jiang

3 Kalman Prediction Based on SVM Innovation Update

Since KF prediction should be modified to adapt to the variation of the model caused
by the deterioration in the battery, we propose a new approach based on SVM.
Innovation predicted through the SVM time series is used for forecasting the future
values as the iteration in KF algorithm is modified, which makes it possible for KF
prediction to correct the model bias.

A. Prediction of time series based on SVM

Support Vector Machine is a linear machine working in the highly dimensional
feature space formed by the nonlinear mapping of the N-dimensional input vector
x into a K-dimensional feature space (K>N) through the mapping function φ (x) [7]
[8].
The key point in prediction of the time series using SVM is that how could
sequence of the measured values could be fitted to the character of a nonlinear
system. In the proposed SVM method, values in the past are collected as an input
vector x(k ) = [ x (k ), x ( k − 1, " , x( k − p + 1))] , the output is the value that will be
measured in the future x( k + 1) . A mapping function f : R → R is adopted in the
p

proposed regression based on SVM. The input learning data and the output data of the
regression based on SVM are as follows:
x( p) x( p − 1) " x(1) x( p + 1)
x( p )
X= x( p + 1) = x( p + 1) x( p ) " x(2) ,Y= x( p + 2)
# # # % # #
x( n − 1) x (n − 1) x(n − 2) " x(n − p ) x( n)

The prediction function obtained is as follows:

n −1
x(k ) = f (x(k − 1)) = ∑ (α i − α i ) K (x(i ), x(k − 1)) + b
*
(13)
i= p

As we know, α i is the lagrange multiplier [9], K () is kernel function and b is the bias.
B. Kalman filter prediction of the failed batteries based on SVM innovation update
The basic idea of Kalman detection based on SVM innovation update is that: SVM
time series model of the innovation is formed by the measured data at first, Kalman
filter detection is combined with SVM innovation prediction before the SOC and
trend of deterioration could be forecast. The prediction system can be divided into the
following two main steps:
(1) Prediction: State and the output in the future time are predicted as follows:
^ ^
x* (k + 1) = A x( k ) + Bu(k ) (14)
^
y (k + 1) = Cx* (k + 1) + Du(k + 1)
*
 Kalman Filter Based on SVM Innovation Update for Predicting State-of Health 461

Innovation in the future can be obtained from time series measured in the past:
~
ε (k + 1) = f (ε (k ), ε (k − 1),", ε (k − p + 1)) (15)
(2) Modification: the output and state variables are modified by the innovation as
follows:
^ ^ ~
y (k + 1) = y * (k + 1) + ε (k + 1) (16)
^ ^ ~
x (k + 1) = x (k + 1) + K ε (k + 1)
* *

~
As depicted in equation (15) and (16), the predicted innovation ε ( k + 1) obtained
from the sequence of the error values in the past by means of SVM regression is used
in the Kalman filter, which enables the ability to fit with the deterioration of the
battery.

4 SOH Estimation and Experimental Results

The designed estimation approach, explained in previous sections, is tested in the next
step as an estimator. The proposed algorithm is applied in the Power Environments
Monitor System made by Wenzhou Makepower Electrionics Co.,Ltd , in which
voltage acquisition and online testing of the resistance are adopted to achieve a
comprehensive monitoring of the battery. Data used for verifying the efficiency of the
proposed approach is extracted from the database of the Monitor system which has
been used in WenZhou Branch of China Unicom Co.,Ltd for about 4 years. Four
batteries with different SOH are selected as our samples from the database in the
experiment.
The extent of deterioration of a battery is defined as follows:
Qmax ( Aged ) (17)
SOH =
Qmax ( New)

On the other hand, terminal voltage Vo and SOC of a battery observe the following
linear principle during charging processes:
Vo = α1SOC(t ) + α 0 (18)
(18) shows that SOC can be estimated when terminal voltage is measured.
Experiment results showed in fig.2 verify this phenomenon: the relationship between
Q and Vo can be fitted to linear, while the slope of the line denotes the SOH of a
battery. For a given battery, SOH is estimated through the proposed approach.Fig.2
shows that the estimated SOH during the charging and discharging processes is 76%
and 72%, respectively. The actual SOH of this battery calculated by Eq. (1) is
73%.The accuracy of the proposed method is verified.
462 C. Li and X. Jiang

3.5
SOH=100%
3 SOH=?%
SOH=67%
SOH=53%
2.5

2
Estimating Q(Ah)

1.5

0.5

-0.5
1.85 1.9 1.95 2 2.05 2.1 2.15 2.2 2.25
VOC(V)

Fig. 2. Estimation line with different SOH through SVM-KF method

Charging Disharging
1 1
SOH Estimated
0.9 0.9 SOC Estimated

0.8 0.8

0.7 0.7

0.6 0.6
SOH=72%

SOH=72%

0.5 0.5

0.4 0.4

0.3 0.3

0.2 0.2
SOH Estimated
0.1 SOC Estimated 0.1

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
time(h) time(h)

Fig. 3. Estimation of the SOH and SOC of a VRLA battery

5 Conclusions
In this paper, a novel method was proposed for on-line estimation of SOH and SOC
of VRLA batteries. The proposed method is based on the KF prediction of an
equivalent model of the battery. SVM is introduced while KF is employed to predict
SOC and SOH of the batteries. Experimental results show accurate estimation of the
SOH as well as SOC during the charging and discharging processes.

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