Open Access
Influence of renewable power fluctuations on the lifetime prediction of lithium-ion batteries in a microgrid environment
(IEEE, 2019) Soto Cabria, Adrián; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Sanchis Gúrpide, Pablo; Ursúa Rubio, Alfredo; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua
This contribution analyses lifetime estimation errors due to the effect of power fluctuations in lithium-ion batteries connected to microgrids when different time steps are used for the calculations. Usually, not every second data are available or the computational cost is excessively high. Those facts result in the use of larger time steps. However, the increase of the time steps may turn out in too optimistic predictions. Data from a real microgrid make it possible to optimize calculation times while keeping low errors. The results show that when 1 minute time step is set, the computation time is reduced by 14.4 times while the lifetime overstatement is only 3.5-5.2% higher, depending on the aging model.
Open Access
Methodology for comparative assessment of battery technologies: experimental design, modeling, performance indicators and validation with four technologies
(Elsevier, 2025-01-15) Irujo Izcue, Elisa; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Sanchis Gúrpide, Pablo; Ursúa Rubio, Alfredo; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoa eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritza; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa, PJUPNA2023-11380; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua
An increasing number of applications with diverse requirements incorporate various battery technologies. Selecting the most suitable battery technology becomes a tedious task as several aspects need to be taken into account. Two of the key aspects are the battery characteristics under temperature variations and their degradation. While numerous contributions using tailored assessment methods to evaluate both aspects for a particular application exist in the literature, a general methodology for analysis is necessary to enable a quantitative comparison between different technologies. We propose in this paper a novel methodology, based on performance indicators, to quantify the potential and limitations of a battery technology for diverse applications sharing a similar operational profile. A quantification of phenomena such as the influence of high and low temperatures on the battery, or the effect of cycling and state of charge on battery aging is obtained. In pursuit of these indicators, an experimental procedure and the fitting of aging model parameters that allow their calculation are proposed. As an additional outcome of this work, a general aging model that allows comprehensive analysis of aging behavior is developed and the trade-off between experimental time and accuracy is analyzed to find an optimal experimental time between 2 and 4 months, depending on the studied battery technology. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied to four battery technologies in order to show its potential in a real case-study.
Open Access
New design alternatives for a hybrid photovoltaic and doubly-fed induction wind plant to augment grid penetration of renewable energy
(IEEE, 2021) Goñi, Naiara; Sacristán Sillero, Javier; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Rodríguez Rabadan, José Luis; Ursúa Rubio, Alfredo; Sanchis Gúrpide, Pablo; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
Reducing carbon emissions is essential to stop climate change. The grid-share of renewable generation plants is increasing, being wind and photovoltaic plants the most common ones, whereas conventional plants are the only ones that provide the necessary services to maintain the grid stability and keep the generation-demand balance. However, with the aim of achieving carbon-neutral generation, conventional plants are being dismantled. This leads to the imminent need of providing these services with renewable plants. Due to this challenge, this proposal analyses a hybrid plant composed by wind and photovoltaic generation with two types of storage, lithium-ion batteries and a thermal storage system based on volcanic stones. In order to compare both strategies, a technoeconomic methodology is explained that allows to optimally size the plant, using the current prices of each technology. The most cost-competitive proposal turns to be the hybrid plant with thermal storage, composed by 623.9 MW installed power and 21.9 GWh of storage, which could replace a 100 MW, 24/7 conventional power plant, with an LCOHS (levelized cost of hybrid system) of 118.38 €/MWh, providing identical grid services and an equivalent inertia in a way committed with the environment. This is in turn a zero-carbon emissions solution perfectly matched to a second life plan for a conventional power plant.
Open Access
Onset of irreversible reactions in overcharging lithium-ion cells: an experimental and modeling approach
(IEEE, 2023) Irujo Izcue, Elisa; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Lalinde Sainz, Iñaki; Arza, Joseba; Sanchis Gúrpide, Pablo; Ursúa Rubio, Alfredo; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren
Lithium-ion batteries are energy storage systems used in an increasing number of applications. Due to their flammable materials, their use entails risks of fire and explosion. The study of the abuse operation of these batteries before reaching the thermal runaway is a relevant research topic to prevent safety issues. There are various studies in the bibliography providing exhaustive thermal studies of the safe operating area, as well as concerning the thermal runaway. However, the onset irreversible reactions, that take place at a SOC around 110%, have not been properly analyzed. We present in this contribution an experimental study of this onset reaction measured in pouch Li-ion cells under various conditions of charge current and temperature. We also propose a lumped-parameter thermal model for the cell, which allows a detailed characterization of this exothermic reaction. The results achieved in this contributions can be a key tool to prevent overcharge accidents that may arise due to malfunctioning of the battery charger or battery management system.
Open Access
Role of student associations in the acquisition of competences in university engineering programs
(IEEE, 2023) Samanes Pascual, Javier; Parra Laita, Íñigo de la; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Rosado Galparsoro, Leyre; Soto Cabria, Adrián; Elizondo Martínez, David; Catalán Ros, Leyre; Sanchis Gúrpide, Pablo; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC
Students in the STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), do not only require deep technical knowledge, but a complete set of global skills related to management, teamwork, lifelong learning, personal development, communications skills or proactiveness, abilities often referred as soft-skills. Student-led organizations, and specifically, university student associations, are one of the best alternatives to promote the acquisition of soft-skills in STEM high education fields. These skills are competences already included in official university programs that can hardly be addressed or acquired from traditional university education. This article studies how student enrollment in student led organizations (SLOs), with an active participation on their organization and activities, allows engineering students to achieve a better development of these soft skills. As case study, a medium size university, with 9000-students and eleven SLOs, six of them focused on STEM related fields, is used in this paper. A survey is conducted among the university community to identify their degree of participation in SLOs, and to test whether participation in these initiatives increases students' self-perception of their soft skill acquisition during their university studies. This survey shows how students of engineering programs, with a high degree of involvement in SLOs, demonstrated greater confidence in their soft skills at the end of their university years.
Open Access
Extensive analysis of photovoltaic battery self-consumption: evaluation through an innovative district case-study
(AIP Publishing, 2019) Millet, Lluís; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Bruch, Maximilian; Reiners, N.; Vetter, M.; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC
Energy storage is one of the key elements within the actual stage of the energy transition, as it is probably one of the most important factors to allow high penetration of fluctuating renewable energies, such as wind or solar, in the existing power systems. Intensive research is being conducted to assess the economic aspects and technical performance of renewable energy-based systems supported by batteries by evaluating different services that batteries can provide to the electric grid or to the end-consumers. In Germany, where the majority of the currently installed 43 GW of PV capacity corresponds to small residential, commercial, or industrial facilities, an interesting market for batteries to enhance local self-consumption and autarky is already booming, with more than 80 000 storage system installations in 2017. In this context, this study presents a comprehensive analysis of the photovoltaic battery model by analyzing the technical and economic consequences that variations on the most relevant system parameters induce. The presented results are based on high resolution data obtained from a representative residential district with an autarky of above 95%. The employed battery model is based on the results obtained through an extensive test campaign and includes electrical and thermal sub-models. The analysis predicts that grid parity of residential PV battery systems can be reached in the upcoming years, with especially great potential of the retrofitting market for those PV installations which run out of the feed-in tariff policy.
Open Access
Applied method to model the thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries
(IEEE, 2021) Lalinde Sainz, Iñaki; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Sanchis Gúrpide, Pablo; Ursúa Rubio, Alfredo; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
The thermal runaway (TR) is one of the most dangerous phenomena related to lithium-ion batteries. For this reason, there are different proposals in the literature for its modelling. Most of these proposed models take into account the decomposition reactions between the internal components of the cell, and base the adjustment of the parameters on numerous abuse tests that lead to the appearance of TR. However, these tests are destructive, require specific equipment, present a high economic cost and are very time consuming. This paper proposes a modelling method which enables the development of TR models with the use of fewer resources. This method is based on chemical kinetics, which allow a simplification of the general modelling process published in the literature. At the same time it maintains good accuracy and makes it possible to define the TR behavior of any type of cell, regardless of its chemistry, shape or size. Furthermore, the proposed method allows the use of the experimental results most commonly presented in the specialized literature, which significantly reduces the need for destructive testing. The presented modelling method achieves a good compromise between accuracy and applicability in the validations shown in the paper.
Open Access
Temperature indicators and overtemperature detection in lithium-ion batteries based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
(IEEE, 2023) Lalinde Sainz, Iñaki; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Soto Cabria, Adrián; Arza, Joseba; Sanchis Gúrpide, Pablo; Ursúa Rubio, Alfredo; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren
Lithium-ion batteries are the leading technology for energy storage systems due to their attractive advantages. However, the safety of lithium-ion batteries is a major concern, as their operating conditions are limited in terms of temperature, voltage and state of charge. Therefore, it is important to monitor the conditions of lithium-ion batteries to guarantee safe operation. To this end, in the present work, we analyze electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as a tool to estimate the temperature of batteries. Overtemperature abuse tests from 25 °C to 140 °C are performed at various states of charge, and EIS measurements are obtained during the tests. The influence of temperature on cell impedance at different frequencies is analyzed and new findings are revealed. The real part of the impedance is identified to be the best indicator for cell temperature estimation by EIS. In addition, the best frequency to achieve accurate temperature monitoring, avoiding disturbances produced by state of charge variations, is proposed based on experimental results. Finally, EIS is proven to be a reliable technique for overtemperature and thermal runaway detection.
Open Access
Energía sostenible: sin malos humos
(Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa, 2019) Samanes Pascual, Javier; Pascual Miqueleiz, Julio María; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Araiz Vega, Miguel; Catalán Ros, Leyre; Aranguren Garacochea, Patricia; Arricibita de Andrés, David; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Ingeniaritza
¿Puede España ser sostenible energéticamente? Si alguna vez te has planteado esta pregunta, o quieres saber en qué gastamos la energía y de dónde podría ser obtenida, aquí encontrarás respuestas. Nuestros recursos renovables son inmensos, pero también lo es nuestro consumo. Este libro no solo se centra en analizar la situación actual y las posibilidades que las energías renovables tienen en nuestro país, sino que, presentando de forma clara los datos sobre nuestro gasto energético, permite a cada lector identificar sus mayores consumos, de tal forma que pueda considerar cómo reducirlos. Energía sostenible. Sin malos humos es la adaptación al caso español, actualizando los datos, del libro publicado hace una década por David MacKay en el Reino Unido. La sostenibilidad es hoy en día una preocupación creciente en la sociedad. Pero a menudo este interés se ve contaminado por cifras enormes que resultan muy complicadas de comprender. Además, todos hemos oído hablar en algún momento sobre pequeños gestos al alcance de nuestra mano que podrían permitir un cambio hacia un modelo sostenible. Nada más lejos de la realidad, pequeñas acciones solo permiten pequeños cambios, y el cambio de modelo energético al que nos enfrentamos requiere grandes acciones. Para deshacernos de todo este ruido, en este libro se presentan los números de forma clara y sencilla, utilizando unidades a nuestro alcance y que son comprensibles por todas las personas. Esto permite identificar de una forma mucho más personal los consumos energéticos de nuestro día a día. A lo largo de la primera parte del libro se van construyendo dos columnas: una de color rojo, que representa la agregación de consumos, y otra de color verde, que representa la capacidad de generación. Estas columnas ofrecen una comparación muy visual de la infraestructura renovable que sería necesaria para mantener nuestro ritmo de consumo energético actual. Además, utiliza números «gordos» obtenidos de la experiencia del día a día. Por ejemplo, para calcular la capacidad de generación eólica se parte de una velocidad de viento estimada a partir de la velocidad típica de un ciclista urbano. Toda esta información se encuentra en la primera parte del libro, en los capítulos del 1 al 18. Sin embargo, este libro no se centra únicamente en el análisis de la situación actual, sino que da un paso más y propone alternativas al modelo energético actual con el fin de alcanzar un modelo 100% renovable a medio plazo. Estas medidas incluyen un aumento importante en la potencia renovable instalada, un aumento en la eficiencia energética y algunos ligeros cambios en nuestro estilo de vida que permitan una reducción del consumo. Por supuesto, los tres frentes deben ser atacados al mismo tiempo. Estas propuestas se recogen en la segunda parte del libro, en los capítulos 19 a 32. Por último, este es un libro divulgativo al alcance de todas las personas, que busca transmitir toda la información de forma clara e intuitiva sin perderse en complicados cálculos. Pero si eres de los que les gustan las cuentas, al final del libro encontrarás un apartado en el que se explica de forma rigurosa muchos de los cálculos simples realizados en las primeras partes del libro. Estos apéndices técnicos forman la tercera parte del libro, son los apéndices de la A hasta la H.
Open Access
Design and on-field validation of an embedded system for monitoring second-life electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries
(MDPI, 2022) Castillo Martínez, Diego Hilario; Rodríguez Rodríguez, Adolfo Josué; Soto Cabria, Adrián; Berrueta Irigoyen, Alberto; Vargas Requena, Dávid Tomás; Matías Maestro, Ignacio; Sanchis Gúrpide, Pablo; Ursúa Rubio, Alfredo; Rodríguez Rodríguez, Wenceslao Eduardo; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua
In the last few years, the growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in the transportation sector has contributed to the increased use of electric rechargeable batteries. At present, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are the most commonly used in electric vehicles. Although once their storage capacity has dropped to below 80¿70% it is no longer possible to use these batteries in EVs, it is feasible to use them in second-life applications as stationary energy storage systems. The purpose of this study is to present an embedded system that allows a Nissan® LEAF Li-ion battery to communicate with an Ingecon® Sun Storage 1Play inverter, for control and monitoring purposes. The prototype was developed using an Arduino® microcontroller and a graphical user interface (GUI) on LabVIEW®. The experimental tests have allowed us to determine the feasibility of using Li-ion battery packs (BPs) coming from the automotive sector with an inverter with no need for a prior disassembly and rebuilding process. Furthermore, this research presents a programming and hardware methodology for the development of the embedded systems focused on second-life electric vehicle Li-ion batteries. One second-life battery pack coming from a Nissan® Leaf and aged under real driving conditions was integrated into a residential microgrid serving as an energy storage system (ESS).