PARAMETER IDENTIFICATION OF THE LEAD-ACID BATTERY MODEL

Nazih Moubayed

1,

Janine Kouta 1 , Ali EI-AIi2 , Hala Dernayka

and Rachid Outbib 2

1 Department of Electrical Engineering

Faculty of Engineering 1 - Lebanese University - Lebanon
2

Laboratory of Sciences in Information and Systems (LSIS)

Aix-Marseille III University, Marseille - France

ABSTRACT

The lead-acid battery, although known since strong a long

time, are today even studied in an intensive way because
of their economic interest bound to their use in the
automotive and the renewable energies sectors. In this
paper, the principle of the lead-acid battery is presented. A
simple, fast, and effective equivalent circuit model
structure for lead-acid batteries was implemented. The
identification of the parameters of the proposed lead-acid
battery model is treated. This battery model is validated by
simulation using the Matlab/Simulink Software.

Modelling and simulation are important for electrical

system capacity determination and optimum component
selection. The battery model is a very important part of an
electrical system simulation, and this model needs to be
high-fidelity to achieve meaningful simulation results. This
paper treats the case of the lead-acid battery. For it, an
introduction to lead-acid battery is presented.
The
modelling of this battery is illustrated in two different
models. The parameter identification of the studied model
is also discussed. This identification is followed by a
validation of the treated model by simulation using the
Matlab/Simulink software. Finally, a conclusion about the
obtained results are presented and discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Lead-acid batteries, invented in 1859 by French physicist

Gaston Plante, are the oldest type of rechargeable battery.
In 1880, Camille Faure finalizes a technique facilitating the
manufacturing of the lead-acid battery. Since, the technical
development didn't stop progressing (properties of the
alloys, additives of the active matters, etc.) [1).
Despite having the second lowest energy-to-weight ratio
(next to the nickel-iron battery) and a correspondingly low
energy-to-volume ratio, their ability to supply high surge
currents means that the cells maintain a relatively large
power-to-weight ratio. In addition, the lead-acid batteries
are important thanks to the availability of the used
materials and the possibility of their recycling [2). These
features, along with their low cost, make them attractive
for use in cars, as they can provide the high current
required by automobile starter motors. They are also used
in vehicles such as forklifts, in which the low energy-to
weight ratio may in fact be considered a benefit since the
battery can be used as a counterweight. Large arrays of
lead-acid cells are used as standby power sources for
telecommunications
facilities, generating stations, and
computer data centers. They are also used to power the
electric motors in diesel-electric (conventional) submarines
[3). The lead-acid battery is also used for storage energy
which is delivered by a renewable energy system (solar
energy system, and/or wind energy system .... ) [4).
Today, more of the third of the world production of lead are
used by the manufacture of batteries (60% to 65% of the
market of the batteries concern the sale of lead-acid
batteries).

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THE LEAD-ACID BATTERY

A lead-acid battery is an electrical storage device that

uses a reversible chemical reaction to store energy. It
uses a combination of lead plates or grids and an
electrolyte consisting of a diluted sulphuric acid to convert
electrical energy into potential chemical energy and back
again [5). Each cell contains (in the charged state)
electrodes of lead metal (Pb) and lead (IV) oxide (Pb02) in
an electrolyte of about 37% wlw (5.99 Molar) sulfuric acid
(H2S04). In the discharged state both electrodes tum into
lead(lI) sulfate (PbS04) and the electrolyte loses its
dissolved sulfuric acid and becomes primarily water. Due
to the freezing-point depression of water, as the battery
discharges
and the concentration
of sulfuric acid
decreases,
the electrolyte is more likely to freeze.
Because of the open cells with liquid electrolyte in most
lead-acid batteries, overcharging with excessive charging
voltages will generate oxygen and hydrogen gas by
electrolysis of water, forming an explosive mix. This should
be avoided. Caution must also be observed because of
the extremely corrosive nature of sulfuric acid.

Lead-acid batteries have lead plates for the two

electrodes. Separators are used between the positive and
negative plates of a lead acid battery to prevent
short-circuit through physical contact, mostly through
dendrites ('treeing'), but also through shedding of the
active material. Separators obstruct the flow of ions
between the plates and increase the internal resistance of
the cell (Fig. 1).

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tL

I-

('I

.c
e.

&&

I
Reec\a"";lh
sulfuric ootd
"'form 1....
s ulfato. Must
s uppl y .lootrons
end 10 Ion
positive

""---

~
Reacts IoI1th
sulfate ;ons
to form load
sulfate. Pb
supplios Iw

H2 SO 4
H2 O

.c
e.

poslt1ve

chergno end
1.... eloctrode
""--1. left

IIOQ8tive

Figure 1: Lead-acid battery [6].

MODELING OF THE LEAD-ACID BATTERY
The lead-acid battery represents a fundamental and main
element in the renewable energy systems and in the
hybrid vehicles. Therefore, it is necessary to study the
modeling of this type of batteries. In fact, very big
quantities of models exist, from the simplest, containing
impedance placed in series with a voltage source, to the
most complex. In general, these models represent the
battery like an electric circuit composed of resistances,
capacities and other elements, constant or variable
(function of the temperature or the State Of Charge SOC
that gives an idea on the quantity of active substance)
[7],[8].
The simplified model
The simplest model of a lead-acid battery is composed of
a voltage source placed in series with impedance (Fig. 2).

,...L

r------

Figure 3: Lead-acid battery general model.

In fact, the parasitic branch represents the irreversible
reactions that take place in the battery as for example the
electrolysis of water that occurs at the end of the charging
process, especially in the case of overcharge. In this
branch an Ip current circulates. The charge stocked in the
battery is only joined to 1m (current of the main branch, in
amperes). A part of the total current I, which is the Ip
current, is a lost current and cannot be restored.
The third order model [11]
The model is consisted of two main parts: a main branch
which approximated the battery dynamics under most
conditions, and a parasitic branch which accounted for the
battery behavior at the end of a charge. The main branch
is formed of a R/C block placed in series with a resistance
(Figure 4). All elements of figure 4 are functions of the
State Of Charge (SOC), the charging/discharging currents
and the temperature of the electrolyte 9.
RO

,...L
+

Em

Figure 4: Lead-acid battery third order model.

where:

Em was the main branch voltage,

R1 was the main branch resistance,
C1 was the main branch capacitance,
R2 was the main branch resistance,
I 01pn) was the Parasitic branch current,
Ro was the Terminal resistance.

Main branch voltage (Em)

Equation 1 approximated the internal electro-motive force
Figure 2: Lead-acid battery simplest model.
The main problem of this model is that the two elements
E(p) and Z(p) must be at least function of the State Of
Charge (SOC) and of the battery's temperature e [9,10].
The improvement of the simple model takes place while
adding a parasitic branch in parallel (Figure 3).
I,.

(emf), or open-circuit voltage of one cell. The emf value

was assumed to be constant when the battery was fully
charged. The emf varied with temperature and state of
charge (SOC):

Em = EmO - KE .(273 + 9)(1- SOC)

(1)
where:
Em was the open-circuit voltage (EMF) in volts,
Emo was the open-circuit voltage at full charge in volts,
KE was a constant in volts 1 DC,
9 was electrolyte temperature in DC,
SOC was battery state of charge.

Main branch resistance R1

Equation 2 approximated a resistance in the main branch
of the battery. The resistance varied with depth of charge,
a measure of the battery's charge adjusted for the
discharge current. The resistance increased exponentially
as the battery became exhausted during a discharge.

..(C1SOC')

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(2)

where:
R1 was a main branch resistance in Ohms,
R10 was a constant in Ohms,
DOC was battery depth of charge.

Vpo

Equation 3 approximated a capacitance (or time delay) in

the main branch. The time constant modeled a voltage
delay when battery current changed.
(3)

where:
C1 was a main branch capacitance in Farads,
T1 was a main branch time constant in seconds,
R1 was a main branch resistance in Ohms.
Equation 4 approximated a main branch resistance. The
resistance increased exponentially as the battery state of
charge increased.
The resistance also varied with the current flowing through
the main branch. The resistance primarily affected the
battery during charging. The resistance became relatively
insignificant for discharge currents:
(4)

where:
Ip was the current loss in the parasitic branch,
VPN was the voltage at the parasitic branch,
GpO was a constant in seconds,
Tp was a parasitic branch time constant in seconds,
Vpo was a constant in volts,
Ap was a constant,
8 was the electrolyte temperature in DC,
8t was the electrolyte freezing temperature in DC.

Extracted charge Qe
Equation 7 tracked the amount of charge extracted from
the battery. The charge extracted from the battery was a
simple integration of the current flowing into or out of the
main branch. The initial value of extracted charge was
necessary for simulation purposes.
t

Qe(t) = Qe_init + f-Im(t).dt

o

(7)

Total capacity C

C(I,9) =

Terminal resistance RO
Equation 5 approximated a resistance seen at the battery
terminals. The resistance was assumed constant at all
temperatures, and varied with the state of charge:
(5)

where:
Ro was a resistance in Ohms
Roo was the value of RO at SOC=1 in Ohms
Ao was a constant
SOC was the battery state of charge

Parasitic branch current Ip

Equation 6 approximated the parasitic loss current which
occurred when the battery was being charged. The current
was dependent on the electrolyte temperature and the
voltage at the parasitic branch. The current was very small
under most conditions, except during charge at high SOC.

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(6)

Equation 8 approximated the capacity of the battery based

on discharge
current and electrolyte temperature.
However, the capacity dependence on current was only for
discharge. During charge, the discharge current was set
equal to zero in Equation 8 for the purposes of calculating
total capacity.

where:
R2 was a main branch resistance in Ohms,
R20 was a constant in Ohms,
A21 was a constant,
A22 was a constant,
Em was the open-circuit voltage (EMF) in volts,
SOC was the battery state of charge,
1m was the main branch current in Amps,
1* was the nominal battery current in Amps.

= Roo [1 + Ao(I-S0C)]

Sf

Some definitions

Main branch resistance R2

Ro

(1-~)l

I p =VPN.G poexp[VPN /(t p .s+l) + A p

Main branch capacitance C1

C 1 =l
RI

Note that while the constant Gpo was measured in units of

seconds, the magnitude of Gpo was very small, on the
order of 10- 12 seconds.

K,.C,'

1+(Kc-l~I~)

{l-~)'

(8)

Sf

where:

Kc was a constant,
Co* was the no-load capacity at OC in Amp-seconds,
8 was the electrolyte temperature in DC,
I was the discharge current in Amps,
I" was the nominal battery current in Amps,
~ and E were a constant.

State Of Charge (SOC) and Depth Of Charge (DOC)

Equations 9 and 10 calculated the SOC and DOC as a
fraction of available charge to the battery's total capacity.
State of charge measured the fraction of charge remaining
in the battery:

SOC =1-

Qe
C(O,S)

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(9)

Depth of charge measured the

remaining, given the average
discharge currents caused the
more prematurely, thus DOC
equal to SOC.

fraction of usable charge

discharge current. Larger
battery's charge to expire
was always less than or

where:
SOC was battery state of charge,
DOC was battery depth of charge,
Q e was the battery's charge in Amp-seconds,
C was the battery's capacity in Amp-seconds,
a was the electrolyte temperature in c,
lavg was the mean discharge current in Amps.

parameters

used in equation 8:

Kc,Co,E,O.
Ca,R a
Main branch parameters

used in equation 12:

identification

All parameters are calculated experimentally through very

appropriate tests. The most adequate test is illustrated in
figure 5.

"'0

Estimate of Average Current

The average battery current was estimated as follows in
Equation 11.

- The capacitance

- The thermal parameters

(10)

lavg

Gpo, Vpo,Ap.

J1

14
"'3

Cummt

(11)

1m

(t l s+l)

J)

J'oltop

Figure 5: Test serving in determining the parameters of the

main branch of the third order lead-acid model.

where:
lavg was the mean discharge current in Amps,
1m was the main branch current in Amps,
T1 was a main branch time constant in seconds.

Thermal modelS
Equation 12 was modeled to estimate the change in
electrolyte temperature, due to intemal resistive losses
and due to ambient temperature. The thermal model
consists of a first order differential equation, with
parameters for thermal resistance and capacitance.

To identify Emo and KE, one needs two equations, these

equations are obtained while measuring the voltage in the
beginning and at the end of the test, Vo and V1 (they are
equal to the emf at the beginning and at the end). For The
values of the load state, SOCbeginning and SOCend, they can
be known easily.
It is sufficient one equation to identify R10. This equation
was obtained by making the following difference, (V1-V4),
which is due to the presence of the resistance R1.
The main branch resistance is neglected R2.

(12)
Where:
a was the battery's temperature in c,
aa was the ambient temperature in c,
aini! was the battery's initial temperature in c, assumed
to be equal to the surrounding ambient temperature,
P s was the 12R power loss of Ro and R2 in Watts,
Re was the thermal resistance in c 1 Watts,
Ce was the thermal capacitance in Joules 1C,
T was an integration time variable,
t was the simulation time in seconds.
PARAMETERS IDENTIFICATION
The mentioned equations of the lead-acid third order
model contain constants
that must be determined
experimentally by tests in the laboratory. These constants
or parameters can be divided in four categories:
- The main branch parameters used in equations 1 to 5:

EmO,KE ,RIO,R20,A21' A22 ,Roo,A o

- The parasitic branch parameters

978-1-4244-1641-7/08/$25.00

used in equation 6:

Same test is applied as for the emf parameters. Roo and Ao

are identified while measuring the instantaneous
drop
voltage following the application of the current I.

Parasitic branch parameters identification

The identification of the constants GpO, Vpo and Ap is
obtained by making tests when the battery is completely
full. In this case, 1m is supposed to be neglected and the
temperature of the electrolyte can be estimated from the
ambient temperature.

Capacitance parameters

identification

This identification needs four equations. To do that, two

methods can be used. The first one is based on the data
given by the manufacturer and the second one is based on
the experimental test.

Thermal parameters

identification

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The proposed thermal model is very simple. It is formed of

thermal resistance Re and of thermal capacitance Ceo
These two parameters are determined experimentally or
are given by the manufacturers of batteries.
It should be noted that, contrary to all others parameters,
the thermal resistance depends on the site where the
battery is placed.
SIMULATION
The presented third order model of the lead-acid battery
using its identified parameters is used in Matlab/Simulink
software in order to validate its functioning. The linearity of
the model is due to the omission of the parasitic branch in
the general model.

With regard to the discharging phase of the accumulator,

several initial conditions are taken into consideration. In
fact:
- The accumulator is supposed to be completely charged,
- The initial charge extracted is zero (Qe_init 0),
- The ambient temperature is supposed equal to 25C,
- The initial values of SOC and DOC are equal to 0.8.

The phase of the discharge is presented in figure 7.

.1':

.:

:! :'.!':

Cum'"

:I!'::::. . :::. . ::,::::

.

:.i:I~::::::::: ~.!

. :::.:::

:'.~

::~.'.'.:::'.:::'.-""""""':""""""'[""":1::::::::::::::i
25L-_-L-_---'-_ _-L-_--'-_---"'--_-'-_---'-_----'
Voltage

Charging state
To simplify the modeling of the chosen accumulator, the
temperature of the electrolyte is supposed equal to the
ambient temperature. In addition:
- The accumulator is supposed to be empty,
- The initial extracted charge is negligible (Qe_init 0),
- The ambient temperature is supposed equal to 25C,
- The initial values of the SOC and DOC are equal to 0.2.

The model functioning in the charging state is illustrated in

figure 6. In fact, before the beginning of this phenomenon,
the current in the model was zero, the voltage is equal to
1.95 V and the SOC is set to be 0.2. The charging of the
module of the studied accumulator takes place with
constant current equal to 20 A. The duration of the
transient state is about 5000 seconds. During this period,
the voltage across the model terminals increases in a
linear way as far as reaching its maximal value Erno which
is equal to 2.22 V. Same, the SOC increases linearly. After
the accumulator's charging, the voltage becomes equal to
2.15 V and the SOC approaches to 0.8. This means that
the accumulator will be able to continue charging as the
SOC didn't reach the unity value.

Figure 7: Battery discharging.

In general, before the accumulator's connection with a
load, the voltage across its terminals is equal to 2.15 V.
When the load is placed, the accumulator begins to
provide current. This one is supposed constant. The
duration of this phase is supposed to be equal to 5000
seconds. During this period, the voltage across the model
terminal decreases in a linear way as far as reaching its
minimal value. In the same way, the SOC decreases
linearly. After the accumulator's discharge, the voltage
becomes equal to 1.95 V and the SOC approaches to 0.2.
CONCLUSION
The electric lead-acid batteries are devices that provide
the electric energy from chemical one. These are electro
chemical generators. They store the energy that they
restore according to the needs. They can be recharged
when one reverses the chemical reaction; it is what
differentiates them from the electric batteries.

Figure 6: Battery charging

Discharging state

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These accumulators are used in several applications, for

example, they serve to supply electrically the cars, the
heavy weights, the planes, etc.. One uses them like
stationary batteries, assuring the lighting and the working
of the embarked devices.
Seen their interests in the daily life, the electric lead-acid
batteries are studied in this paper. The principle of working
and the battery's modeling are discussed.

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Several lead-acid battery models are conceived, for

example, the mathematical model and the parallel branch
model. But the third order model is the simplest one to
identify.
As conclusion, all parameters of this model, which is
studied in this paper, can be identified by laboratory tests
or taken from the manufacturer's data. The third order
model of the lead-acid has been validated by simulation on
the software Matlab/Simulink.

REFERENCES
[1] D. Linden et T. B. Reddy, "Handbook of Batteries", 3rd
edition, McGraw-Hili, New York, NY, 2001.
[2] Ceraolo, "New Dynamical Models of Lead-Acid
Batteries", IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol.
15, No.4, IEEE, November 2000.
[3] Robyn A. Jackey, "A Simple, Effective Lead-Acid
Battery Modeling Process
for Electrical System
Component Selection", The MathWorks, Inc., Janvier
2007.
[4] Wootaik Lee, Hyunjin Park, Myoungho Sunwoo,
Byoungsoo Kim and Dongho Kim. "Development of a
Vehicle Electric Power Simulator for Optimizing the
Electric Charging System", SAE, Warrendale, PA,
2000.
[5] Massimo Ceraolo, "New Dynamical Models of Lead
IEEE Transactions
on Power
Acid Batteries",
Systems, VOL. 15, NO.4, Novembre 2000.
[6] http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/electricl
leadacid.html
[7] Stefano Barsali and Massimo Ceraolo, "Dynamical
Models of Lead-Acid Batteries:
Implementation
Issues", IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion,
VOL. 17, NO.1, Mars 2002.
[8] Ziyad M. Salameh, Margaret,A. Casacca William and
A. Lynch, "A Mathematical Model for Lead-Acid
Batteries", Departement of Electrical Engineering,
University of Lowell, 1992.
[9] Michel F. de Koning and Andre Veltman, "modeling
battery efficiency with parallel branches", 35th annual
IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference,
2004.
[10] Sabine Piller, Marion perrin and Andreas Jossen,
"Methods for state of charge determination and their
applications", Centre for solar Energy and Hydrogen
Research, Joumal of power sources 96, 2001.
[11] Robyn A. Jackey, "A Simple, Effective Lead-Acid
Battery Modeling Process
for Electrical System
Component
Selection",
2007-01-0778,
The
MathWorks, Inc.

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