A systematic approach to the analysis and design of a bi-directional Cuk converter for the cell voltage balancing control of a series-connected lithium-ion battery string is presented in this paper. The proposed individual cell equalizers (ICE) are designed to operate at discontinuous-capacitor-voltage mode (DCVM) to achieve the zero-voltage switching (ZVS) for reducing the switching loss of the bi-directional DC/DC converters. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed battery equalization scheme can not only enhance the bi-directional battery equalization performance, but also can reduce the switching loss during the equalization period. Two designed examples are demonstrated, the switch power losses are significantly reduced by 52.8% from the MOSFETs and the equalization efficiency can be improved by 68-86.9% using the proposed DCVM ZVS battery equalizer under the specified cell equalization process. The charged/discharged capacity of the lithium-ion battery string is increased by using the proposed ICEs equipped in the battery string.

A fuzzy logic control battery equalizing controller (FLC-BEC) is adopted to control the cell voltage balancing process for a series connected Li-ion battery string. The proposed individual cell equalizer (ICE) is based on the bidirectional Cuk converter operated in the discontinuous capacitor voltage mode (DCVM) to reduce the switching loss and improve equalization efficiency. The ICE with the proposed FLC-BEC can reduce the equalizing time, maintain safe operations during the charge/discharge state and increase the battery string capacity.