Fuzzy Logic Control for High Performance Batteries

Accurate battery state of charge (SOC) measurements and reserve power capacity measurements are cirtical for Special Operation Force (SOF) operators who use portabel battery-powered equipment in the field. Development of a reliable SOC determnation method would have broad dual use application in both the Military and private sector. US Nanocorp (USN) is collaborating with Villanova University's Electrical and Computer Eng. (ECE) Dept. and Sandia National Laboratory to develop a fuzzy logic methodology applied to the development of a battery SOC/reserve power capacity meter. Fuzzy logic control methodologies offer potentially low cost means of controlling complex systems. They can be developed rather quicklyreducing product development costs and require no quantitative knowledge of the system being controlled. The behavior of the system is translated into fuzzy sets which offer a qualitative rather than a numerical description of a system, and use rules based on linguistic representations to process the fuzzy data. The opportunity to commercialize a patentable, reliable battery SOC/reserve power capacity meter that may be widely used on different battery chemistries without a priori knowledge of battery parameters is an exciting prospect.