Projects / Measurements, sensors and data acquisition
Laboratory flow-battery controller for electrical and hydraulic parts: pump control, charging, DC/DC conversion, output switching, bidirectional current and voltage measurement, and USB CDC experiment logging.
The task was to create a controller for the electrical and hydraulic parts of a laboratory flow-battery setup. It had to switch pumps, manage charging and output connection, measure current and voltage, and send experiment data to a PC for recording.
A working flow-battery controller basis was prepared. The board controls pumps and power nodes, measures bidirectional current, distinguishes external and autonomous power modes, and sends telemetry over USB.
Project materials
Engineering context
In a flow battery, the electrical mode is linked to electrolyte circulation, so the controller has to consider not only voltage and current but also pump operation.
For a laboratory bench, observability matters: the operator needs to see how parameters change over time and save experiment data.
Pump power had to work both from an external source and from the battery itself.
Some nodes are enabled only in the required modes, reducing manual switching around the bench.
Work done
STM32L432 control-board circuitry.
Battery-voltage measurement and bidirectional current measurement.
Control of two peristaltic pumps.
Boost-converter, charging and output-switching control.
USB CDC data transfer to a PC.
LED indication, digital filtering, SWD and UART debugging interfaces.
Details
The board combines control logic, measurement circuits, power switches, DC/DC converters, a charging node, USB isolation and pump connection circuits. The result is a specialized controller for an electrochemical bench.
The firmware accounts for external power, battery voltage and pump state. Depending on the mode, the controller can enable charging, disable it at the upper threshold, control the output and send current values to a PC.
This type of controller reduces the number of separate wires and bench instruments. The experiment becomes more repeatable because pumps, charging, output switching and measurements work in one logic, while data can be recorded on a computer.
Contact
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