System and corresponding method for managing a battery comprising a plurality of battery cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10109893-B2
Application number	US-201515115411-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2015
Priority date	Jan 30, 2014
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

A system for managing a battery having a plurality of battery cells connected in series, a plurality of control circuits connected in parallel with a battery cell and at least one electrical connection between a first control circuit of a first cell and a second control circuit of a second cell. Each control circuit is capable of emitting a signal representing physical parameters of its respective battery cell. There is a control unit to control the state of the battery on the basis of the signals representative of the physical parameters. There is a power bus electrically connecting said battery cells to one another in series and each control circuit delivers the representative signal via the power bus after reception of a synchronization signal received.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for managing a battery comprising a plurality of battery cells connected in series, said apparatus comprising a plurality of control circuits, each electrically connected in parallel with a cell of a battery and at least one electrical connection between a first control circuit of a first cell and a second control circuit of a second cell, each control circuit being capable of emitting a signal that is representative of physical parameters of the battery cell with which said control circuit is connected in parallel, a control unit capable of controlling the state of the battery on the basis of the signals that are representative of the physical parameters of each of said cells of said battery, and a power bus electrically connecting said battery cells to one another in series, wherein each control circuit is configured to deliver said representative signal to the control unit via the power bus only after having received a synchronization signal on the electrical connection of the control circuit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each control circuit has a unique identifier allowing said control circuit to be distinguished from one of the other control circuits and wherein each control circuit is configured to deliver said representative signal to the control unit only when the synchronization signal received on the electrical connection has said unique identifier of said control circuit.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first control circuit is configured to deliver the signal that is representative of physical parameters of the first cell to the control unit only after reception of a first synchronization signal emitted by the control unit, then, once said representative signal has been delivered, to emit a second control signal on the electrical connection, and wherein the second control circuit is configured to deliver the signal that is representative of physical parameters of the second cell to the control unit only after having received a second synchronization signal via the electrical connection.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first control circuit comprises means for transmitting a signal through said electrical connection and wherein the second control circuit comprises means for receiving the signal from said connection.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal that is representative of physical parameters of the battery cell is a digital signal that has at least information relating to the voltage across the terminals of at least one battery cell.

6. A method comprising managing a battery comprising a plurality of battery cells arranged in series, wherein managing said battery comprises providing a battery and an apparatus for managing the battery, said apparatus comprising a plurality of control circuits, each electrically connected in parallel with a cell of the battery and at least one electrical connection between a first control circuit of a first cell and a second control circuit of a second cell, each control circuit being capable of emitting a signal that is representative of physical parameters of the battery cell with which said control circuit is connected in parallel, and a power bus electrically connecting said battery cells to one another in series causing a control unit of the battery to transmit a first synchronization signal to the first control circuit; causing the first control circuit to emit, only after having received the first synchronization signal, a signal that is representative of physical parameters of the first battery cell to said control unit and via the power bus; causing the first control circuit to transmit a second synchronization signal to the second control circuit, and causing the second control circuit to emit, only after having received the second synchronization signal, a signal that is representative of physical parameters of the second battery cell to said control unit and via the power bus.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the signal that is representative of physical parameters of the battery is a digital signal that has at least information relating to the voltage across the terminals of at least one battery cell.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the signal that is representative of physical parameters of the battery is a digital signal, and wherein said method further comprises adapting the electrical voltage of the digital signal to the second control circuit.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising carrying out an analog-to-digital conversion in order to deduce the voltage level across the terminals of at least one cell from the digital signal.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the signal that is representative of physical parameters of the battery is a digital signal, said method further comprising adapting the electrical voltage of an additional digital signal to the first control circuit.

11. The method of claim 6 , further comprising carrying out an analog to digital conversion in order to deduce the voltage level across the terminals of at least one cell from an additional digital signal.

Assignees

• Renault Sas

Inventors

• Bacquet Sylvain
• Leirens Sylvain
• Mensler Michel
• Palmieri Michael

Classifications

• H04Q9/00 Primary

  Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

  Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• G01R31/396 Primary

  Acquisition or processing of data for testing or for monitoring individual cells or groups of cells within a battery · CPC title

• H01M10/4207

  for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H04Q2209/10

  using a centralized architecture · CPC title