Monitoring and control of electrochemical cell degradation via strain based battery testing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10120035-B2
Application number	US-201514956011-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2015
Priority date	Dec 1, 2015
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

A method and system for the monitoring and control of electrochemical cell degradation by use of strain-based battery testing. Strain-based battery is employed to recognize and implement a battery revival cycle to reduce battery degradation rates.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for monitoring and control of electrochemical cell degradation and state of health (SOH) of a battery comprising:
applying a strain gauge to said battery;
measuring a first strain of said battery (S 1 ) using said strain gauge at an initial state of said battery ε ;
exposing said battery to charge/discharge cycling;
measuring a second strain ε of said battery (S 2 ) after said charge/discharge cycling, using said strain gauge, wherein said second strain is equal to ε o +Δ ε , where Δ ε is the measured change in strain;
determining, by a controller, said measured change in strain Δ ε based on said measured first (S 1 ) strain and said measured second strain (S 2 ) of said battery, wherein said measured change in strain Δ ε is a function of battery voltage and the rate of change of said battery SOH varies with respect to strain;
determining, by the controller, a change in the SOH of said battery after said charge/discharge cycling; and
subsequent to determining the change in the SOH of said battery after said charge/discharge cycling, exposing said battery to a revival cycle comprising thermal treatment based on the SOH of said battery.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said strain gauge is applied with direct physical contact to said battery.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said strain gauge is applied to a strap, said strap configured to secure one or more battery cells of said battery.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said strain gauge is applied to said battery along a selected dimension comprising at least one of a length, width or height of said battery, said selected dimension based on a response of said battery to a change from said initial state to said aged state.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said strain gauge is applied to said battery along a selected dimension comprising any combination of length, width and height of said battery, said selected dimension based on a response of said battery to a change from said initial state to said aged state.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said strain gauge is applied to said battery along a selected dimension to measure a change in volume of said battery.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said thermal treatment comprises heating said battery at a temperature of less than or equal to 55° C.

8. A computer-implemented method for monitoring and control of electrochemical cell degradation and state of health (SOH) of a battery comprising:
applying a strain gauge to said battery;
measuring a first strain of said battery (S 1 ) using said strain gauge at an initial state of said battery ε o ;
exposing said battery to charge/discharge cycling;
measuring a second strain ε of said battery (S 2 ) after said charge/discharge cycling, using said strain gauge, wherein said second strain is equal to ε o +Δ ε , where Δ ε is the measured change in strain;
determining, by a controller, said measured change in strain based on said measured first (S 1 ) strain and said measured second strain (S 2 ) of said battery, wherein said measured change in strain Δ ε is a function of battery voltage and the rate of change of said battery SOH varies with respect to strain;
determining, by the controller, a change in the SOH of said battery after said charge/discharge cycling; and
exposing said battery to a revival cycle comprising thermal treatment wherein said battery SOH is determined to be less than or equal to 2.0%.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said charge/discharge cycling comprising a plurality of cycles.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said plurality of charge/discharge cycles comprises up to 200 cycles.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein subsequent to said battery revival cycle said battery SOH is determined to be less than or equal to 1.0%.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of non-transitory instructions that when executed by a controller result in the following operations for monitoring and control of electrochemical cell degradation and state of health (SOH) of a battery, wherein said battery includes a strain gauge:
causing to be measured a first strain of said battery (S 1 ) using said strain gauge at an initial state of said battery ε o ;
causing to be exposed said battery to charge/discharge cycling;
causing to be measured a second strain ε of said battery (S 2 ) after said charge/discharge cycling, using said strain gauge, wherein said second strain is equal to ε o +Δ ε , where Δ ε is the measured change in strain;
determining, by a controller, said measured change in strain Δ ε based on said measured first (S 1 ) strain and said measured second strain (S 2 ) of said battery, wherein said measured change in strain Δ ε is a function of battery voltage and the rate of change of said battery SOH varies with respect to strain;
determining a change in the SOH of said battery after said charge/discharge cycling; and
exposing said battery to a revival cycle comprising thermal treatment wherein said battery SOH is determined to be less than or equal to a predetermined value.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein said predetermined value is 2.0%.

Assignees

• Southwest Res Inst

Inventors

• Steiber Joe
• Xu Jeff Qiang

Classifications

• G01R31/392 Primary

  Determining battery ageing or deterioration, e.g. state of health · CPC title

• G01R31/3648

  comprising digital calculation means, e.g. for performing an algorithm · CPC title

• G01R31/3679 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic