Apparatus and method for determining state of change (SOC) and state of health (SOH) of electrical cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10132781-B2
Application number	US-201514610219-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2015
Priority date	Jan 30, 2015
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

A method, an apparatus and a system for interrogating a battery in order to determine one or more of: (i) its state of charge (SOC), (ii) its state of health (SOH), (iii) physical state of one or more internal components or parts, which utilizes at least one sound source for transmitting a signal (e.g., a sound wave or sound pulse through or across the battery, and at least one sound receiver for receiving a signal from the battery, which received signal is representative of the physical state of the battery being interrogated. The interrogation method is noninvasive, namely does not require the depletion of a portion of the charge of the battery being tested or settlement or the destruction of the battery in order to evaluate one or more of (i), (ii) and (iii).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of testing a battery, the method comprising:
transmitting sound signals through at least a portion of a test battery from a first side of the test battery;
creating a test data set for the test battery, the test data set comprising, for at least a first sound signal transmitted at a first time instance, at least one of:
transmission time of flight values of the first sound signal measured at a second side of the test battery opposite to the first side, for a first duration of time after the first time instance; or
reflection time of flight values of reflections of the first sound signal from the second side, measured at the first side, for a second duration of time after the first time instance;

comparing at least one of the transmission time of flight values or the reflection time of flight values of the test data set with respective transmission time of flight values or reflection time of flight values of a reference data set; and
determining, in a non-invasive manner, one or more characteristics of the test battery based on the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sound signal is a single sound pulse or a set of two or more sound pulses.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the test battery comprise a state of charge (SOC) of the test battery.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the SOC provides an indication of a charge condition of the test battery in a range between a fully discharged state and a fully charged state.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the test battery comprise a state of health (SOH) of the test battery.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the SOH of the test battery provides an indication of a present condition of the test battery in relation to the reference data set.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising predicting a future performance or lifetime of the test battery based on the SOH.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the test battery comprise changes in physical states of the test battery, wherein the physical states of the test battery comprise one or more of:
density or elastic modulus of one or more internal components or parts of the test battery;
structural relaxation related transport phenomena based on one or more of open circuit potential, phase change, mechanical strain, internal fractures, swelling, or dissolution of one or more of the internal components of the test battery or
deposition of materials upon one or more surfaces of one or more of the internal components of the test battery.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the test data set with the reference data set comprises one or more of:
a wavelet analysis of vectors between the test data set and the reference data set,
comparing Fourier transforms between the test data set and the reference data set, or
performing a Bayesian analysis of the test data set and the reference data set.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference data set is representative of one or more physical states of a reference battery.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the reference battery is the same as the test battery, with the test data set and the reference data set collected based on transmitting sound signals at different time instances, including the first time instance and one or more other time instances, through the test battery.

12. The method of claim 1 , comprising creating the test data set during charge/discharge cycles of the test battery, such that the test data set is representative of the one or more characteristics of the test battery at different charge levels of the test battery.

13. The method of claim 1 , comprising creating the test data set during a manufacturing process of the test battery, and based on the one or more characteristics, determining whether to: proceed with or complete the manufacturing process of the test battery; or to discard or reject the test battery from the manufacturing process.

14. The method of claim 1 , comprising transmitting the sound signals from a sound source, receiving responses to the first sound signals at a one or more sound receivers at the second side and/or responses to the reflected sound signals at one or more sound receivers at the first side, and performing one or more of the steps of creating, comparing, and determining in a processor.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising storing one or more of the reference data set, the test data set or a result of the comparison in a storage medium or the processor.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein one or more of the sound source or the sound receivers at the first side or the second side comprise ultrasonic transducers.

17. An apparatus comprising:
a test battery;
a transmitter configured to transmit sound signals including at least a first sound signal transmitted at a first time instance, through at least a portion of the test battery from a first side of the test battery;
at least one of, a first receiver on a second side of the test battery opposite to the first side and configured to receive responses to the first sound signal, or a second receiver on the first side of the test battery configured to receive responses to reflections of the first sound signal from the second side; and
a processor configured to:
create a test data set for the test battery the test data set comprising:
transmission time of flight values of the first sound signal measured at the first receiver, for a first duration of time after the first time instance; or
reflection time of flight values of the reflections of the first sound signal from the second side measured at the second receiver, for a second duration of time after the first time instance;
compare at least one of the transmission time of flight values or the reflection time of flight values of the test data set with respective transmission time of flight values or reflection time of flight values of a reference data set; and
determine, in a non-invasive manner, one or more characteristics of the test battery based on the comparison.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein one or more of the transmitter, the first receiver or the second receiver comprise sound transducers and wherein the first sound signal is a single sound pulse or a set of two or more sound pulses.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the test battery comprise a state of charge (SOC) of the test battery, wherein the SOC provides an indication of a charge condition of the test battery in a range between a fully discharged state and a fully charged state.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the test battery comprise a state of health (SOH) of the test battery, wherein the SOH of the test battery provides an indication of a present condition of the test battery in relation to the reference data set.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the processor is further configured to predict a future performance or lifetime of the test battery based on the SOH.

22. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the test battery comprise changes in physical states of the test battery, wherein the physical states of the test battery comprise one or more of:
density or elastic modulus of one or more internal components or parts of the test battery;
structural relaxation related transport phe

Assignees

• Univ Princeton

Inventors

• Steingart Daniel Artemus
• Bhadra Shoham
• Hsieh Andrew
• Hertzberg Benjamin
• Gjeltema Peter James
• Rowley Iii Clarence Worth
• Goy Alexandre S R
• Fleischer Jason Wolf

Classifications

• G01N29/4436

  with a reference signal (amplitude comparison G01N29/48) · CPC title

• G01N2291/0231

  Composite or layered materials · CPC title

• G01N29/46

  by spectral analysis, e.g. Fourier analysis {or wavelet analysis (spectral signal processing per se G06F17/14)} · CPC title

• G01N29/07

  by measuring propagation velocity or propagation time of acoustic waves · CPC title

• G01N29/4427 Primary

  with stored values, e.g. threshold values · CPC title