Integrated multiple voltage energy storage system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10374442-B2
Application number	US-201414516701-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2014
Priority date	Oct 17, 2013
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

An integrated multiple voltage battery system includes a first pair of output terminals, a second pair of output terminals, a plurality of first battery cells connected in series with each other and operatively connected to the first pair of output terminals, at least one second battery cell operatively connected to the second pair of outlet terminals, and a plurality of switches, the plurality of switches arranged such that each first battery cell in the plurality of first battery cells can be selectively placed in parallel with the at least one second battery cell while electrically isolating the other of the plurality of first battery cells from the at least one second battery cell, wherein each of the plurality of first battery cells has a nominal open cell voltage which is about the same as a nominal open cell voltage of the at least one second battery cell.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An integrated multiple voltage battery system comprising:
a first pair of output terminals;
a second pair of output terminals;
a plurality of first battery cells connected in series with each other and operatively connected to the first pair of output terminals;
at least one second battery cell operatively connected to the second pair of outlet terminals; and
a plurality of switches, the plurality of switches arranged such that each first battery cell in the plurality of first battery cells can be selectively placed in parallel with the at least one second battery cell while electrically isolating the other of the plurality of first battery cells from the at least one second battery cell, wherein each of the plurality of first battery cells has a nominal open cell voltage which is about the same as a nominal open cell voltage of the at least one second battery cell.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of first battery cells comprises a third battery cell and a fourth battery cell;
a high voltage side of the fourth battery cell is operatively connected to a low voltage side of the third battery;
a first pair of serially connected switches is operatively connected to a high voltage side of the third battery cell and a high voltage side of the at least one second battery cell;
a second pair of serially connected switches is operatively connected to the low voltage side of the third battery cell and a low voltage side of the at least one second battery cell;
a third pair of serially connected switches is operatively connected to the low voltage side of the third battery cell and the high voltage side of the at least one second battery cell; and
a fourth pair of serially connected switches is operatively connected to the low voltage side of the fourth battery cell and the low voltage side of the at least one second battery cell.

3. The system of claim 2 , further comprising:
a memory in which program instructions are stored; and
a controller operatively connected to the memory and the plurality of switches, the controller configured to execute the program instructions to selectively place each of the plurality of first battery cells in parallel with the at least one second battery cell while electrically isolating the other of the plurality of first battery cells from the at least one second battery cell.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to execute the program instructions to selectively place the third battery cell in parallel with the at least one second battery cell by:
controlling the first pair of serially connected switches to place the high voltage side of the third battery in electrical connection with the high voltage side of the at least one second battery cell;
controlling the second pair of serially connected switches to place the low voltage side of the third battery and the high voltage side of the fourth battery in electrical connection with the low voltage side of the at least one second battery cell;
controlling the third pair of serially connected switches to isolate the low voltage side of the third battery and the high voltage side of the fourth battery from the high voltage side of the at least one second battery cell; and
controlling the fourth pair of serially connected switches to isolate the low voltage side of the fourth battery from the low voltage side of the at least one second battery cell.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to execute the program instructions to selectively place the fourth battery cell in parallel with the at least one second battery cell by:
controlling the first pair of serially connected switches to isolate the high voltage side of the third battery from the high voltage side of the at least one second battery cell;
controlling the second pair of serially connected switches to isolate the low voltage side of the third battery and the high voltage side of the fourth battery from the low voltage side of the at least one second battery cell;
controlling the third pair of serially connected switches to place the low voltage side of the third battery and the high voltage side of the fourth battery in electrical connection with the high voltage side of the at least one second battery cell; and
controlling the fourth pair of serially connected switches to place the low voltage side of the fourth battery in electrical connection with the low voltage side of the at least one second battery cell.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of first battery cells comprises a first outer cell, a second outer cell, and at least one inner cell;
the first outer cell includes a high voltage side operatively connected to a first of the first pair of outlet terminals;
the second outer cell includes a low voltage side operatively connected to a second of the first pair of outlet terminals;
each of the at least one inner cells includes a high output side operatively connected to a low output side of another of the plurality of first battery cells, and a low output side operatively connected to a high output side of another of the plurality of first battery cells;
the plurality of switches includes a first pair of serially connected switches, a second pair of serially connected switches, and a plurality of switch groups;
the first pair of serially connected switches is configured to selectively place the high output side of the first outer cell in electrical connection with a high output side of the least one second battery cell;
the second pair of serially connected switches is configured to selectively place the low output side of the second outer cell in electrical connection with a low output side of the least one second battery cell;
each of the at least one inner cells is associated with a first and a second of the plurality of switch groups;
one of the first and the second of the plurality of switch groups is configured to selectively place the high voltage side of the associated inner cell in electrical connection with the high voltage side of the at least one second battery cell, place the high voltage side of the associated inner cell in electrical connection with the low voltage side of the at least one second battery cell, and electrically isolate the high voltage side of the associated inner cell from the at least one second battery cell; and
the other of the first and the second of the plurality of switch groups is configured to selectively place the low voltage side of the associated inner cell in electrical connection with the high voltage side of the at least one second battery cell, place the low voltage side of the associated inner cell in electrical connection with the low voltage side of the at least one second battery cell, and electrically isolate the low voltage side of the associated inner cell from the at least one second battery cell.

7. The system of claim 6 , further comprising:
a memory in which program instructions are stored; and
a controller operatively connected to the memory and the plurality of switches, the controller configured to execute the program instructions to selectively place each first battery cell in the plurality of first battery cells in parallel with the at least one second battery cell while electrically isolating the other of the plurality of first battery cells from the at least one second battery cell.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of first battery cells exhibits a nominal voltage of about 3.0V to 4.2V.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality first battery cells consists of four battery cells.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein:
the plurality of switch g

Assignees

• Robert Bosch Battery Systems Llc
• Bosch Gmbh Robert
• Bosch Battery Systems Llc

Inventors

• Averitt Scott Michael

Classifications

• H02J7/575

  Parallel/serial switching of connection of batteries to charge or load circuit · CPC title

• H02J7/56 Primary

  Active balancing, e.g. using capacitor-based, inductor-based or DC-DC converters · CPC title

• B60L58/20

  having different nominal voltages · CPC title

• B60L58/18

  of two or more battery modules · CPC title

• H02J7/0019 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic