Method for fast charging lithium-ion batteries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10389151-B2
Application number	US-201715727893-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 9, 2017
Priority date	Nov 23, 2016
Publication date	Aug 20, 2019
Grant date	Aug 20, 2019

Abstract

A method for charging a battery comprises: measuring a battery voltage with a voltage sensor and a battery current with a current sensor; applying, with a charging circuit, a first charging current to the battery until the measured battery voltage exceeds a predetermined voltage threshold, a magnitude of the first charging current being held at a first constant value; applying, with the charging circuit, in response to the measured battery voltage exceeding the predetermined voltage threshold, a second charging current to the battery until a cutoff criterion is satisfied, a magnitude of the second charging current being such that the battery voltage exceeds a steady state voltage limit for the battery; after the cutoff criterion is satisfied, determining a rest voltage of the battery; and updating the cutoff criterion based on a difference between the determined rest voltage and a target rest voltage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for charging a battery, the method comprising:
measuring a battery voltage of the battery with a voltage sensor and a battery current of the battery with a current sensor;
applying, with a charging circuit, a first charging current to the battery until the measured battery voltage exceeds a predetermined voltage threshold, a magnitude of the first charging current being held at a first constant value;
applying, with the charging circuit, in response to the measured battery voltage exceeding the predetermined voltage threshold, a second charging current to the battery until a cutoff criterion is satisfied, a magnitude of the second charging current being such that the measured battery voltage exceeds a steady state voltage limit for the battery;
determining an impedance of the battery;
after the cutoff criterion is satisfied, determining a rest voltage of the battery; and
updating the cutoff criterion based on (i) a difference between the determined rest voltage of the battery and a target rest voltage of the battery and (ii) a difference between the impedance of the battery determined in a current charge cycle and an impedance of the battery determined in a previous charge cycle of the battery.

2. The method of claim 1 , the applying of the second charging current further comprising:
varying the magnitude of the second charging current in response to difference between the measured battery voltage and a target monotonically increasing battery voltage.

3. The method of claim 1 , the applying of the second charging current further comprising:
varying the magnitude of the second charging current in response to a difference between the measured battery current and a target monotonically decreasing battery current.

4. The method of claim 1 , the applying of the second charging current further comprising:
varying the magnitude of the second charging current in response to difference between the measured battery voltage and a target constant battery voltage, the target constant battery voltage being greater than the steady state voltage limit for the battery,
wherein the predetermined voltage threshold is greater than the steady state voltage limit for the battery.

5. The method of claim 1 , the applying of the second charging current further comprising:
holding the magnitude of second charging current at a second constant value that is less than the first constant value.

6. The method of claim 1 , the applying of the second charging current until the cutoff criterion is satisfied further comprising:
comparing a measured current with a predetermined current threshold; and
ceasing the application of the second charging current in response to the measured current falling below the predetermined current threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 , the applying of the second charging current until the cutoff criterion is satisfied further comprising:
comparing an amount of time since a start of the application of the second charging current with a predetermined threshold amount of time; and
ceasing the application of the second charging current in response to the amount of time since the start of the application of the second charging current exceeding the predetermined threshold amount of time.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving, with the charging circuit, before the applying of the first charging current, the cutoff criterion from battery electronics of the battery; and
storing, after updating the cutoff criterion, the updated cutoff criterion on a memory of the battery.

9. The method of claim 1 , the determining of the impedance of battery further comprising:
temporarily interrupting one of (i) the applying of the first charging current and (ii) the applying of the second charge current in response to the measured battery voltage exceeding a further predetermined voltage threshold, zero charging current being applied to battery during the interruption, the interruption lasting a predetermined amount of time before resuming the one of (i) the applying of the first charging current and (ii) the applying of the second charge current; and
measuring the impedance of the battery during the interruption of the one of (i) the applying of the first charging current and (ii) the applying of the second charge current.

10. A charging system for charging a battery, the charging system comprising:
a charging circuit configured to connect to a power source and to the battery, the charging circuit configured to draw current from the power source to apply charging currents to the battery;
a voltage sensor configured to measure a battery voltage of the battery;
a current sensor configured to measure a battery current of the battery; and
a charge controller operably connected to the charging circuit, the voltage sensor, and the current sensor, the charge controller configured to:
operate the voltage sensor to measure a battery voltage of the battery and operate the current sensor to measure a battery current of the battery;
operate the charging circuit to apply a first charging current to the battery until the measured battery voltage exceeds a predetermined voltage threshold, a magnitude of the first charging current being held at a first constant value; and
operate the charging circuit to apply, in response to the measured battery voltage exceeding the predetermined voltage threshold, a second charging current to the battery until a cutoff criterion is satisfied, a magnitude of the second charging current being such that the measured battery voltage exceeds a steady state voltage limit for the battery,

wherein at least one of the charge controller and a battery controller of the battery is configured to:
determine an impedance of the battery;
after the cutoff criterion is satisfied, determine a rest voltage of the battery; and
update the cutoff criterion based on (i) a difference between the determined rest voltage of the battery and a target rest voltage of the battery and (ii) a difference between the impedance of the battery determined in a current charge cycle and an impedance of the battery determined in a previous charge cycle of the battery.

11. The charging system of claim 10 , the charge controller further configured to:
operate the charging circuit to vary the magnitude of the second charging current in response to difference between the measured battery voltage and a target monotonically increasing battery voltage.

12. The charging system of claim 10 , the charge controller further configured to:
operate the charging circuit to vary the magnitude of the second charging current in response to a difference between the measured battery current and a target monotonically decreasing battery current.

13. The charging system of claim 10 , the charge controller further configured to:
operate the charging circuit to vary the magnitude of the second charging current in response to difference between the measured battery voltage and a target constant battery voltage, the target constant battery voltage being greater than the steady state voltage limit for the battery,
wherein the predetermined voltage threshold is greater than the steady state voltage limit for the battery.

14. The charging system of claim 10 , the charge controller further configured to:
operate the charging circuit to hold the magnitude of second charging current at a second constant value that is less than the first constant value.

15. The charging system of claim 10 , the charge controller further configured to:
compare a measured current with a predetermined current thr

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Ravi Nikhil
• Subbaraman Anantharaman
• Klein Reinhardt
• Krupadanam Ashish
• MirTabatabaei Anahita
• Schmidt Gerd Simon
• Klee Christoph

Classifications

• H02J7/42

  with electronic devices having internal batteries, e.g. mobile phones · CPC title

• H02J7/953

  in response to charge current gradient · CPC title

• H02J7/875

  Charging or discharging for charge maintenance, battery initiation or rejuvenation · CPC title

• H02J7/751

  concerning the insertion or the connection of the batteries · CPC title

• H02J7/90

  Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage · CPC title