Power balancing communication for battery management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10505374-B2
Application number	US-201615169475-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2016
Priority date	May 31, 2016
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

A battery management system is described that includes a controller configured to control electrical charging and discharging of a plurality of blocks of a battery. The battery management system also includes an inter-block communication network including a master node and a plurality of slave nodes arranged in a ring-type daisy-chain configuration with the master node. The master node is coupled to the controller and configured to initiate all command messages sent through the inter-block communication network and terminate all reply messages sent through the inter-block communication network. The plurality of slave nodes is bounded by an initial node coupled to the master node and a last node coupled to the master node.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery management system comprising:
a controller configured to control electrical charging and discharging of a plurality of blocks of a battery; and
an inter-block communication network including a master node and a plurality of slave nodes arranged in a ring-type daisy-chain configuration with the master node,
wherein the master node is coupled to the controller and configured to initiate all command messages sent through the inter-block communication network and terminate all reply messages sent through the inter-block communication network,
wherein the plurality of slave nodes are bounded by an initial node coupled to the master node and a last node coupled to the master node, and
wherein the controller is configured to control the inter-block communication network by alternating between:
a one-way master-on-bottom messaging scheme in which the controller causes the master node to transmit, via the initial node, a command to an addressed node from the plurality of slave nodes and receive, via the last node, a reply from the addressed node; and
a one-way master-on-top messaging scheme in which the controller causes the master node to transmit, via the last node, the command to the addressed node and receive, via the initial node, the reply from the addressed node,

wherein the controller is configured to switch between controlling the inter-block communication network using the one-way master-on-top messaging scheme or the one-way master-on-bottom messaging scheme each time the master node receives the reply.

2. The battery management system of claim 1 , wherein:
the inter-block communication network is configured to forward the command and the reply from the addressed node through the inter-block communication network and to the last node when the controller is controlling the inter-block communication network in the one-way master-on-bottom messaging scheme; and
the inter-block communication network is configured to forward the command and the reply from the addressed node through the inter-block communication network and to the initial node when the controller is controlling the inter-block communication network in the one-way master-on-top messaging scheme.

3. The battery management system of claim 1 , wherein the inter-block communication network includes a low-side bus and a high-side bus, and wherein the master node and each of the plurality of slave nodes are coupled via the low-side bus and the high-side bus.

4. The battery management system of claim 3 , wherein each of the master node and the plurality of slave nodes is coupled to the low-side bus and the high-side bus via a respective resistor-capacitor coupling circuit.

5. The battery management system of claim 4 , wherein each slave node from the plurality of slave nodes comprises respective balancing and monitoring circuitry.

6. The battery management system of claim 5 , wherein the respective balancing and monitoring circuit is configured to increase a current drawn by a first slave node of the plurality of slave nodes to communicate with a second slave node of the plurality of slave nodes.

7. The battery management system of claim 1 , wherein each slave node from the plurality of slave nodes is associated with a different respective block from the plurality of blocks.

8. The battery management system of claim 1 , wherein each slave node from the plurality of slave nodes comprises balancing and monitoring circuitry associated with a different respective block from a plurality of blocks of a battery.

9. The battery management system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first transmission line of a first type configured to link two slave nodes of the plurality of slave nodes together; and
a second transmission line of a second type configured to link the master node to the initial node and to link the master node to the last node,
wherein an inherent parasitic capacitance of the transmission line of the first type matches an inherent parasitic capacitance of the transmission line of the second type.

10. A method comprising:
transmitting, from a master node of an inter-block communication network of a battery management system and via an initial node from a plurality of slave nodes of the inter-block communication network, in a one-way master-on-bottom messaging scheme, a first command to a first addressed node from the plurality of slave nodes;
responsive to transmitting the first command, receiving, in the one-way master-on-bottom messaging scheme, via a last node from the plurality of slave nodes, a first reply from the first addressed node;
after receiving the first reply, transmitting, in a one-way master-on-top messaging scheme, from the master node, via the last node, a second command to a second addressed node from the plurality of slave nodes;
receiving, via the initial node, in the one-way master-on-top messaging scheme, a second reply from the second addressed node in response to transmitting the second command; and
switching between controlling the inter-block communication network using the one-way master-on-top messaging scheme or the one-way master-on-bottom messaging scheme each time the master node receives the first reply or the second reply.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving, via the last node, the first command being forwarded through the inter-block communication network by the first addressed node.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving, via the initial node, the second command being forwarded through the inter-block communication network by the second addressed node.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first addressed node is the second addressed node.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving, in the one-way master-on-bottom messaging scheme, via the initial node from the plurality of slave nodes, a third reply from the first addressed node responsive to transmitting the first command; and
receiving, in the one-way master-on-top messaging scheme, via the last node from the plurality of slave nodes, a fourth reply from the first addressed node responsive to transmitting the second command.

15. A battery management system comprising:
a controller configured to control electrical charging and discharging of a plurality of blocks of a battery; and
an inter-block communication network including a master node and a plurality of slave nodes arranged in a ring-type daisy-chain configuration with the master node,
wherein the master node is coupled to the controller and configured to initiate all command messages sent through the inter-block communication network and terminate all reply messages sent through the inter-block communication network,
wherein the plurality of slave nodes are bounded by an initial node coupled to the master node and a last node coupled to the master node,
wherein the controller is configured to control the inter-block communication network using either:
a one-way master-on-bottom messaging scheme in which the controller causes the master node to:
transmit, via the initial node, a command to an addressed node from the plurality of slave nodes;
receive, via the last node, a first reply to the command from the addressed node; and
receive, via the initial node, a second reply to the command that is duplicative of the first reply; or

a one-way master-on-top messaging scheme in which the controller causes the master node to:
transmit, via the last node, the command to the addressed node;
receive, via the last node, the first reply to the command from the addressed node; and
receive, via the i

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Kain Clemens
• Hofer Guenter
• Ruiz Sevillano Jesus

Classifications

• H02J13/1323

  using optical fibres · CPC title

• H02J7/42

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

• H02J7/80

  including monitoring or indicating arrangements · CPC title

• H02J7/52

  for charge balancing, e.g. equalisation of charge between batteries · CPC title

• Y02T90/16

  Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles · CPC title