Storage battery pack and method of operating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10601084-B2
Application number	US-201916591243-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2019
Priority date	Jul 11, 2014
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

A battery pack includes a secondary battery, a circuit having a consumer consuming power of the battery, terminals charging or discharging the pack, a switch that, when the voltage of the battery reaches the discharge cutoff voltage, is opened to stop discharge of the battery through the terminals, and a controller performing a first discharge operation activating the circuit and causing the consumer to consume a remaining power of the battery until a voltage of the battery reaches a first threshold value, higher than the discharge cutoff voltage, and stopping, when the voltage of the battery reaches the first threshold value, the first discharge operation. The controller also performs a second discharge operation activating the circuit and causing the consumer to consume the remaining power of the battery until the voltage of the battery reaches a third threshold value, lower than the discharge cutoff voltage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A storage battery pack comprising:
a secondary battery;
a circuit that includes a power consumer which consumes power of the secondary battery;
terminals for charging to or discharging from the storage battery pack;
a switching element that, when the voltage of the secondary battery reaches the discharge cutoff voltage, is opened to stop discharge of the secondary battery through the terminals;
a controller; and
a memory including a set of executable instructions that, when executed by the controller causes the controller to perform a first discharge operation including:
activating the circuit and causing the power consumer to consume a remaining power of the secondary battery until a voltage of the secondary battery reaches a first threshold value which is higher than the discharge cutoff voltage; and
stopping, when the voltage of the secondary battery reaches the first threshold value, the first discharge operation,

the memory including a set of executable instructions that, when executed by the controller causes the controller to perform a second discharge operation including:
activating the circuit and causing the power consumer to consume the remaining power of the secondary battery until the voltage of the secondary battery reaches a third threshold value which is lower than the discharge cutoff voltage.

2. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller performs the first discharge operation under a condition that
(i) the storage battery pack is connected to a charging device, and
(ii) the voltage of the secondary battery is lower than a second threshold value which is higher than the first threshold value.

3. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller performs the first discharge operation under a condition that the storage battery pack is connected to a charging device,
after the stopping the first discharge operation, the controller automatically closes the switching element to start charging to the secondary battery from the charging device.

4. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller performs the first discharge operation under a condition that the storage battery pack is connected to a charging device,
after the stopping the first discharge operation, the controller automatically closes the switching element to start charging to the secondary battery from the charging device,
after the second discharge operation, the controller does not charge the secondary battery from the charging device regardless of the connection to the charging device.

5. The storage battery pack according to claim 2 , wherein
after the stopping the first discharge operation, the controller automatically closes the switching element to start charging to the secondary battery from the charging device.

6. The storage battery pack according to claim 2 , wherein
after the stopping the first discharge operation, the controller automatically closes the switching element to start charging to the secondary battery from the charging device,
after the second discharge operation, the controller does not charge the secondary battery from the charging device regardless of the connection to the charging device.

7. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein
the memory including a set of executable instructions that, when executed by the controller causes the controller to perform the second discharge operation including:
stopping, when the voltage of the secondary battery reaches the third threshold value, the second discharge operation.

8. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , further comprising
the secondary battery includes a plurality of cells,
wherein,
the memory including a set of executable instructions that, when executed by the controller causes the controller to perform the second discharge operation including:
stopping, before voltages of all the plurality of cells reach 0 V, the second discharge operation.

9. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller performs the first discharge operation under a condition that
(i) the storage battery pack is connected to a charging device,
(ii) the voltage of the secondary battery is lower than a second threshold value which is higher than the first threshold value, and
(iii) a predetermined period has elapsed since a last first discharge which has been performed.

10. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , further comprises:
a communicator that allows communication with an external entity,
wherein,
the memory including a set of executable instructions that, when executed by the controller, causes the controller to perform operations including:
transmitting state information indicating a remaining capacity of the secondary battery to the external entity via the communicator.

11. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , further comprises:
a communicator that allows communication with an external entity,
wherein,
the memory including a set of executable instructions that, when executed by the controller, causes the controller to perform operations including:
receiving information, via the communicator, indicating command for causing the storage battery pack to check a remaining capacity of the storage battery pack from the external entity, and
transmitting, in response for the command, state information indicating the remaining capacity of the secondary battery to the external entity via the communicator.

12. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein,
the memory including a set of executable instructions that, when executed by the controller, causes the controller to perform operations including:
detecting a signal indicating a start of charge,

the controller performs, when the signal indicating the start of charge is detected, the first discharge operation under a condition that
(i) the storage battery pack is connected to a charging device, and
(ii) the voltage of the secondary battery is lower than a second threshold value which is higher than the first threshold value.

13. The storage battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein,
the memory including a set of executable instructions that, when executed by the controller, causes the controller to perform operations including:
receiving information, via the communicator, indicating command for causing the storage battery pack to perform the second discharge operation from the external entity, and
performing, in response for the command, the second discharge operation.

14. A battery management method for controlling a storage battery pack including a secondary battery, the battery management method comprising:
performing a first discharge operation under a condition that:
(i) the storage battery pack is connected to a charging device;
(ii) a voltage of the secondary battery is higher than a first threshold value which is higher than a discharge cutoff voltage of the secondary battery; and
(iii) the voltage of the secondary battery is lower than a second threshold value which is higher than the first threshold value,

wherein, the first discharge operation including:
consuming a remaining power of the secondary battery until the voltage of the secondary battery reaches the first threshold value; and
stopping, when the voltage of the secondary battery reaches the first threshold value, the first discharge operation,

performing a second discharge operation under a condition that:
the storage battery pack has been received, from an external entity, a command for causing the storage battery p

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Toya Shoichi
• Ohshima Kazuya

Classifications

• H01M10/345

  Gastight metal hydride accumulators · CPC title

• H01M2010/4278

  Systems for data transfer from batteries, e.g. transfer of battery parameters to a controller, data transferred between battery controller and main controller · CPC title

• H01M10/448 Primary

  End of discharge regulating measures · CPC title

• H01M10/4257

  Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries · CPC title

• H01M10/44

  Methods for charging or discharging (circuits for charging H02J7/00) · CPC title