Multi-battery charging station which selectively connects battery sub-modules to a common power bus for charging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10673252-B2
Application number	US-201916405218-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 7, 2019
Priority date	Jan 31, 2018
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

Battery sub-modules are selecting to electrically connect to a common power bus, including by: determining if a discharge-related fault indication for a given battery sub-module indicates that the given battery sub-module is in a discharge-related fault condition. If so, the given battery sub-module is excluded from the selected battery sub-modules such that said given battery sub-module is electrically disconnected from the common power bus. The selected battery sub-modules are configured so that the selected battery sub-modules are electrically connected to the common power bus; the selected battery sub-modules that are electrically connected to the common power bus are charged.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to:
select one or more battery sub-modules from a plurality of battery sub-modules to electrically connect to a common power bus including by determining if a discharge-related fault indication for a given battery sub-module in the plurality of battery sub-modules indicates that the given battery sub-module is in a discharge-related fault condition;
configure the selected battery sub-modules so that the selected battery sub-modules are electrically connected to the common power bus; and
charge the selected battery sub-modules that are electrically connected to the common power bus including by determining to perform a charge-and-update based at least in part on the discharge-related fault indication indicating that the given battery sub-module is in the discharge-related fault condition.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the charge-and-update is periodically performed and the determination to perform the charge-and-update is based at least in part on a current cycle number associated with the charge-and-update.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determination to perform the charge-and-update is based at least in part on a maximum cell voltage being less than an update threshold voltage.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory is further configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to instruct a charger to perform charge-and-update in response to the determination to perform the charge-and-update, the charge-and-update including exercising the given battery sub-module to update a health metric.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the health metric includes a cell charge capacity and the charge-and-update includes generating updated charge capacity values for at least one cell in the given battery sub-module.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein charging the selected battery sub-modules further includes determining to perform a charge-only including exercising the given battery sub-module without updating a health metric.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the charge-only includes charging the given battery sub-module over a first charging period and a second charging period, wherein a duration of the first charging period and a duration of the second charging period are based at least in part on a global minimum cell voltage from a plurality of health metrics.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first charging period ends when the global minimum cell voltage meets a threshold associated with a first state of charge measurement point.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the second charging period ends when the global minimum cell voltage meets a threshold associated with a second state of charge measurement point.

10. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the discharge-related fault indication is determined based at least in part on the given battery sub-module being in a state of discharge for more than a specific amount of time.

11. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the discharge-related fault indication is determined by a built-in battery management system in the given battery sub-module.

12. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the memory is further configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to determine whether to perform a charge-only or a charge-and-update.

13. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein:
in response to determining that the discharge-related fault indication indicates that the given battery sub-module is in the discharge-related fault condition, replacing said given battery sub-module with a second battery sub-module; and
charging the selected battery sub-modules that are electrically connected to the common power bus includes performing a charge-and-update such that a health metric for the second battery sub-module is generated.

14. A method, comprising:
selecting one or more battery sub-modules from a plurality of battery sub-modules to electrically connect to a common power bus including by determining if a discharge-related fault indication for a given battery sub-module in the plurality of battery sub-modules indicates that the given battery sub-module is in a discharge-related fault condition;
configuring the selected battery sub-modules so that the selected battery sub-modules are electrically connected to the common power bus; and
charging the selected battery sub-modules that are electrically connected to the common power bus including by determining to perform a charge-and-update based at least in part on the discharge-related fault indication indicating that the given battery sub-module is in the discharge-related fault condition.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the charge-and-update is periodically performed and the determination to perform the charge-and-update is based at least in part on a current cycle number associated with the charge-and-update.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
determining to perform the charge-and-update is based at least in part on a maximum cell voltage being less than an update threshold voltage; and
performing a charge-and-update includes exercising the given battery sub-module to update a health metric.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the health metric includes a cell charge capacity and the charge-and-update includes generating updated charge capacity values for at least one cell in the given battery sub-module.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein charging the selected battery sub-modules further includes determining to perform a charge-only including exercising the given battery sub-module without updating a health metric.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein:
the charge-only includes charging the given battery sub-module over a first charging period and a second charging period, wherein a duration of the first charging period and a duration of the second charging period are based at least in part on a global minimum cell voltage from a plurality of health metrics;
the first charging period ends when the global minimum cell voltage meets a threshold associated with a first state of charge measurement point; and
the second charging period ends when the global minimum cell voltage meets a threshold associated with a second state of charge measurement point.

20. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:
selecting one or more battery sub-modules from a plurality of battery sub-modules to electrically connect to a common power bus, including by determining if a discharge-related fault indication for a given battery sub-module in the plurality of battery sub-modules indicates that said given battery sub-module is in a discharge-related fault condition;
configuring the selected battery sub-modules so that the selected battery sub-modules are electrically connected to the common power bus; and
charging the selected battery sub-modules that are electrically connected to the common power bus including by determining to perform a charge-and-update based at least in part on the discharge-related fault indication indicating that the given battery sub-module is in the discharge-related fault condition.

Assignees

• Wisk Aero Llc

Inventors

• Hom Lewis Romeo
• Viele Brian Robert
• Furman Scott

Classifications

• H05K7/20136

  Forced ventilation, e.g. by fans (H05K7/202 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/0013

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J7/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J7/0069

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J7/00 Primary

  Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries · CPC title