Semi-active partial parallel battery architecture for an automotive vehicle systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10737578-B2
Application number	US-201815978969-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2018
Priority date	Nov 14, 2014
Publication date	Aug 11, 2020
Grant date	Aug 11, 2020

Abstract

An automotive battery system that includes a lead-acid battery electrically coupled to a first bus, in which the lead-acid battery supplies electrical power to a starter via the first bus to cold crank an internal combustion engine of a vehicle; a lithium-ion battery electrically coupled to a second bus, in which the lithium-ion battery captures and stores electrical energy generated by a regenerative braking system when the vehicle brakes and supplies electrical power to the second bus using the electrical energy captured from the regenerative braking system such that a first portion of the second electrical power is supplied to an electrical system; and a DC/DC converter electrically coupled between the first bus and the second bus, in which the DC/DC converter controls supply of a second portion of the second electrical power to charge the lead-acid battery.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A battery system comprising:
a first battery electrically coupled to a first bus, wherein the first battery is configured to output first electrical power to the first bus to enable a starter electrically coupled to the first bus to crank an internal combustion engine;
a second battery electrically coupled to a second bus, wherein the second battery is configured to:
store electrical energy generated by a regenerative braking system; and output second electrical power to the second bus using the electrical energy stored in the second battery to enable the battery system to power operation of an electrical component coupled to the second bus; and a DC/DC converter electrically coupled between the first bus and the second bus, wherein the DC/DC converter is configured to control division of the second electrical power output from the second battery into a first portion supplied to charge the first battery via the first bus and a second portion supplied to operate the electrical component via the second bus.

2. The battery system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first battery comprises one or more lead-acid battery cells; and the
second battery comprises one or more lithium-ion battery cells.

3. The battery system of claim 1 , wherein the battery system is configured to:
supply the first electrical power output from the first battery to the starter to crank the internal combustion engine when an automotive vehicle transitions from key-off to key-on; and supply third electrical power to the starter to crank the internal combustion engine while the automotive vehicle is key-on to transition the automotive vehicle out of an idle state, wherein:
the first battery is configured to supply a first portion of the third electrical power and the second battery is configured to supply a second portion of the third electrical power when a state of charge of the second battery is greater than a first threshold or a state of charge of the first battery is less than a second threshold; and
the first battery is configured to supply the third electrical power by itself when the state of charge of the first battery is not less than the second threshold.

4. The battery system of claim 1 , wherein, to control division of the second electrical power, the DC/DC converter is configured to control current flow from the second bus to the first bus based at least in part on charge acceptance rate limit of the first battery, power consumption by the electrical component, or both.

5. The battery system of claim 1 , wherein the second battery comprises one or more lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide battery cells, one or more lithium-titanate/lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide battery cells, one or more lithium-titanate/lithium manganese oxide battery cells, one or more lithium iron phosphate battery cells, or any combination thereof.

6. The battery system of claim 1 , comprising:
a first positive terminal configured to electrically couple the first battery to the first bus;
a second positive terminal configured to electrically coupled the second battery to the second bus; and
a negative terminal configured to electrically couple the first battery and the second battery to ground.

7. A battery module comprising:
a first battery comprising one or more lead-acid battery cells;
a first positive terminal coupled to the first battery, wherein the first positive terminal is configured to electrically couple the first battery to a first bus to enable the first battery to output at least a portion of first electrical power used to crank an internal combustion engine;
a second battery comprising one or more lithium-ion battery cells; a second positive terminal coupled to the second battery, wherein the second positive terminal is configured to electrically couple the second battery to a second bus to enable the second battery to capture electrical energy generated by a regenerative braking system and to output second electrical power used to power operation of an electrical system; and
a negative terminal coupled to the first battery and the second battery, wherein the negative terminal is configured to electrically couple the first battery and the second battery to ground.

8. The battery module of claim 7 , comprising a switching device electrically coupled between the first battery and the second battery, wherein the switching device is configured to control current flow between the first bus and the second bus.

9. The battery module of claim 8 , wherein the switching device comprises a DC/DC converter configured to control division of the second electrical power output from the second battery into:
a first portion of the second electrical power supplied to the electrical system via the second bus; and
a second portion of the second electrical power supplied to the first bus to charge the first battery.

10. The battery module of claim 8 , comprising a housing, wherein: the first
battery, the second battery, and the switching device are disposed within the housing; and
the first positive terminal, the second positive terminal, and the negative terminal extend through the housing.

11. The battery module of claim 7 , wherein the battery module only includes three terminals.

12. The battery module of claim 7 , wherein:
the one or more lead-acid battery cells are configured to produce a first open circuit voltage within a first voltage range across the first battery; and
the one or more lithium-ion battery cells are configured to produce a second open circuit voltage within a second voltage range that is greater than the first voltage range across the second battery.

13. The battery module of claim 7 , wherein: the first battery comprises a twelve volt battery;
the first positive terminal comprises a positive twelve volt terminal;
the second battery comprises a forty-eight volt battery; and
the second positive terminal comprises a positive forty-eight volt terminal.

14. The battery module of claim 7 , wherein:
the first battery comprise a first voltage class battery configured to produce a first voltage within a first voltage range; and
the second battery comprises a second voltage class battery configured to produce a second voltage within a second voltage range that is greater than the first voltage range.

15. The battery module of claim 7 , wherein:
the first positive terminal is associated with a first voltage range; and the second positive terminal is associated with a second voltage range that is greater than and non-overlapping with the first voltage range.

16. The battery module of claim 7 , wherein:
the first battery is configured to supply the first electrical power used by a starter to crank the internal combustion engine by itself when an automotive vehicle transitions from key-off to key-on; and
to transition the automotive vehicle out of an idle state while key-on:
the first battery is configured to supply a first portion of the first electrical power and the second battery is configured to supply a second portion of the first electrical power used by the starter to crank the internal combustion engine when a state of charge of the second battery is greater than a first threshold or a state of charge of the first battery is less than a second threshold; and
the first battery is configured to supply the first electrical power used by the starter to crank the internal combustion engine by itself when the state of charge of the first battery is not less than the second threshold.

Assignees

• Cps Tech Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Thieme Bryan L
• Le Daniel B

Classifications

• B60L58/12

  responding to state of charge [SoC] · CPC title

• Y02T10/72

  Electric energy management in electromobility · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

  Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• B60L1/00 Primary

  Supplying electric power to auxiliary equipment of vehicles (circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00) · CPC title