Inspection apparatus of electrical storage device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10884064-B2
Application number	US-201916238100-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 2, 2019
Priority date	Feb 9, 2018
Publication date	Jan 5, 2021
Grant date	Jan 5, 2021

Abstract

An inspection apparatus including the power supply device, positive and negative conductive lines, connected to the power supply device and having corresponding first and second probes, at corresponding front ends, a resistor and a switch serially disposed between the positive conductive line and the negative conductive line, a circuit resistance calculation unit that calculates a circuit resistance value based on a difference in voltage between when the switch is turned off and turned on, an inspection unit configured to inspect the electrical storage device, and a virtual resistance setting unit that increases the output voltage after the start of inspection.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An inspection apparatus of an electrical storage device, comprising:
a power supply device configured to function as an external power supply;
a positive conductive line connected to a positive electrode terminal of the power supply device to constitute part of a circuit, the positive conductive line having a first probe provided at a front end of the positive conductive line to have a contact with the electrical storage device;
a negative conductive line connected to a negative electrode terminal of the power supply device to constitute part of the circuit, the negative conductive line having a second probe provided at a front end of the negative conductive line to have a contact with the electrical storage device;
a resistance path configured by serially connecting a resistor and a switch, the resistance path disposed between the positive conductive line and the negative conductive line;
a circuit resistance calculation unit configured to calculate a circuit resistance value of the circuit based on a difference in voltage across the positive conductive line and the negative conductive line between when the switch is turned off and when the switch is turned on, in a state where the circuit is constituted by contacting the first probe and the second probe with the positive electrode terminal and negative electrode terminal of the electrical storage device to be examined, respectively;
an inspection unit configured to inspect the electrical storage device while increasing an output voltage of the power supply device in a state where the circuit is constituted and the switch is turned off, so as to inspect an amount of a self-discharge electric current of the electrical storage device based on a converging state of an electric current of the circuit; and
a virtual resistance setting unit configured to increase the output voltage of the power supply device after start of inspection within a range where a sum of a virtual resistance value and the circuit resistance value is greater than zero, the virtual resistance value being a negative value obtained by converting an increment of the electric current, related to an increased part of the output voltage of the power supply device when the inspection unit performs the inspection, into a decrement of resistance of the circuit.

2. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a second switch provided between the positive conductive line and the first probe or between the resistance path in the negative conductive line and the second probe; and
a sub-resistance calculation unit that calculates a sub-resistance value that is a resistance value of a portion constituted of the resistance path, the power supply device, the positive conductive line, and the negative conductive line in the circuit, based on the difference in voltage across the positive conductive line and the negative conductive line between when the switch is turned off and when the switch is turned on in a state where the second switch is turned off, wherein the circuit resistance calculation unit is configured to add the sub-resistance value when calculating the circuit resistance value.

3. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the virtual resistance setting unit is configured to set the virtual resistance value such that an absolute value of the virtual resistance value does not exceed the circuit resistance value, and resistance setting unit is configured to change the output voltage of the power supply device to a voltage obtained by adding, to the voltage of the electrical storage device, a value obtained by multiplying the sum of the virtual resistance value and the circuit resistance value by the electric current after the start of the inspection.

4. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a variable resistance setting unit configured to set a resistance value of the resistor to be larger when a storage capacity of the electrical storage device to be inspected is smaller, and sets the resistance value to be smaller when the storage capacity is larger.

5. The inspection apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the virtual resistance setting unit is configured to increase the output voltage of the power supply device after the start of the inspection such that an absolute value of the virtual resistance value is set to be smaller when the resistance value of the resistor set by the variable resistance setting unit is smaller, and the absolute value of the virtual resistance value is set to be larger when the resistance value of the resistor is larger.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd
• Toyota Jidosha Kabushikt Kaisha

Inventors

• Kobayashi Kiwamu
• Goto Takeshi

Classifications

• Y02P70/50

  Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product · CPC title

• G01R31/3842 Primary

  combining voltage and current measurements · CPC title

• G01R19/00

  Arrangements for measuring currents or voltages or for indicating presence or sign thereof (G01R5/00 takes precedence; for measuring bioelectric currents or voltages A61B5/24) · CPC title

• G01R31/392 Primary

  Determining battery ageing or deterioration, e.g. state of health · CPC title

• G01R31/367

  Software therefor, e.g. for battery testing using modelling or look-up tables · CPC title