Smart cells and control methods and systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10910859-B2
Application number	US-201615752088-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 12, 2016
Priority date	Aug 12, 2015
Publication date	Feb 2, 2021
Grant date	Feb 2, 2021

Abstract

A smart cell, comprising: a positive terminal; a negative terminal; a switching circuit which is arranged to select between a first switching state in which an energy storage device is connected between the positive terminal and the negative terminal and a second switching state in which bypasses said energy storage device; and an inductor provided between the positive terminal and the negative terminal. The inductor provides a means by which to monitor current changes in the rest of the circuit. The inductor can thus be used to detect current changes as seen by the smart cell and this sensed information can be used to control the smart cell, e.g. to control an energy source (energy storage device) that forms part of the smart cell. As the inductor is part of the smart cell, it forms part of a decentralized controller strategy to regulate the state of charge of cells within a larger system. For example, it may form part of a decentralized controller strategy to regulate the state of charge of serially connected cells of varying capacities.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A smart cell, comprising:
a positive terminal;
a negative terminal;
a switching circuit which is arranged to select between a first switching state in which an energy storage device is connected between the positive terminal and the negative terminal and a second switching state which bypasses said energy storage device; and
an inductor provided between the positive terminal and the negative terminal, wherein the inductor is in series with the switching circuit, such that the inductor is always connected between the positive and negative terminals regardless of the switching state of the switching circuit.

2. A smart cell as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said inductor is in series with said switching circuit.

3. A smart cell as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a controller arranged to monitor the voltage across the inductor and arranged to control the switching circuit based on said inductor voltage.

4. A smart cell as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the controller is arranged to adjust the switching timing of the switching circuit based on said inductor voltage.

5. A smart cell as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the controller is arranged to determine, based on said inductor voltage, a desired timing for the switching circuit that minimises the impact on voltage ripple and is arranged to adjust the timing for the switching circuit towards the desired timing.

6. A smart cell as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the controller is arranged to adjust the timing at a rate proportional to a duty cycle of the switching circuit.

7. A smart cell as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is arranged to:
detect changes of current within the system;
analyze said changes to determine the switching times of other cells;
calculate desired switching timings for the smart cell based on said changes of current; and
adjust the switching timings of the smart cell by adjusting its timings towards the desired switching timings.

8. A smart cell as claimed in claim 7 , wherein to analyze said changes, said controller is arranged to perform edge detection on the detected current in the system to detect switching times of other cells.

9. A smart cell as claimed in claim 8 , wherein to analyze said changes, said controller is arranged to combine said switching times into pairs of a switching on time and a switching off time.

10. A smart cell as claimed in claim 9 , wherein said controller is further arranged to:
form vectors from said pairs, each vector being defined by an angle that is determined by taking the average of the switching on time and the switching off time relative to the switching period of the smart cell and a magnitude equal to the sine of the difference between the switching on time and the switching off time.

11. A smart cell as claimed in claim 10 , wherein said controller is arranged to minimize the magnitude of the vector sum of all said vectors.

12. A smart cell as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the controller is arranged to adjust the switching timings by adjusting the switching period of the smart cell.

13. A smart cell as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the controller is arranged to adjust the switching timings by adjusting the timings at a rate proportional to the duty cycle of the smart cell.

14. A smart cell as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the inductor is formed as a PCB trace.

15. A smart cell as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said energy source comprises at least one of: a battery, a rechargeable battery, a capacitor, a super-capacitor or combinations thereof.

16. A smart cell as claimed in claim 15 , wherein said energy source comprises a plurality of smaller sources in parallel and/or series with a controller arranged to control the energy supply from said smaller sources.

17. A smart cell system comprising a plurality of smart cells according to claim 1 , said cells being connected in series.

18. A smart cell system as claimed in claim 17 , wherein said plurality of smart cells forms a multilevel converter.

19. A smart cell system as claimed in claim 18 , comprising a plurality of multilevel converters in parallel.

20. A method of controlling a smart cell within a multi-cell system, comprising:
detecting changes of current within the system;
analyzing said changes to determine the switching times of other cells, wherein said analyzing comprises performing edge detection on the detected current in the system to detect switching times of other cells;
calculating desired switching timings for the smart cell based on said changes of current; and
adjusting the switching timings of the smart cell by adjusting its timings towards the desired switching timings.

21. A method as claimed in claim 20 , wherein said analyzing comprises combining said switching times into pairs of a switching on time and a switching off time.

22. A method as claimed in claim 21 , further comprising forming vectors from said pairs, each vector being defined by an angle that is determined by taking the average of the switching on time and the switching off time relative to the switching period of the smart cell and a magnitude equal to the sine of the difference between the switching on time and the switching off time.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein said analyzing comprises minimising the magnitude of the vector sum of all said vectors.

24. A method as claimed in claim 20 , wherein adjusting the switching timings comprises adjusting the switching period of the smart cell.

25. A method as claimed in claim 20 , wherein adjusting the switching timings comprises adjusting the timings at a rate proportional to the duty cycle of the smart cell.

26. A controller for a plurality of series connected smart cells, said controller being arranged to produce a periodic switching signal for each smart cell, said switching signal alternating between a first switching state and a second switching state and said switching signal being defined by a phase and a duty cycle;
wherein said controller is arranged to define a vector for each smart cell, the angle of said vector being defined as the phase of the switching signal and the magnitude of the vector being defined as the sine of the duty cycle of the switching signal; and
wherein said controller is arranged to minimise the magnitude of the vector sum of all said vectors.

27. A controller as claimed in claim 26 , wherein the controller provides an initial phase for each smart cell and then performs an iterative process in which in each iteration each phase is adjusted towards a more optimal phase.

28. A controller as claimed in claim 27 , wherein the controller is arranged to adjust each phase at a rate proportional to the duty cycle of the associated smart cell.

29. A controller as claimed in claim 27 , wherein the controller is arranged to adjust the phases by adjusting the switching period of the associated smart cell.

30. A controller as claimed in claim 26 , wherein said controller is arranged to adjust said duty cycles dynamically in order to balance cells of different capacities.

31. A method of controlling a plurality of series connected smart cells by generating a periodic switching signal for each smart cell, said switching signal alternating between a first switching state and a second switching state and said switching signal bei

Assignees

• Univ Oxford Innovation Ltd

Inventors

• Frost Damien
• Howey David

Classifications

• H02J7/927

  with introduction of pulses during the charging process · CPC title

• H02J7/90

  Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage · CPC title

• H02J7/56

  Active balancing, e.g. using capacitor-based, inductor-based or DC-DC converters · CPC title

• H02J7/54 Primary

  Passive balancing, e.g. using resistors or parallel MOSFETs · CPC title

• H02J7/00 Primary

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