Electronic device for determining state of charge of battery device, and method of operating the electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11243255-B2
Application number	US-201916705467-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2019
Priority date	Mar 8, 2019
Publication date	Feb 8, 2022
Grant date	Feb 8, 2022

Abstract

A battery device includes a first battery and a second battery connected in series. An electronic device for determining a state of charge of the battery device includes a sense resistor connected in series to the second battery, and a fuel gauge. The fuel gauge is configured to determine the state of charge of the battery device based on a first terminal voltage of the first battery, a first calculation current of the first battery, a second terminal voltage of the second battery, and a measurement current of the second battery measured through the sense resistor. The fuel gauge calculates a second calculation current of the second battery using a battery parameter of an equivalent circuit model, corrects the battery parameter when a difference between the measurement current and the second calculation current is not less than a threshold value, and calculates the first calculation current using the battery parameter or a corrected battery parameter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device for determining a state of charge of a battery device that includes a first battery and a second battery connected in series, the electronic device comprising:
a sense resistor configured to be connected in series to the second battery; and
a fuel gauge configured to determine the state of charge of the battery device based on a first terminal voltage of the first battery, a first calculation current of the first battery, a second terminal voltage of the second battery, and a measurement current of the second battery measured through the sense resistor,
wherein the fuel gauge is further configured to calculate a second calculation current of the second battery by using a first battery parameter of an equivalent circuit model of the second battery and the second terminal voltage, correct the first battery parameter to a second battery parameter when a difference between the measurement current and the second calculation current is greater than or equal to a threshold value, and calculate the first calculation current by using the first terminal voltage and the first battery parameter or the second battery parameter.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the fuel gauge is configured to determine a first state of charge of the first battery based on the first calculation current of the first battery, determine a second state of charge of the second battery based on the second calculation current or the measurement current of the second battery, and determine the state of charge of the battery device based on the first state of charge and the second state of charge.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein, when the first terminal voltage and the second terminal voltage do not reach a balanced state, the fuel gauge is configured to determine the state of charge of the battery device based on the second calculation current or based on the measurement current and the first calculation current.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein, when the first terminal voltage and the second terminal voltage reach a balanced state, the fuel gauge is configured to determine a voltage level of the balanced state of the first terminal voltage and the second terminal voltage as a common open circuit voltage of the first battery and the second battery and determine the state of charge of the battery device based on the common open circuit voltage.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the fuel gauge is configured to calculate the first calculation current by using the second battery parameter and the first terminal voltage when the difference between the measurement current and the second calculation current is greater than or equal to the threshold value, and to calculate the first calculation current by using the first battery parameter and the first terminal voltage when the difference between the measurement current and the second calculation current is less than the threshold value.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the battery device further includes a first terminal connected to a high voltage node of the first battery, a second terminal connected to a connection node between the first battery and the second battery, and a third terminal connected to a low voltage node of the second battery,
wherein the sense resistor is configured to be connected between the third terminal and a ground terminal.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , further comprising:
a first charger configured to be connected between an input voltage terminal and the first terminal and to provide a first charging current to the first terminal by using an input voltage received from the input voltage terminal in a first charge mode; and
a second charger configured to be connected to the second terminal and to provide a second charging current to the second terminal by using the input voltage received from the input voltage terminal in a second charge mode.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a balancing circuit configured to balance the first terminal voltage and the second terminal voltage.

9. A method of operating an electronic device for determining a state of charge of a battery device including a first battery and a second battery connected in series, the method comprising:
obtaining a measurement current of the second battery, measured through a sense resistor serially connected to the second battery;
calculating a calculation current of the second battery by using a first battery parameter of an equivalent circuit model of the second battery and a second terminal voltage of the second battery;
correcting the first battery parameter to a second battery parameter when a difference between the measurement current and the calculation current is greater than or equal to a threshold value;
calculating a current of the first battery by using a first terminal voltage of the first battery and the first battery parameter or the second battery parameter; and
determining the state of charge of the battery device based on the current of the first battery and the measurement current of the second battery or the calculation current of the second battery.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining of the state of charge comprises:
determining a first state of charge of the first battery based on the current of the first battery;
determining a second state of charge of the second battery based on the measurement current or the calculation current of the second battery; and
determining the state of charge of the battery device based on the first state of charge and the second state of charge.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining a voltage level of a balanced state of the first terminal voltage and the second terminal voltage as a common open circuit voltage of the first battery and the second battery when the first terminal voltage and the second terminal voltage reach the balanced state; and
determining the state of charge of the battery device based on the common open circuit voltage.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the calculating of the current of the first battery comprises:
calculating the current by using the second battery parameter and the first terminal voltage when the difference between the measurement current and the calculation current is greater than or equal to the threshold value; and
calculating the current by using the first battery parameter and the first terminal voltage when the difference between the measurement current and the calculation current is less than the threshold value.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the battery device further includes a first terminal connected to a high voltage node of the first battery, a second terminal connected to a connection node between the first battery and the second battery, and a third terminal connected to a low voltage node of the second battery, wherein the sense resistor is connected between the third terminal and a ground terminal,
the method further comprising: before the obtaining of the measurement current or after the determining of the state of charge of the battery device,
providing, by a first charger, a first charging current to the first terminal by using an input voltage received from an input voltage terminal in a first charge mode, the first charger being included in the electronic device and being connected between the input voltage terminal and the first terminal; and
providing, by a second charger, a second charging current to the second terminal by using the input voltage received from the input voltage terminal in a second charge mode, the second charger being included

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Moon Sangbin
• Oh Hyoungseok
• Lee Sungwoo
• Heo Jungwook

Classifications

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• H01M10/4257 Primary

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

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• G01R31/389

  Measuring internal impedance, internal conductance or related variables · CPC title

• H01M10/48

  Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte (constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569) · CPC title