Battery system for an electric vehicle, method for operating a battery system, and electric vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11396234-B2
Application number	US-202016989493-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2020
Priority date	Aug 21, 2019
Publication date	Jul 26, 2022
Grant date	Jul 26, 2022

Abstract

A battery system for an electric vehicle. The electric vehicle includes a plurality of serially interconnected battery modules, each battery module having at least two battery cells interconnected in parallel, a master control unit for supervising the battery modules, and a slave control unit for supervising the battery modules. A master supervision unit having master sensors for detecting measured values of the battery cells and of the battery module and a slave supervision unit having slave sensors for detecting measured values of the battery cells and of the battery module are assigned to each battery module. The master supervision units communicate with the master control unit, the slave supervision units communicate with the slave control unit, and the master control unit communicates with the slave control unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery system for an electric vehicle, comprising:
a plurality of serially interconnected battery modules, each of the battery modules having at least two battery cells interconnected in parallel;
a master control unit for supervising the battery modules; and
a slave control unit for supervising the battery modules;
wherein assigned to each battery module of the battery modules is: (i) a respective master supervision unit having master sensors for detecting measured values of the battery cells of the battery modules and of the battery modules, and (ii) a respective slave supervision unit having slave sensors for detecting measured values of the battery cells of the battery modules and of the battery modules;
wherein the master supervision units are configured to communicate with the master control unit, and slave supervision units are configured to communicate with the slave control unit, and the master control unit is configured to communicate with the slave control unit.

2. The battery system as recited in claim 1 , wherein a master function is assigned to the master control unit, and the master function is assignable to the slave control unit when a defect is detected: in the master control unit and/or in one of the master supervision units and/or in at least one master sensor of at least one of the master supervision units.

3. The battery system as recited in claim 2 , further comprising:
at least one main switch for switching off the battery modules, the least one main switch being connected in series to the battery modules, and is controllable by a control unit, including the master control unit or the slave control unit, to which the master function is assigned.

4. A method for operating a battery system, the method comprising:
transmitting measured values of battery cells and battery modules, detected by master sensors, from master supervision units to a master control unit, and from the master control unit to a slave control unit, wherein the battery system includes a plurality of the battery modules, which are serially interconnected battery modules, each of the battery modules having at least two of the battery cells interconnected in parallel, the master control unit being configured for supervising the battery modules, the slave control unit being configured for supervising the battery modules, wherein assigned to each of the battery modules is: (i) a respective master supervision unit having master sensors for detecting the measured values of battery cells of the battery modules and of the battery modules, and (ii) a respective slave supervision unit having slave sensors for detecting the measured values of the battery cells of the battery modules and of the battery modules, and wherein the master supervision units are configured to communicate with the master control unit, and slave supervision units are configured to communicate with the slave control unit, and the master control unit is configured to communicate with the slave control unit; and
transmitting measured values of the battery cells and of the battery modules, detected by the slave sensors, from the slave supervision units to the slave control unit, and from the slave control unit to the master control unit.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , further comprising:
comparing the measured values of the battery cells within one battery module with one another, which are detected by the master sensors of the master supervision unit assigned to the one battery module;
comparing the measured values of the battery cells within the one battery module with one another, which are detected by the slave sensors of the slave supervision unit assigned to one battery module; and
detecting a defect when at least one of the measured values of at least one of the battery cells of the one battery module detected by the master sensors deviates significantly from corresponding measured values, of remaining battery cells of the one battery module, detected by the master sensors.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein a defect in the at least of the battery cells is detected when the corresponding measured value of the at least one battery cell, detected by the slave sensors, approximately equals the measured value of the at least one of the battery cells detected by the master sensors.

7. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein a defect in at least one master sensor of the master supervision unit is detected when a corresponding measured value of the at least one battery cell detected by the slave sensors deviates significantly from the at least one of the measured values of the at least one battery cell detected by the master sensors.

8. The method as recited in claim 4 , further comprising:
comparing the measured values of one of the battery modules, which are detected by the master sensors of the master supervision unit assigned to the one of the battery modules, with the measured values of other ones of the battery modules, which are detected by the master sensors of the master supervision units assigned to the other ones of the battery module;
comparing the measured values of the one of the battery modules, which are detected by the slave sensors of the slave supervision unit assigned to the one of the battery modules, with the measured values of the other ones of the battery modules, which are detected by the slave sensors of the slave supervision units assigned to the other ones of the battery modules; and
detecting a defect when at least one of the measured values of the one of the battery modules detected by the master sensors of the master supervision unit assigned to the one of the battery modules deviates significantly from the measured values of the other ones of the battery modules detected by the master sensors of the master supervision units assigned to the other ones of the battery module.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein a defect in the one of the battery modules is detected when one of the measured values of the one of the battery modules detected by the slave sensors of the slave supervision unit assigned to the one of the battery modules approximately equals a corresponding one of the measured values of the one of the battery module detected by the master sensors of the master supervision unit assigned to the one of the battery modules.

10. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein a defect in the master supervision unit assigned to the one of the battery modules is detected when a measured value of the one of the battery modules detected by the slave sensors of the slave supervision unit assigned to the one of the battery modules deviates significantly from corresponding measured value of the one of the battery modules detected by the master sensors of the master supervision unit assigned to the one of the battery modules.

11. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein a master function assigned to the master control unit is assigned to the slave control unit when a defect is detected in the master control unit and/or in a master supervision unit and/or in at least one master sensor of at least one master supervision unit.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein at least one main switch for switching off the battery modules, which is connected in series to the battery modules, is controlled by a control unit of the master control unit or the slave control unit to which the master function is assigned when a defect is detected in at least one battery cell and/or in at least one battery module.

13. An electric vehicle, comprising:
a battery system including:
a plurality of serially interconnected battery modules, each of

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Schmidt Alexander
• Woll Christoph

Classifications

• H01M10/482

  for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• G01R31/392

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

• Y02T90/16

  Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles · CPC title

• H01M50/509

  characterised by the type of connection, e.g. mixed connections · CPC title

• B60L58/12

  responding to state of charge [SoC] · CPC title