Electrical accumulator battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11876389-B2
Application number	US-201816958322-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 24, 2018
Priority date	Dec 27, 2017
Publication date	Jan 16, 2024
Grant date	Jan 16, 2024

Abstract

A method of controlling a battery including a first control circuit and a plurality of modules arranged in series between first and second terminals, each module including, between third and fourth terminals, electric cells and switches and a second switch control circuit. The method includes the determination by the first control circuit of a first priority table associated with a battery charge operation and of a second priority table associated with a battery discharge operation, the first priority table including a first classification of the priorities of the electric cells for the charge operation and the second priority table comprising a second classification of the priorities of the electric cells for the discharge operation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of controlling an electric system including a first control circuit and a plurality of modules arranged in series between first and second terminals, each module in the plurality of modules comprising third and fourth terminals, at least one of the third and fourth terminals of each module in the plurality of modules being coupled to one of the third and fourth terminals of another module in the plurality of modules, each module in the plurality of modules having electric cells and switches coupling the electric cells to one another and to the third and fourth terminals of one module in the plurality of modules and one of a second control circuits, the electric system further including at least a first data transmission bus coupling the first control circuit to each one of the second control circuits, the method comprising:
determining, by the first control circuit, a first priority table associated with a charge operation of the electric system and a second priority table associated with a discharge operation of the electric system, the second priority table being different from the first priority table, the first priority table comprising a first classification of priority levels of the electric cells for the charge operation according to a first criteria and the second priority table comprising a second classification of priority levels of the electric cells for the discharge operation according to a second criteria, the first criteria and the second criteria being each chosen among a group comprising electric cell temperature, state of charge of the electric cell, and voltage across the electric cell, wherein a first order of the cell priority levels, from a highest priority to a lowest priority, of the first priority table not being an inverse of a second order of the cell priority levels of the cells, from a highest priority to a lowest priority, of the second priority table, the method further comprising successive steps of:
a) receiving a set point by the first control circuit; and
b) determining first control signals for connecting or disconnecting at least one of the electric cells of the plurality of modules to follow said set point according to the first classification during the charge operation and according to the second classification during the discharge operation,
wherein the electric system includes a memory having chained lists stored therein, each chained lists having elements, each of the elements includes an identifier of one of the electric cells and at least a first pointer designating another element of the elements in one of the chained lists, a first chained list among the chained lists being associated with the charge operation of the electric system and a second chained list among the chained lists being associated with the discharge operation of the electric system, wherein step b) comprises determining the first control signals for connecting or disconnecting of one of the electric cells of the plurality of modules to follow the set point based on the first chained list during the charge operation and on the second chained list during the discharge operation,
comprising determining, by the first control circuit, at least one first element among the elements of one of the chained lists, of a new value of a second pointer designating a second element in the chained list or a third element in another chained list of the chained lists, and wherein step b) comprises the successive steps of:
c) determining whether the first and second pointers of said element are different; and
d) if the first and second pointers are different, replacing the first pointer with the second pointer and determining second control signals for connecting or disconnecting a electric cell corresponding to the identifier of the first element, and
wherein step d) comprises, connecting the electric cell corresponding to a first identifier of the first element, transmitting the second control signals to disconnect the electric cell corresponding to a second identifier of a fifth element and disconnecting the electric cell corresponding to the first identifier of the first element, transmitting the second control signals to connect the electric cell corresponding to the second identifier of a fifth element.

2. The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the set point is selected from a group comprising a set point for the delivery of a voltage between the first and second terminals, a set point for the delivery of a current at the first terminal, or a set point for a number of electric cells.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first control circuit includes a memory having, for each one of the electric cells, an identifier for each electric cell of the electric cells, a first priority level for connecting one of the electric cells among the priority levels for the charge operation, and a second priority level for connecting one of the electric cells among the priority levels for the discharge operation stored therein, wherein step b) comprises the successive step of:
e) transmitting, by the first control circuit to the second control circuits, the first control signals to connect or disconnect at least one of the electric cells of the plurality of modules to follow said set point; and
f) transmitting, by the first control circuit to the second control circuits, second control signals to connect one of the electric cells and to disconnect another electric cell of the electric cells.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein memory rows of the memory relative to the first priority level are arranged by increasing ranks and memory rows of the memory relative to the second priority level are arranged by increasing ranks and wherein step f) comprise the successive steps of:
g) exchanging a first memory row and a second memory row if a priority level of one of the electric cells, among the priority levels during the charge operation and among the priority levels during the discharge operation, at the first memory row is higher than a rank of the first memory row; and
h) transmitting, by the first control circuit to the second control circuits, the second control signals to connect a first electric cell having a first identifier at the second memory row before exchanging and to disconnect a second electric cell having a second identifier at the first memory row before exchanging wherein the first electric cell having the first identifier at the second memory row before the exchange is disconnected and the second electric cell having the second identifier at the first memory row before the exchange is connected.

5. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the first control circuit uses a first pointer designating a third memory row in the memory and wherein, at step a), the first control circuit modifies the first pointer to designate a fourth memory row in the memory, a number of rows between the third memory row and the fourth memory row, counting the fourth memory row, being equal to a number of cells to be connected or to be disconnected to follow the set point.

6. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the first control circuit uses a second pointer designating a fifth memory row in the memory and wherein the first control circuit modifies the second pointer to designate a sixth memory row in the memory adjacent to the fifth memory row when a priority level of one of the electric cell at the fifth memory row is equal to a rank of the fifth memory row.

7. The method according to claim 1 , comprising transmitting, by the first control circuit to the second control circuits, first data representative of an electric cell configuration to be obtained to follow the set point for delivering a voltage and/or a current between the first

Assignees

• Commissariat A Ienergie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives
• Commissariat Energie Atomique

Inventors

• Thomas Rémy
• Fernandez Eric
• Bacquet Sylvain
• Cassarino Léandro
• Despesse Ghislain
• Lopez Yan

Classifications

• H02J7/575

  Parallel/serial switching of connection of batteries to charge or load circuit · CPC title

• H02J7/485

  with provisions for charging different types of batteries · CPC title

• H02J7/80

  including monitoring or indicating arrangements · CPC title

• H02J7/52

  for charge balancing, e.g. equalisation of charge between batteries · CPC title

• H02J7/44 Primary

  between battery management systems and power sources · CPC title