Apparatus and method for controlling charging of secondary battery pack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11936233-B2
Application number	US-201917280799-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2019
Priority date	Dec 18, 2018
Publication date	Mar 19, 2024
Grant date	Mar 19, 2024

Abstract

A charging control apparatus measures a first temperature of a first secondary battery selected from the plurality of secondary batteries, a second temperature of a coolant flowing into the cooling device, a charging current of the secondary battery pack, a first terminal voltage of the first secondary battery and a second terminal voltage of a second secondary battery closest to the cooling device, estimates a temperature of a temperature estimation point of the second secondary battery from a lumped thermal model having a thermal resistance between two points selected from the temperature estimation point of the second secondary battery, the first temperature measurement point and the second temperature measurement point, and measurement data about temperature, current and voltage, and determines the estimated temperature as a minimum temperature of the secondary battery pack, and varies a charging power provided to the secondary battery pack according to the minimum temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for controlling charging of a secondary battery pack that includes a plurality of secondary batteries and is coupled to a cooling device, the apparatus comprising:
a cell temperature measuring unit configured to measure a first temperature of a first secondary battery selected from the plurality of secondary batteries;
a coolant temperature measuring unit configured to measure a second temperature of a coolant flowing into the cooling device;
a current measuring unit configured to measure a charging current of the secondary battery pack;
a voltage measuring unit configured to measure a first terminal voltage of the first secondary battery and a second terminal voltage of a second secondary battery closest to the cooling device;
a minimum temperature estimating unit configured to:
estimate a third temperature of a temperature estimation point of the second secondary battery from a lumped thermal model having a thermal resistance between two points selected from the temperature estimation point of the second secondary battery, a measurement point of the first temperature (“first temperature measurement point”) and a measurement point of the second temperature (“second temperature measurement point”), and the first temperature, the second temperature, the charging current, the first terminal voltage, and the second terminal voltage input from the cell temperature measuring unit, the coolant temperature measuring unit, the current measuring unit, and the voltage measuring unit, and
determine the estimated third temperature as a minimum temperature of the secondary battery pack; and

a charging power adjusting unit configured to vary a charging power provided to the secondary battery pack according to the determined minimum temperature.

2. The apparatus for controlling charging of the secondary battery pack according to claim 1 ,
wherein the lumped thermal model includes a first thermal resistance between the first temperature measurement point and the second temperature measurement point, a second thermal resistance between the first temperature measurement point and the temperature estimation point, and a third thermal resistance between the temperature estimation point and the second temperature measurement point, and
the first thermal resistance, the second thermal resistance and the third thermal resistance are connected in series to configure a closed loop circuit.

3. The apparatus for controlling charging of the secondary battery pack according to claim 1 ,
wherein the minimum temperature estimating unit is configured to estimate the third temperature (T 2,estimate ) based on a third equation below derived from a first equation and a second equation below:

m
⁢

C
p

⁢

d
⁢

T

2
,
estimate

d
⁢
t

=

❘
"\[LeftBracketingBar]"

V
2

-

O
⁢
C
⁢

V
2

❘
"\[RightBracketingBar]"

⁢

❘
"\[LeftBracketingBar]"

I
2

❘
"\[RightBracketingBar]"

+

T
1

-

T

2
,
estimate

R
12

-

T

2
,
estimate

-

T
coolant

R

2
,
c

⁢

m
⁢

C
p

⁢

d
⁢

T
1

d
⁢
t

=

❘
"\[LeftBracketingBar]"

V
1

-

O
⁢
C
⁢

V
1

❘
"\[RightBracketingBar]"

⁢

❘
"\[LeftBracketingBar]"

I
1

❘
"\[RightBracketingBar]"

-

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd
• Lg Energy Solution Ltd

Inventors

• Lim Jin-Hyung
• Nam Gi-Min
• Lee Kyu-Chul
• Ahn Hyoung Jun
• Joe Won-Tae

Classifications

• H02J7/977 Primary

  of the battery · CPC title

• H02J7/94

  in response to battery current · CPC title

• H02J7/84

  Control of state of health [SOH] · CPC title

• H02J7/965 Primary

  obtained with the battery disconnected from the charge or discharge circuit · CPC title

• H02J7/80

  including monitoring or indicating arrangements · CPC title