Monitoring system for an energy storage apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12358371-B2
Application number	US-202117490958-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2021
Priority date	Mar 12, 2021
Publication date	Jul 15, 2025
Grant date	Jul 15, 2025

Abstract

A system and method determine (a) thermal characteristics of an energy storage apparatus that supplies electric current to one or more vehicular loads for powering the one or more vehicular loads and/or (b) electrical characteristics of the energy storage apparatus or the one or more vehicular loads. The system and method determine whether operation of the energy storage apparatus indicates that the energy storage apparatus is unexpectedly heating or unexpectedly cooling and identifying a fault in the energy storage apparatus responsive to determining that the energy storage apparatus is unexpectedly heating or unexpectedly cooling.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining at least one of:
(a) one or more thermal characteristics of an energy storage apparatus that supplies electric current to one or more vehicular loads for powering the one or more vehicular loads, the one or more thermal characteristics including at least one of a first temperature of a bolt or weld within the energy storage apparatus, a second temperature of a busbar, or a third temperature of a liquid cooling medium, or
(b) one or more electrical characteristics of the energy storage apparatus or the one or more vehicular loads;

determining whether operation of the energy storage apparatus indicates that the energy storage apparatus is unexpectedly heating or unexpectedly cooling based on the at least one of (a) the one or more thermal characteristics or (b) the one or more electrical characteristics;
identifying a fault in the energy storage apparatus responsive to determining that the energy storage apparatus is unexpectedly heating or unexpectedly cooling; and
responsive to identifying the fault, one or more of:
activating a thermal management circuit to cool the energy storage apparatus,
terminating load balancing of the energy storage apparatus,
activating a fire suppression system, or
activating an exhaust blower.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the at least one of (a) the one or more thermal characteristics or (b) the one or more electrical characteristics includes directly measuring a fourth temperature of the energy storage apparatus using one or more sensors.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the at least one of (a) the one or more thermal characteristics or (b) the one or more electrical characteristics includes determining an estimated temperature of the energy storage apparatus based on one or more of: an incoming electric current conducted into the energy storage apparatus, an outgoing electric current conducted out of the energy storage apparatus, a measured temperature of one or more other components of a vehicle, or a temperature of a liquid cooling medium.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the at least one of (a) the one or more thermal characteristics or (b) the one or more electrical characteristics includes determining an expected temperature of a battery cell of the energy storage apparatus based on one or more of:
a thermal loss of a bus bar of the energy storage apparatus,
a thermal capacitance of the bus bar, an ambient thermal resistance between the bus bar and an ambient atmosphere,
a component thermal resistance between the bus bar and the energy storage apparatus,
a component temperature of the energy storage apparatus,
a bus bar temperature of the bus bar,
an ambient temperature,
a thermal resistance between the battery cell and a liquid cooling medium, a thermal loss between the battery cell and at least one other battery cell,
a temperature differential between internal components within a common housing of the energy storage apparatus that are powered by the energy storage apparatus, or
a temperature differential between shared components that are powered by common current from the energy storage apparatus.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more electrical characteristics are determined and include one or more of:
an incoming current being conducted into the energy storage apparatus,
an outgoing current being conducted out of the energy storage apparatus to the one or more vehicular loads,
an incoming voltage being conducted into the energy storage apparatus,
an outgoing voltage being conducted out of the energy storage apparatus to the one or more vehicular loads,
an internal resistance of one or more battery cells of the energy storage apparatus,
an external resistance within the energy storage apparatus but outside of the one or more battery cells of the energy storage apparatus,
an incoming power being conducted into the energy storage apparatus,
an outgoing power being conducted out of the energy storage apparatus to the one or more vehicular loads, or
an electric energy stored within the energy storage apparatus.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more electrical characteristics are determined, and the one or more electrical characteristics are determined by determining an expected wattage of electric current supplied by the energy storage apparatus based on one or more of: a temperature of the energy storage apparatus, a thermal loss of the energy storage apparatus, a thermal capacitance of the energy storage apparatus, a thermal resistance between the energy storage apparatus and an ambient atmosphere, or a thermal resistance between one or more battery cells of the energy storage apparatus and a liquid cooling medium.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining whether the operation of the energy storage apparatus indicates that the energy storage apparatus is unexpectedly heating or unexpectedly cooling includes:
comparing a measured or estimated wattage of the electric current supplied by the energy storage apparatus with the expected wattage of the electric current supplied by the energy storage apparatus; and
determining that the operation of the energy storage apparatus deviates from the expected wattage and that the operation indicates that the energy storage apparatus is unexpectedly heating or unexpectedly cooling responsive to the measured or estimated wattage deviating from the expected wattage by at least a threshold amount.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fault is identified to be one or more of:
a loose or deteriorated mechanical coupling of the energy storage apparatus, the one or more vehicular loads, or a connection between the energy storage apparatus and the one or more vehicular loads; or
a failed internal battery cell within the energy storage apparatus.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation of the energy storage apparatus is determined to indicate that the energy storage apparatus is unexpectedly heating or unexpectedly cooling by comparing the one or more thermal characteristics or (b) the one or more electrical characteristics with an expected parameter.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
estimating the expected parameter based on the one or more thermal characteristics, the one or more electrical characteristics, or a combination of the one or more thermal characteristics and the one or more electrical characteristics.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the expected parameter is a measured value of the one or more thermal characteristics, the one or more electrical characteristics, or a combination of the one or more thermal characteristics and the one or more electrical characteristics.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the expected parameter includes one or more of: an expected temperature of one or more battery cells of the energy storage apparatus, an expected resistance of the energy storage apparatus or of one or more battery cells of the energy storage apparatus, an expected power conducted into or out of the energy storage apparatus, or an expected electric energy stored within the energy storage apparatus.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining whether the operation of the energy storage apparatus is unexpectedly heating or unexpectedly cooling is performed by comparing the expected parameter for each of plural, repeated components of the energy storage apparatus with each other.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein determining whether the operation of the energy storage apparatus indicates that the energy storage apparatus is unexpectedly heating or unexpe

Assignees

• Transp Ip Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Pressman Jacob
• Kumar Ajith Kuttannair
• Burkell Neil
• Jansen Patrick Lee
• Worden Bret

Classifications

• H02J7/84

  Control of state of health [SOH] · CPC title

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

  Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• H01M2200/10

  Temperature sensitive devices · CPC title