Battery including smart battery cells with full-bridge configured for charge/discharge and bypass states, and method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12412935-B2
Application number	US-202217663570-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 16, 2022
Priority date	Sep 21, 2021
Publication date	Sep 9, 2025
Grant date	Sep 9, 2025

Abstract

Systems and techniques that facilitate smartcell battery architectures and methodologies are provided. In various embodiments, a battery can comprise a positive terminal and a negative terminal. In various aspects, the battery can further comprise a set of smart battery cells that are serially coupled between the positive terminal and the negative terminal and that respectively comprise full-bridges. In various instances, the full-bridges can have charge states, discharge states, and/or by-pass states. When some of the set of smart battery cells have full-bridges in the charge state, and when others of the set of smart battery cells have full-bridges in the discharge state or by-pass state, the battery can be charged by a supplied voltage that is less than the sum of individual voltages of all of the set of smart battery cells.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
providing a positive terminal and a negative terminal of a battery;
coupling, in series between the positive terminal and the negative terminal, a set of smart battery cells that respectively comprise full-bridges; and
in response to detecting that the battery is connected to a charging station:
determining, by a processor, a maximum voltage supply of the charging station, and
in response to determining that the maximum voltage supply of the charging station is less than a total voltage supply of the battery:
configuring, by the processor, respective full-bridges of a subset of the set of smart battery cells to place the subset of the set of smart battery cells in a charge state, wherein the subset of the set of smart battery cells comprises a voltage supply that is substantially equal to the maximum voltage supply of the charging station, and
configuring, by the processor, respective full-bridges of remaining smart battery cells of the set of smart battery cells that are not in the subset to place the remaining smart battery cells respectively in a bypass state or a discharge state.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein respective smart battery cells in the set of smart battery cells comprises respective voltage sources and the respective full-bridges; and
for each smart battery cell:
wherein the full-bridge of the smart battery cell comprises a first switch, a second switch, a third switch, and a fourth switch;
wherein the first switch and the second switch are coupled together in series;
wherein the first switch and the second switch are collectively in parallel with the voltage source of the smart battery cell such that the first switch is on a positive side of the voltage source and the second switch is on a negative side of the voltage source;
wherein the third switch and the fourth switch are coupled together in series;
wherein the third switch and the fourth switch are collectively in parallel with the voltage source such that the third switch is on the positive side of the voltage source and the fourth switch is on the negative side of the voltage source;
wherein a second wire from a succeeding smart battery cell in a sequential order of the set of smart battery cells is coupled in between the third switch and the fourth switch; and
wherein a first wire from a preceding smart battery cell in the sequential order of the set of smart battery cells is coupled in between the first switch and the second switch if the smart battery cell is not a first smart battery cell in the sequential order.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first switch, the second switch, the third switch, and the fourth switch are metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first wire is from the positive terminal and is coupled in between the first switch and the second switch if the smart battery cell is the first smart battery cell in the sequential order.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the full-bridge is in the charge state when the first switch and the fourth switch are both closed and the second switch and the third switch are both open.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the full-bridge is in the discharge state when the second switch and the third switch are both closed and the first switch and the fourth switch are both open.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the full-bridge is in the by-pass state when the first switch and the third switch are both closed and the second switch and the fourth switch are both open, or when the second switch and the fourth switch are both closed and the first switch and the third switch are both open.

8. A battery, comprising:
a positive terminal and a negative terminal; and
a set of smart battery cells that are coupled in series between the positive terminal and the negative terminal, wherein the set of smart battery cells respectively comprise full-bridges;
a processor; and
a memory operatively coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein computer executable components comprising:
a switch component that, in response to detecting that the battery is connected to a charging station:
determines a maximum voltage supply of the charging station, and
in response to determining that the maximum voltage supply of the charging station is less than a total voltage supply of the battery:
configures respective full-bridges of a subset of the set of smart battery cells to place the subset of the set of smart battery cells in a charge state, wherein the subset of the set of smart battery cells comprises a voltage supply that is substantially equal to the maximum voltage supply of the charging station, and
configures respective full-bridges of remaining smart battery cells of the set of smart battery cells that are not in the subset to place the remaining smart battery cells respectively in a bypass state or a discharge state.

9. The battery of claim 8 , wherein respective smart battery cells in the set of smart battery cells comprises respective voltage sources and the respective full-bridges; and
for each smart battery cell:
wherein the full-bridge of the smart battery cell comprises a first switch, a second switch, a third switch, and a fourth switch;
wherein the first switch and the second switch are coupled together in series;
wherein the first switch and the second switch are collectively in parallel with the voltage source of the smart battery cell such that the first switch is on a positive side of the voltage source and the second switch is on a negative side of the voltage source;
wherein the third switch and the fourth switch are coupled together in series;
wherein the third switch and the fourth switch are collectively in parallel with the voltage source such that the third switch is on the positive side of the voltage source and the fourth switch is on the negative side of the voltage source;
wherein a second wire from a succeeding smart battery cell in a sequential order of the set of smart battery cells is coupled in between the third switch and the fourth switch; and
wherein a first wire from a preceding smart battery cell in the sequential order of the set of smart battery cells is coupled in between the first switch and the second switch if the smart battery cell is not a first smart battery cell in the sequential order.

10. The battery of claim 9 , wherein the first wire is from the positive terminal and is coupled in between the first switch and the second switch if the smart battery cell is the first smart battery cell in the sequential order.

11. The battery of claim 10 , wherein the full-bridge is in the charge state when the first switch and the fourth switch are both closed and the second switch and the third switch are both open.

12. The battery of claim 10 , wherein the full-bridge is in the discharge state when the second switch and the third switch are both closed and the first switch and the fourth switch are both open.

13. The battery of claim 10 , wherein the full-bridge is in the by-pass state when the first switch and the third switch are both closed and the second switch and the fourth switch are both open, or when the second switch and the fourth switch are both closed and the first switch and the third switch are both open.

14. A system, comprising:
a battery, comprising:
a positive terminal and a negative terminal; and
a set of smart battery cells that are serially coupled between the positive terminal and the negative terminal, wherein the set of smart battery cells respectively comprise full-bridges;

a processor; and
a memory ope

Assignees

• Volvo Car Corp

Inventors

• Gannamaneni Narendar Rao
• Forssell Jonas

Classifications

• H02J7/865

  Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply (H02J7/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J2105/37

  exchanging power with electric vehicles [EV] or with hybrid electric vehicles [HEV] · CPC title

• H02J7/50 Primary

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H01M10/441

  for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title