Battery monitoring system, semiconductor circuit, line-breakage detection program, and line-breakage detection method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016131718-A1
Application number	US-201414897157-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 11, 2014
Priority date	Jun 14, 2013
Publication date	May 12, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention appropriately detects line-breakages in a signal line related to a battery connected to a discharge circuit for discharging. Namely, an initialization operation produces a state in which a capacitor (C 1 ) is charged with the difference between the voltage of a signal line (Vn) and a self-threshold voltage (Vx), and a capacitor (C 2 ) is charged with the difference between the voltage of a signal line (Vn−1) and a self-threshold voltage (Vx), in a comparison circuit ( 26 ). In a comparison operation, a voltage adjusting section (ILn+1) produces a state in which line-breakage detection current is drawn out from a signal line (Ln), a signal line (Lc) is connected to the capacitors (C 1 , C 2 ) and a voltage (DVn) is input to the capacitors (C 1 , C 2 ). When an output OUT=L level, it is detected that there is no line-breakage, and when the output OUT=H level, it is detected that there is a line-breakage.

First claim

1 . A battery monitoring system comprising:
a plurality of batteries connected together in series; a discharging unit including a resistor element provided straddling between a first signal line connected to a high potential side in the plurality of respective batteries and a second signal line connected to a low potential side in the plurality of respective batteries, and a discharge switching element connected in series with the resistor element; a potential adjusting unit that is connected to the first signal line and supplies a lower potential than the potential of the second signal line in cases in which the discharge switching element is provided between the resistor element and the second signal line, and that is connected to the second signal line and supplies a higher potential than the potential of the first signal line in cases in which the discharge switching element is provided between the resistor element and the first signal line; and a comparison unit that compares a first potential between the resistor element and the discharge switching element, against a threshold voltage set from the potential of the first signal line and the potential of the second signal line.

2 . The battery monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the comparison unit comprises:
a single-ended inverting amplifier; a first capacitor that is connected to an input of the single-ended inverting amplifier, and to which the first potential or the potential of the first signal line is input; and a second capacitor that is connected in parallel to the first capacitor, and to which the first potential or the potential of the second signal line is input.

3 . The battery monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein:
the discharge switching element is a transistor to which a gate voltage from a voltage supply unit is applied through a discharge control line; and the potential adjusting unit is connected to the first signal line or the second signal line through the discharge control line.

4 . The battery monitoring system of claim 1 further comprising a connection unit that includes:
a first switching element that connects a point between the resistor element and the discharge switching element to a third signal line connected to the first capacitor and the second capacitor;
a second switching element that connects the first signal line to a fourth signal line connected to the first capacitor; and
a third switching element that connects the second signal line to a fifth signal line connected to the second capacitor.

5 . The battery monitoring system of claim 4 , further comprising a high frequency cutoff unit provided between the discharge unit and the connection unit, and wherein the second switching element connects the fourth signal line to the first signal line through the high frequency cutoff unit, and the third switching element connects the fifth signal line to the second signal line through the high frequency cutoff unit.

6 . The battery monitoring system of claim 1 further provided with a detection unit that detects line-breakages in the first signal line based on a comparison result of the comparison unit.

7 . A battery monitoring system comprising:
a plurality of batteries connected together in series; a discharging unit including a resistor element provided straddling between a first signal line connected to a high potential side in the plurality of respective batteries and a second signal line connected to a low potential side in the plurality of respective batteries, and a discharge switching element connected in series with the resistor element; a potential adjusting unit that is connected to the first signal line and supplies a lower potential than the potential of the second signal line in cases in which the discharge switching element is provided between the resistor element and the second signal line, and that is connected to the second signal line and supplies a higher potential than the potential of the first signal line in cases in which the discharge switching element is provided between the resistor element and the first signal line; and a comparison unit that compares a later stage section potential of a section at a later stage than the discharge unit on the first signal line provided with the discharge unit, against a threshold voltage set from a first potential between the resistor element and the discharge switching element and set from a third potential between the resistor element of the discharge unit and the discharge switching element provided to a battery connected at a low potential side of the battery.

8 . The battery monitoring system of claim 7 , wherein the comparison unit comprises:
a single-ended inverting amplifier; a first capacitor that is connected to an input of the single-ended inverting amplifier, and to which the first potential or the later stage section potential is input; and a second capacitor that is connected in parallel to the first capacitor, and to which the third potential or the later stage section potential is input.

9 . The battery monitoring system of claim 7 further comprising a connection unit that includes:
a first switching element that connects the first signal line to a third signal line connected to the first capacitor and the second capacitor;
a second switching element that connects a point between the discharge switching element and the resistor element to a fourth signal line connected to the first capacitor; and
a third switching element that, through a resistor element of the discharge unit provided to a battery connected to the low potential side of the battery, connects the second signal line to a fifth signal line connected to the second capacitor.

10 . The battery monitoring system of claim 9 , further comprising a high frequency cutoff unit provided between the discharge unit and the connection unit, and wherein the first switching element connects the third signal line to the first signal line through the high frequency cutoff unit.

11 . The battery monitoring system of claim 7 further provided with a detection unit that detects line-breakages in the first signal line based on a comparison result of the comparison unit.

12 . A semiconductor circuit comprising:
a potential adjusting unit that is provided to a plurality of respective batteries connected together in series, that is connected to a first signal line and supplies a lower potential than the potential of a second signal line in cases in which a discharge switching element is provided between a resistor element and the second signal line, that is connected to the second signal line and supplies a higher potential than the potential of the first signal line in cases in which the discharge switching element is provided between the resistor element and the first signal line, and that is for the discharge switching element of a discharging unit that includes the resistor element provided straddling between the first signal line connected to a high potential side in the plurality of respective batteries and the second signal line connected to a low potential side in the plurality of respective batteries, and that includes the discharge switching element connected to the resistor element in series; and a comparison unit that compares a first potential between the resistor element and the discharge switching element, against a threshold voltage set from the potential of the first signal line and the potential of the second signal line.

13 . A semiconductor circuit comprising:
a potential adjusting unit that is provided to a plurality of respective batteries connected together in series, that is connected to a first si

Assignees

• Lapis Semiconductor Co Ltd
• Yazaki Corp

Inventors

• Sugimura Naoaki
• Izawa Takaaki

Classifications

• G01R31/52

  Testing for short-circuits, leakage current or ground faults · CPC title

• G01R19/16542

  for batteries (charge condition monitoring in G01R31/36) · CPC title

• G01R31/396 Primary

  Acquisition or processing of data for testing or for monitoring individual cells or groups of cells within a battery · CPC title

• G01R31/026

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01R31/3658 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic