Direct current battery string aggregator for standard energy storage enclosure platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018337385-A1
Application number	US-201815872071-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 16, 2018
Priority date	May 17, 2017
Publication date	Nov 22, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to a direct current aggregator including a plurality of battery strings having positive and negative terminals, a positive bus connected to a positive terminal of each of a plurality of battery strings and a negative bus connected to a negative terminal of each of a plurality battery strings. The direct current aggregator further including a switch associated with each positive terminal and each negative terminal of each of a plurality of battery strings, each switch capable of moving from a first open position to a second closed position, a fuse associated with each positive and negative terminal of each of a plurality of battery strings, and a controller in communication with each switch to place or remove one or more of the plurality of battery strings in electrical communication with the positive bus and the negative bus.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A direct current aggregator comprising:
a plurality of battery strings having a positive terminal and a negative terminal; a positive bus connected to a positive terminal of each of a plurality of battery strings; a negative bus connected to a negative terminal of each of a plurality battery strings; a switch associated with each positive terminal and each negative terminal of each of a plurality of battery strings, each switch capable of moving from a first open position to a second closed position; a fuse associated with each positive terminal and each negative terminal of each of a plurality of battery strings; and a controller in communication with each switch and operable to cause each switch to move from the first to the second position to selectively place or remove one or more of the plurality of battery strings in electrical communication with the positive bus and the negative bus.

2 . The direct current aggregator of claim 1 , further comprising a current transformer in electrical communication with the negative bus and in electrical communication with the switch associated with the negative terminal of each battery string.

3 . The direct current aggregator of claim 2 , wherein the current transformer outputs a signal representative of the current flowing from the battery string to an input/output (IO) module.

4 . The direct current aggregator of claim 3 , wherein the IO module receives an analog signal and outputs a digital signal to the controller.

5 . The direct current aggregator of claim 1 , wherein the batteries are installed in racks.

6 . The direct current aggregator of claim 1 , further comprising a voltage transformer sensing the voltage across the positive and negative busses.

7 . The direct current aggregator of claim 6 , wherein the voltage transformer outputs a signal representative of the voltage across the positive and negative busses to an input/output (IO) module.

8 . The direct current aggregator of claim 7 , wherein the IO module receives an analog signal and outputs a digital signal to the controller.

9 . An energy storage platform comprising:
a container; a plurality of racks formed within the container and sized to receive a plurality of batteries and form a plurality of battery strings; a direct current aggregator including,
a plurality of first fuses connectable to at least one of the batteries strings;
a plurality of second fuses connectable to at least one of the batteries strings;
a set of first switches associated with each of the plurality of first fuses and capable of moving from a first open position to a second closed position;
a set of second switches associated with each of the plurality of second fuses and capable of moving from a first open position to a second closed position;
a positive bus electrically connected to each first switch;
a negative bus electrically connected to each second switch; and
a controller in communication with each first and second switch and operable to cause each first and second switch to move from the first position to the second position to selectively place or remove one or more of the plurality of battery strings in electrical communication with the positive bus and the negative bus.

10 . The energy storage platform of claim 9 , further comprising a plurality of batteries inserted into each of the plurality of racks and forming a plurality of battery strings.

11 . The energy storage platform of claim 10 , wherein each battery string is electrically connected to at least one first fuse and at least one second fuse.

12 . The energy storage platform of claim 11 , wherein each battery string is electrically connected to at least one first switch and at least one second switch.

13 . The energy storage platform of claim 12 , wherein each battery string is isolated from the positive and negative busses by moving the at least one first switch and the at least one second switch electrically connected thereto from the second position to the first position.

14 . The energy storage platform of claim 9 , further comprising at least one inverter.

15 . The energy storage platform of claim 9 , further comprising at least one internet connection for transmitting and receiving data from an energy management system.

16 . The energy storage platform of claim 9 , wherein the controller receives data from one or more of a remote temperature detector, airflow sensors, door sensors, voltage sensors, current sensors, power meters, fire suppression systems, or heating ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Assignees

• Flex Ltd

Inventors

• Schnakofsky Alejandro

Classifications

• H01M2010/4278

  Systems for data transfer from batteries, e.g. transfer of battery parameters to a controller, data transferred between battery controller and main controller · CPC title

• H01M10/4257

  Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries · CPC title

• H01M2220/10

  Batteries in stationary systems, e.g. emergency power source in plant · CPC title

• H01M2200/103

  Fuse · CPC title

• H01M2010/4271

  Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing · CPC title