Battery charging management apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020182943-A1
Application number	US-201816611031-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 9, 2018
Priority date	Dec 18, 2017
Publication date	Jun 11, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed is a technique capable of improving the life span of a battery by managing the charging of the battery. The battery charging management apparatus includes a degradation rate estimating unit configured to estimate a degradation rate of a secondary battery; a ceiling calculating unit configured to calculate a charge ceiling voltage based on the degradation rate estimated by the degradation rate estimating unit; a charge control unit configured to control the charging of the secondary battery so that the secondary battery is charged only up to the charge ceiling voltage calculated by the ceiling calculating unit; and a memory unit configured to store information required for operating at least one of the degradation rate estimating unit, the ceiling calculating unit and the charge control unit.

First claim

1 . A battery charging management apparatus, comprising:
a degradation rate estimating unit configured to estimate a degradation rate of a secondary battery; a ceiling calculating unit configured to calculate a charge ceiling voltage based on the degradation rate estimated by the degradation rate estimating unit; a charge control unit configured to control the charging of the secondary battery so that the secondary battery is charged only up to the charge ceiling voltage calculated by the ceiling calculating unit; and a memory unit configured to store information required for operating at least one of the degradation rate estimating unit, the ceiling calculating unit, and the charge control unit.

2 . The battery charging management apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the ceiling calculating unit is further configured to calculate the charge ceiling voltage so that a positive electrode full charge potential of the secondary battery is maintained within a predetermined range even though the degradation rate of the secondary battery increases.

3 . The battery charging management apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the ceiling calculating unit is further configured to calculate the charge ceiling voltage so that the charge ceiling voltage decreases as the degradation rate of the secondary battery increases.

4 . The battery charging management apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the ceiling calculating unit is further configured to:
compare a positive electrode full charge reference potential at a current degradation rate with a positive electrode full charge initial potential; and calculate the charge ceiling voltage by using the comparison result.

5 . The battery charging management apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the memory unit is further configured to store the positive electrode full charge initial potential and the positive electrode full charge reference potential at each degradation rate.

6 . The battery charging management apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the memory unit is further configured to store a positive electrode full charge initial potential, a positive electrode reference potential profile according to a discharge capacity, and a full cell reference potential profile according to the discharge capacity at each degradation rate; and the ceiling calculating unit is further configured to:
extract a positive electrode reference potential profile according to the discharge capacity and a full cell reference potential profile according to the discharge capacity corresponding to a current degradation rate; and
calculate the charge ceiling voltage based on the extracted positive electrode reference potential profile and the extracted full cell reference potential profile.

7 . The battery charging management apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the ceiling calculating unit is further configured to:
calculate a discharge capacity corresponding to the positive electrode full charge initial potential from the extracted positive electrode reference potential profile; and calculate a voltage corresponding to the calculated discharge capacity at the extracted full cell reference potential profile as the charge ceiling voltage.

8 . The battery charging management apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a voltage measuring unit configured to measure a voltage of the secondary battery, wherein the charge control unit is further configured to control the charging of the secondary battery by comparing the voltage measurement information measured by the voltage measuring unit with the charge ceiling voltage calculated by the ceiling calculating unit.

9 . A battery pack, comprising the battery charging management apparatus according to claim 1 .

10 . A vehicle, comprising the battery charging management apparatus according to claim 1 .

11 . A battery charging management method, comprising:
estimating a degradation rate of a secondary battery; calculating a charge ceiling voltage based on the degradation rate estimated in the degradation rate estimating step; and controlling the charging of the secondary battery so that the secondary battery is charged only up to the charge ceiling voltage calculated in the charge ceiling voltage calculating step.

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd

Inventors

• Lim Jin-Hyung
• Yoon Du-Seong
• Joe Won-Tae
• Kim Myung-Hwan

Classifications

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• H02J7/61 Primary

  against overcharge · CPC title

• H02J7/96

  in response to battery voltage · CPC title

• H02J7/84

  Control of state of health [SOH] · CPC title

• H02J7/64

  against overvoltage · CPC title