Battery charging with lithium plating detection and battery degradation detection and separation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020412153-A1
Application number	US-201916458028-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 29, 2019
Priority date	Jun 29, 2019
Publication date	Dec 31, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

In some examples, an apparatus includes a controller to monitor voltage of a battery during constant current charging of the battery, and to detect lithium plating of the battery based on a rate of change of the monitored voltage of the battery during constant current charging of the battery. In some examples, a battery module includes a plurality of battery cells connected in parallel, and a controller to determine an impedance of each of the plurality of battery cells, and to disconnect one of the plurality of battery cells from the plurality of battery cells based on a relation of the impedance of the one of the plurality of battery cells with a threshold impedance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus comprising:
a controller to:
monitor voltage of a battery during constant current charging of the battery; and
detect lithium plating of the battery based on a rate of change of the monitored voltage of the battery during constant current charging of the battery.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , the controller to reduce or stop charge current used to charge the battery if lithium plating is detected.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the monitored voltage of the battery is an open circuit voltage of the battery.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rate of change is a rate of change of the monitored voltage over a state of charge of the battery.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rate of change is a rate of change of the monitored voltage over charged capacity.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , the controller to control charge current to keep the battery within an allowable operation temperature.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a controller to:
determine an impedance of each of a plurality of battery cells connected in parallel; and disconnect one of the plurality of battery cells from the plurality of battery cells based on a relation of the impedance of the one of the plurality of battery cells with a threshold impedance.

8 . One or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
monitor voltage of a battery during constant current charging of the battery; and detect lithium plating of the battery based on a rate of change of the monitored voltage of the battery during constant current charging of the battery.

9 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of claim 8 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
reduce or stop charge current used to charge the battery if lithium plating is detected.

10 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of claim 8 , wherein the rate of change is a rate of change of the monitored voltage over a state of charge of the battery.

11 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of claim 8 , wherein the rate of change is a rate of change of the monitored voltage over charged capacity.

12 . An apparatus comprising:
a controller to:
determine an impedance of each of a plurality of battery cells connected in parallel; and
disconnect one of the plurality of battery cells from the plurality of battery cells based on a relation of the impedance of the one of the plurality of battery cells with a threshold impedance.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , comprising for each battery cell a respective switch connected in the current path of the battery cell, the controller to selectively turn on and turn off the switch.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , the controller to selectively connect and disconnect each battery cell from the plurality of battery cells by controlling the respective switch.

15 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein each switch comprises a field effect transistor.

16 . The apparatus of claim 12 , for each of the battery cells, the controller to:
turn on the battery cell and turn off the other battery cells; and determine the impedance of the battery cell while the battery cell is turned on and the other battery cells are turned off.

17 . The apparatus of claim 15 , the controller to:
determine, while the field effect transistor of one of the battery cells is on and the field effect transistors of the other battery cells are off, a voltage drop across the field effect transistor and the battery cell; determine, while the field effect transistor of one of the battery cells is on and the field effect transistors of the other battery cells are off, a current flowing through the battery cell; and determine an impedance of the battery cell based on the determined voltage drop, based on the determined current, and based on an impedance of the field effect transistor.

18 . The apparatus of claim 15 , the controller to:
monitor a voltage drop of each field effect transistor; and determine an impedance of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the monitored voltage drop of the field effect transistor in the current path of the battery cell.

19 . One or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
determine an impedance of each of a plurality of battery cells connected with each other in parallel; disconnect one of the plurality of battery cells from the plurality of battery cells based on a relation of the impedance of the one of the plurality of battery cells with a threshold impedance.

20 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of claim 19 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to, for each battery cell, selectively turn on and turn off a respective switch coupled in a current path with the battery cell to connect and disconnect the battery cell from the other battery cells.

21 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of claim 19 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to selectively connect and disconnect each battery cell from the plurality of battery cells by controlling a respective switch.

22 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of claim 21 , wherein each switch comprises a field effect transistor.

23 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of claim 19 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to, for each of the battery cells:
turn on the battery cell and turn off the other battery cells; and determine the impedance of the battery cell while the battery cell is turned on and the other battery cells are turned off.

24 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of claim 22 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
determine, while the field effect transistor of one of the battery cells is on and the field effect transistors of the other battery cells are off, a voltage drop across the field effect transistor and the battery cell; determine, while the field effect transistor of one of the battery cells is on and the field effect transistors of the other battery cells are off, a current flowing through the battery cell; and determine an impedance of the battery cell based on the determined voltage drop, based on the determined current, and based on an impedance of the field effect transistor.

25 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of claim 22 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
monitor a voltage drop of each field effect transistor; and determ

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Matsumura Naoki
• Gorius Aaron

Classifications

• H02J7/965

  obtained with the battery disconnected from the charge or discharge circuit · CPC title

• H02J7/963

  in response to battery voltage gradient · CPC title

• H02J7/80

  including monitoring or indicating arrangements · CPC title

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J7/663

  using battery or load disconnect circuits (H02J9/002 takes precedence) · CPC title