Battery thermal management system and methods of use

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021268936-A1
Application number	US-202117321783-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 17, 2021
Priority date	Aug 27, 2014
Publication date	Sep 2, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Set forth herein are systems and methods for determining battery heating conditions and pre-heating lead times of at least a minute or more, based on input parameters and sets of input parameters, to predictively and dynamically heat a secondary battery so that the battery has a specific power output and performance level when used in an electric or hybrid vehicle application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A secondary battery thermal management system, the system comprising:
at least one temperature sensor for determining a temperature of a battery in a vehicle, the battery being a secondary battery; at least one receiver for receiving at least one of a plurality of input parameters; a module configured to send control signals to either the battery or a heating device, wherein the signals result in heating of the battery to temperatures optimized for a predicted vehicle use; wherein the module determines the temperatures optimized for the predicted vehicle use and a heating lead time of at least a minute or more based on the determined temperatures and at least one of the plurality of input parameters.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the battery is a lithium ion secondary battery.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the lithium ion secondary battery comprises a cathode comprising conversion chemistry active materials.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the lithium ion secondary battery comprises a cathode comprising lithium intercalation chemistry active materials.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive wireless signals.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless signals are selected from the group consisting of Bluetooth signals, cellular signals, Wi-Fi signals, wireless communication device signals, network towers signals, tablets signals, smartphones signals, home security system signals, 3G device transmissions, 4G device transmissions, and combinations thereof.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of:
vehicle use information selected from the group consisting of statistical probability of drive starts as a function of previous drive start, drive times, time of drive starts, drive lengths, drive routes, geography of drives, driving pattern information, past battery warming conditions, past vehicle performance conditions, past battery performance conditions, feedback information, and combinations thereof, location information selected from the group consisting of driver location, passenger location, driver location with respect to vehicle location, passenger location with respect to vehicle location, GPS location of user's smartphone, GPS/Wi-Fi/cellular location of fob, proximity of fob to vehicle, GPS/Wi-Fi/cellular location of vehicle key, proximity of vehicle key to vehicle, user's proximity to the vehicle, location of the vehicle, driver location with respect to home, driver location with respect to airport, driver location with respect to work place, driver location with respect to common drive locations, driver location with respect to preselected destinations, driver location with respect to saved destinations, and combinations thereof, drive types selected from the group consisting of start location of drives, end location of drives, total distance of drives, average distance of drives, velocity of drives, average velocity of drives, traffic conditions of drives, and combinations thereof, temperature information selected from the group consisting of battery temperature, ambient temperature, vehicle temperature, and combinations thereof, heating device, battery, and/or vehicle information selected from the group consisting of battery energy capacity, state of charge of battery, battery self-discharge rate, a relationship between two or more of power of battery, temperature of battery, state of charge of battery, and age of battery, a thermal time constant for the battery, capacity of the heating device, efficiency of the heating device, powertrain of vehicle, thermal system configuration of vehicle, motor power of vehicle, powertrain efficiency of vehicle, vehicle minimum power output level for safe driving, and combinations thereof, weather information selected from the group consisting of current weather conditions, weather forecast, temperature, precipitation, visibility, and combinations thereof, driver inputs selected from the group consisting of immediate start instructions, delayed start instructions, start cancelation instructions, a user-specified performance level, and combinations thereof, user information selected from the group consisting of driver's calendar information, passenger's calendar information, smartphone information, Google-Now information, historical use information, and combinations thereof, external information selected from the group consisting of information acquired from emails on user's wireless communication device, information acquired from texts on user's smartphone, and combinations thereof, traffic information selected from the group consisting of traffic conditions, road conditions, construction conditions, detour conditions, and combinations thereof, calendar information selected from the group consisting of day of the week, month of the year, holiday information, and combinations thereof, optionally in combination with a user specified performance level, charging equipment availability information selected from the group consisting of availability of charging equipment at vehicle's current location, availability of charging equipment at vehicle's expected destination, and combinations thereof, optionally in combination with a status of an additional transportation provider and/or a status of an additional transit option, and combinations thereof.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of inputs that are personal to a user/vehicle, inputs that are generally applicable, and combinations thereof.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of inputs that are historical, inputs that are current, and combinations thereof.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of inputs that are sensed, inputs that are referenced, and combinations thereof.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of inputs that are historical personal inputs, current sensed personal inputs, current referenced personal inputs, historical general inputs, current general inputs, and combinations thereof.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the historical general inputs are selected from the group consisting of: historical traffic information, historical weather data, and combinations thereof.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the current general inputs are selected from the group consisting of: current traffic data, current weather data, general calendar data, electricity prices, and combinations thereof.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the historical personal inputs are selected from the group consisting of: past driving data for a user and/or vehicle, availability of charging equipment at past destinations, battery characteristics, battery warming characteristics, heating device characteristics, vehicle characteristics, and combinations thereof.

15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the current sensed personal inputs are selected from the group consisting of: the current temperature of a battery, the current state of charge of the battery, the current temperature of a vehicle, current ambient temperature, the current location of a vehicle, the current location of a user or users, the proximity of a user to a vehicle, the location of a user with respect to particular locations, the current availability of charging equipment, and combinations thereof.

Assignees

• Quantumscape Battery Inc

Inventors

• Hettrich Kevin
• Wojcik Tomasz

Classifications

• Y02T90/16

  Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles · CPC title

• Y02T10/70

  Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• B60L58/27 Primary

  by heating · CPC title