Battery system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022352569-A1
Application number	US-202217863696-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 13, 2022
Priority date	Jan 18, 2019
Publication date	Nov 3, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

In a battery system including an assembled battery having a plurality of battery cells connected in series, each of a plurality of monitoring units includes a voltage classification unit configured to classify a terminal voltage between each pair of input terminals in the monitoring unit as a cell voltage or as a zero voltage that is a terminal voltage of substantially zero. The input terminals in each of all or all but one of the monitoring units include at least one specific terminal pair for acquiring the zero voltage at a different position and/or include a different number of specific terminal pairs for acquiring the zero voltage. Each of the plurality of monitoring units further includes an identifier generation unit configured to generate an identifier based on at least one of the position of the at least one specific terminal pair and the number of specific terminal pairs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A battery system comprising:
an assembled battery having a plurality of battery cells connected in series; a plurality of monitoring units each including a plurality of input terminals to receive a cell voltage across each of the plurality of battery cells; and an identifier generation unit configured to generate, for each of the plurality of monitoring units, an identifier of the monitoring unit based on the cell voltages received by the monitoring unit, of respective ones of the plurality of battery cells.

2 . The battery system according to claim 1 , wherein
the assembled battery includes a plurality of battery modules connected in series, each of the plurality of battery modules including two or more of the plurality of battery cells, and the plurality of input terminals in each of the plurality of monitoring units includes a set of two or more input terminals that are commonly connected to an inter-cell connection point or an inter-module connection point.

3 . The battery system according to claim 2 , wherein
the set of two or more input terminals differ from one monitoring unit to another.

4 . The battery system according to claim 1 , wherein
a number of input terminals in each of the plurality of monitoring units is greater than a sum of a number of inter-cell connection points and a number of inter-module connection points for a corresponding one of the plurality of battery modules.

5 . The battery system according to claim 1 , further comprising a voltage classification unit configured to determine whether a terminal voltage at a respective pair of input terminals among the plurality of input terminals is higher than a predetermined threshold voltage.

6 . The battery system according to claim 5 , wherein
the identifier generation unit is configured to generate, for each of the plurality of monitoring units, the identifier of the monitoring unit based on a result of determination made by the voltage classification unit.

7 . The battery system according to claim 5 , wherein
a position of a pair of input terminals among the plurality of input terminals, having the terminal voltage lower than the predetermined threshold voltage, differs from one monitoring unit to another.

8 . The battery system according to claim 5 , wherein
the identifier generation unit is configured to assign an identification symbol to the terminal voltage at the respective pair of input terminals among the plurality of input terminals, based a result of determination made by the voltage classification unit.

9 . The battery system according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to recognize each of the plurality of monitoring units based on a difference in voltage across each battery cell caused by a difference in state of charge.

10 . The battery system according to claim 1 , wherein the identifier generation unit is configured to generate, for each of the plurality of monitoring units, the identifier of the monitoring unit based on an order of the plurality of input terminals in the monitoring unit.

11 . The battery system according to claim 1 , wherein
the assembled battery includes a plurality of battery modules each including two or more of the battery cells and connected in series via a connection member, the input terminals in each of the plurality of monitoring units include one specific terminal pair for acquiring the zero voltage, the specific terminal pair in each of the plurality of monitoring units is connected to both ends of the connection member, whereby the plurality of monitoring units each acquire a terminal voltage across the connection member as the zero voltage.

12 . The battery system according to claim 1 , wherein
the input terminals in each of the plurality of monitoring units include one specific terminal pair for acquiring the zero voltage, and for each of the plurality of monitoring units, the battery cells from which the cell voltages are acquired include a different number of battery cells provided between the battery cell at a highest voltage end or at a lowest voltage end, and a connection point between a pair of battery cells to which the input terminals of the specific terminal pair are commonly connected, whereby each monitoring unit has the specific terminal pair at a different position.

13 . The battery system according to claim 1 , wherein
each of the monitoring units acquires an identical number of terminal voltages and is associated with a different number of battery cells from which the terminal voltages are acquired, and in each of the monitoring units, the zero voltage is input at every terminal pair configured to acquire no terminal voltage from the battery cells, whereby each monitoring unit has a different number of specific terminal pairs.

14 . The battery system according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to communicate with each monitoring unit, the controller comprising:
a storage unit configured to store a map associating the monitoring units with the identifiers; an identifier acquiring unit configured to acquire the identifier from the identifier generation unit; and an identification unit configured to search the map for the identifier acquired by the identifier acquiring unit to identify the monitoring unit.

15 . A controller incorporated in a battery system, the battery system comprising:
an assembled battery having a plurality of battery cells connected in series; and a plurality of monitoring units each including a plurality of input terminals to receive a cell voltage from both ends of each of the plurality of battery cells, wherein each of the plurality of monitoring units comprises a voltage classification unit configured to classify a terminal voltage between each pair of the plurality of input terminals as the cell voltage or as a zero voltage, the zero voltage being a terminal voltage of substantially zero, the plurality of input terminals in each of all or all but one of the plurality of monitoring units include at least one specific terminal pair for acquiring the zero voltage at a different position and/or include a different number of specific terminal pairs for acquiring the zero voltage, the each of the plurality of monitoring units further comprises an identifier generation unit configured to generate an identifier based on either the position of the at least one specific terminal pair or the number of specific terminal pairs, wherein the controller is configured to communicate with the each of the plurality of monitoring units, the controller comprising: a storage unit configured to store a map associating the plurality of monitoring units with identifiers; an identifier acquiring unit configured to acquire the identifier from the each of the plurality of monitoring units; and an identification unit configured to search the map for the identifier acquired by the identifier acquiring unit to identify the monitoring unit from which the identifier is acquired.

16 . A monitoring unit incorporated a battery system, the battery system comprising an assembled battery formed of a plurality of battery modules each including two or more of battery cells and connected in series, the monitoring unit comprising:
a plurality of input terminals to receive a cell voltage from both ends of each of the two or more of battery cells included in a corresponding one of the plurality of battery modules, a voltage classification unit configured to classify a terminal voltage between each pair of the plurality of input terminals as the cell

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Yamashita Naoto
• Kouda Masakazu
• Hori Fumihiko
• Kubo Shunichi

Classifications

• H02J7/63

  against overdischarge · CPC title

• H02J7/61

  against overcharge · CPC title

• H01M10/482 Primary

  for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J2105/37

  exchanging power with electric vehicles [EV] or with hybrid electric vehicles [HEV] · CPC title

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title