Battery thermal management system and methods of use

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023331120-A1
Application number	US-202318307567-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 26, 2023
Priority date	Aug 27, 2014
Publication date	Oct 19, 2023
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

1 - 47 . (canceled)

48 . A method for secondary battery thermal management in a vehicle, the method comprising:
determining a temperature of a battery; analyzing a plurality of input parameters; providing a control signal to either the battery, or a heating device, to heat the battery dynamically to temperatures optimized for a predicted vehicle use; wherein the control signal comprises a heating power rating and a heating lead time of at least a minute or more based on the determined temperature and at least one of the plurality of input parameters; thereby providing thermal management for the battery.

49 . The method of claim 48 , wherein the plurality of input parameters comprise one or more 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, 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.

50 . The method of claim 48 , wherein the plurality of input parameters comprises vehicle use information selected from the group consisting of a statistical probability of drive starts as a function of previous drive starts, 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.

51 . The method of claim 48 , wherein the plurality of input parameters comprises direct user input including at least one of drive start time, driving schedule, and driving preferences.

52 . The method of claim 48 , 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.

53 . The method of claim 52 , wherein the current referenced personal inputs are selected from the group consisting of user instructions and/or preferences, a status of an additional transportation provider or transit option, a user's calendar/schedule, a user's upcoming commitments, a user's email messages, text messages, a user's virtual assistant, a smart device, and combinations thereof.

54 . The method of claim 48 , wherein the plurality of input parameters comprises big data inputs, wherein big data inputs include a characteristic selected from, age, geography of user, education of user, geography of drive(s), income of user, job type of user, driving experience of user, location of user, sex of user, and population density for the demographic in a particular region.

55 . The method of claim 48 , wherein the plurality of input parameters comprises a relationship between temperature of the battery and at least one of battery energy capacity, state of charge of battery, and age of battery.

56 . The method of claim 48 , wherein the plurality of input parameters comprise
vehicle information selected from the group consisting of weight of the vehicle, motor power of the vehicle, powertrain of vehicle, thermal system configuration of vehicle, powertrain efficiency of vehicle, vehicle minimum power output level for safe driving, and combinations thereof; and expected drive type selected from the group consisting of city driving, highway driving, aggressive driving, non-aggressive driving, high-traffic, stop light traffic, and combinations thereof, wherein analyzing the plurality of input parameters includes determining a power level based on the expected drive type and vehicle information.

57 . The method of claim 48 , wherein the determined temperature of the battery is at least 10° C., at least 20° C., at least 30° C., or at least 40° C.

58 . The method of claim 48 , further comprising determining an ambient air temperature.

59 . The method of claim 48 , wherein providing thermal management for the battery comprises heating the battery by self-discharging the battery.

60 . The method of claim 57 , wherein the determined temperature of the battery is less than 120° C.

Assignees

• Quantumscape Battery Inc

Inventors

• Hettrich Kevin
• Wojcik Tomasz

Classifications

• B60L58/27 Primary

  by heating · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• Y02T10/70

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

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• Y02T90/16

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