Battery cell balancing control system and battery management method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9537327-B2
Application number	US-201314104325-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2013
Priority date	Dec 21, 2012
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

A battery cell balancing control system and a battery management method thereof are disclosed. The battery cell balancing control system is used for managing a battery apparatus, wherein the battery apparatus has a plurality of battery cells. The battery cell balancing control system comprises a detection module, a battery management module, and an adjusting module. The detection module is used for executing a battery checking procedure on the plurality of battery cells to generate a detection result. The battery management module is used for determining whether the plurality of battery cells has a controlled cell according to the detection result. If the controlled cell has not been found among the plurality of battery cells, the battery management module controls the adjusting module to execute a battery cell balancing procedure until the controlled cell is found.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery management method for a battery cell balancing control system for managing a battery apparatus, wherein the battery apparatus has a plurality of battery cells, the method comprising the following steps:
executing a battery checking procedure;
determining whether the plurality of battery cells has a controlled cell, wherein the controlled cell is the battery cell with a minimum capacity or a maximum resistance or composed of both of them;
if yes, skipping the battery cell balancing procedure; and
if no, executing a battery cell balancing procedure until the controlled cell is found, wherein the step of executing the battery checking procedure further comprises:
executing a charging procedure to charge the battery apparatus to a predetermined maximum point;
measuring a voltage of each battery cell to find a cell with a highest charged voltage;
executing a discharging procedure to discharge the battery apparatus to a predetermined minimum point;
measuring the voltage of each battery cell to find a cell with a lowest discharged voltage;
determining whether the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage have both been located;
if the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage have both been located, determining whether the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage are the same battery cell;
if the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage are the same battery cell, then marked the cell as the controlled cell;
if the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage are different battery cells, defining the cell with the lowest discharged value as a candidate of the controlled cell; and
executing the battery cell balancing procedure according to the candidate of the controlled cell repeatedly until the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage are the same battery cell.

2. The battery management method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein when the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage are different battery cells, the method further comprises the following steps:
determining whether a difference in a state of charge between the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage is greater than a predetermined value;
if yes, defining the cell with the lowest discharged voltage as the controlled cell;
if no, defining the cell with the lowest discharged voltage as the candidate of the controlled cell; and
executing the battery cell balancing procedure according to the candidate of the controlled cell repeatedly until the difference in the state of charge between the cell with the highest charged voltage and the candidate of the controlled is smaller than the predetermined value.

3. The battery management method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the step of executing the battery cell balancing procedure further comprises:
adjusting the state of charge of other battery cells according to a fully charged capacity of the candidate of the controlled cell.

4. The battery management method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of executing the battery checking procedure further comprises:
executing a charging procedure and a discharging procedure on the battery apparatus;
measuring the temperature of each battery cell to find a cell with a maximum temperature increase; and
defining the cell with the maximum temperature increase as the controlled cell.

5. The battery management method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a step of disposing a marked cell in the plurality of battery cells in advance, wherein the marked cell is the battery cell of smaller capacity or higher resistance or composed of both of them.

6. The battery management method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the step of executing the battery checking procedure further comprises:
finding the marked cell among the plurality of battery cells; and
defining the marked cell as the controlled cell.

7. The battery management method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising the following step:
if a capacity of the controlled cell is smaller than a threshold capacity, generating a maintenance notification message.

8. The battery management method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising the following step:
re-executing the battery checking procedure on the battery apparatus periodically or when a using state is changed.

9. A battery cell balancing control system for managing a battery apparatus, wherein the battery apparatus has a plurality of battery cells, the battery cell balancing control system comprising:
a detection module for executing a batter checking procedure on the plurality of battery cells to generate a detection result;
a battery management module electrically connected to the detection module for determining whether the plurality of battery cells has a controlled cell according to the detection result, wherein the controlled cell is the battery cell with a minimum capacity or a maximum resistance or composed of both of them;
an adjusting module electrically connected to the battery management module, wherein if the controlled cell has not been found among the plurality of battery cells, the battery management module controls the adjusting module to execute a battery cell balancing procedure until the controlled cell is found; if the controlled cell has found, the battery management module controls the adjusting module to disable the battery cell balancing procedure; and
a charging-discharging module used for executing a charging procedure and a discharging procedure on the battery apparatus, wherein the detection module comprises a voltage detection module for measuring the voltage of each battery cell to find a cell with a highest charged voltage when the battery apparatus is charged to a predetermined maximum point, and for measuring the voltage of each battery cell to find a cell with a lowest discharged voltage when the battery apparatus is discharged to a predetermined minimum point,
such that the battery management module is used for determining whether the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage have both been located; if the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage have both been located, the battery management module is used for determining whether the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage are the same battery cell; if the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage are the same battery cell, the battery management module is used for defining the cell as the controlled cell; if the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage are different battery cells, the battery management module is used for defining the cell with the lowest discharged voltage as a candidate of the controlled cell and controlling the adjusting module to execute the battery cell balancing procedure according to the candidate of the controlled cell repeatedly until the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage are the same battery cell.

10. The battery cell balancing control system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the battery management module further determines whether a difference in a state of charge between the cell with the highest charged voltage and the cell with the lowest discharged voltage is greater than a pred

Assignees

• Lite-On Electronics (Guangzhou) Co Ltd
• Lite On Technology Corp

Inventors

• Lai Chiou-Chu
• Cheng Ming-Yao
• Liang Chia-Tse
• Yeh Chia-Fu
• Chen Chien-Chu

Classifications

• H02J7/52 Primary

  for charge balancing, e.g. equalisation of charge between batteries · CPC title

• G01R31/3606

  Physics · mapped topic

• H02J7/0014 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01R31/382

  Arrangements for monitoring battery or accumulator variables, e.g. SoC · CPC title