Method for monitoring/managing electrochemical energy device by detecting intercalation stage changes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9583796-B2
Application number	US-201414242850-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2014
Priority date	Apr 1, 2014
Publication date	Feb 28, 2017
Grant date	Feb 28, 2017

Abstract

A method for determining an operating state (e.g., state-of-charge or state-of-health) and/or generating management (charge/discharge) control information in a system including an electrochemical energy device (EED, e.g., a rechargeable Li-ion battery, supercapacitor or fuel cell) that uses optical sensors to detect the intercalation stage change events occurring in the EED. The externally or internally mounted optical sensors measure operating parameter (e.g., strain and/or temperature) changes of the EED during charge/recharge cycling, and transmit measured parameter data using light signals sent over optical fibers to a detector/converter. A processor then analyzes the measured parameter data, e.g., using a model-based estimation process, to detect intercalation stage changes (i.e., crystalline structure changes caused by migration of guest species, such as Li-ions, between the EED's anode and cathode), and generates the operating state and charge/discharge control information based the analysis.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A processor implemented method for operating an electrochemical energy device, said electrochemical energy device including an electrode material and a guest species, the method comprising:
utilizing one or more optical sensors to measure a present operating parameter of the electrochemical energy device, said measured present operating parameter being associated with an operating condition of said electrochemical energy device;
transmitting at least one light signal from said one or more optical sensors along an optical fiber to a processor, wherein said at least one light signal includes present parameter data that is proportional to said measured present operating parameter; and
analyzing said present parameter data in the processor, the processor configured to detect at least one intercalation stage change of the electrochemical energy device based on the present parameter data, said detected at least one intercalation stage change being caused by migration of the guest species within the electrode material such that said migration causes a characteristic change in said measured present operating parameter, the processor generating an output indicating at least one of operating state information and control information in accordance with said detected at least one intercalation stage change.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein utilizing said one or more optical sensors comprises measuring one of a strain parameter and a temperature parameter of the electrochemical energy device, and
wherein transmitting said at least one light signal comprising transmitting at least one a first light signal including strain data associated with said measured strain parameter, and a second light signal including temperature data associated with said measured temperature parameter.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein utilizing said one or more optical sensors comprises utilizing a first optical sensor to measure said strain parameter, and utilizing a second optical sensor to measure said temperature parameter.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said first and second optical sensors are disposed on a single optical fiber such that transmitting said at least one light signal comprising transmitting both said first and second light signals on said single optical fiber.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein utilizing one or more optical sensors comprises at least one of:
measuring at least one operating parameter from an external surface of a cell wall of the electrochemical energy device, and
measuring at least one operating parameter from an internal location of said electrochemical energy device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein utilizing one or more optical sensors comprises:
utilizing a first optical sensor disposed on said optical fiber that is operably attached to an external surface of the cell wall of the electrochemical energy device such that the first optical sensor is configured to measure mechanical strain of the cell wall, and
utilizing a second optical sensor disposed on the optical fiber that is operably attached to the external surface of the cell wall such that the second optical sensor is configured to measure an external temperature of the cell wall.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein utilizing one or more optical sensors comprises:
utilizing a first optical sensor disposed on said optical fiber that extends through the cell wall and is operably attached to at least one of an internal surface the cell wall and said electrode material of the electrochemical energy device such that the first optical sensor is configured to measure mechanical strain from inside said cell wall, and
utilizing a second optical sensor disposed on the optical fiber and is operably attached to said at least one of the internal surface the cell wall and said electrode material such that the second optical sensor is configured to measure an internal temperature from inside said cell wall.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein utilizing said one or more optical sensors comprises utilizing one of a fiber Bragg grating sensor, an etalon sensor, and a Fabry-Perot sensor.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting said at least one light signal to said processor comprising utilizing a linear variable filter to convert said at least one light signal into electrical signals including said parameter data, wherein said linear variable filter comprise means for resolving sub-picometer wavelength shifts in said at least one light signal.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying said at least one intercalation stage change comprises extracting at least one data feature from said from said operating parameter data using one of time-domain analysis, frequency-domain analysis and wavelet domain analysis, and analyzing said extracted data feature to detect said present intercalation stage change.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said analyzing said extracted data feature comprises comparing an extracted strain data feature with a model-generated strain value associated with previous intercalation stage changes to detect said present intercalation stage change.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein said analyzing said extracted data feature comprises comparing an extracted temperature data feature with a model-generated temperature value associated with previous intercalation stage changes to detect said present intercalation stage change.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein said analyzing said extracted data feature comprises correlating a present strain data feature with a present temperature data feature to identify said present intercalation stage change.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein generating the output indicating at least one of operating state information and control information comprises determining at least one of a state-of-charge value and a state-of-health value in accordance with said detected present intercalation stage change, and then visually displaying said at least one of said state-of-charge and said state-of-health value.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein generating the output indicating at least one of operating state information and control information comprises generating a charge/discharge control signal in accordance with said detected present intercalation stage change, and then controlling one of a charging operation and a discharging operation of said electrochemical energy device in accordance with said charge/discharge control signal.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrochemical energy device comprises one of a rechargeable battery, a supercapacitor and a fuel cell disposed on one of a hybrid/electric vehicle and a smart grid system, and wherein the method further comprises visually displaying said at least one of a state-of-charge value and a state-of-health value to an operator of said one of said hybrid/electric vehicle and said smart grid system.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein said electrochemical energy device comprises a Lithium-ion battery, wherein utilizing said one or more optical sensors comprises measuring one of a strain parameter and a temperature parameter of said Lithium-ion battery, and wherein generating said charge/discharge control information comprises at least one of controlling a charging rate of said Lithium-ion battery and controlling a discharge rate of said Lithium-ion battery.

18. A processor implemented method for determining at least one of state-of-charge (SOC) information, state-of-health (SOH) information, and charge/discharge control information for a Lithium-ion battery

Assignees

• Palo Alto Res Ct Inc

Inventors

• Saha Bhaskar
• Raghavan Ajay
• Kiesel Peter
• Sommer Lars Wilko
• Lochbaum Alexander
• Staudt Tobias
• Sahu Saroj Kumar
• Ganguli Anurag

Classifications

• H01M10/48 Primary

  Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte (constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569) · CPC title

• H01M10/486

  for measuring temperature · CPC title

• H01M50/569

  Constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals (battery terminal connectors with integrated measuring arrangements G01R31/364) · CPC title

• H01M2010/4278

  Systems for data transfer from batteries, e.g. transfer of battery parameters to a controller, data transferred between battery controller and main controller · CPC title

• H01M10/425

  Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing (printed circuits H05K1/00) · CPC title