Imbedded chip for battery applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9599584-B2
Application number	US-201313871454-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2013
Priority date	Apr 27, 2012
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

Provided are methods, systems and devices for thermodynamically evaluating electrochemical systems and components thereof, including electrochemical cells such as batteries. The present systems and methods are capable of monitoring selected electrochemical cell conditions, such as temperature, open circuit voltage and/or composition, and carrying out measurements of a number of cell parameters, including open circuit voltage, time and temperature, with accuracies large enough to allow for precise determination of thermodynamic state functions and materials properties relating to the composition, phase, states of charge, health and safety and electrochemical properties of electrodes and electrolytes in an electrochemical cell. Thermodynamic measurement systems of the present invention are highly versatile and provide information for predicting a wide range of performance attributes for virtually any electrochemical system having an electrode pair.

First claim

We claim:

1. A device for monitoring a condition of an electrochemical cell, the device comprising an integrated circuit comprising:
a voltage monitoring circuit for measuring a plurality of open circuit voltages of said electrochemical cell, said plurality of open circuit voltages generated upon charging or discharging said electrochemical cell or stopping charging or discharging said electrochemical cell;
a temperature monitoring circuit for measuring a plurality of temperatures of said electrochemical cell, said plurality of temperatures generated upon charging or discharging said electrochemical cell or stopping charging or discharging said electrochemical cell;
a current monitoring circuit for measuring a charging current of said electrochemical cell or a discharging current of said electrochemical cell; and
a circuit for determining a thermodynamic parameter of said electrochemical cell, wherein said thermodynamic parameter is one or more of a change in entropy of said electrochemical cell, a change in enthalpy of said electrochemical cell and a change in free energy of said electrochemical cell, said circuit for determining a thermodynamic parameter positioned in electrical or data communication with said temperature monitoring circuit to receive temperature measurements from said temperature monitoring circuit, positioned in electrical or data communication with said voltage monitoring circuit to receive open circuit voltage measurements from said voltage monitoring circuit and positioned in electrical or data communication with said current monitoring circuit to receive current measurements from said current monitoring circuit or to provide thermodynamics parameters to said current monitoring circuit;
wherein said device does not comprise a temperature controller or a means for controlling or establishing said plurality of temperatures generated upon charging or discharging said electrochemical cell or stopping charging or discharging said electrochemical cell.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is embedded into said electrochemical cell or is attached to or contained within a housing of said electrochemical cell.

3. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor positioned in thermal communication with said electrochemical cell, said temperature sensor further positioned in electrical or data communication with said temperature monitoring circuit.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein said temperature monitoring circuit determines or monitors a temperature of said electrochemical cell as said electrochemical cell is charging or discharging.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein said temperature monitoring circuit determines or monitors a temperature of said electrochemical cell when said electrochemical cell is not charging or when said electrochemical cell is not discharging.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit comprises a circuit for determining an open circuit state of the electrochemical cell.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the integrated circuit comprises a power switching circuit.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is a component of an automobile; and wherein said voltage monitoring circuit measures said plurality of open circuit voltages of said electrochemical cell when said automobile is idle, stopped, parked, powered off, powering off, powered on, powering on, accelerating or decelerating, wherein said temperature monitoring circuit measures said plurality of temperatures of said electrochemical cell when said automobile is idle, stopped, parked, powered off, powering off, powered on, powering on, accelerating or decelerating or wherein both said voltage monitoring circuit measures said plurality of open circuit voltages of said electrochemical cell and said temperature monitoring circuit measures said plurality of temperatures of said electrochemical cell said automobile is idle, stopped, parked, powered off, powering off, powered on, powering on, accelerating or decelerating.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein a change in open circuit voltage of said electrochemical cell occurs when said automobile is idle, stopped, parked, powered off, powering off, powered on, powering on, accelerating or decelerating.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is a component of a portable electronic device; and wherein said voltage monitoring circuit measures said plurality of open circuit voltages of said electrochemical cell when said portable electronic device is idle, powered off, powering off, powered on or powering on, wherein said temperature monitoring circuit measures said plurality of temperatures of said electrochemical cell when said portable electronic device is idle, powered off, powering off, powered on or powering on or wherein both said voltage monitoring circuit measures said plurality of open circuit voltages of said electrochemical cell and said temperature monitoring circuit measures said plurality of temperatures of said electrochemical cell when said portable electronic device is idle, powered off, powering off, powered on or powering on.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein a change in open circuit voltage of said electrochemical cell occurs when said portable electronic device is idle, powered off, powering off, powered on or powering on.

12. The device of claim 1 , wherein said thermodynamic parameter of said electrochemical cell is determined using one or more of said plurality of open circuit voltages of said electrochemical cell and said plurality of temperatures of said electrochemical cell.

13. The device of claim 1 , wherein said thermodynamic parameter of said electrochemical cell is determined using a first temperature of said electrochemical cell and a second temperature of said electrochemical cell different from said first temperature of said electrochemical cell.

14. The device of claim 1 , wherein said change in free energy is determined by measuring an open circuit voltage of said electrochemical cell.

15. The device of claim 1 , wherein said integrated circuit comprises a state of charge calculating circuit for determining a state of charge of said electrochemical cell, said state of charge calculating circuit receiving current measurements from said current monitoring circuit and thermodynamic parameters of said electrochemical cell from said circuit for determining a thermodynamic parameter.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein said state of charge calculating circuit comprises said current monitoring circuit.

17. The device of claim 15 , wherein said integrated circuit monitors said electrochemical cell as said electrochemical cell is charged under controlled conditions and updates entries in a look-up table as said electrochemical cell is charged under controlled conditions, said look-up table including entries of states of charge of said electrochemical cell, open circuit voltages of said electrochemical cell and thermodynamic parameters of said electrochemical cell.

18. The device of claim 1 , wherein said voltage monitoring circuit determines an open circuit voltage of said electrochemical cell when said electrochemical cell is not charging or when said electrochemical cell is not discharging.

19. The device of claim 1 , wherein said circuit for determining a thermodynamic parameter of said electrochemical cell further determines one or more of a state of health of said electrochemical cell, a state of safety of said electrochemical cell and a cycle number of said electrochemical cell.

20. The device of claim 1 ,

Assignees

• Yazami Rachid
• Tan Cher Ming
• California Inst Of Techn
• Centre Nat De La Rech Scient (C N R S )
• Univ Nanyang Tech

Inventors

• Yazami Rachid
• Tan Cher Ming

Classifications

• H01M10/486

  for measuring temperature · CPC title

• H01M10/48

  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

• B60L11/1872

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60L2240/545

  Temperature · CPC title

• Y02T10/7044

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic