Storage status adjusting circuit, storage status adjusting device, and storage battery pack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9742205-B2
Application number	US-201514658416-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2015
Priority date	Mar 17, 2014
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

A storage status adjusting circuit includes: n (n is natural number greater than 2) switching units configured to switch between energy accumulation in respective n coils and energy release from the respective n coils to any one of component electric storage devices, which are respectively included in n assembled electric storage devices respectively including a plurality of the component electric storage devices; and n changing units configured to respectively change potential differences between both ends of the n coils; wherein the changing units change, based on the storage statuses of the n assembled electric storage devices, at least any one of the potential differences between both ends of the n coils, when accumulating energy in the n coils.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A storage status adjusting circuit including two or more modules to control energy accumulation in, and energy release from, plural respective coils to plural assembled electric storage devices respectively, each assembled electric storage device including plural component electric storage devices connected serially to each other, each of the two or more modules comprising:
plural switching units to selectively connect respective component electric storage devices of a corresponding assembled electric storage device to a corresponding coil;
a voltage detection circuit to detect voltages of the component electric storage devices of the corresponding assembled electric storage device;
a controller to set a reference voltage based on comparison amongst the detected voltages of the component electric storage devices of the corresponding assembled electric storage device; and
a coil voltage adjusting circuit to control an amount of energy accumulated in the corresponding coil based on the reference voltage set by the controller,
wherein each of the modules further comprises a first switching unit to switch between energy accumulation and energy release of the corresponding coil,
wherein the plural switching units connect or disconnect the respective component electric storage devices with the coil,
wherein the plural switching units disconnect the respective component electric storage devices from the corresponding coil when the first switching unit is switched to energy accumulation of the corresponding coil, and
wherein any one of the plural switching units connects the corresponding component electric storage device with the corresponding coil when the first switching unit is switched to energy release of the corresponding coil.

2. The storage status adjusting circuit, as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the two or more modules acts as a primary module whose controller controls each coil voltage adjusting circuit amongst the two or more modules, and wherein a potential difference between (i) a voltage of the corresponding coil of the primary module and (ii) the reference voltage set in of the primary module is greater than or equal to a predetermined value.

3. The storage status adjusting circuit, as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the reference voltage corresponds to a voltage of any assembled electric storage device amongst the plural assembled electric storage devices.

4. The storage status adjusting circuit, as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the reference voltage is an average of the voltages of the plural assembled electric storage devices.

5. A storage status adjusting device, to control energy accumulation in, and energy release from, a coil to an assembled electric storage device including plural component electric storage devices connected serially to each other, the storage status adjusting device comprising:
plural switching units to selectively connect the respective component electric storage
devices of the assembled electric storage device to a corresponding coil;
a voltage detection circuit to detect voltages of the component electric storage devices of the assembled electric storage device;
a controller to set a reference voltage based on comparison amongst the detected voltages of the component electric storage devices of the assembled electric storage device;
a coil voltage adjusting circuit to control an amount of energy accumulated in the coil based on the reference voltage set by the controller; and
a first switching unit to switch between energy accumulation and energy release of the coil,
wherein the plural switching units connect or disconnect the respective component electric storage devices with the coil,
wherein the plural switching units disconnect the respective component electric storage devices from the corresponding coil when the first switching unit is switched to energy accumulation of the corresponding coil, and
wherein any one of the plural switching units connects the corresponding component electric storage device with the corresponding coil when the first switching unit is switched to energy release of the corresponding coil.

6. A storage battery pack, comprising:
plural coils;
plural assembled electric storage devices, each assembled electric storage device including plural component electric storage devices connected serially to each other;
plural modules to control energy accumulation in, and energy release from, the plural respective coils to the plural assembled electric storage devices respectively, each of the plural modules including:
plural switching units to selectively connect respective component electric storage devices of a corresponding assembled electric storage device to a corresponding coil;
a voltage detection circuit to detect voltages of the component electric storage devices of the corresponding assembled electric storage device;
a controller to set a reference voltage based on comparison amongst the detected voltages of the component electric storage devices of the corresponding assembled electric storage device; and
a coil voltage adjusting circuit to control an amount of energy accumulated in the corresponding coil based on the reference voltage set by the controller,
wherein each of the modules further comprises a first switching unit to switch between energy accumulation and energy release of the corresponding coil,
wherein the plural switching units connect or disconnect the respective component electric storage devices with the coil,
wherein the plural switching units disconnect the respective component electric storage devices from the corresponding coil when the first switching unit is switched to energy accumulation of the corresponding coil, and
wherein any one of the plural switching units connects the corresponding component electric storage device with the corresponding coil when the first switching unit is switched to energy release of the corresponding coil.

Assignees

• Takai Masami
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Takai Masami

Classifications

• H02J7/56

  Active balancing, e.g. using capacitor-based, inductor-based or DC-DC converters · CPC title

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J7/52 Primary

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

• H02J7/00

  Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries · CPC title

• H01M10/4207

  for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title