Battery thermal management system and methods of use

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9834114-B2
Application number	US-201514838218-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 27, 2015
Priority date	Aug 27, 2014
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

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

What is claimed is:

1. A secondary battery thermal management system, the system comprising:
at least one temperature sensor for determining a temperature of a battery, the battery being a secondary battery;
at least one wireless communications device for receiving at least one of a plurality of input parameters; and
a chip configured for
determining an optimized battery temperature as a function of a predicted driving route,
determining a vehicle start time by analyzing the plurality of input parameters and assigning weighting factors to each of the plurality of input parameters;
providing a control signal to either the battery, or a heating device, to heat the battery to the optimized battery temperature with a heating lead time of at least a minute or more, and
comparing the vehicle start time with an actual vehicle start time, and adjusting the weighting factors based on the comparison.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the battery is a lithium ion secondary battery.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the lithium ion secondary battery comprises a cathode comprising conversion chemistry active materials.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the lithium ion secondary battery comprises a cathode comprising lithium intercalation chemistry active materials.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control signal is selected from the group consisting of Bluetooth signals, cellular signals, Wi-Fi signals, wireless communication device signals, network towers signals, tablets signals, smartphones signals, home security system signals, 3G device transmissions, 4G device transmissions, and combinations thereof.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the chip determines a heating lead time of at least two minutes.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the chip determines a heating lead time of at least five minutes.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the chip determines a heating lead time of at least ten minutes.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the chip determines a heating lead time of at least fifteen minutes.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the chip determines a heating lead time of at least thirty minutes.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the chip determines a heating lead time of at least thirty minutes but less than two hours.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the chip determines a heating lead time of at least thirty minutes but less than one hour.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the heating lead time is 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, or 10 minutes.

14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a data storage device for storing information selected from the group consisting of vehicle use, battery heating characteristics, battery performance as a function of temperature, and combinations thereof.

15. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor for determining the ambient temperature in proximity to the battery.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the heating lead time is 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, or 4 minutes.

17. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a device that performs the comparing the vehicle start time with the actual vehicle start time.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the device for comparing is the chip.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the device performs comparisons of (a) the vehicle start time with the actual vehicle start time, (b) a drive location with an actual drive location, and (c) a heat power rating with an actual heat power rating.

20. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a device for comparing predicted drive locations to actual drive locations.

21. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a device for comparing predicted heat power ratings to actual heat power ratings.

22. A method for secondary battery thermal management in a vehicle, the method comprising:
determining a temperature of a battery;
using an algorithm, determining a vehicle start time by analyzing a plurality of input parameters and assigning weighting factors to each of the plurality of input parameters;
determining an optimized battery temperature as a function of a predicted driving route;
providing a control signal to either the battery, or a heating device, to heat the battery to the optimized battery temperature with a heating lead time of at least a minute or more; and
comparing the vehicle start time with an actual vehicle start time, and adjusting the weighting factors based on the comparison;
thereby providing thermal management for the battery.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of inputs that are personal to a user/vehicle, inputs that are generally applicable, and combinations thereof.

24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of inputs that are historical, inputs that are current, and combinations thereof.

25. The method of claim 22 , wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of inputs that are sensed, inputs that are referenced, and combinations thereof.

26. The method of claim 22 , 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.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the historical general inputs are selected from the group consisting of: historical traffic information, historical weather data, and combinations thereof.

28. The method of claim 26 , wherein the current general inputs are selected from the group consisting of: current traffic data, current weather data, general calendar data, electricity prices, and combinations thereof.

29. The method of claim 26 , wherein the historical personal inputs are selected from the group consisting of: past driving data for a user and/or vehicle, availability of charging equipment at past destinations, battery characteristics, battery warming characteristics, heating device characteristics, vehicle characteristics, and combinations thereof.

30. The method of claim 26 , wherein the current sensed personal inputs are selected from the group consisting of: the current temperature of a battery, the current state of charge of the battery, the current temperature of a vehicle, current ambient temperature, the current location of a vehicle, the current location of a user or users, the proximity of a user to a vehicle, the location of a user with respect to particular locations, the current availability of charging equipment, and combinations thereof.

31. The method of claim 26 , 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, and a user's email messages, text messages, similar communications, and combinations thereof.

32. The method of claim 22 , wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of: data from a user's electronic device(s), device to vehicle communication, destination information, traffic infor

Assignees

• Quantumscape Corp

Inventors

• Hettrich Kevin
• Wojcik Tomasz

Classifications

• Y02T90/16

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

• Y02T10/70

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

• B60L58/27 Primary

  by heating · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title