Battery management system for transmitting secondary protection signal and diagnosis signal using a small number of insulation elements

• US 10,177,579 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2014
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Energy Solution Limited (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Chem Limited (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kang, Ju-Hyun, Eguchi, Yasuhito, Tanina, Shoji
• Primary Examiner(s): Isla, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bui, Dung V
• Application Number:
  US14/442,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20160380442A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,545 Days
• Field of Search: 320112
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/18 of two or more battery modules
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/36 Arrangements for testing, measuring or monitoring the electrical condition of accumulators or electric batteries, e.g. capacity or state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/371 with remote indication, e.g. on external chargers
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/396 Acquisition or processing of data for testing or for monitoring individual cells or groups of cells within a battery
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/425 Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing printed circuits H05K1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 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 Class Codes: H01M 10/482 for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2010/4271 Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0014 Circuits for equalisation of charge between batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0018 using separate charge circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/02 Details electronic switching or gating H03K17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/10 using a centralized architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/30 using a wired architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles

Abstract

Disclosed is a battery management system for transmitting a secondary protection signal and a diagnosis signal using a small number of insulation elements. N battery management units included in the battery management system transmit at least two pieces of data via one communication line through time division. N data signals transmitted from the N battery management units are transmitted in a sequential order or are mixed to one signal and transmitted to an external device.

Claims

1. A battery management system for managing a battery pack, the battery management system comprising:

N battery management units configured to manage N groups of series connected secondary batteries included in the battery pack, in which N is a natural number greater than or equal to 2,

wherein the N battery management units are connected, respectively, to corresponding groups among the N groups of series connected secondary batteries;

N communication lines electrically connected to each battery management unit to transmit data to an external device via only a first insulation element, the external device controlling the battery management system;

the first insulation element being configured to transmit a signal while electrically separating the external device from the battery management system;

a selective connection device comprising a switch and a switch controller and being configured to selectively connect any one of the N communication lines to the first insulation element by the switch,

wherein each of the N battery management units is connected between the corresponding group of series connected secondary batteries and the selective connection device, and

wherein each battery management unit transmits at least two pieces of data through time division;

N−

1 level shifts electrically connected between the selective connection device and corresponding N−

1 battery management units via corresponding N−

1 communication lines;

a master battery management unit connected to a first battery management unit, wherein the master battery management unit is configured to control the N battery management units and wherein the master battery management unit is separate from the external device; and

a third insulation element configured to transmit or receive a signal while electrically separating a main processor of the external device from the master battery management unit,

wherein the selective connection device is connected to the first battery management unit, and none of the N−

1 level shifts is connected between the selective connection device and the first battery management unit,

wherein the switch controller and the master battery management unit are connected to the external device through a second insulation element, the switch controller being controlled by the external device,

wherein each battery management unit transmits at least two pieces of data through time division using Active Directory Sync (ADSYNC) changing in a logic level of a signal at a data transmission preparation section and a start point of a data transmission section, and

wherein each of the N battery management units measures a voltage of the secondary batteries and conducts a failure diagnosis according to a synchronized ADSYNC cycle.

2. The battery management system according to claim 1, wherein the first and the second insulation elements are photo couplers.

3. The battery management system according to claim 1, wherein the at least two pieces of data included in the data transmission section of the ADSYNC have the same width of each data.

4. The battery management system according to claim 1, wherein among the at least two pieces of data included in the data transmission section of the ADSYNC, a width of data distant from the start point of the data transmission section is wider than a width of data close to the start point.

5. The battery management system according to claim 4, wherein the width of the data distant from the start point of the data transmission section is wider by at least 5% than the width of the data close to the start point of the data transmission section.

6. The battery management system according to claim 1, wherein a pulse indicating a boundary between the data is included in the data transmission section of the ADSYNC.

7. The battery management system according to claim 1, wherein the N battery management units respectively output a free-run ADSYNC and are synchronized to any one of the output free-run ADSYNCs.

8. The battery management system according to claim 7, wherein the N battery management units are synchronized to a free-run ADSYNC with a narrowest width of a data transmission preparation section and a narrowest width of an ADSYNC cycle among the free-run ADSYNCs output from the N battery management units.

9. The battery management system according to claim 1, wherein the selective connection device includes a single switch though which all of the N communication lines are selectively connected to the external device.

10. The battery management system according to claim 9, wherein, while one of the N communication lines is connected to the first insulation element, all of the remaining communication lines are disconnected from the insulation element by the single switch in the selective connection device.

11. The battery management system according to claim 1, wherein the first insulation element is further configured to transmit the signal while electrically separating an emergency processor of the external device from the selective connection device of the battery management system.

12. The battery management system according to claim 1, wherein the master battery management unit is directly connected to the first battery management unit, but not to any of the N−

1 battery management units to which the N−

1 level shifts are electrically connected.