Battery state-of-charge estimation method and battery management system

• US 10,295,604 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2012
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Silicon Works Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Silicon Works Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Oh, Hyung Seog, Hong, Ju Pyo, Chung, Chun Sik, Kim, Yong Goo, Kim, Jae Wan, Kim, Chol Ho, Kim, Moon Young, Kim, Jun Ho, Park, Jin Sik
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalbo, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US13/690,922
• Publication Number:
  US 20130138370A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,363 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/367 Software therefor, e.g. for battery testing using modelling or look-up tables
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3828 using current integration
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3842 combining voltage and current measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 11/01 electric

Abstract

Provided are a battery state-of-charge (SOC) estimation method and a battery management system which are capable of estimating an SOC using an inexpensive processor and a small-capacity memory. The SOC estimation method includes an SOC table creation step, an SOC calculation step, an SOC comparison step, and a processing step. The battery management system includes a battery, a sensing resistor, a control switch unit, and a processor.

Claims

1. A battery state-of-charge (SOC) estimation method comprising:

an SOC table creation step of dividing, by a processor, the entire area of a two-dimensional coordinate system representing a relation between battery open-circuit voltages and battery SOCs into a plurality of segments in which gradients of a linear function according to increase tendencies or decrease tendencies of data represented on the two-dimensional coordinate system are different from each other, at a time point when a battery is charged or discharged at a plurality of different temperatures, and storing, by the processor, function information representative of the relation between battery open-circuit voltages and battery SOCs for each segment in an SOC table;

a parameter estimation step comprising;

generating a control signal, by the processor, to control a control switch unit comprising, a charge control switch installed between the battery and a current source and a discharge control switch installed between the battery and a load receiving the current from the battery, said control signal generation being such that the current inputted to the battery from the current source or outputted from the battery to the load has a pulse form with a predetermined frequency,

measuring, by the processor, an inputted current to the battery or an outputted current from the battery, an open circuit voltage of the battery, and a temperature of the battery, and

calculating, by the processor, a resistance value of a resistor applied to a battery equivalent model and capacitance of a capacitor applied to the battery equivalent model;

an SOC calculation step of calculating, by the processor, an SOC of the battery using the function information and the measured current;

an SOC comparison step of acquiring, by the processor, a difference between an SOC extracted by using the function information, measured open circuit voltage of the battery, and measured temperature of the battery, and the SOC calculated at the SOC calculation step; and

a processing step of displaying the calculated SOC when the difference acquired at the SOC comparison step is smaller than a critical value, displaying the calculated SOC and the fact that the difference between the extracted SOC and the calculated SOC is larger than the critical value when the difference between the extracted SOC and the calculated SOC is larger than the critical value and displaying the number of errors indicating that the difference between the extracted SOC and the calculated SOC is larger than the critical value, by the processor.

2. The battery SOC estimation method of claim 1, wherein the SOC table creation step further comprises:

a data measurement step of measuring, by the processor, battery SOCs based on a change of the battery open-circuit voltage at the plurality of different temperatures;

a data representation step of representing, by the processor, the battery SOCs based on the change of the battery open-circuit voltage, measured at the plurality of different temperatures at the data measurement step, on the two-dimensional coordinate system, and connecting, by the processor, the battery SOCs through a line;

a segment division step of dividing, by the processor, segments in which gradients of the linear function according to increase tendencies or decrease tendencies of the data represented on the two-dimensional coordinate system are different from each other; and

a linearization coefficient calculation step of acquiring, by the processor, the function information representative of each segment, and storing the acquired function information in the SOC table.

3. The battery SOC estimation method of claim 1, wherein the parameter estimation step further comprises:

when the current is inputted to the battery, turning on and off, by the processor, the charge control switch by a charge control signal having a predetermined frequency such that the current inputted to the battery has a pulse form with a predetermined frequency, during a predetermined time period of the entire time period in which the current is inputted to the battery, and

when the current is outputted from the battery, turning on and off, by the processor, the discharge control switch by a discharge control signal having a predetermined frequency such that the current outputted from the battery has a pulse form with a predetermined frequency, during a predetermined time period of the entire time period in which the current is outputted from the battery.

4. The battery SOC estimation method of claim 3, wherein the parameter estimation step further comprises calculating the resistance value of the resistor applied to the battery equivalent model and the capacitance of the capacitor applied to the battery equivalent model, using a battery current and a battery open-circuit voltage in a period including a period in which the pulse-form current transits and a period in which the pulse-form open-circuit voltage transits in correspondence to the pulse-form current.

5. The battery SOC estimation method of claim 1, wherein the SOC calculation step further comprises applying, by the processor, an initial SOC extracted by using the function information stored in the SOC table, parameters of elements used in the battery equivalent model, an open-circuit voltage of the battery, and an amount of current inputted to or outputted from the battery to a current integral equation, and calculating, by the processor, an SOC of the battery.

6. The battery SOC estimation method of claim 1, wherein the SOC comparison step further comprises extracting, by the processor, an SOC corresponding to the open-circuit voltage applied at the SOC calculation step using the function information stored in the SOC table, and comparing, by the processor, the extracted SOC and the calculated SOC.

7. The battery SOC estimation method of claim 1, wherein the processing step further comprises issuing, by the processor, a command to update the SOC table creation step when the number of errors exceeds a predetermined reference number.

8. A battery management system comprising:

a sensing resistor connected to one end of a battery;

a control switch unit comprising, a charge control switch installed between the battery and a current source and a discharge control switch installed between the battery and a load receiving the current from the battery, and configured to transmit a current supplied from the current source to the battery or transmit a current outputted from the battery to the load, in response to a control signal; and

a processor configured to generate the control signal, and to measure an open-circuit voltage of the battery, a current inputted to the battery or outputted from the battery, and a temperature of the battery, the processor further configured to calculate parameters of elements applied to an equivalent model of the battery using a measured temperature of the battery, a measured current of the battery, and a measured open-circuit voltage of the battery, and create and store an SOC table using the temperature and the open-circuit voltage of the battery, wherein the processor represents data of a relation between battery SOCs and battery open-circuit voltages on a two-dimensional coordinate system at a plurality of different temperatures at a time point when a battery is charged or discharged, and divides segments according to increase tendencies or decrease tendencies of the data represented on the two-dimensional coordinate system such that gradients of a linear function for respective segments are different from each other,

wherein the processor calculates a current SOC of the battery using the temperature of the battery, the open-circuit voltage of the battery, and a gradient and an intercept of the linear function stored in the SOC table, and extracts an SOC based on the open-circuit voltage of the battery when the SOC of the battery was calculated, by referring to the SOC table, issues a command to display the calculated SOC and the fact that a difference between the calculated SOC and the extracted SOC is larger than a predetermined critical value when the difference between the calculated SOC and the extracted SOC is larger than the predetermined critical value, and issues the command to display the calculated SOC when the difference between the calculated SOC and the extracted SOC is smaller than the predetermined critical value,

wherein the processor issues a command to store a number of errors in which the fact that the difference between the calculated SOC and the extracted SOC is larger than the predetermined critical value is detected, when the difference between the calculated SOC and the extracted SOC is larger than the predetermined critical value, and to update the data stored in the SOC table when the number of errors is larger than a predetermined reference number.

9. The battery management system of claim 8, wherein:

the charge control switch is configured to switch the current supplied from the current source to the battery in response to the charge control signal; and

the discharge control switch is configured to switch the current outputted from the battery to the load in response to the discharge control signal.

10. The battery management system of claim 9, wherein the processor stores function information representative of the relation between battery open-circuit voltages and battery SOCs for each segment in the SOC table.

11. The battery management system of claim 10, further comprising a user interface device configured to divide the entire region of the two-dimensional coordinate system representing the relation between battery open-circuit voltages and battery SOCs in a plurality of segments at the plurality of different temperatures at a time point when a battery is charged or discharged, calculate the gradient and the intercept of the linear function representative of the relation between battery open-circuit voltages and battery SOCs for each segment, and transmit the calculated gradient and the calculated intercept to the processor.

12. The battery management system of claim 10, wherein the function information indicates the gradient and the intercept of the linear function, and

the gradient a and the intercept b satisfy the following equations:

13. The battery management system of claim 8, wherein the processor controls the current supplied to the battery to have a pulse form with a predetermined frequency during some periods of the period in which the battery is charged, in order to calculate parameters of elements applied to the battery equivalent model.

14. The battery management system of claim 8, wherein the processor controls the current supplied to the load from the battery to have a pulse form with a predetermined frequency during some periods of the period in which the battery is discharged, in order to calculate parameters of elements applied to the battery equivalent model.