Battery thermal management system and methods of use

• US 10,369,899 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2017
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quantumscape Battery Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Quantumscape Corporation
• Inventors: Hettrich, Kevin, Wojcik, Tomasz
• Primary Examiner(s): Troost, Aaron L
• Application Number:
  US15/608,836
• Publication Number:
  US 20170305294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/27 by heating
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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

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.

Claims

1. A method for secondary battery thermal management in a vehicle, the method comprising:

using input parameters;

predicting a plurality of performance requirements for a battery of the vehicle using a respective plurality of sets of values for the input parameters and a weighting factor assigned to each of the input parameters;

for at least one of the predicted performance requirements, sending a control signal to a heating device or the battery for heating the battery according to the at least one of the predicted performance requirements;

logging a plurality of actual performance requirements; and

refining a predictive capability for battery performance requirements including, for each actual performance requirement, modifying the weighting factors assigned to the input parameters as a function of the respective actual performance requirement and predicted performance requirement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an actual performance requirement comprises an actual battery duty cycle and/or an actual driving record for the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicting step further includes, for each of the predicted performance requirements,

determining a pre-warming threshold for the predicted performance requirement, the pre-warming threshold reflecting at least a battery power demand and energy availability for pre-heating,

wherein the pre-warming threshold is determined from a summation of products of the weighting factors and a binary number representing the presence or absence of the value for the corresponding input parameter,

comparing the pre-warming threshold to a confidence level, the confidence level reflecting a likelihood that the vehicle will be driven at a predicted start time, and

if the confidence level is greater than the pre-warming threshold, sending the control signal according to the at least one predicted performance requirement.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the confidence level is determined from one or more of calendar information, a cell phone message, historical drive times, a weather forecast, a battery status, driver inputs, an upcoming drive type, a destination type, and a time of day.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-warming threshold is determined from one or more of a battery state of charge (SoC), a location of the vehicle, a battery temperature, a user input driving preference, whether the battery is currently being externally charged, a length of an expected drive, current electricity price, and a type of expected drive.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the input parameters comprise one or more of:

vehicle use information selected from the group consisting of statistical probability of drive starts as a function of previous drive start, drive times, time of drive starts, drive lengths, drive routes, geography of drives, driving pattern information, past battery warming conditions, past vehicle performance conditions, past battery performance conditions, feedback information, and combinations thereof,

location information selected from the group consisting of driver location, passenger location, driver location with respect to vehicle location, passenger location with respect to vehicle location, GPS location of user'"'"'s smartphone, GPS/Wi-Fi/cellular location of fob, proximity of fob to vehicle, GPS/Wi-Fi/cellular location of vehicle key, proximity of vehicle key to vehicle, user'"'"'s proximity to the vehicle, location of the vehicle, driver location with respect to home, driver location with respect to airport, driver location with respect to work place, driver location with respect to common drive locations, driver location with respect to preselected destinations, driver location with respect to saved destinations, and combinations thereof,

drive types selected from the group consisting of start location of drives, end location of drives, total distance of drives, average distance of drives, velocity of drives, average velocity of drives, traffic conditions of drives, and combinations thereof,

temperature information selected from the group consisting of battery temperature, ambient temperature, vehicle temperature, and combinations thereof,

heating device, battery, and/or vehicle information selected from the group consisting of battery energy capacity, state of charge of battery, battery self-discharge rate, a relationship between two or more of power of battery, temperature of battery, state of charge of battery, and age of battery, a thermal time constant for the battery, capacity of the heating device, efficiency of the heating device, powertrain of vehicle, thermal system configuration of vehicle, motor power of vehicle, powertrain efficiency of vehicle, vehicle minimum power output level for safe driving, and combinations thereof,

weather information selected from the group consisting of current weather conditions, weather forecast, temperature, precipitation, visibility, and combinations thereof,

driver inputs selected from the group consisting of immediate start instructions, delayed start instructions, start cancellation instructions, a user-specified performance level, and combinations thereof,

user information selected from the group consisting of driver'"'"'s calendar information, passenger'"'"'s calendar information, smartphone information, historical use information, and combinations thereof,

external information selected from the group consisting of information acquired from emails on user'"'"'s wireless communication device, information acquired from texts on user'"'"'s smartphone, and combinations thereof,

traffic information selected from the group consisting of traffic conditions, road conditions, construction conditions, detour conditions, and combinations thereof,

calendar information selected from the group consisting of day of the week, month of the year, holiday information, and combinations thereof, optionally in combination with a user specified performance level,

charging equipment availability information selected from the group consisting of availability of charging equipment at vehicle'"'"'s current location, availability of charging equipment at vehicle'"'"'s expected destination, and combinations thereof, optionally in combination with a status of an additional transportation provider and/or a status of an additional transit option,

and combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein for each of the predicted performance requirements, further including the steps of:

determining one or more power levels required from the battery for matching the predicted performance requirement, and

calculating a respective one or more battery temperatures for each of the one or more power levels, and

wherein the generated at least one control signal for heating the battery contains the respective one or more calculated battery temperatures.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predicted performance requirements comprises a plurality of types of driving, such that

a respective plurality of power levels are determined for matching with each of the types of driving, and

a respective plurality of optimal battery temperatures are calculated for each of the power levels.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a single predicted driving route comprises the plurality of power levels and respective plurality of calculated optimal battery temperatures.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of driving types is city driving and highway driving.

11. A secondary battery thermal management system, comprising:

a vehicle including a battery;

instructions for performing the method according to claim 1;

a processor configured for executing the instructions, wherein the control signal is sent to a heating device or to the battery to initiate a heating of the battery; and

a memory device recording the logged plurality of actual performance requirements.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the vehicle battery is a lithium ion secondary battery.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the lithium ion secondary battery comprises a cathode comprising conversion chemistry active materials.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the lithium ion secondary battery comprises a cathode comprising lithium intercalation chemistry active materials.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the vehicle battery is a secondary battery comprising a solid state electrolyte.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the system includes a battery control module comprising the processor and the memory device.

17. The system of claim 11, the battery control module further comprising:

a communication interface for receiving signals from external devices and/or sensors, wherein values for the input parameters are received from the from external devices and/or sensors,

wherein the battery control module is configured to send the control signals to a heating element for heating the vehicle battery.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor and/or the memory device is included with the vehicle.