Secondary battery system and vehicle having secondary battery system

• US 20100191398A1
• Filed: 01/20/2010
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Shimazu, Takashi, Hirota, Yasuki, Umeno, Takaji, Tomura, Shuji
• Granted Patent: US 8,935,023 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/56 Temperature prediction, e.g. for pre-cooling
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/44 Heat storages, e.g. for cabin heating
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/10 for monitoring or controlling batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/24 for controlling the temperature of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/08 including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/244 Charge state
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/246 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18127 Regenerative braking
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/486 for measuring temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/613 Cooling or keeping cold
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/615 Heating or keeping warm
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/625 Vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/633 characterised by algorithms, flow charts, software details or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/6571 Resistive heaters arrangements for heating the battery by its resistance to the internal current H01M10/637
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/659 by heat storage or buffering, e.g. heat capacity or liquid-solid phase changes or transition
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/6595 by chemical reactions other than electrochemical reactions of the cells, e.g. catalytic heaters or burners
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/66 Heat-exchange relationships between the cells and other systems, e.g. central heating systems or fuel cells
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries

Abstract

A secondary battery system comprises a secondary battery which receives regenerative electric power from a motor, a heat storage unit (heat storage device) which converts a part of electric power stored in the secondary battery or the regenerative electric power from the motor into heat and stores the heat, and which supplies the stored heat to the secondary battery when a temperature of the secondary battery is less than a low-temperature-side threshold value which is set in advance when the electric power is extracted from the secondary battery, and an electric power distribution controller (ECU) which distributes the regenerative electric power from the motor to the secondary battery and the heat storage unit (heat storage device) when the temperature of the secondary battery is less than the low-temperature-side threshold value when the secondary battery receives the regenerative electric power from the motor.

Claims

1. A secondary battery system comprising:

a secondary battery which receives regenerative electric power from a motor;

a heat storage unit which converts apart of electric power stored in the secondary battery or the regenerative electric power from the motor into heat and stores the heat, and which supplies the stored heat to the secondary battery when a temperature of the secondary battery is less than a low-temperature-side threshold value which is set in advance when electric power is extracted from the secondary battery; and

an electric power distribution controller which distributes the regenerative electric power from the motor to the secondary battery and the heat storage unit when the temperature of the secondary battery is less than the low-temperature-side threshold value when the secondary battery receives the regenerative electric power from the motor.

2. The secondary battery system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a cooling-energy and warming-heat generation unit which converts thermal energy stored in the heat storage unit and generates cooling energy or which amplifies the thermal energy and generates warming heat, wherein

the cooling-energy and warming-heat generation unit supplies the warming heat to the secondary battery when the temperature of the secondary battery is less than the low-temperature-side threshold value which is set in advance, and supplies the cooling energy to the secondary battery when the temperature of the secondary battery is greater than or equal to a high-temperature-side threshold value which is set in advance.

3. A vehicle comprising:

a motor which runs the vehicle;

a secondary battery which receives regenerative electric power from the motor;

a heat storage unit which converts apart of electric power stored in the secondary battery or the regenerative electric power from the motor into heat and stores the heat, and which supplies the stored heat to the secondary battery when a temperature of the secondary battery is less than a low-temperature-side threshold value which is set in advance when the electric power is extracted from the secondary battery; and

an electric power distribution controller which distributes the regenerative electric power from the motor to the secondary battery and the heat storage unit when the temperature of the secondary battery is less than the low-temperature-side threshold value when the secondary battery receives the regenerative electric power from the motor.

4. The vehicle according to claim 3, further comprising:

a cooling-energy and warming-heat generation unit which converts thermal energy stored in the heat storage unit and generates cooling energy or which amplifies the thermal energy and generates warming heat, wherein

the cooling-energy and warming-heat generation unit supplies the warming heat to the secondary battery when the temperature of the secondary battery is less than the low-temperature-side threshold value which is set in advance, and supplies the cooling energy to the secondary battery when the temperature of the secondary battery is greater than or equal to a high-temperature-side threshold value which is set in advance.

5. The vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising:

an amount-of-electric-power controller which supplies a part of the electric power of the secondary battery to the heat storage unit based on a usage frequency of the vehicle and the temperature of the secondary battery when the vehicle is stopped, wherein

the amount-of-electric-power controller supplies a part of the electric power of the secondary battery to the heat storage unit when the temperature of the secondary battery is greater than or equal to a threshold value which is set in advance and the usage frequency of the vehicle is less than a threshold value which is set in advance, when the vehicle is stopped.

6. The vehicle according to claim 3, further comprising:

a state of charge detecting unit which detects an amount of remaining electric power of the secondary battery, wherein

the electric power distribution controller distributes the regenerative electric power from the motor to the heat storage unit when the amount of remaining electric power of the secondary battery detected by the state of charge detecting unit is greater than or equal to a threshold value which is set in advance.

7. The vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising:

a state of charge detecting unit which detects an amount of remaining electric power of the secondary battery, wherein

the electric power distribution controller distributes the regenerative electric power from the motor to the heat storage unit when the amount of remaining electric power of the secondary battery detected by the state of charge detecting unit is greater than or equal to a threshold value which is set in advance.

8. The vehicle according to claim 5, further comprising:

a state of charge detecting unit which detects an amount of remaining electric power of the secondary battery, wherein

the electric power distribution controller distributes the regenerative electric power from the motor to the heat storage unit when the amount of remaining electric power of the secondary battery detected by the state of charge detecting unit is greater than or equal to a threshold value which is set in advance.

9. The vehicle according to claim 3, further comprising:

an electric power supply unit which supplies electric power to the secondary battery and the heat storage unit; and

a prediction unit which predicts a usage frequency of the heat storage unit based on a temperature history of the secondary battery, wherein

when the usage frequency of the heat storage unit predicted by the prediction unit is less than a threshold value which is set in advance, the electric power distribution controller limits supply of electric power to the secondary battery and the heat storage unit by the electric power supply unit, and distributes the regenerative electric power from the motor to the heat storage unit.

10. The vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising:

an electric power supply unit which supplies electric power to the secondary battery and the heat storage unit; and

a prediction unit which predicts a usage frequency of the heat storage unit based on a temperature history of the secondary battery, wherein

when the usage frequency of the heat storage unit predicted by the prediction unit is less than a threshold value which is set in advance, the electric power distribution controller limits supply of electric power to the secondary battery and the heat storage unit by the electric power supply unit, and distributes the regenerative electric power from the motor to the heat storage unit.

11. The vehicle according to claim 5, further comprising:

an electric power supply unit which supplies electric power to the secondary battery and the heat storage unit; and

a prediction unit which predicts a usage frequency of the heat storage unit based on a temperature history of the secondary battery, wherein

when the usage frequency of the heat storage unit predicted by the prediction unit is less than a threshold value which is set in advance, the electric power distribution controller limits supply of electric power to the secondary battery and the heat storage unit by the electric power supply unit, and distributes the regenerative electric power from the motor to the heat storage unit.