STATIONARY ELECTRICAL STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD

• US 20140239908A1
• Filed: 02/19/2014
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: ICHIKAWA, Koichi, TAKAHASHI, Yasuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,431,832 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/134
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0016 using shunting, discharge or bypass circuits
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries

Abstract

A stationary electrical storage system includes: a stationary storage battery including nickel metal hydride secondary batteries; and a controller repeatedly carrying out charging with an external power supply and discharging to supply electric power to a load, stopping discharging to the load when an SOC of any secondary battery has become a first threshold, and stopping charging from the external power supply when an SOC of any secondary battery has become a second threshold. The controller additionally charges the whole stationary storage battery such that the secondary battery other than the secondary battery having the lowest SOC is allowed to be charged to a fully charged level beyond the second threshold by not stopping charging when the SOC of the any secondary battery has become the second threshold and the SOC of the secondary battery having the lowest SOC becomes higher than or equal to the second threshold.

Claims

1. A stationary electrical storage system comprising:

a stationary storage battery including a plurality of nickel metal hydride secondary batteries connected in series with each other and configured to supply electric power to a load; and

a controller configured to repeatedly execute charging control with the use of an external power supply and discharging control in order to supply electric power to the load, the controller being configured to stop discharging the stationary storage battery to the load when an SOC of any one of the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries has become a first threshold, the controller being configured to stop charging the stationary storage battery from the external power supply when an SOC of any one of the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries has become a second threshold, wherein

the controller is configured to additionally charge the whole stationary storage battery in charging control with the use of the external power supply such that;

the nickel metal hydride secondary battery. other than the nickel metal hydride secondary battery having the lowest SOC is allowed to be charged to a fully charged level beyond the second threshold by not stopping charging when the SOC of the any one of the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries has become the second threshold; and

the SOC of the nickel metal hydride secondary battery having the lowest SOC becomes higher than or equal to the second threshold.

2. The stationary electrical storage system according to claim 1, wherein

the controller is configured to additionally charge the whole stationary storage battery until the SOC of the nickel metal hydride secondary battery having the lowest SOC reaches the fully charged level beyond the second threshold.

3. The stationary electrical storage system according to claim 1, wherein

the controller is configured to carry out charging at a first charging rate until the SOC of the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries becomes the second threshold in the charging control, and

the controller is configured to carry out charging at a second charging rate lower than the first charging rate from when the SOC of the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries has become the second threshold to when the SOC of the nickel metal hydride secondary battery reaches the fully charged level.

4. The stationary electrical storage system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a voltage sensor configured to detect a voltage value of each of the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries; and

a current sensor configured to detect a current value flowing through the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries, wherein

the controller is configured to determine the first nickel metal hydride secondary battery that has reached a voltage value corresponding to the first threshold on the basis of a prescribed correspondence map between the SOC of each nickel metal hydride secondary battery and the voltage value, and to stop discharging,

the controller is configured to determine the second nickel metal hydride secondary battery that has reached a voltage value corresponding to the second threshold on the basis of the correspondence map, and to stop charging, and

the controller is configured to additionally charge the whole stationary storage battery when an SOC difference between the first nickel metal hydride secondary battery and the second nickel metal hydride secondary battery is larger than or equal to a predetermined value.

5. The stationary electrical storage system according to claim 4, wherein

the controller is configured to calculate the SOC of the second nickel metal hydride secondary battery at the time when the SOC of the first nickel metal hydride secondary battery has reached the first threshold on the basis of a charging and discharging current accumulated value from when discharging is started to when the SOC of the first nickel metal hydride secondary battery reaches the first threshold in the discharging control.

6. The stationary electrical storage system according to claim 4, wherein

the controller is configured to additionally charge the whole stationary storage battery such that the second nickel metal hydride secondary battery is charged with an amount of electric power corresponding to the SOC difference after the second nickel metal hydride secondary battery has been charged to the second threshold.

7. A control method for a stationary storage battery including a plurality of nickel metal hydride secondary batteries connected in series with each other and configured to supply electric power to a load, comprising:

executing discharging control to the load, and stopping discharging the stationary storage battery to the load when an SOC of any one of the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries has become a first threshold;

executing charging control with the use of an external power supply, and stopping charging the stationary storage battery from the external power supply when an SOC of any one of the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries has become a second threshold;

repeatedly executing the charging control with the use of the external power supply and the discharging control in order to supply electric power to the load; and

additionally charging the overall stationary storage battery in the charging control such that;

the nickel metal hydride secondary battery other than the nickel metal hydride secondary battery having the lowest SOC is allowed to be charged to a fully charged level beyond the second threshold by not stopping charging when the SOC of the any one of the nickel metal hydride secondary batteries has become the second threshold; and

the SOC of the nickel metal hydride secondary battery having the lowest SOC becomes higher than or equal to the second threshold.