Method and apparatus for electronically evaluating the internal temperature of an electrochemical cell or battery
First Claim
1. Apparatus for determining the internal temperature of an electrochemical cell or battery comprising:
- electrical excitation circuitry adapted to apply multiple frequency electrical excitation to said cell or battery;
electrical response sensing circuitry configured to sense an electrical response of said cell or battery to said multiple frequency electrical excitation; and
computation circuitry responsive to said multiple frequency electrical excitation and to said electrical response and adapted to evaluate said internal temperature from computations performed in accordance with said multiple frequency electrical excitation and said electrical response.
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Abstract
A testing device applies time-varying electrical excitation to a cell or battery and senses the resulting time-varying electrical response. Computation circuitry within the device uses voltage and current signals derived from the excitation and response signals as inputs and computes values of elements of an equivalent circuit representation of the cell or battery. The internal temperature of the cell or battery is calculated from the value of the time constant of a particular parallel G-C subcircuit of the equivalent circuit. The battery'"'"'s internal temperature is then either displayed to the user, used to apply appropriate temperature corrections to other computed quantities, used to detect thermal runaway, and/or used to control an external process such as charging of the battery.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. Apparatus for determining the internal temperature of an electrochemical cell or battery comprising:
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electrical excitation circuitry adapted to apply multiple frequency electrical excitation to said cell or battery;
electrical response sensing circuitry configured to sense an electrical response of said cell or battery to said multiple frequency electrical excitation; and
computation circuitry responsive to said multiple frequency electrical excitation and to said electrical response and adapted to evaluate said internal temperature from computations performed in accordance with said multiple frequency electrical excitation and said electrical response. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for electronically evaluating the internal temperature of an electrochemical cell or battery comprising the steps of:
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applying multiple frequency electrical excitation to said cell or battery;
sensing an electrical response to said multiple frequency electrical excitation;
combining values of said multiple frequency electrical excitation and said electrical response mathematically to obtain a computed result; and
evaluating said internal temperature from said computed result. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 35)
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24. A method for implementing a temperature correction of a measured property of an electrochemical cell or battery comprising the steps of:
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applying multiple frequency electrical excitation to said cell or battery;
sensing an electrical response to said multiple frequency electrical excitation;
combining values of said multiple frequency electrical excitation and said electrical response mathematically to compute a temperature correction factor; and
adjusting the value of said measured property in accordance with said computed temperature correction factor. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 36)
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31. A method for detecting thermal runaway of an electrochemical cell or battery undergoing charging comprising the steps of:
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applying multiple frequency electrical excitation to said cell or battery;
sensing an electrical response to said multiple frequency electrical excitation;
determining the internal temperature of said cell or battery from values of said multiple frequency electrical excitation and said electrical response; and
responding to an abnormal increase in said internal temperature between successive internal temperature determinations. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 37)
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Specification