Power surge filtering in over-current and short circuit protection

• US 7,629,769 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2006
• Issued: 12/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atmel Corporation (Microchip Technology Incorporated), Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Atmel Corporation (Microchip Technology Incorporated), Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Gangstoe, Gunnar, Sato, Hideyuki, Saether, Terje, Aas, Arne
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Matthew V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Nguyen
• Application Number:
  US11/372,975
• Publication Number:
  US 20070210758A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,369 Days
• Field of Search: 320/134, 320/112, 320/114, 320/135, 320/136, 323/222, 323/224, 323/226, 323/273, 323/271, 323/282, 323/269, 323/284
• US Class Current: 320/134
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00304 Overcurrent protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0031 using battery or load disconnect circuits H02J9/002 takes precedence

Abstract

A battery pack can include one or more battery cells, current blocking transistors and a battery management system. The disclosed implementations handle over-currents drawn from the battery cells that cause unstable operation of the battery management system. The over-currents are handled without causing an undesired drop in voltage output from the battery cells. The disclosed implementations can handle over-currents even if the over-currents cause the battery management system supply voltage to drop below a minimum operating voltage level for a certain period of time. The disclosed implementations use current blocking transistors that can be configured to block current flow and ensure safe operation of the battery cells in cases where the current drawn from the battery cells would be sufficiently high for a sufficiently long period of time to cause damage to the battery cells.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a battery pack operable to be coupled to a device, where the battery pack includes;

a battery cell;

a battery protection circuit coupled to the battery cell;

a processor coupled to the battery protection circuit for determining if a battery protection event has occurred;

a voltage regulator circuit coupled to the battery cell and the processor, the voltage regulator circuit configurable to provide power to the processor, the voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulator controller circuit coupled to a step-up voltage regulator and a linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to enable and disable the step-up voltage regulator and the linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to place the voltage regulator circuit into one of a linear regulator mode, a step-up regulator mode, a combination mode, and a protection mode;

an energy storage device coupled to the voltage regulator circuit, and configurable to provide the processor with power during the battery protection event; and

a switch coupled between the energy storage device and the battery cell, the switch configurable to selectively disconnect the energy storage device from the battery cell during the battery protection event, where the switch is included in the voltage regulator circuit.

2. The system of claim 1, where the battery protection event is one of a plurality of battery protection events including short circuit during discharging and over-current during charging and discharging.

3. The system of claim 1, where the energy storage device is a capacitor.

4. The system of claim 1, where the switch is included in the voltage regulator.

5. The system of claim 1, where the switch is a field effect transistor (FET) device.

6. An integrated circuit for a battery system, comprising:

a battery protection circuit adapted to be coupled to a battery cell;

a processor coupled to the battery protection circuit for determining if a battery protection event has occurred;

a voltage regulator circuit coupled to the processor and configurable to provide power to the processor, the voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulator controller circuit coupled to a step-up voltage regulator and a linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to enable and disable the step-up voltage regulator and the linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to place the voltage regulator circuit into one of a linear regulator mode, a step-up regulator mode, a combination mode, and a protection mode;

an energy storage device coupled to the voltage regulator circuit, and configurable to provide the processor with power during the battery protection event; and

a switch coupled between the energy storage device and the battery cell, the switch configurable to disconnect the energy storage device from the battery cell during the battery protection event, where the switch is included in the voltage regulator circuit.

7. The system of claim 6, where the battery protection event is one of a plurality of battery protection events including short circuit during discharging, over-current during charging and discharging and a sudden drop in battery cell voltage.

8. The system of claim 6, where the energy storage device is a capacitor.

9. A battery protection method, comprising:

providing power from a voltage regulator to a processor in a battery system, wherein the voltage regulator is coupled to a battery cell and regulates the voltage received from the battery cell to provide the power to the battery system, the voltage regulator including a voltage regulator controller circuit coupled to a step-up voltage regulator and a linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to enable and disable the step-up voltage regulator and the linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to place the voltage regulator into one of a linear regulator mode, a step-up regulator mode, a combination mode, and a protection mode;

receiving signals indicative of a battery protection event;

during the battery protection event;

selectably disconnecting the voltage regulator from the battery cell; and

providing power to the processor from an energy storage device coupled to the battery cell.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

during the battery protection event, disconnecting the energy storage device from the battery cell.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

issuing an interrupt to the processor; and

changing a power mode of the processor in response to the interrupt.

12. The method of claim 11, where changing the power mode includes changing to a low power consumption mode.

13. The method of claim 11, where changing the power mode includes changing the power mode to a power mode from a plurality of power modes including Idle, Power-save, Power-down and Power-off

14. An integrated circuit for a battery system, comprising:

a battery protection circuit adapted to be coupled to a battery cell;

a processor coupled to the battery protection circuit and configurable to receive signals from the battery protection circuit for determining if a battery protection event has occurred;

a voltage regulator circuit coupled to the processor and configurable to provide power to the processor during times other than battery protection events, the voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulator controller circuit coupled to a step-up voltage regulator and a linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to enable and disable the step-up voltage regulator and the linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to place the voltage regulator circuit into one of a linear regulator mode, a step-up regulator mode, a combination mode, and a protection mode; and

an energy storage device coupled to the voltage regulator, and configurable to provide the processor with power during the battery protection event.

15. The integrated circuit of claim 14, where the battery protection circuit issues an interrupt signal to the processor upon detection of a battery protection event and the processor changes to a low power consumption mode in response to the interrupt signal.

16. The integrated circuit of claim 14, further comprising:

a switch coupled between the energy storage device and the battery cell, the switch configurable to disconnect the energy storage device from the battery cell during the battery protection event.

17. The integrated circuit of claim 14, wherein the battery protection event is one of a plurality of battery protection events including short circuit during discharging and over-current during charging and discharging.

18. A battery protection method, comprising:

receiving signals indicative of a battery protection event;

providing an interrupt signal to a processor;

changing the processor to a low power consumption mode in response to the interrupt signal; and

providing power from a voltage regulator to the processor, where the voltage regulator is coupled to a battery cell and regulates the voltage received from the battery cell to provide the power to the battery management system, the voltage regulator including a switch configurable for switching an energy storage device to the processor during the battery protection event, the voltage regulator including a voltage regulator controller circuit coupled to a step-up voltage regulator and a linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to enable and disable the step-up voltage regulator and the linear voltage regulator, the voltage regulator controller circuit operable to place the voltage regulator into one of a linear regulator mode, a step-up regulator mode, a combination mode, and a protection mode.