Method and device for determining battery discharge capability, and power supply system

• US 7,764,049 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2008
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Furukawa Electric Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Furukawa Electric Company Limited
• Inventors: Fujimura, Koji, Sugimura, Takezo, Iwane, Noriyasu
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso; Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIGGUSH, AARON C
• Application Number:
  US12/169,144
• Publication Number:
  US 20090027007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 749 Days
• Field of Search: 320/107, 320/132, 320/134, 320/136, 320/164
• US Class Current: 320/136
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3647 for determining the ability of a battery to perform a critical function, e.g. cranking
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/367 Software therefor, e.g. for battery testing using modelling or look-up tables
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/389 Measuring internal impedance, internal conductance or related variables

Abstract

A method for determining battery discharge capability includes estimating the optimum state vector X by an extended Kalman filter operation. Using the estimated state vector X, element parameters of an equivalent circuit are renewed. Furthermore, based on the equivalent circuit using the renewed element parameters, at the time of discharging with a predetermined current pattern from a battery, a voltage drop ΔV is estimated. Therefore, the discharge capacity of the battery is determined.

Claims

1. A method for determining battery discharge capability based on an equivalent circuit of a battery, comprising:

setting a state vector, including at least element parameters and a predetermined function of the element parameters of the equivalent circuit;

measuring a current value and a voltage value of the battery;

estimating the state vector using the measured current value and the measured voltage value, and a state of charge (SOC) calculated by a predetermined SOC calculating method as observed values;

applying the element parameters, calculated according to the predetermined function at a predetermined current pattern, as elements of the estimated state vector to the equivalent circuit to estimate the voltage value of the battery at a time of discharging under the predetermined current pattern, and the predetermined current pattern includes a present discharge current and a current of a load to be newly added to the present discharge current applied to the battery; and

comparing the estimated voltage value with a predetermined voltage tolerance to determine the discharge capability of the battery.

2. The method for determining battery discharge capability of claim 1, wherein the state vector is estimated using secondary observed values calculated from the measured current value, the measured voltage value, and the state of charge (SOC) of the battery.

3. The method for determining battery discharge capability of claim 1, wherein impedance for one or more frequencies is added into elements of the observed values;

and

the state vector is estimated using the measured current value and the measured voltage value, the SOC calculated by the SOC calculating method, and the impedance for one or more frequencies which is calculated by a predetermined impedance calculating method.

4. The method for determining battery discharge capability of claim 3, wherein the impedance calculating method measures the current value and the voltage value at the time of discharging or charging a pulse current through the battery, evaluates each amplitude constituent corresponding to the one or more frequencies by Fourier expanding the measured current value and the measured voltage value respectively, and then calculates the impedance for one or more of the frequencies from the amplitude constituent.

5. The method for determining battery discharge capability of claim 3, wherein the impedance calculating method measures the current value and the voltage value at a time of power supplying to electric equipment from the battery, evaluates each amplitude constituent corresponding to the one or more frequencies by Fourier transforming the measured current value and the measured voltage value respectively, and then calculates the impedance for one or more of the frequencies from the amplitude constituent.

6. The method for determining battery discharge capability of claim 4, wherein the impedance calculating method calculates impedance Zbat of the battery, for impedance (as Zmes) evaluated by the Fourier expanding, to remove impedance (as Zx) of the electric equipment connected in parallel with the battery, by a relational expression:

1/Zmes=1/Zx+1/Zbat.

7. The method for determining battery discharge capability of claim 1, further comprising:

carrying out a correction calculation of the element parameters based on at least one from a group comprising the measured current value, a temperature, and the SOC of the battery.

8. The method for determining battery discharge capability of claim 1, wherein the SOC calculating method uses at least one from a group comprising a stable OCV measured value, a current integrated value, and I/V (I-V:

current-voltage) characteristic of the battery.

9. The method for determining battery discharge capability of claim 5, wherein the impedance calculating method calculates impedance Zbat of the battery, for impedance (as Zmes) evaluated by the Fourier transforming, to remove impedance (as Zx) of electric equipment connected in parallel with the battery, by a relational expression:

1/Zmes=1/Zx+1/Zbat.