Battery system using battery unit in which battery arms are connected in parallel

• US 8,384,351 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2009
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Morikawa, Ryuichi, Mizutani, Mami, Kuwano, Yuki, Ito, Yasuyuki, Monden, Yukitaka, Kubota, Masayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): PATIDAR, JAY M
• Application Number:
  US12/566,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20100079108A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,250 Days
• Field of Search: 320/116, 320/117, 320/120, 320/121, 320/134, 320/136
• US Class Current: 320/116
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0014 Circuits for equalisation of charge between batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00304 Overcurrent protection
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A battery system includes a battery unit in which battery arms are connected in parallel, and a charge/discharge control device that controls charge/discharge of the battery unit. Each of the battery arms includes: a battery composed of one or more battery cells connected in series; a switch connected in series to the battery; and a battery monitoring device that, in a case of having detected abnormality of the battery, opens the switch to thereby isolate the battery arm including the abnormal battery, and sends a switch opening signal indicating that the switch has been opened to the charge/discharge control device. The charge/discharge control device performs a control to reduce a charge/discharge current or charge/discharge power of the battery unit when the switch opening signal is sent from the battery monitoring device of the battery unit to the charge/discharge control device.

Claims

1. A battery system comprising:

a battery unit in which battery arms are connected in parallel; and

a charge/discharge control device that controls a charge/discharge current of the battery unit,

wherein each of the battery arms comprises;

a battery composed of one or more battery cells connected in series;

a switch connected in series to the battery; and

a battery monitoring device that, in a case of having detected abnormality of the battery, opens the switch to thereby isolate the battery arm including the abnormal battery, and sends a switch opening signal indicating that the switch has been opened to the charge/discharge control device,

the charge/discharge control device comprises;

a current detector for detecting the charge/discharge current flowing between the charge/discharge control device and the battery unit;

a current control unit for controlling a magnitude of the charge/discharge current; and

a voltage detector for detecting an input voltage of the battery unit; and

in a case where the charge/discharge control device receives one more of the switch opening signals from the battery unit, the current control unit controls the charge/discharge current to gradually reduce a charge/discharge power of the battery unit in a stepwise manner in response to a number of the received switch opening signals based on a detected value of the current detector and a detected value of the voltage detector.

2. The battery system according to claim 1,

wherein, in the case where the charge/discharge control device receives one or more of the switch opening signals from the battery unit, the charge/discharge control device controls the charge/discharge current to reduce the charge/discharge power of the battery unit in the stepwise manner in a ratio of the number of the received switch opening signals to the number of the battery arms.

3. The battery system according to claim 1, wherein

the switch is a fuse, and

in a case where the battery monitoring device detects a blowout of the fuse, the battery monitoring device sends a fuse blowout signal indicating that the blowout of the fuse has been detected to the charge/discharge control device as the switch opening signal.