Battery management and protection system using a controller to load safety and configuration parameters into dedicated registers during startup and performing battery protection scans during startup independently of a CPU

• US 8,880,913 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2012
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atmel Corporation (Microchip Technology Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Atmel Corporation (Microchip Technology Incorporated)
• Inventors: Holsen, Eivind, Onsum, Andreas, Svendsli, Odd Jostein, Aas, Arne
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): CASSITY, ROBERT A
• Application Number:
  US13/410,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20120170157A1
• Time in Patent Office: 977 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 361/1
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/263 Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC G06F1/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/0525 Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/425 Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing printed circuits H05K1/00
• 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: H01M 10/486 for measuring temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2010/4271 Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 3/08 responsive to excess current responsive to abnormal temperature caused by excess current H02H5/04
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 3/202 for dc systems
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 5/04 responsive to abnormal temperature specially adapted for electric machines H02H7/0852
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 5/041 additionally responsive to excess current H02H5/048 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00036 Charger exchanging data with battery
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00047 with provisions for charging different types of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0029 with safety or protection devices or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00302 Overcharge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00304 Overcurrent protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00306 Overdischarge protection
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A battery management and protection system can include various features to improve safety-critical and other functions. Among the features that can be included in some implementations are automatic loading of safety or other parameters during start-up of the system; a centralized timekeeper and an event system that can trigger actions in the system independently of a central processing unit; use of the same modules for both automatically-controlled safety-related measurements and firmware-controlled measurements; enhanced diagnostic features, and a sleepwalking feature that allows certain modules in the system to continue to perform various functions even when the module or the system is in a low-power sleep mode.

Claims

1. A battery management and protection system in a single integrated circuit chip, the system comprising:

non-volatile memory in the chip to store values for at least one of safety or calibration parameters;

a FET control module in the chip, the module including dedicated input/output registers and operable to execute automatic battery-related operations;

a central processing unit in the chip, the central processing unit being operable to read from, but not write to, the registers, wherein the values for the safety or calibration parameters are stored in the non-volatile memory during chip manufacture or by a user of the system, and wherein the automatic battery protection scans performed by the module during system start-up are performed independently of the central processing unit; and

a reset controller in the chip, the reset controller being independent of the central processing unit and operable to load the values automatically from the non-volatile memory to the registers during system start-up, wherein the values for the parameters stored in the registers cannot be changed at run-time by the central processing unit,

wherein the values loaded from the non-volatile memory to the registers of the FET control module during system start-up indicate an action to be taken by the FET control module in response to receiving a signal indicative of one or more of the following events;

a short-circuit protection event, a discharge over-current protection event, a charge over-current protection event, a cell over-voltage protection event, a cell under-voltage protection event, an internal temperature over-voltage protection event, or an internal temperature under-voltage protection event.

2. The battery management and protection system of claim 1 including:

one or more buses over which the central processing unit sends and receives signals; and

a further bus different from the one or more buses, wherein the values are loaded from the non-volatile memory to the registers during system start-up over the further bus.

3. The battery management and protection system of claim 1 wherein the non-volatile memory comprises flash memory.

4. The battery management and protection system of claim 1 further comprising a voltage analog-to-digital converter module operable to execute a channel scan and compare measured values of battery cell voltage or temperature to an auto-loaded trigger level, wherein the voltage analog-to-digital converter module includes dedicated input/output registers;

wherein the voltage analog-to-digital converter module is operable to use values loaded to the input/output registers of the voltage analog-to-digital converter module during start-up for at least one of the following;

identifying channels used in the battery protection scans, determining a frequency of the protection scans, or indicating threshold levels for cell voltage comparators, and

wherein the central processing unit is operable to read from, but not write to, the input/output registers of the voltage analog-to-digital converter module.

5. The battery management and protection system of claim 1 further including a current analog-to-digital converter module that includes dedicated input/output registers, wherein the central processing unit is operable to read from, but not write to, the registers of the current analog-to-digital converter module, and wherein the reset controller is operable to load values automatically from the non-volatile memory to the registers of the current analog-to-digital converter module during system start-up, wherein the values of the parameters stored in the registers of the current analog-to-digital converter module cannot be changed at run-time by the central processing unit.

6. The battery management and protection system of claim 5 wherein the current analog-to-digital converter module is operable to measure current flowing through a sense resistor.

7. The battery management and protection system of claim 6 wherein the current analog-to-digital converter module includes a window comparator operable to determine whether battery current is within a user-programmable range.

8. The battery management and protection system of claim 1 further including a current protection module that includes dedicated input/output registers, wherein the central processing unit is operable to read from, but not write to, the registers of the current protection module, and wherein the reset controller is operable to load values automatically from the non-volatile memory to the registers of the current protection module during system start-up, wherein the values of the parameters stored in the registers of the current protection module cannot be changed at run-time by the central processing unit.

9. The battery management and protection system of claim 8 wherein the current protection module is operable to sample voltages across a sense resistor in user-programmable intervals and to compare the voltages against user-programmable levels based on the values loaded from the non-volatile memory to the registers of the current protection module during system start-up.

10. The battery management and protection system of claim 1 wherein some locations in the non-volatile memory store manufacturer-provided values and other locations in the non-volatile memory store user-provided values, wherein another user-programmable value stored in the non-volatile memory indicates whether the manufacturer-provided values or the user-provided values are to be loaded from the non-volatile memory to the registers during system start-up.