Secondary cell control system

• US 8,917,060 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyushu Electric Power Company Incorporated, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Kyushu Electric Power Company Incorporated, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Inventors: Shigemizu, Tetsuro, Nishida, Takehiko, Hashizaki, Katsuo, Tajima, Hidehiko, Kobayashi, Katsuaki, Adachi, Kazuyuki, Murakami, Shinji, Wada, Yoshihiro, Shibata, Hiroyuki, Kurayama, Kouji
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunn, Drew A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chung, Steve T
• Application Number:
  US13/059,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20110221394A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,002 Days
• US Class Current: 320/118
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/441 for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/482 for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0016 using shunting, discharge or bypass circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0018 using separate charge circuits
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A secondary cell control system includes a plurality of cells; a charging circuit section and a discharging circuit section. The charging circuit section charges cells selected from among said plurality of cells, and the discharging circuit section discharges cells selected from among said plurality of cells.

Claims

1. A secondary cell control system comprises:

a plurality of cells;

a charging circuit section configured to charge cells selected from among said plurality of cells;

a discharging circuit section configured to discharge cells selected from among said plurality of cells;

a cell voltage calculating circuit section configured to calculate control cell voltages based on cell voltages of said plurality of cells or to directly determine the cell voltages as said control cell voltages, with respect to each of said plurality of cells; and

a control circuit section configured to select the cells to be charged and the cells to be discharged from among said plurality of cells in response to said control cell voltages, and

wherein said control circuit section determines a target cell voltage, selects the cells to be discharged based on a comparison result between said control cell voltages and a first threshold value defined by using the target cell voltage, and selects the cells to be charged based on a comparison result between said control cell voltages and a second threshold value defined by using the target cell voltage,

wherein the selection of the cells to be discharged by said control circuit section is carried out based on a comparison result of said control cell voltages and a third threshold value defined by using a minimum value of said control cell voltages in addition to the comparison result of the first threshold value and said control cell voltages, and

wherein the selection of the cells to be charged by said control circuit section carried out based on a comparison result between said control cell voltages and a fourth threshold value defined by using a maximum value of said control cell voltages in addition to the comparison result between the second threshold value and said control cell voltages.

2. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said charging circuit section comprises a plurality of charging sections provided for a number equal to that of said plurality of cells and respectively connected to said plurality of cells to charge said plurality of cells.

3. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said discharging circuit section comprises a plurality of discharging sections provided for a number equal to that of said plurality of cells and respectively connected to said plurality of cells to discharge said plurality of cells.

4. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said charging circuit section comprises charging sections in which at least one of said charging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells,

wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections provided for a number equal to that of said charging sections, and respectively connected in parallel to said charging sections, and

wherein said secondary cell control system further comprises switches configured to switch connections between said plurality of cells and said charging sections or said discharging sections.

5. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said charging circuit section comprises charging sections in which at least one of said charging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells,

wherein said secondary cell control system further comprises charging-side switches configured to switch connections between said charging sections and said plurality of cells, and

wherein said charging sections charge cells of said plurality of cells which are connected to said charging sections by said charging-side switches.

6. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections in which at least one of said discharging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells,

wherein said secondary cell control system further comprises discharging-side switches configured to switch connections between said discharging sections and said plurality of cells, and

wherein said discharging sections discharge cells of said plurality of cells which are connected to said discharging sections by said discharging-side switches.

7. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein the target cell voltage is determined as an average value or a median of said control cell voltages of said plurality of cells.

8. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said discharging circuit section comprises a plurality of discharging sections provided for a number equal to that of said plurality of cells and respectively connected to said plurality of cells to discharge said plurality of cells, and

wherein the cells to be discharged are subjected to actual discharge by said plurality of discharging sections.

9. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said charging circuit section comprises a plurality of charging sections provided for a number equal to that of said plurality of cells and respectively connected to said plurality of cells to charge said plurality of cells, and

wherein the cells to be charged are subjected to actual charge by said plurality of charging sections.

10. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections in which at least one of said discharging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells, and

wherein said control circuit section determines priorities based on said control cell voltages when the number of the selected cells to be discharged is larger than the number of said discharging sections, and selects the cells to be actually discharged based on the determined priorities.

11. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections in which at least one of said discharging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells, and

wherein said control circuit section determines priorities based on recommendation times started with discharge recommendations when the number of the selected cells to be discharged is larger than the number of said discharging sections, and selects the cells to be actually discharged based on the determined priorities.

12. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections in which at least one of said discharging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells, and

wherein said control circuit section determines priorities based on discharge currents determined to the cells to be discharged or resistance values of variable resistances included in said discharging sections when the number of selected cells to be discharged is larger than the number of said discharging sections, and selects the cells to be actually discharged based on the determined priorities.

13. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections in which at least one of said discharging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells, and

wherein said control circuit section selects the cells to be actually discharged based on priorities which are determined based on degrees of deterioration of said plurality of cells when the number of selected cells to be discharged is larger than the number of said discharging sections.

14. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections in which at least one of said discharging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells, and

wherein said control circuit section selects the cells to be actually discharged based on priorities which are determined based on capacities of said plurality of cells when the number of selected cells to be discharged is larger than the number of said discharging sections.

15. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said charging circuit section comprises charging sections in which at least one of said charging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells, and

wherein said control circuit section determines priorities based on said control cell voltages, recommendation times started with discharge recommendations, charge currents or charge voltages determined to the cells to be charged, degrees of deterioration of said plurality of cells, or capacities of said plurality of cells when the number of selected cells to be charged is larger than the number of said charging sections, and selects the cells to be actually charged based on the determined priorities.

16. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said charging circuit section comprises charging sections in which at least one of said charging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells,

wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections provided for a number equal to that of said charging sections and respectively connected in parallel to said charging sections to form pairs, and

wherein said control circuit section determines priorities based on said control cell voltages, recommendation times started with discharge recommendations, charge currents or charge voltages determined to the cells to be charged, degrees of deterioration of said plurality of cells, or capacities of said plurality of cells when a total of the number of selected cells to be charged and the number of selected cells to be discharged is larger than the number of pairs of said charging section and said discharging section and selects the cells to be actually charged or discharged based on the determined priorities.

17. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections in which at least one of said discharging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells, and

wherein the cells selected to be discharged are subjected to discharging in a time-division manner by said discharging sections when the number of cells selected to be discharged is larger than the number of discharging sections.

18. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said charging circuit section comprises charging sections in which at least one of said charging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells, and

wherein the cells selected to be charged are subjected to charging in a time-division. manner by said charging sections when the number of cells selected to be charged is larger than the number of charging sections.

19. The secondary cell control system according to claim 1, wherein said charging circuit section comprises charging sections in which at least one of said charging sections is provided for more than one of said plurality of cells,

wherein said discharging circuit section comprises discharging sections provided for a number equal to that of said charging sections and respectively connected in parallel to said charging sections to form pairs, and

wherein the cells selected to be charged and the cells selected to be discharged are subjected to charging and discharging in a time-division manner by said charging sections and said discharging sections when a total of the number of selected cells to be charged and the number of selected cells to be discharged is larger than the number of pairs of said charging section and said discharging section.