Secondary-battery monitoring device and battery pack

• US 9,312,723 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2013
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd. (MinebeaMitsumi Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd. (MinebeaMitsumi Inc.)
• Inventors: Nagata, Shogo, So, Yasuaki, Yamaguchi, Takeshi, Kawaguchi, Norihito
• Primary Examiner(s): Rossoshek, Helen
• Application Number:
  US13/757,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20130229144A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,165 Days
• Field of Search: 320/107, 320/118, 320/132, 320/134, 320/135, 320/136
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/16542 for batteries charge condition monitoring in G01R31/36
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4257 Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00036 Charger exchanging data with battery
• 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: H02J 7/00308 Overvoltage protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00714 in response to battery charging or discharging current
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007182 in response to battery voltage
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A secondary-battery monitoring device capable of realizing highly reliable overcurrent detection and a battery pack having it are provided. When an overcurrent flowing to a secondary battery is to be detected by utilizing a current detection voltage generated via on-resistance of a discharge-control switch and a charge-control switch, a voltage correction circuit that generates a correction voltage having a characteristic varied by positive slope or negative slope along with increase in a power supply voltage is provided, and the correction voltage is added to the detection voltage or a reference power supply voltage with the polarity that cancels out the slope of voltage variation caused in the detection voltage, and then the voltage is input to a comparator circuit. In this manner, variation in the overcurrent determination current is reduced.

Claims

1. A secondary-battery monitoring device comprising:

first and second battery connection terminals to which a secondary battery is to be connected;

first and second external terminals to which a load or a charger is to be connected;

a first current path arranged between the first battery connection terminal and the first external terminal;

a second current path arranged between the second battery connection terminal and the second external terminal;

a switch circuit including a pair of FETs that control a flow of a discharge current and a flow of a charge current, respectively, the switch circuit being inserted in the second current path so as to control the charge current and the discharge current flowing in the secondary battery; and

a switch control unit,

wherein the switch control unit is provided with;

a second power-supply terminal connected to the second current path at a line connecting the second battery connection terminal and one node on the second current path of the switch circuit;

a first power-supply terminal to which a first power supply voltage from the secondary battery is supplied via the first current path with using a voltage at the second power-supply terminal as a reference;

a pair of control terminals;

driver circuits configured to supply control voltages to gates of corresponding FETs via the control terminals;

a detection terminal connected to the second current path at a line connecting the other node on the second current path of the switch circuit and the second external terminal;

a first detection circuit configured to monitor the charge current flowing in the second current path based on a detection voltage detected at the detection terminal, and output a detection signal when the detection voltage reaches a predetermined value;

a second detection circuit configured to monitor the discharge current and output a detection signal when the detection voltage reaches a predetermined value; and

a control circuit configured to supply the control voltage via the corresponding driver circuit in response to the detection signal to carry out control of shutting off the corresponding FET, and

wherein at least one of the first and second detection circuits is provided with;

a comparator circuit configured to determine, based on a voltage of one input node of the comparator circuit serving as a reference voltage, magnitude of a voltage of the other input node of the comparator circuit to output the detection signal based on a result of the determination; and

a voltage correction circuit configured to generate a correction voltage having a characteristic that varies by a slope approximating a slope of variation in the detection voltage that decreases along with an increase in the first power supply voltage, add the correction voltage to the detection voltage or a reference power supply voltage with such a polarity as canceling the slope of variation caused in the detection voltage by the slope of variation in the correction voltage, and input the voltage thus corrected to the comparator circuit.

2. The secondary-battery monitoring device according to claim 1,

wherein each of the first and second detection circuits is provided with the voltage correction circuit, and supply of the detection voltage detected at the detection terminal to the first detection circuit monitoring the charge current is carried out via an inverter amplifier connected between the detection terminal and the first detection circuit.

3. The secondary-battery monitoring device according to claim 1,

wherein, when the correction voltage increases by a positive slope along with an increase in the first power supply voltage, the voltage correction circuit is configured to correct the input to the comparator circuit with the correction voltage by either way of:

(a) inputting a voltage generated by subtracting the correction voltage from the reference power supply voltage to the one input node and inputting the detection voltage to the other input node;

or

(b) inputting a voltage generated by adding the correction voltage to the detection voltage to the other input node and inputting the reference power supply voltage to the one input node.

4. The secondary-battery monitoring device according to claim 3,

wherein, in a state in which the reference power supply voltage is applied to the one input node and the detection voltage corrected by the correction voltage is applied to the other input node in (b), the magnitude of the voltage applied to the other input node is determined based on the voltage of the one input node serving as a reference, and the detection signal is output based on the result of the determination.

5. The secondary-battery monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a power-supply-voltage generating circuit configured to generate a second power supply voltage having such a value as increasing in proportion to an increase in the first power supply voltage in a first range in which the first power supply voltage has a value equal to or smaller than a first value and generate the second power supply voltage having a fixed value in a second range in which the first power supply voltage has a value larger than the first value,

wherein the first and second driver circuits are operated by the second power supply voltage, and

wherein the voltage correction circuit generates the correction voltage increased by a positive slope along with an increase in the first power supply voltage in the first range and generates the correction voltage having a fixed value in the second range.

6. The secondary-battery monitoring device according to claim 5,

wherein the voltage correction circuit is provided with:

a third resistor voltage dividing circuit configured to subject the second power supply voltage to a resistor voltage division at a third resistance ratio; and

a fourth resistor voltage dividing circuit configured to subject the voltage that has undergone the voltage division in the third resistor voltage dividing circuit to a voltage division at a fourth resistance ratio based on the detection voltage serving as a reference, and

wherein the voltage that has undergone the voltage division in the fourth resistor voltage dividing circuit is generated as a corrected detection voltage.

7. The secondary-battery monitoring device according to claim 1,

wherein, when the correction voltage has such a characteristic as increasing by a negative slope along with an increase in the first power supply voltage, the detection circuit is configured to input a voltage generated by adding the correction voltage to the reference power supply voltage to the one input node as a corrected reference voltage, and determine the magnitude of the detection voltage based on the corrected reference voltage serving as a reference in a state in which the detection voltage is applied to the other input node.

8. The secondary-battery monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a power-supply-voltage generating circuit configured to generate a second power supply voltage having such a value as increasing in proportion to an increase in the first power supply voltage in a first range in which the first power supply voltage has a value equal to or smaller than a first value and generate the second power supply voltage having a fixed value in a second range in which the first power supply voltage has a value larger than the first value,

wherein the first and second driver circuits are operated by the second power supply voltage, and

wherein the voltage correction circuit is configured generate the correction voltage decreasing by a negative slope along with an increase in the first power supply voltage in the first range and generate the correction voltage having a fixed value in the second range.

9. The secondary-battery monitoring device according to claim 8,

wherein the voltage correction circuit is provided with:

a second resistor voltage dividing circuit configured to subject the second power supply voltage to a resistor voltage division at a second resistance ratio;

an amplifier circuit having a positive input node to which the reference power supply voltage is applied;

a third resistor coupled between a voltage dividing node of the second resistor voltage dividing circuit and a negative input node of the amplifier circuit; and

a fourth resistor coupled between the negative input node of the amplifier circuit and an output node of the amplifier circuit, and

wherein a voltage obtained at the output node of the amplifier circuit serves as the corrected reference voltage.

10. A battery pack comprising:

a secondary battery;

first and second battery connection nodes to which the secondary battery is coupled;

first and second external terminals to which a load or a charger is to be coupled;

a first current path arranged between the first battery connection node and the first external terminal;

a second current path arranged between the second battery connection node and the second external terminal;

a switch circuit inserted in the second current path so as to control a charge current and a discharge current flowing in the secondary battery and made up of a first FET configured to control a flow of the discharge current and a second FET configured to control a flow of the charge current; and

a switch control circuit configured to control on/off of the switch circuit,

wherein the switch control circuit is provided with;

a first power-supply node connected to the second current path at a line coupling the second battery connection node and one node on the second current path of the switch circuit;

a second power-supply node coupled to the first current path and supplied with a first power supply voltage from the secondary battery via the first battery connection node with a voltage on the first power-supply node serving as a reference;

first and second control nodes;

a first driver circuit configured to supply a control voltage to a gate of the first FET via the first control node;

a second driver circuit configured to supply a control voltage to a gate of the second FET via the second control node;

a detection node connected to the second current path at a line coupling the second external terminal and the other node on the second current path of the switch circuit;

a first detection circuit configured to monitor the charge current flowing to the secondary battery based on a detection voltage generated at the detection node, and output a detection signal when the detection voltage reaches a predetermined value;

a second detection circuit configured to monitor the discharge current, and output a detection signal when the current exceeds a predetermined current; and

a control circuit configured to shut off the charge current or the discharge current flowing in the secondary battery by supplying a control voltage via the corresponding driver circuit to shut off the corresponding FET when the detection signal is output, and

wherein at least either one of the first and second detection circuits is provided with;

a comparator circuit configured to determine, based on a voltage of one input node of the comparator circuit serving as a reference, magnitude of a voltage of the other input node of the comparator circuit, and output the detection signal based on a result of the determination; and

a voltage correction circuit configured to generate a correction voltage having such a characteristic that varies by a slope approximating a slope of the detection voltage which decreases along with an increase in the first power supply voltage, add the correction voltage to the detection voltage or a reference power supply voltage with such a polarity as canceling the slope of the voltage variation caused in the detection voltage by the slope of variation in the correction voltage, and input the thus corrected voltage to the comparator circuit.