System and method for balancing charge between battery cells
First Claim
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1. A method for balancing charge of a battery pack, the battery pack comprising a plurality of battery cell stacks, comprising:
- balancing charge of at least one battery cell of the battery pack during a second battery cell charge balancing cycle responsive to at least one battery cell charge sample from a plurality of battery cells sampled during a first battery cell charge balancing cycle; and
balancing charge of the at least one battery cell of the battery pack during the second battery cell charge balancing cycle responsive to the plurality of battery cells sampled simultaneously during the second battery cell charge balancing cycle.
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Abstract
Systems and methods for balancing charge of battery cells of a battery pack are disclosed. In one example, battery cell balancing may be improved by balancing battery cells of a battery cell stack simultaneously. The system and method may be particularly useful battery packs that may be constructed with battery cell stacks that vary in a number of series battery cells.
5 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for balancing charge of a battery pack, the battery pack comprising a plurality of battery cell stacks, comprising:
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balancing charge of at least one battery cell of the battery pack during a second battery cell charge balancing cycle responsive to at least one battery cell charge sample from a plurality of battery cells sampled during a first battery cell charge balancing cycle; and balancing charge of the at least one battery cell of the battery pack during the second battery cell charge balancing cycle responsive to the plurality of battery cells sampled simultaneously during the second battery cell charge balancing cycle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for balancing charge of a battery pack, the battery pack comprising a plurality of battery cell stacks, comprising:
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simultaneously sampling a plurality of battery cells of a first battery cell stack and a plurality of battery cells of a second battery cell stack, the second battery cell stack including a different number of battery cells electrically connected in series than the first battery cell stack; and simultaneously balancing charge of at least one battery cell of the first battery cell stack and at least one battery cell of the second battery cell stack after simultaneously sampling the plurality of battery cells from the first battery cell stack and the plurality of battery cells of the second battery cell stack. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for balancing charge of a battery pack, comprising:
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a first battery cell stack comprised of a first actual total number of battery cells; a first monitoring and charge balancing controller electrically coupled to the first battery cell stack, the first monitoring and charge balancing controller including instructions for monitoring and charge balancing battery cells in the first battery cell stack; a second battery cell stack comprised of a second actual total number of battery cells different from the first actual total number of battery cells; a second monitoring and charge balancing controller electrically coupled to the second battery cell stack, the second monitoring and charge balancing controller including instructions for monitoring and charge balancing battery cells in the second battery cell stack, the second monitoring and charge balancing controller including further instructions for starting charge balancing of battery cells in the second battery cell stack substantially simultaneously with starting charge balancing of battery cells in the first battery cell stack; and a battery control module including a battery controller, the battery controller in electrical communication with the first and second monitoring and charge balancing controllers, where the battery cells in the first battery cell stack include battery cells electrically coupled in parallel, where the battery cells in second battery cell stack include battery cells electrically coupled in parallel, where the battery controller includes instructions to initiate substantially simultaneous sampling of battery cells in the first and second battery cell stacks, and the battery controller including further instructions for balancing charge of the battery cells of the first battery cell stack during a second battery cell charge balancing cycle responsive to at least one battery cell charge sample from the battery cells of the first battery cell stack sampled during a first battery cell charge balancing cycle. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification