Charge balancing in a battery

• US 10,008,861 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2013
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (AES Corporation), Renault Sas (Renault)
• Original Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (AES Corporation), Renault Sas (Renault)
• Inventors: Lucea, Marc, Garnier, Laurent
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCDANIEL, TYNESE V
• Application Number:
  US14/401,444
• Publication Number:
  US 20150137736A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,870 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/10 DC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/545 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/547 Voltage
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/549 Current
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/00 Methods of charging batteries, specially adapted for electric vehicles; Charging stations or on-board charging equipment therefor; Exchange of energy storage elements in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/22 Balancing the charge of battery modules
• 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 10/441 for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially
• 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: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0014 Circuits for equalisation of charge between batteries
• 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: H02J 7/342 The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/0034
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

A device for balancing charge in a battery (2) having a set of electrochemical storage cells (C₁, C₂, . . . , C_R), and a charging means (R₁, . . . , R_s) able to recharge a plurality of combinations of at least one cell, in which for each combination of the plurality of combinations, the charging means are arranged in order to simultaneously recharge all the cells of said combination, the plurality of combinations defining a number N strictly higher than one of combination types, each combination type corresponding to a number m of cells in this combination, and the charging means are permitted to function at a number P of power levels, this number P being strictly lower than the number N of combination types.

Claims

1. A charge balancing device in a battery comprising a set of electrochemical storage cells, the charge balancing device comprising:

a charger comprising at least two converters;

each converter being associated with a group of M cells chosen among the set of electrochemical storage cells and configured to recharge a plurality of combinations of cells among the M cells of the associated group, said plurality of combinations comprises at least a first combination of cells comprising a first number of cells, a second combination of cells comprising a second number of cells, said second number being higher than the first number, and a third combination of cells comprising a third number of cells, the third number being different from the first number and from the second number, such that the plurality of combinations defines a number N of combination types,

wherein N is higher or equal to 3, each combination type corresponding to a number of cells in said combination, wherein for each combination of cells within the group, the converter associated with the group is arranged to simultaneously recharge all the cells of said combination,

each converter is configured to function at P output power levels,

wherein the number P is at least two and is lower than the number N of combination types, the power levels at which each converter functions comprising at least a first power level and a second power level higher than the first output power level, each converter being configured to function at the first power level at least when the number of cells to be charged equals the first number, to function at the second output power level at least when the number of cells to be charged equals the second number, and to function at the second output power level when the number of cells to be charged equals the third number,

wherein each converter comprises;

a single primary winding connected to an inverter, and

for each cell of the M cells of the associated group a secondary winding connected to a respective cell through a respective switch an a respective rectifier, the M secondary windings being coupled to the single primary winding; and

an automated processor configured to control the inverter and the switch for each of the M cells to select a number of cells to be recharged less than the number M of cells associated with the converter in order to increase the charge currents of each selected cell to be recharged when the number of selected cells decreases.

2. The balancing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein each converter is arranged to receive energy from a network of lower voltage rating than the voltage delivered by the battery, the network being supplied by said battery.

3. The balancing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein each converter is connected to at least some of the cells in the battery, and configured to receive directly energy generated in these cells.

4. An electricity supply system for a motor vehicle, comprising a battery configured to supply a motor vehicle propulsion system, and the charge balancing device as claimed in claim 1.

5. A motor vehicle comprising an electricity supply system as claimed in claim 4.

6. The balancing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inverter is positioned between the primary winding and a DC power source, and the inverter is configured to regulate power to the primary winding.