Systems and methods for determining a state of charge of a battery

• US 10,816,607 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2018
• Issued: 10/27/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northstar Battery Company, LLC
• Original Assignee: Northstar Battery Company, LLC
• Inventors: Karner, Don, Fleming, Frank, Krohn, Ulf, Lindkvist, Christer
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Vincent Q
• Application Number:
  US16/046,811
• Publication Number:
  US 20190033397A1
• Time in Patent Office: 824 Days
• Field of Search: 324326, 324433, 324435-437
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/0862 characterised by the electrical power supply means, e.g. battery
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2200/063 Battery voltage
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2200/064 Battery temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 3/08 giving differences of values using thermoelectric elements G01K7/02; giving differentiated values
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3647 for determining the ability of a battery to perform a critical function, e.g. cranking
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3648 comprising digital calculation means, e.g. for performing an algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/367 Software therefor, e.g. for battery testing using modelling or look-up tables
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/371 with remote indication, e.g. on external chargers
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/374 with means for correcting the measurement for temperature or ageing
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/379 for lead-acid batteries
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/382 Arrangements for monitoring battery or accumulator variables, e.g. SoC
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3835 involving only voltage measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/388 involving voltage measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/392 Determining battery ageing or deterioration, e.g. state of health
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/396 Acquisition or processing of data for testing or for monitoring individual cells or groups of cells within a battery
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/00 Meteorology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 : Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1418 : Removal detected by failure in electrical connection between the appliance and a control centre, home control panel or a power supply
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1454 : Circuit arrangements thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/001 : Alarm cancelling procedures or alarm forwarding decisions, e.g. based on absence of alarm confirmation
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/06 : Lead-acid accumulators semi-lead accumulators H01M10/20
• 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 10/4257 : Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries
• 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 10/482 : for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/486 : for measuring temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/488 : Cells or batteries combined with indicating means for external visualization of the condition, e.g. by change of colour or of light density
• 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: H01M 2010/4278 : Systems for data transfer from batteries, e.g. transfer of battery parameters to a controller, data transferred between battery controller and main controller
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/209 : adapted for prismatic or rectangular cells H01M50/216 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/284 : with incorporated circuit boards, e.g. printed circuit boards [PCB]
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/576 : in response to theft
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00002 : characterised by monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00022 : using wireless data transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00032 : characterised by data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0025 : Sequential battery discharge in systems with a plurality of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00309 : Overheat or overtemperature protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0047 : with monitoring or indicating devices or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 : Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/005 : Detection of state of health [SOH]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 : Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 : Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/30 : State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 : Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications

Abstract

A method for estimating a SOC of a battery electrically coupled to at least one of a load or a power source includes detecting, by a voltage sensor, voltages of the battery. The method further includes determining, by a processor, an average voltage of the battery by averaging the detected voltages of the battery over a predetermined period of time. The method further includes determining, by the processor, a present operating state of the battery based on at least one of the detected voltages of the battery. The method further includes determining, by the processor, a present SOC of the battery based on the present operating state of the battery and the average voltage of the battery. The method further includes transmitting, by the processor, the present SOC of the battery to an output device for outputting the present SOC of the battery.

Claims

1. A method for estimating a state-of-charge (SOC) of a battery that is electrically coupled to at least one of a load or a power source, the method comprising:

continuously or periodically detecting, by a voltage sensor, voltages of the battery;

receiving, by a processor, the detected voltages of the battery;

determining, by the processor, an average voltage of the battery by averaging the detected voltages of the battery over a predetermined period of time;

determining, by the processor, a present operating state of the battery based on at least one of the detected voltages of the battery;

determining, by the processor, a present SOC of the battery based on the present operating state of the battery and the average voltage of the battery; and

transmitting, by the processor, the present SOC of the battery to an output device for outputting the present SOC of the battery.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the present SOC of the battery includes determining the present SOC of the battery without use of a battery current of the battery.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the present operating state of the battery is a rest mode, and determining the present SOC of the battery includes determining the present SOC of the battery based on an empirical correlation as a function of the average voltage of the battery.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the present operating state of the battery is a charge mode, and determining the present SOC of the battery includes determining an amount of time that the present operating state of the battery is the charge mode, determining an increase in battery capacity provided to the battery per unit of time, multiplying the amount of time by the increase in battery capacity per unit of time, and adding the result of the multiplication to a previous SOC of the battery.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the present operating state of the battery is at least one of a float mode or an equalize mode, and determining the present SOC of the battery includes determining that the present SOC of the battery is 100 percent.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the present operating state of the battery is a discharge mode, and determining the present SOC of the battery includes determining the present SOC based on the detected voltages of the battery using at least one of:

experimentally determined data relating battery voltage during discharge to SOC for a specific battery;

or

an estimated relationship between battery voltage during discharge to the SOC based on a battery chemistry of the battery.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the present operating state of the battery is a crank mode, and determining the present SOC of the battery includes determining a duration of the crank event, determining a capacity required to crank a connected engine per unit of time in the crank mode, multiplying the duration of the crank event by the capacity required to crank the engine per unit of time, and subtracting the result of the multiplication from a previous SOC.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by a network access device coupled to the voltage sensor, the detected voltages of the battery to a remote device, wherein the processor is located on the remote device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving, by the processor, multiple detected voltages from multiple monoblocs, and determining, by the processor, multiple present SOCs each corresponding to one of the multiple monoblocs based on the multiple detected voltages.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising identifying, by the processor, an outlier monobloc based on the determined present SOCs, and flagging, by the processor, the outlier monobloc as a potentially defective monobloc.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing an empirical correlation between state of charge and an average voltage value based on laboratory testing of the battery or a similar battery; and

storing, in a memory, the empirical correlation,

wherein determining the present SOC of the battery is further based on the empirical correlation.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein establishing the empirical correlation includes:

selecting a specific type of monobloc;

measuring two or more states of charge corresponding respectively to two or more open circuit voltages; and

fitting a curve to the two or more states of charge and corresponding open circuit voltages to generate the empirical correlation for the specific type of monobloc.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the memory is located at least one of on a battery monitoring circuit that is embedded in or attached to the battery or on a remote device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the battery includes at least one monobloc that includes at least one of an absorptive glass mat lead acid monobloc, a gelled electrolyte lead acid monobloc, or a flooded lead acid monobloc.

15. A system for estimating a state-of-charge (SOC) of a battery that is electrically coupled to at least one of a load or a power source, the system comprising:

a voltage sensor located on a battery monitoring circuit attached onto or embedded into the battery, the voltage sensor configured to continuously or periodically detect voltages of the battery; and

a processor in electrical communication with the voltage sensor and configured to;

receive the detected voltages of the battery,

determine an average voltage of the battery by averaging the detected voltages of the battery over a predetermined period of time,

determine a present operating state of the battery based on at least one of the detected voltages of the battery, and

determine a present SOC of the battery based on the present operating state of the battery and the average voltage of the battery.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to determine the present SOC of the battery without use of a battery current of the battery.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising a network access device located on the battery monitoring circuit and configured to transmit at least one of the detected voltages of the battery or the average voltage of the battery to a remote device, wherein the processor includes at least one processor located on the remote device.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive at least one of multiple detected voltages or multiple average voltages from multiple monoblocs; and

determine multiple present SOCs each corresponding to one of the multiple monoblocs based on the at least one of the multiple detected voltages or the multiple average voltages.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify an outlier monobloc based on the determined present SOCs; and

flag the outlier monobloc as a potentially defective monobloc.

20. A system for estimating a state-of-charge (SOC) of a battery that is electrically coupled to at least one of a load or a power source, the system comprising:

a battery monitoring circuit that is embedded in or attached to a battery, the battery monitoring circuit having;

a voltage sensor configured to continuously or periodically detect voltages of the battery, and

a network access device configured to transmit and receive electrical signals; and

a remote device having;

a receiver configured to receive at least one of the detected voltages of the battery or an average voltage of the battery, and

a processor in electrical communication with the receiver and configured to;

receive the detected voltages of the battery or the average voltage of the battery,

determine a present operating state of the battery based on at least one of the detected voltages of the battery, and

determine a present SOC of the battery based on the present operating state of the battery and at least one of the detected voltages of the battery or the average voltage of the battery.