Systems and methods for selective cell and/or stack control in a flowing electrolyte battery

• US 20050084745A1
• Filed: 07/08/2004
• Published: 04/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Largo Clean Energy Corporation (Largo Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Premium Power Corporation
• Inventors: Darcy, Dennis M., Colello, Gary M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,939,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 429/61
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/374 with means for correcting the measurement for temperature or ageing
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3835 involving only voltage measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3842 combining voltage and current measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/389 Measuring internal impedance, internal conductance or related variables
• 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: H01M 8/04679 of fuel cell stacks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/50 Fuel cells

Abstract

The invention provides in various embodiments methods and systems relating to controlling energy storage units in flowing electrolyte batteries.

Claims

1. A system for individual stack control in a flowing electrolyte battery, the system comprising,

a stack controller for operable interconnection with at least one of a plurality of battery cell stacks in a flowing electrolyte battery,

a sensor input for providing information regarding an operating condition of the at least one stack, and

a control output from the stack controller for individually controlling a charging condition in the at least one stack, based at least in part on the operating condition.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes current flow in the at least one stack.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes electrode plating rate in the at least one stack.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes open circuit voltage of the at least one stack.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes a present charged capacity of the at least one stack.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes a temperature of at least a portion of the at least one stack.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes an internal resistance of the at least one stack.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes a load demand for the load for which the system is tasked with providing backup power.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes a state of a primary power source to a load for which the system is tasked with providing backup power.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes a status of electrolyte flow to the at least one stack.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes a chemical composition of an electrolyte available to the at least one stack.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes electrolyte leak information regarding the at least one stack.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the operating condition includes stack weight for the at least one stack.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the stack controller includes a plurality of local controllers, each associated with one of the plurality of the plurality of battery cell stacks, for controlling the associated battery cell stack.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein controlling includes altering a charging condition of the associated battery cell stack independently from operation of others of the plurality of battery cell stacks.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the stack controller includes a bidirectional dc/dc converter for providing charging current to the at least one battery cell stack and for providing current from the at least one battery cell stack to a load.

17. A system for controlling a flowing electrolyte battery comprising,

a plurality of dedicated stack controllers, each associated uniquely with one of a plurality of cell stacks in the flowing electrolyte battery, for controlling the associated cell stack independently from others of the plurality of cell stacks.

18. A system for controlling a flowing electrolyte battery comprising,

a plurality of dedicated controllers, each associated uniquely with an energy storage unit in the flowing electrolyte battery, for controlling the associated energy storage unit independently from others of the plurality of energy storage units.

19. A system for providing backup power to a load comprising,

a flowing electrolyte battery including a plurality of interconnected energy storage units, and

a plurality of dedicated controllers, each associated uniquely with one of the plurality of energy storage units, for controlling the one associated energy storage unit independently from others of the plurality of energy storage units.

20. A system for detecting operating condition failures in a flowing electrolyte battery comprising,

a sensor for monitoring operating conditions of a first energy storage unit in the flowing electrolyte battery, and

a controller associated with the first energy storage unit for altering at least one of the operating conditions of the first energy storage unit, independently from any operating conditions of other energy storage units in the flowing electrolyte battery, and in response to operating condition information about the first storage unit from the sensor.

21. A system according to claim 20, wherein the controller includes,

a plurality of local controllers, a first one of which being associated with the first energy storage unit and others of which being associated with other energy storage units in the flowing electrolyte battery, and

a global master controller in communication with the sensor for relaying at least some operating condition information from the sensor to the first controller.

22. A system according to claim 21, wherein the at least some operating condition information includes information about load requirements, and the local controller employs the information about the load requirements when commanding the first storage unit to provide energy to a load during backup operation.

23. A system according to claim 21, wherein the at least some operating condition information includes information about availability of the other storage units, and the first controller employs the information about the other storage units in determining how much energy to provide to a load during a backup operation.