Control device for secondary battery, and SOC detection method

• US 9,562,948 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2013
• Issued: 02/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Osawa, Yasuhiko, Kaburagi, Tomohiro, Ito, Atsushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIGGUSH, AARON C
• Application Number:
  US14/383,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20150022158A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,440 Days
• Field of Search: 320/132, 320/134, 320/162, 702/63, 324/427, 324/433
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 31/382 Arrangements for monitoring battery or accumulator variables, e.g. SoC
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3842 combining voltage and current measurements
• 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 4/505 of mixed oxides or hydroxides containing manganese for inserting or intercalating light metals, e.g. LiMn2O4 or LiMn2OxFy
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 4/525 of mixed oxides or hydroxides containing iron, cobalt or nickel for inserting or intercalating light metals, e.g. LiNiO2, LiCoO2 or LiCoOxFy
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007 Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A control device of a secondary battery using, as positive electrode material, positive electrode active material showing a difference of an open circuit voltage curve between during charge and discharge, detects whether the secondary battery is in a charge state or a discharge state. When the secondary battery is in the charge state, the control device calculates, as a current SOC, a value that is lower than an SOC corresponding to a current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on a reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve showing a relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage, which becomes a reference upon calculating the current SOC. When the secondary battery is in the discharge state, the control device calculates as the current SOC, a value that is higher than the SOC corresponding to the current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on the reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve.

Claims

1. A control device of a secondary battery using, as a positive electrode material, a positive electrode active material that shows a difference of an open circuit voltage curve between during charge and discharge, comprising:

a storing unit that stores a reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve showing a relationship between an SOC and an open circuit voltage, which becomes a reference upon calculating a current SOC of the secondary battery; and

an SOC calculating unit that calculates the current SOC of the secondary battery from a current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on the basis of the reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve, and

during the charge of the secondary battery, the SOC calculating unit calculating, as the current SOC of the secondary battery, a value that is lower than a value of the SOC corresponding to the current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on the reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve, and

during the discharge of the secondary battery, the SOC calculating unit calculating, as the current SOC of the secondary battery, a value that is higher than the value of the SOC corresponding to the current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on the reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve.

2. The control device of the secondary battery as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

during the charge of the secondary battery, the SOC calculating unit calculates, as the current SOC of the secondary battery, a value that is obtained by multiplying the value of the SOC corresponding to the current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on the reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve by a predetermined first correction factor that is less than 1, and

during the discharge of the secondary battery, the SOC calculating unit calculates, as the current SOC of the secondary battery, a value that is obtained by multiplying the value of the SOC corresponding to the current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on the reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve by a predetermined second correction factor that is greater than 1.

3. The control device of the secondary battery as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

the SOC calculating unit sets the first correction factor so that the closer to a predetermined fully charged state the SOC of the secondary battery at a charge start is, the closer to 1 the value of the first correction factor is, and

the SOC calculating unit sets the second correction factor so that the closer to a predetermined fully discharged state the SOC of the secondary battery at a discharge start is, the closer to 1 the value of the second correction factor is.

4. A control device of a secondary battery using, as a positive electrode material, a positive electrode active material that shows a difference of an open circuit voltage curve between during charge and discharge, comprising:

a charging start SOC detecting unit that detects, as a charging start SOC, an SOC at a time of charging start when performing the charge again after discharging the secondary battery from a fully charged state;

a first obtaining unit that obtains, as charge open circuit voltage information, a relationship between the SOC and an open circuit voltage in a charge process of a case where the charge is performed from the charging start SOC;

a second obtaining unit that obtains, as discharge open circuit voltage information, a relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage in a discharge process of a case where the charge is performed from the charging start SOC and afterwards the discharge is performed again; and

an SOC calculating unit that calculates a current SOC of the secondary battery, and

in a case where the secondary battery is in a charge state after the charge is performed from the charging start SOC, the SOC calculating unit calculating the current SOC of the secondary battery from a current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on the basis of the charge open circuit voltage information obtained by the first obtaining unit, and

in a case where the secondary battery is in a discharge state after the charge is performed from the charging start SOC, the SOC calculating unit calculating the current SOC of the secondary battery from the current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on the basis of the discharge open circuit voltage information obtained by the second obtaining unit.

5. The control device of the secondary battery as claimed in claim 4, wherein:

the first obtaining unit computes, as the charge open circuit voltage information, the relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage in the charge process, which corresponds to the charging start SOC, when the charge of the secondary battery is started, and

the second obtaining unit computes, as the discharge open circuit voltage information, the relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage in the discharge process, which corresponds to the charging start SOC, when the discharge of the secondary battery is started.

6. The control device of the secondary battery as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

a storing unit that stores the charge open circuit voltage information and the discharge open circuit voltage information for each charging start SOC, and wherein

the first obtaining unit reads the charge open circuit voltage information corresponding to the charging start SOC from the storing unit when the charge of the secondary battery is started, and

the second obtaining unit reads the discharge open circuit voltage information corresponding to the charging start SOC from the storing unit when the discharge of the secondary battery is started.

7. A control device of a secondary battery using, as a positive electrode material, a positive electrode active material that shows a difference of an open circuit voltage curve between during charge and discharge, comprising:

a first storing unit that stores, as basic discharge open circuit voltage information, a relationship between an SOC and an open circuit voltage in a discharge process of a case where the secondary battery is charged up to a predetermined fully charged state and afterwards the secondary battery is discharged from the fully charged state;

a second storing unit that stores, as re-charge open circuit voltage information, a relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage in a charge process of a case where, after discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state, the charge is performed again, for each charging start SOC upon performing the charge again;

a first SOC calculating unit that calculates a current SOC of the secondary battery when discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state on the basis of the basic discharge open circuit voltage information; and

a second SOC calculating unit that calculates the current SOC of the secondary battery when performing the charge again after discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state on the basis of the re-charge open circuit voltage information.

8. The control device of the secondary battery as claimed in claim 7, further comprising:

a third storing unit that stores, as re-discharge open circuit voltage information, a relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage in the discharge process of a case where, after discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state and performing the charge again, the discharge is performed again, for each charging start SOC upon performing the charge again and each discharging start SOC upon performing the discharge again; and

a third SOC calculating unit that calculates the current SOC of the secondary battery when performing the discharge again after discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state and charging the secondary battery again on the basis of the re-discharge open circuit voltage information.

9. The control device of the secondary battery as claimed in claim 8, wherein:

the third storing unit stores, as the re-discharge open circuit voltage information, a relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage in the discharge process of a case where the discharge is performed from the discharging start SOC upon performing the discharge again to the charging start SOC upon performing the charge again, and

the third SOC calculating unit calculates the current SOC of the secondary battery on the basis of the re-discharge open circuit voltage information until the discharge is performed to the charging start SOC upon performing the charge again, and calculates the current SOC of the secondary battery on the basis of the basic discharge open circuit voltage information when the discharge is performed beyond the charging start SOC upon performing the charge again.

10. The control device of the secondary battery as claimed in claim 8, wherein:

the first storing unit, the second storing unit and the third storing unit store, as the basic discharge open circuit voltage information, the re-charge open circuit voltage information and the re-discharge open circuit voltage information, the relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage in the discharge process or in the charge process intermittently at each predetermined SOC interval, and

the first SOC calculating unit, the second SOC calculating unit and the third SOC calculating unit calculate the current SOC of the secondary battery from the current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery according to following expressions (I) and (II);

If 0≦

(E−

E_n)/(E_n+1−

E_n)<

0.5, SOC(E)=SOC_n 

 

(I)

If 0.5≦

(E−

E_n)/(E_n+1−

E_n)≦

1, SOC(E)=SOC_n+1 

 

(II)

(in the expression (I) and (II),

E is the current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery,

E_n is an open circuit voltage whose corresponding SOC is stored in the first storing unit, the second storing unit and the third storing unit and which has a value that is greater than the current open circuit voltage E of the secondary battery and is closest to the current open circuit voltage E of the secondary battery,

E_n+1 is an open circuit voltage whose corresponding SOC is stored in the first storing unit, the second storing unit and the third storing unit and which has a value that is equal to or smaller than the current open circuit voltage E of the secondary battery and is closest to the current open circuit voltage E of the secondary battery,

SOC_n is an SOC corresponding to the open circuit voltage E_n,

SOC_n+1 is an SOC corresponding to the open circuit voltage E_n+1, and

SOC(E) is an SOC corresponding to the current open circuit voltage E of the secondary battery).

11. The control device of the secondary battery as claimed in claim 7, wherein:

the positive electrode active material contains a compound expressed by a following general expression (III)

aLi[Li_1/3Mn_2/3]O₂.(1−

a)Li[Ni_wCo_xMn_yA_z]O₂ 

 

(III)

(in the expression (III),

0<

a<

1, w+x+y+z=1, 0≦

w, x, y, z≦

1, A is metallic element).

12. The control device of the secondary battery as claimed in claim 8, further comprising:

a charge-discharge current summing unit that calculates an SOC based on a current summation by summing up a charge-discharge current of the secondary battery, and wherein

the charge-discharge current summing unit is provided with a correcting unit that, on the basis of the current SOC of the secondary battery calculated by the first SOC calculating unit or the second SOC calculating unit or the third SOC calculating unit, corrects the SOC based on the current summation calculated by the charge-discharge current summing unit.

13. An SOC detection method of a secondary battery using, as a positive electrode material, a positive electrode active material that shows a difference of an open circuit voltage curve between during charge and discharge, the SOC detection method comprising:

detecting whether the secondary battery is in a charge state or in a discharge state;

when the secondary battery is in the charge state, calculating, as a current SOC of the secondary battery, a value that is lower than a value of an SOC corresponding to a current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on a predetermined reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve showing a relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage, which becomes a reference upon calculating the current SOC of the secondary battery; and

when the secondary battery is in the discharge state, calculating, as the current SOC of the secondary battery, a value that is higher than the value of the SOC corresponding to the current open circuit voltage of the secondary battery on the reference SOC-open circuit voltage curve.

14. An SOC detection method of a secondary battery using, as a positive electrode material, a positive electrode active material that shows a difference of an open circuit voltage curve between during charge and discharge, the SOC detection method comprising:

storing, as basic discharge open circuit voltage information, a relationship between an SOC and an open circuit voltage in a discharge process of a case where the secondary battery is charged up to a predetermined fully charged state and afterwards the secondary battery is discharged from the fully charged state;

storing, as re-charge open circuit voltage information, a relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage in a charge process of a case where, after discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state, the charge is performed again, for each charging start SOC upon performing the charge again;

storing, as re-discharge open circuit voltage information, a relationship between the SOC and the open circuit voltage in the discharge process of a case where, after discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state and performing the charge again, the discharge is performed again, for each charging start SOC upon performing the charge again and each discharging start SOC upon performing the discharge again;

calculating a current SOC of the secondary battery when discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state on the basis of the basic discharge open circuit voltage information;

calculating the current SOC of the secondary battery when performing the charge again after discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state on the basis of the re-charge open circuit voltage information; and

calculating the current SOC of the secondary battery when performing the discharge again after discharging the secondary battery from the fully charged state and charging the secondary battery again on the basis of the re-discharge open circuit voltage information.