Battery management system and battery state-of-health management method thereof

Abstract

A battery SoH management method of a battery management system is provided, comprising: a step of verifying the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack having a cell-to-pack structure in which the plurality of battery cells are directly integrated into the battery pack without a module-unit assembly process; a step of verifying at least one first battery cell, which is at least one of the plurality of battery cells, based on at least a portion of the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells; and a step of reconfirming the SoH of the at least one first battery cell by considering at least a portion of the margin capacity of the at least one first battery cell as the available capacity.

Description

Technology Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a battery management system and a method for managing the battery health status. Background Technology

[0002] Batteries are generally manufactured to have a hierarchical structure of pack, module, and cell. Specifically, a battery pack may be composed of multiple battery modules, and a battery module may be composed of multiple battery cells. In such a battery structure, the State of Health (SoH) of a battery pack is calculated based on the worst SoH among the battery modules it contains, and similarly, a battery module can be calculated based on the worst SoH among the battery cells it contains. The battery can be managed by a battery management system so that it can be used according to the SoH calculated in this manner.

[0003] This method of calculating SoH has advantages in that it maintains uniform performance of battery packs or modules, reduces the risk of overload or overcharging, optimizes lifespan, and allows for accurate performance prediction. However, there are also disadvantages associated with this method. One of them is that even if a specific battery module becomes old and is replaced with a new one, the SoH of the entire battery pack is determined by the SoH of the other modules that were not replaced, so the performance of the new replacement module cannot be fully utilized. Additionally, if only some battery modules age rapidly, there is a problem where performance is wasted because the battery pack is used based on the old modules, even if the other modules are functioning normally. The problem to be solved

[0004] The disclosed embodiments aim to provide a battery management system and a method for managing the battery health status thereof. Specifically, one objective is to provide a method for managing battery SoH based on the margin capacity of a battery module or battery cell.

[0005] The technical problems to be solved by this embodiment are not limited to those described above, and other technical problems can be inferred from the following embodiments. means of solving the problem

[0006] One aspect of the present disclosure provides a battery State-of-Health (SoH) management method for a battery management system, comprising: a step of identifying the SoH of each of a plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack having a Cell-to-Pack structure in which a plurality of battery cells are directly integrated into a battery pack without a module-unit assembly process; a step of identifying at least one first battery cell, which is at least one of the plurality of battery cells, based on at least a portion of the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells; and a step of reconfirming the SoH of the at least one first battery cell by considering at least a portion of the margin capacity of the at least one first battery cell as an available capacity.

[0007] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the step of identifying the at least one first battery cell may include a battery SoH management method comprising: a step of identifying that at least one of the difference information between each of the plurality of battery cells is greater than or equal to a first threshold; and a step of identifying at least one battery cell with a relatively small SoH among the battery cells corresponding to each of the at least one difference information greater than or equal to the first threshold as the at least one first battery cell.

[0008] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the step of identifying the at least one first battery cell may include a battery SoH management method comprising: a step of identifying that at least one of the respective SoHs is below a second threshold; and a step of identifying at least one battery cell corresponding to the SoH below the second threshold as the at least one first battery cell.

[0009] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the step of reconfirming the SoH of the at least one first battery cell may include a battery SoH management method comprising: a step of confirming a first SoH corresponding to the remaining battery cells excluding the at least one first battery cell among the plurality of battery cells; a step of confirming at least a portion of the margin capacity to be considered as the available capacity based on the first SoH; and a step of reconfirming the SoH of the at least one first battery cell based on the at least a portion of the capacity to be considered as the available capacity.

[0010] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, a battery SoH management method may further include: a step of confirming that the SoH of at least some of the plurality of battery cells is below a second threshold; a step of confirming that for at least one battery cell corresponding to the SoH below the second threshold, the ratio of the margin capacity considered as available capacity is above a third threshold; and a step of transmitting replacement information related to at least one of replacement and maintenance of the battery pack to an administrator terminal.

[0011] Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a battery management system for managing a State of Health (SoH), comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing one or more instructions, wherein the processor is configured to determine the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack having a Cell-to-Pack structure in which the plurality of battery cells are directly integrated into the battery pack without a module-unit assembly process by executing the one or more instructions, and to determine at least one first battery cell, which is at least one of the plurality of battery cells, based on at least a portion of the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells, and to re-determine the SoH of the at least one first battery cell by considering at least a portion of the margin capacity of the at least one first battery cell as the available capacity.

[0012] Another aspect of the present disclosure may provide a computer-readable non-transient recording medium that records a program for executing the battery health status management method described above on a computer.

[0013] Specific details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings. Effects of the invention

[0014] According to the proposed embodiment, one or more of the following effects can be expected.

[0015] According to the embodiments of the present specification, by managing SoH based on the margin capacity of the battery module, the module that has not been replaced has a similar SoH to the newly replaced module, and accordingly, the newly replaced module can be used without wasting performance.

[0016] In addition, according to the embodiments of the present specification, by managing SoH based on the margin capacity of the battery module, even if a specific battery module ages faster than other modules, a decrease in the SoH of the entire battery pack due to this can be prevented.

[0017] In addition, according to the embodiments of the present specification, by managing the SoH of the battery modules to be generally similar to each other based on the margin capacity of the battery modules, uniform performance can be maintained and battery life optimized.

[0018] The effects of the present disclosure are not limited to those mentioned above, and other unmentioned effects will be clearly understood by a person skilled in the art from the description in the claims. Brief explanation of the drawing

[0019] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the interlocking relationship between a battery management system that manages the battery health status and a battery pack according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a SoH management method according to one embodiment. Figures 3a and 3b are example drawings showing the change in SoH according to the SoH reconfirmation process according to one embodiment. FIGS. 4a and 4b are example drawings showing the change in SoH according to the SoH reconfirmation process according to one embodiment. FIGS. 5a and 5b are example drawings showing the change in SoH when the battery module is replaced, according to one embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the interlocking relationship between a battery management system that manages battery health status according to one embodiment and a battery pack designed in a different way. FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a battery management system according to one embodiment. Specific details for implementing the invention

[0020] The terms used in the embodiments have been selected to be as widely used as possible, taking into account their functions in the present disclosure; however, these may vary depending on the intent of those skilled in the art, case law, the emergence of new technologies, etc. Additionally, in specific cases, terms have been arbitrarily selected by the applicant, and in such cases, their meanings will be described in detail in the relevant explanatory section. Therefore, terms used in the present disclosure should be defined not merely by their names, but based on their meanings and the overall content of the present disclosure.

[0021] When a part of a specification is described as "including" a certain component, this means that, unless specifically stated otherwise, it does not exclude other components but may include additional components.

[0022] The expression "at least one of a, b, and c" described throughout the specification may include 'a alone', 'b alone', 'c alone', 'a and b', 'a and c', 'b and c', or 'a, b, and c all'.

[0023] The "terminal" mentioned below may be implemented as a computer or portable terminal capable of connecting to a server or other terminal via a network. Here, the computer includes, for example, a notebook, desktop, or laptop equipped with a web browser, and the portable terminal may include, for example, a wireless communication device that ensures portability and mobility, and may include all types of handheld-based wireless communication devices such as communication-based terminals like IMT (International Mobile Telecommunication), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), W-CDMA (W-Code Division Multiple Access), and LTE (Long Term Evolution), smartphones, tablet PCs, etc.

[0024] Embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the attached drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement them. However, the present disclosure may be embodied in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

[0025] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0026] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the interlocking relationship between a battery management system that manages the battery health status and a battery pack according to one embodiment.

[0027] Referring to FIG. 1, the battery management system (100) may include a computing device, sensors, and various other equipment used to manage a battery pack (200). Here, the sensors may include various sensors used to manage the battery, such as current sensors, voltage sensors, temperature sensors, insulation resistance sensors, and state measurement sensors, and the equipment may include a communication interface, a balancing circuit, etc., but is not limited thereto.

[0028] The battery pack (200) may include a plurality of battery modules, and each battery module may include a plurality of battery cells. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the battery module (210) may include a battery cell (211).

[0029] According to one embodiment, the battery pack (200) may be a product designed to produce an output of a specific capacity. In this case, generally, the battery pack (200) is designed so that, theoretically, it is possible to produce more output than that specific capacity, but in actual use, it may be set to produce only up to that specific capacity. For example, if the battery pack (200) is intended to be used as a battery capable of producing a rated output of 1000Wh, it may actually be designed to produce a capacity of 1200Wh. That is, while the battery pack (200) is designed to have a margin capacity, it may be set by the battery management system (100) to use only the initial capacity, which is the total capacity minus the margin capacity. In the example described above, the total capacity may be 1200Wh, the margin capacity may be 200Wh, and the initial capacity may be 1000Wh, and the battery management system (100) may set the initial capacity of the battery pack (200) to be used. Such capacity setting of the battery pack (200) may be performed to ensure safety during use and to provide a margin that ensures the required output capacity can be reliably output in terms of quality control.

[0030] According to one embodiment, the battery pack (200) may age with use. The degree of such aging can be determined as a State-of-Health (SoH) value of the battery, which can be calculated as the ratio of the available capacity at the time of verification to the available capacity of the battery pack (200) at the initial time. For example, as described above, if the initial capacity of the battery pack (200) is set to 1000Wh, the available capacity may be measured as 1000Wh at the initial time; however, if the available capacity decreases to 950Wh as the battery pack (200) is used, the SoH of the battery pack (200) at that time may be calculated as 95%. According to the prior art, margin capacity may not be considered in such SoH calculation.

[0031] Additionally, when calculating the SoH of the battery pack (200), it is not measured by simply summing the available capacities of each battery module included in the battery pack (200) and calculating the ratio with the initial available capacity. Specifically, to calculate the SoH of the battery pack (200), the SoH of each battery module included therein is checked, and the lowest SoH among the individual SoHs of the battery pack (200) can be identified as the SoH of the battery pack (200). For example, if there are 10 battery modules, all with an initial capacity of 100Wh, and the battery module in the best condition still has an available capacity of 97Wh, resulting in an SoH of 97%, but the battery module in the worst condition has an available capacity of only 85Wh, resulting in an SoH of 85%, then the SoH of the battery pack (200) is measured as 85%, and it can be managed and used based on such a low SoH value. While such conventional SoH measurement and management methods have advantages, they can be inefficient in that they cannot fully utilize the performance of battery modules with remaining capacity. Furthermore, since margin capacity is not taken into account at all in these SoH measurements, this inefficiency appears to be exacerbated.

[0032] According to one embodiment, the SoH of each battery module is measured by considering the aforementioned margin capacity together, and the SoH of the battery pack (200) is calculated based on the SoH of the battery module considering the margin capacity in this way, thereby allowing the battery pack (200) to be used more efficiently. The SoH management method described below will be explained below.

[0033] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a SoH management method according to one embodiment.

[0034] Referring to FIG. 2, a method for managing SoH according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, which can be applied to a battery pack with a Cell-to-Pack structure, can be observed. For example, in step S210, the battery management system (100) can determine the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack with a Cell-to-Pack structure in which the plurality of battery cells are directly integrated into the battery pack without a module-unit assembly process. In step S220, the battery management system (100) can determine at least one first battery cell, which is at least one of the plurality of battery cells, based on at least a portion of the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells. In step S230, the battery management system (100) can reconfirm the SoH of the at least one first battery cell by considering at least a portion of the margin capacity of the at least one first battery cell as the available capacity. First, an SoH management method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure applicable to a battery with a pack-module-cell structure will be described, and then, each step of the SoH management method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure applicable to a battery with a cell-to-pack structure will be described.

[0035] First, as described above, the battery management system (100) can determine the SoH of each battery module. Here, the determination of SoH can be performed in various ways. For example, based on the various sensors and equipment described above, the SoH can be determined by applying various techniques such as measuring charge / discharge capacity, measuring internal resistance, voltage analysis, measuring Coulomb efficiency, impedance spectroscopy, or estimation methods using artificial intelligence, but is not limited to such methods.

[0036] Subsequently, the battery management system (100) can identify the first battery module based on at least some of the SoHs of each of the plurality of battery modules. Various embodiments for identifying the first battery module will be described below.

[0037] First, according to one embodiment, the battery management system (100) can determine that at least one of the difference information between the SoHs of each of the plurality of battery modules is greater than or equal to a first threshold based on at least some of the SoHs of each of the plurality of battery modules. For example, if there are 10 battery modules, the difference information between SoHs can be calculated for each of 45 combinations, and at least one of these 45 combinations can be determined to be greater than or equal to a first threshold. For two battery modules corresponding to at least one difference information where the difference is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the battery management system (100) can determine that at least one module with a relatively smaller SoH is at least one first battery module. For example, if the difference information is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the combination may include a battery module with a large SoH and a battery module with a small SoH, and among these, the battery module with a small SoH can be determined to be the first battery module. To give a more specific example, if the first threshold corresponds to 5% and a specific combination of battery modules has an SoH of 91% and 85% respectively, then that specific combination corresponds to information of a difference greater than the first threshold, and the battery module having an SoH of 85% can be identified as the aforementioned first battery module.

[0038] According to one embodiment, the first threshold can be set as a predetermined value to confirm that a specific battery module is aging faster than other battery modules, and specific values ​​may be around 5%, but are not limited to such values. The above method for confirming the first battery module is basically intended to identify a battery module that is aging faster than other battery modules and whose SoH is decreasing as the first battery module; therefore, various methods other than the method described above may be applied as long as they can achieve such an objective.

[0039] Subsequently, the battery management system (100) can identify a first SoH corresponding to the remaining battery modules, excluding at least one first battery module among the plurality of battery modules. According to one embodiment, the battery management system (100) can identify a value that can represent the SoH of the remaining battery modules as the first SoH. For example, the average or median value of the SoH of the remaining battery modules can be identified as the first SoH, but is not limited thereto. Based on the first SoH, the battery management system (100) can identify at least a portion of the capacity to be considered as available capacity among the margin capacity. For example, the battery management system (100) calculates the difference information between the available capacity of the first battery module at a given time and the capacity corresponding to the first SoH, compares the magnitude between the difference information and the margin capacity, and if the difference information is smaller than the margin capacity, can identify the difference information amount from the margin capacity as available capacity. If the difference information is larger than the margin capacity, can identify the entire margin capacity as available capacity. For a specific example, if the available capacity of the first battery module at that time is 84Wh and the first SoH is 91%, the difference information between the available capacity and the capacity corresponding to the first SoH, which is 91Wh, can be calculated as 7Wh. If the margin capacity is 20Wh, the battery management system (100) can identify the difference information of 7Wh out of the margin capacity of 20Wh as the available capacity of the first battery module. If the margin capacity is 5Wh, the entire 5Wh can be identified as the available capacity of the first battery module. This verification process can be performed for each first battery module.

[0040] Subsequently, the battery management system (100) can reconfirm the SoH of at least one first battery module based on at least a portion of the available capacity among the margin capacities. For example, the battery management system (100) can reconfirm the SoH of the first battery module based on the ratio obtained by comparing the total capacity with the available capacity at the initial time, by adding at least a portion of the available capacity among the aforementioned margin capacities to the available capacity confirmed at the time prior to applying the margin capacities. This process can be performed for each first battery module. To use the figures from the aforementioned example again, the battery management system (100) can reconfirm the SoH based on 91Wh, which is obtained by adding 7Wh, newly considered as available capacity, to 84Wh, the available capacity of the first battery module prior to applying the margin capacities. The change in SoH resulting from this SoH reconfirmation process can be visually confirmed by referring to FIGS. 3a and 3b. In the following FIGS. 3a to 5a and 3b to 5b, the white square (10) may represent the SoH of each battery module to which the SoH reconfirmation process according to one embodiment of the present disclosure has not been applied, the dotted square (30) may represent the margin capacity, and the hatched square (20) may represent the capacity considered as available capacity among the margin capacities. Additionally, since FIGS. 3a to 5a depicts the SoH of the battery before the SoH reconfirmation process according to one embodiment of the present disclosure has been applied, the hatched square (20) may not be displayed.

[0041] Figures 3a and 3b are example drawings showing the change in SoH according to the SoH reconfirmation process according to one embodiment.

[0042] Referring to FIG. 3a, it can be seen that the modules (311, 321, and 331) prior to the SoH re-verification process have reduced available capacity compared to the initial available capacity (301) at 100% SoH as they are used, resulting in SoHs of 91%, 85%, and 91%, respectively. Here, according to the prior art, a battery pack containing such modules (311, 321, and 331) can be used and managed based on having an SoH of 85%, such as the second module (321). However, since each battery module is designed to have a margin capacity, using it based on an SoH of 85% while leaving this 20% margin capacity unused can be seen as a waste of performance.

[0043] Referring to FIG. 3b, an example of a situation in which performance waste that may occur in a situation like FIG. 3a is prevented by applying the SoH management method according to the present disclosure. For example, the second module (322), whose SoH is reconfirmed by applying margin capacity, can be confirmed to have an SoH of 91%, the same as the other modules (312 and 332), by considering 6% of the margin capacity as available capacity, unlike FIG. 3a. Through this, the battery pack is managed and used to have an SoH of 91%, and performance waste can be prevented.

[0044] Below, another embodiment for verifying the first battery module will be described.

[0045] According to one embodiment, a battery management system (100) can determine that at least one of the SoHs of each of a plurality of battery modules is below a second threshold based on at least some of the SoHs of each of the plurality of battery modules. Subsequently, at least one battery module corresponding to the SoH below the second threshold can be identified as at least one first battery module. Here, the second threshold may correspond to an SoH value at which the battery is considered to be aged and requires replacement. For example, a specific value may be approximately 80%, but is not limited thereto. According to such an embodiment, a battery module whose SoH has dropped below an aging threshold can be selected as the first battery module.

[0046] At this time, the battery management system (100) can identify at least a portion of the margin capacity to be considered as available capacity, similar to the process described above. Subsequently, based on the at least portion of capacity described above, the SoH of the first battery module can be reconfirmed. Here, regarding the at least portion of the margin capacity to be considered as available capacity, similar to the process described above, the difference information between a specific value corresponding to the SoH of the remaining modules excluding the first battery module and the SoH of the first battery module may be calculated, and after comparing the difference information with the margin capacity of the first battery module, the smaller of the two amounts may be considered as available capacity. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the battery management system (100) may calculate the difference information between the second threshold and the SoH of the first battery module, compare the difference information with the margin capacity of the first battery module, and then consider the smaller of the two amounts as available capacity. The process of reconfirming the SoH can be performed by performing such a process for each first battery module. The change in SoH resulting from this SoH reconfirmation process can be visually verified by referring to Figures 4a and 4b.

[0047] FIGS. 4a and 4b are example drawings showing the change in SoH according to the SoH reconfirmation process according to one embodiment.

[0048] Referring to FIG. 4a, it can be seen that the modules (411, 421, and 431) prior to the SoH re-verification process have reduced available capacities compared to the initial available capacity (401) at 100% SoH as they are used, resulting in SoHs of 82%, 79%, and 83%, respectively. Here, according to the prior art, a battery pack containing such modules (411, 421, and 431) has an SoH calculated as 79% of the second module (421), so it may be perceived as a situation where the battery pack is aging and requires replacement. However, since each battery module is designed to have a margin capacity, replacing the battery pack while the margin capacity is still unused can be seen as wasting the remaining margin capacity.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 4b, an example of a situation in which the waste of margin capacity that may occur in a situation like FIG. 4a is prevented by applying the SoH management method according to the present disclosure. For example, by applying 2% of the margin capacity as available capacity and reconfirming the SoH of the second module (422) as 81%, the battery pack is determined to have a higher SoH than the 80% SoH that is aged and requires replacement, and thus, the battery pack can be used for a longer period without replacement.

[0050] The two methods for verifying the first battery module described above may be applied together. For example, a battery module whose SoH decreases significantly faster than other battery modules may be identified as the first battery module through selection based on a first threshold, or a battery module determined to be aged may be identified as the first battery module through selection based on a second threshold, and the SoH re-verification method of the present disclosure described above may be applied. Accordingly, by re-verifying the SoH by applying a margin capacity to battery modules that age faster than other battery modules or battery modules determined to be aged, efficiency regarding the use and management of the battery pack can be increased.

[0051] Additionally, the SoH re-verification method of the present disclosure can be performed continuously during the use of the battery pack. For example, the examples in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 both depict a case where the margin capacity is not used at all and is 20%, and then the margin capacity is applied for the first time; however, alternatively, an embodiment in which the margin capacity is applied sequentially and continuously is also possible. For example, in the example of FIG. 3b, if the SoH of the second battery module (322) becomes 6% lower than that of the other modules (312 and 332), the SoH can be adjusted again by applying an additional margin capacity corresponding to 6% SoH. Accordingly, the margin capacity may be reduced to a capacity corresponding to 8%. Likewise, in the example of FIG. 4b, if the SoH of the second module (422) decreases again to 79%, the SoH can be adjusted to 81% by applying a margin capacity corresponding to 2% SoH. Accordingly, the margin capacity may be reduced to a capacity corresponding to 16%. In the examples of FIGS. 3b and 4b, it is also possible to apply margin capacity to other battery modules instead of the second battery module (322 and 422).

[0052] While continuously consuming margin capacity in this manner, the battery management system (100) can confirm that the SoH of at least some of the plurality of battery modules is below a second threshold, and for at least one battery module corresponding to the SoH below the second threshold, the ratio of the margin capacity considered as available capacity is above a third threshold. Accordingly, the battery management system (100) can transmit replacement information related to the replacement of the battery pack to the manager terminal. That is, the battery management system (100) continuously applies margin capacity to recalculate and manage the SoH, and when it is confirmed that the ratio of the margin capacity considered as available capacity reaches above the third threshold—that is, that the margin capacity is almost entirely consumed—it can induce the replacement of the battery pack by transmitting replacement information related to the replacement of the battery pack to the manager terminal. In this way, efficiency can be achieved by utilizing the capacity of the battery pack up to its limit.

[0053] Other embodiments related to the first battery module verification method will be described below.

[0054] According to one embodiment, the battery management system (100) can confirm that at least some of the SoHs of each of the plurality of battery modules are below a second threshold. The battery management system (100) can confirm a battery module having an SoH greater than or equal to the second threshold as a first battery module. Additionally, it can confirm that at least some of the remaining battery modules, excluding the first battery module, have been replaced with at least one second battery module. According to one embodiment, the second battery module may be a new battery module installed to replace the remaining aging battery modules, excluding the first battery module, and accordingly, the SoH may be 100% or have a value higher than the SoH of the existing aging battery module. At this time, the replacement of the remaining battery modules with the second battery module may be performed as replacement information related to the replacement of at least some of the remaining battery modules is transmitted to the administrator terminal.

[0055] The battery management system (100) can identify a second SoH corresponding to the second battery module. Subsequently, based on the second SoH, it can identify at least a portion of the capacity to be considered as available capacity among the margin capacity. For example, the battery management system can calculate difference information between the second SoH and the SoH of the first battery module at a corresponding point in time. Subsequently, by comparing the difference information with the margin capacity, the capacity corresponding to the value of the smaller of the two can be considered as available capacity among the margin capacity. For example, if the second SoH corresponds to 100% and the SoH of the first battery module at a corresponding point in time is 83%, and the margin capacity remains in an amount corresponding to 20% of the SoH, the battery management system (100) can restore the SoH to 100% by considering the capacity corresponding to 17% of the SoH as available capacity among the margin capacity. In a similar example, the battery management system (100) can restore the SoH to 95%, identical to the newly installed second battery module, by considering the capacity corresponding to 8% as the available capacity among the margin capacities when the second SoH corresponds to 95% and the SoH of the first battery module at that time is 87%. If, in the latter example, only an amount corresponding to 5% of the SoH remains as the margin capacity, the entire remaining margin capacity corresponding to 5% of the SoH can be considered as the available capacity. Through the SoH restoration of the battery module described above, the SoH of the entire battery pack can be restored, and the effect of replacing the battery module can be further enhanced. Refer to FIGS. 5a and 5b to examine such effects.

[0056] FIGS. 5a and 5b are example drawings showing the change in SoH when the battery module is replaced, according to one embodiment.

[0057] Referring to FIG. 5a, it can be seen that as the battery modules (511, 521, and 531) are used, their available capacity decreases compared to the available capacity (501) at the initial point when the SoH was 100%, resulting in SoHs of 82%, 79%, and 83%, respectively. Here, since the SoH of the second module (521) is 79%, it can be replaced. However, according to the prior art, if only the second battery module (521) is replaced, the other battery modules have SoHs of 82% and 83%, respectively, so even if a new battery module is installed, the SoH of the battery pack can still be calculated as 82% and used and managed.

[0058] Referring to FIG. 5b, by applying the SoH management method according to the present disclosure, an example can be seen in which the SoH of the battery pack is restored to 100% even when only the second battery module (521) is replaced in a situation like FIG. 5a. That is, when the second module (522) is replaced with a new one, the battery management system (100) can apply a margin capacity to the first battery module (512) and the third battery module (523) so that the SoH of all battery modules of the battery pack has a value of 100% or close to it. Accordingly, the SoH of the battery pack can be effectively increased even when only one battery module is replaced.

[0059] The embodiment for verifying the first battery module in relation to the replacement of the battery module described above, and the embodiment for verifying the first battery module based on the first threshold and the second threshold described earlier, may be applied together. For example, a margin capacity may be applied to a battery module or an aging battery module in which the SoH decreases significantly faster than other battery modules, and the SoH may be continuously re-verified during battery usage. Eventually, when the aging battery module is replaced, the margin capacity may be applied to the remaining battery modules to maximize the effect of the battery module replacement.

[0060] According to one embodiment, the battery management system (100) can control each battery module and battery pack (200) to be used based on the reconfirmed SoH when the SoH is reconfirmed according to the embodiments described above. That is, for the first battery module, it can be controlled to be used up to the capacity corresponding to the reconfirmed SoH. At this time, since the SoH of the first battery module can also be determined according to the lowest SoH of the battery cell included therein, the battery management system (100) can control each battery cell included in the first battery module to be used up to the capacity corresponding to the reconfirmed SoH.

[0061] The SoH management method of the present disclosure described above was explained under the assumption that battery modules are optimized by applying margin capacity, and thereby battery packs are optimized; however, it may be applied to other situations. For example, the SoH management method of the present disclosure may be applied to a situation where battery cells are optimized by applying margin capacity instead of battery modules, and thus battery modules are optimized instead of battery packs. Since the relationship between battery packs and modules is hierarchical, similar to the relationship between battery modules and cells, the SoH management method of the present disclosure may be applied in a similar manner.

[0062] In addition, as described above, the SoH management method of the present disclosure may also be applied to batteries that do not have a cell-module-pack hierarchical structure. Refer to FIG. 6 to describe such an embodiment.

[0063] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the interlocking relationship between a battery management system that manages battery health status according to one embodiment and a battery pack designed in a different way.

[0064] Referring to FIG. 6, the battery management system (100) can manage the SoH of a battery pack (600) designed with a Cell To Pack (CTP) structure. Here, the CTP structure is a structure in which battery cells are directly integrated into the battery pack without a module-unit assembly process, and it is a structure that has recently attracted attention in terms of improving energy density, simplifying the manufacturing process, reducing weight, and improving the efficiency of the cooling system. The SoH management method according to the present disclosure can also be applied to a battery pack (600) with such a CTP structure. For example, the SoH of a battery pack (600) with a CTP structure can be determined according to the lowest SoH among the SoHs of a plurality of battery cells (601) included therein. In such a case, the lowest SoH can be improved by applying a margin capacity according to the SoH management method according to the various embodiments described above. As described above, by applying the SoH management method of the present disclosure, the performance of the battery pack (600) with a CTP structure can be improved and its lifespan extended.

[0065] FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a battery management system according to one embodiment.

[0066] According to one embodiment, the battery management system (100) may include a memory (101) and a processor (102). Only the components related to this embodiment are shown in the battery management system (100) illustrated in FIG. 7. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art related to this embodiment that other general components may be included in addition to the components illustrated in FIG. 7. In one embodiment, the processor (102) may be included in a controller.

[0067] The processor (102) can control the overall operation of the battery management system (100) and process data and signals. The processor (102) may be composed of at least one hardware unit. Additionally, the processor (102) may be operated by one or more software modules generated by executing program code stored in memory (101). The processor (102) may include memory, and the processor (102) can control the overall operation of the battery management system (100) and process data and signals by executing program code stored in memory.

[0068] The processor (102) can be configured to perform one or more instructions to identify the SoH of each of the plurality of battery modules included in the battery pack, identify at least one first battery module which is at least one of the plurality of battery modules based on at least a portion of the SoH of each of the plurality of battery modules, and re-identify the SoH of at least one first battery module by considering at least a portion of the margin capacity of at least one first battery module as available capacity.

[0069] According to an embodiment, the battery management system (100) may additionally include a transceiver for performing wired / wireless communication. The battery management system (100) may communicate with an external battery management system using the transceiver. The external battery management system may be a terminal or a server. In addition, communication technologies used by the transceiver may include GSM (Global System for Mobile communication), CDMA (Code Division Multi Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), 5G, WLAN (Wireless LAN), Wi-Fi (Wireless-Fidelity), Bluetooth, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), ZigBee, NFC (Near Field Communication), etc.

[0070] A battery management system according to the embodiments described above may include a processor, memory for storing and executing program data, permanent storage such as a disk drive, a communication port for communicating with an external device, and user interface devices such as a touch panel, a key, a button, etc. Methods implemented as software modules or algorithms may be stored on a computer-readable recording medium as computer-readable code or program instructions executable on the processor. Here, computer-readable recording media include magnetic storage media (e.g., ROM (read-only memory), RAM (random-access memory), floppy disks, hard disks, etc.) and optical reading media (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD: Digital Versatile Disc). Computer-readable recording media may be distributed across networked computer systems, allowing computer-readable code to be stored and executed in a distributed manner. The medium may be readable by a computer, stored in memory, and executed by a processor.

[0071] The present embodiment may be represented by functional block configurations and various processing steps. These functional blocks may be implemented by various numbers of hardware and / or software configurations that execute specific functions. For example, the embodiment may employ integrated circuit configurations such as memory, processing, logic, look-up tables, etc., which can execute various functions by the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similar to how components may be implemented as software programming or software elements, the present embodiment may be implemented in programming or scripting languages ​​such as C, C++, Java, assembler, etc., including various algorithms implemented as combinations of data structures, processes, routines, or other programming configurations. Functional aspects may be implemented as algorithms executed on one or more processors. Additionally, the present embodiment may employ prior art for electronic configuration, signal processing, and / or data processing. Terms such as "mechanism," "element," "means," and "configuration" may be used broadly and are not limited to mechanical and physical configurations. The above terms may include the meaning of a series of software processes (routines) in conjunction with processors, etc.

[0072] The aforementioned embodiments are merely examples, and other embodiments may be implemented within the scope of the claims set forth below.

Claims

Claim 1 A battery SoH management method for a battery management system, comprising: a step of verifying the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack having a cell-to-pack structure in which the plurality of battery cells are directly integrated into the battery pack without a module-unit assembly process; a step of verifying at least one first battery cell, which is at least one of the plurality of battery cells, based on at least a portion of the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells; and a step of reconfirming the SoH of the at least one first battery cell by considering at least a portion of the margin capacity of the at least one first battery cell as the available capacity. Claim 2 A battery SoH management method according to claim 1, wherein the step of identifying at least one first battery cell comprises: a step of identifying that at least one of the difference information between each of the plurality of battery cells is greater than or equal to a first threshold; and a step of identifying at least one battery cell with a relatively small SoH among the battery cells corresponding to each of the at least one difference information greater than or equal to the first threshold as the at least one first battery cell. Claim 3 A battery SoH management method according to claim 1, wherein the step of verifying at least one first battery cell comprises: a step of verifying that at least one of each SoH is below a second threshold; and a step of verifying at least one battery cell corresponding to the SoH below the second threshold as the at least one first battery cell. Claim 4 A battery SoH management method according to claim 1, wherein the step of reconfirming the SoH of at least one first battery cell comprises: a step of confirming a first SoH corresponding to the remaining battery cells excluding at least one first battery cell among the plurality of battery cells; a step of confirming at least a portion of the margin capacity to be considered as the available capacity based on the first SoH; and a step of reconfirming the SoH of at least one first battery cell based on the at least a portion of the capacity to be considered as the available capacity. Claim 5 A battery SoH management method according to claim 1, further comprising: a step of confirming that the SoH of at least some of the plurality of battery cells is below a second threshold; a step of confirming that for at least one battery cell corresponding to the SoH below the second threshold, the ratio of the margin capacity considered as available capacity is above a third threshold; and a step of transmitting replacement information related to at least one of replacement and maintenance of the battery pack to a manager terminal. Claim 6 A computer-readable, non-transient recording medium having a program for executing the method of any one of paragraphs 1 through 5 on a computer. Claim 7 A battery management system for managing a State of Health (SoH), comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing one or more instructions, wherein the processor is configured to verify the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack having a Cell-to-Pack structure in which the plurality of battery cells are directly integrated into the battery pack without a module-unit assembly process by executing the one or more instructions, and to verify at least one first battery cell which is at least one of the plurality of battery cells based on at least a portion of the SoH of each of the plurality of battery cells, and to reconfirm the SoH of the at least one first battery cell by considering at least a portion of the margin capacity of the at least one first battery cell as the available capacity.

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