Control strategy for distributed system of DCDC converters

Abstract

Techniques for optimizing a distributed system for controlling direct current to direct current (DCDC) converters are described. In an example, a method includes powering, by a system operably coupled to at least one processor, an electrical system of an electrified vehicle with an intelligent cell system, the intelligent cell system including a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged in three strings, each of the plurality of battery cell clusters includes one or more battery cells and a DCDC converter connected to a respective one of the battery cell clusters and the electrical system. The method also includes controlling, by the system, when a respective one of the DCDC converters activates and deactivates generation and provision of a respective output voltage to the electrical system using a respective one of the battery cell clusters to which they are connected, based on the monitored power demand.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to electric and / or hybrid electric vehicle drive technology and, more particularly, to control strategies for optimizing control of a distributed system of direct current to direct current (DCDC) converters, particularly associated with powering an electric vehicle's electrical system. Background Art

[0002] Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly popular as a more sustainable mode of transportation. However, in order to improve the performance and efficiency of EVs, it is necessary to develop advanced control technologies for supplying power from the battery pack to the electrical system of the EV. Summary of the invention

[0003] The following is an overview provided to provide a basic understanding of one or more embodiments of the present invention. This overview is not intended to identify key or core elements or to delineate any scope of a particular embodiment or any scope of the claims. Its sole purpose is to present concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description presented later. In one or more embodiments described herein, a system, computer-implemented method, and / or computer program product are provided for optimizing control strategies for a distributed system of DCDC converters, particularly associated with powering an electrical system of an electric vehicle.

[0004] In one embodiment, a method includes using a smart cell battery system to power an electrical system of an electric vehicle by a system operably coupled to at least one processor. The smart cell battery system includes a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged in three strings, each of the plurality of battery cell clusters including one or more battery cells and a DCDC converter connected to a corresponding battery cell cluster in the battery cell cluster and the electrical system. The method also includes controlling, by the system, when to activate and deactivate a corresponding DCDC converter in the battery cell cluster to which the DCDC converter is connected to generate and provide a corresponding output voltage to the electrical system based on the monitored power demand of the electrical system.

[0005] In another embodiment, a smart single-cell battery system for supplying power to an electrical system of an electric vehicle is provided. The smart single-cell battery system includes: a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged into three strings, each of the plurality of battery cell clusters including one or more battery cells; and a DCDC converter connected to the corresponding battery cell clusters in the battery cell clusters and the electrical system. The smart single-cell battery system also includes a main controller that controls when the corresponding DCDC converters in the DCDC converters are activated and deactivated to generate and provide the corresponding output voltage to the electrical system using the corresponding battery cell clusters in the battery cell clusters to which they are connected based on the power demand of the monitored electrical system.

[0006] Another embodiment can include providing a computer program product that facilitates controlling power supplied from a smart cell battery system to an electrical system of an electric vehicle. The smart cell battery system includes a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged in three strings, each of the plurality of battery cell clusters including one or more battery cells, and a DCDC converter connected to a corresponding battery cell cluster in the battery cell clusters. The computer program product can include a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions being executable by a processor to cause the processor to control when corresponding DCDC converters in the DCDC converters are activated and deactivated to generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system using corresponding battery cell clusters in the battery cell clusters to which they are connected, based on a monitored power demand of the electrical system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] One or more exemplary embodiments are described below in the detailed description section with reference to the following figures.

[0008] Figure 1 An exemplary smart cell battery system for powering one or more electrical systems of an electric vehicle according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown.

[0009] Figure 2 A high-level block diagram of an exemplary battery cell unit is shown according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0010] Figure 3 A high-level block diagram of an exemplary motherboard is shown according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0011] Figure 4 A circuit diagram is shown of an exemplary smart cell battery system for powering one or more electrical systems of an electric vehicle according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0012] Figure 5An exemplary arrangement for grouping DCDC converters of a distributed system of DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown.

[0013] Figure 6 An exemplary arrangement for electrically connecting a subset of DCDC converters of a separate low voltage (LV) power supply system to different LV electrical systems of an electric vehicle is shown according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0014] Figure 7 An exemplary control arrangement for controlling a subset of DCDC converters of a distributed system of DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown.

[0015] Figure 8 An exemplary control arrangement for utilization of DCDC converters for balancing a distributed system of DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown.

[0016] Fig. 9 An exemplary computer-implemented method for optimizing control of a distributed system of DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown.

[0017] Fig.10 Another exemplary computer-implemented method for optimizing control of a distributed system of DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown.

[0018] Fig.11 Another exemplary computer-implemented method for optimizing control of a distributed system of DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The following detailed description is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the application or use of the embodiments and / or embodiments. In addition, it is not intended to be bound by any explicit or implicit information presented in the previous background technology part or the invention summary part, or the detailed description part.

[0020] In one or more embodiments described herein, a system, a computer-implemented method, and / or a computer program product for optimizing the control strategy of a distributed system of DCDC converters (particularly associated with powering the electrical system of an electric vehicle) is provided. As used herein, a distributed system of DCDC converters refers to an intelligent single-cell battery system of a distributed system including a DCDC converter. The intelligent single-cell battery system is intended to remove large and expensive components from a traditional transmission system and use batteries more efficiently. More specifically, the intelligent single-cell battery system is a multilevel inverter concept that is intended to replace them by integrating transmission system components such as traditional large inverters into a printed circuit board (PCB) connected to a battery cell cluster. These PCBs are wirelessly connected to a central controller that handles advanced control. Each PCB includes local wireless communication hardware, a processing unit, a memory, a small DCDC converter, a switch (e.g., a high current and low voltage switch), and other electronic components that enable them to intelligently control and manage the operation of the corresponding battery cells to which they are connected (e.g., make them "intelligent"). In addition, the PCB is capable of converting the direct current (DC) output from a small battery cluster into alternating current (AC) to control the motor through field-oriented control (FOC). The battery pack can be configured in a number of different ways depending on the needs of propulsion, utilization of the vehicle's other high-voltage and low-voltage electrical systems, and charging. By changing the inverter switching to a smart cell system, the battery pack is able to operate at twice the voltage level of a similar battery pack using a traditional inverter, resulting in lower current and less losses. In addition, only the required battery cells are activated, rather than all cells being active all the time, which improves efficiency.

[0021] The disclosed subject matter particularly relates to a control strategy for optimizing the use of a battery pack associated with powering one or more low voltage (LV) and / or high voltage (HV) electrical systems of an electric vehicle. More specifically, these techniques relate to a control strategy for controlling the output voltage supplied to the low voltage and / or high voltage electrical systems, which are supplied by corresponding DCDC converters coupled to a PCB and their respective battery cell clusters, respectively. In a conventional battery-powered electric vehicle (BEV), a single DCDC is typically used to convert the DC voltage from the battery pack to different voltage levels to accommodate charging to and from the battery pack, as well as driving the vehicle's electrical systems. The disclosed techniques replace a single DCDC converter with multiple small DCDC converters (e.g., up to about 100 in some embodiments), each of which is fed by a separate battery cell cluster. With this configuration, the DCDC converters provide multiple and independent parallel voltage supplies for driving the vehicle's low voltage and / or high voltage electrical systems.

[0022] At a high level, the control strategy for the DCDC converters selectively uses (e.g., turns on and off) the power supplied by the corresponding DCDC converters as needed based on the dynamic power requirements of the electrical systems they feed. The operating parameters of the corresponding DCDC converters that control when to turn on and off are dynamically controlled by the central controller of the intelligent single-cell battery system (referred to herein as the "master controller") via wireless communication to the control signal of the corresponding DCDC converter. In various embodiments, the operating parameters include a voltage set point (Vsp for short), which controls whether the DCDC converter turns on and off the voltage supply based on whether the current voltage level of the electrical system increases and decreases relative to its assigned Vsp. Different Vsp can be assigned to each DCDC converter so that the number of DCDCs powered to the electrical system at a given time is customized to meet the current load of the electrical system. In some embodiments, each DCDC converter can automatically control the on and off voltage generation and the supply to the electrical system by monitoring the current voltage level of the electrical system during the operation of the vehicle and responding accordingly based on its assigned Vsp. Furthermore, by using the corresponding DCDC as needed to meet the current load of the electrical system, any corresponding DCDC converter that is active at a given time will be fully loaded (as opposed to partially loaded), thereby optimizing the efficiency of the corresponding DCDC converter. In this regard, the DCDC converter performs most efficiently when it is operated at a high load, rather than at a low load or a partial load.

[0023] In some embodiments, the DCDC converters can be grouped into different subsets, each subset including two or more DCDC converters (with some limitations described in more detail below). With these embodiments, the same control strategy for each DCDC converter can be applied to the corresponding subset. In this regard, the subsets of DCDC converters can be configured as groups operating according to the same Vsp, and different subsets of DCDC converters can be assigned different Vsp.

[0024] The Vsp assigned to the respective DCDC converters (or subsets of DCDC converters) thus controls the priority order of using the respective DCDC converters (or subsets) and their corresponding battery cell clusters. In some embodiments, the master controller can assign Vsp based on the current state of charge (SoC) of the respective battery clusters (and optionally other dynamic factors such as temperature, state of health (SoH), etc.) so that those battery clusters with higher SoC are utilized before those battery clusters with lower SoC according to the priority order. The master controller can also dynamically adjust the Vsp assigned to the DCDC converters (or subsets of DCDC converters) to rotate their utilization to balance the energy consumption from the respective battery cell clusters.

[0025] Although the disclosed technology is described as optimizing the control of a distributed system of DCDC converters and associated with their utilization to power one or more electrical systems of an electric vehicle, the disclosed technology can be extended to various other areas. In this regard, the disclosed smart single-cell battery system and control strategy can be applied in association with its utilization to power various other types of battery-powered electrical systems other than those associated with electric vehicles and conventional vehicles.

[0026] One or more embodiments are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same reference numerals are used to refer to the same elements throughout the text. In the following description, for the purpose of explanation, many specific details are set forth to provide a more thorough understanding of one or more embodiments. However, it is apparent that, in various cases, one or more embodiments can be practiced without these specific details. It should be understood that when an element is referred to as "coupled" to another element, it can describe one or more different types of coupling, including but not limited to chemical coupling, communication coupling, electrical coupling, electromagnetic coupling, operational coupling, optical coupling, physical coupling, thermal coupling and / or another type of coupling.

[0027] Figure 1An exemplary smart cell battery system 102 is shown for powering one or more electrical systems of an electric vehicle 100 according to one or more embodiments described herein. The one or more electrical systems can include one or more electric motors 114, one or more high voltage electrical systems 112, and / or one or more low voltage electrical systems 110. The one or more low voltage electrical systems 110 can include any type of electrical system associated with the electric vehicle 100 that typically consumes a DC input voltage of less than about 50 volts (V) (e.g., 12V, 14V, 15V, 40V, 48V, etc.). Some examples of low voltage electrical systems can include, but are not limited to, power steering systems, autonomous driving systems, infotainment systems, navigation systems, backup camera systems, and the like. The one or more high voltage electrical systems 112 can include any type of electrical system associated with the electric vehicle 100 that typically consumes a DC input voltage greater than about 50V (e.g., 48V, 72V, 100V, 400V, etc.), such as a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and the like.

[0028] One or more motors 114 (e.g., a single motor typically used for 2-wheel drive vehicles and two motors for 4-wheel drive vehicles) can include any type of electric vehicle motor that is part of the vehicle's powertrain or drive, including one or more DC motors and / or one or more AS motors. In various embodiments, one or more motors 114 can include or correspond to a three-phase motor, such as a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). A permanent magnet synchronous motor PMSM is a synchronous motor that uses permanent magnets (PM) instead of electromagnetic windings to generate a magnetic field. The three-phase machine uses a three-phase current system to operate. The base frequency of the power supply three-phase system also determines the rotor speed by controlling the rotating magnetomotive force (MMF). The magnetomotive force MMF generates torque together with the magnetic field of the permanent magnet rotor.

[0029] The rotor consists of permanent magnets and the three static coils are the stator windings. The stator windings are distributed at 120° from the center of the permanent magnets. The stator windings can be represented as an inductor in series with a resistor. The three windings are described as phase A, phase B and phase C, and the phase current is i a 、i b and i c When current flows through the static coil, a magnetic field is generated according to Faraday's law, and a magnetic field is generated by the PM. When the electrical angle between the magnetomotive force of the stator and the magnetic field of the rotor is 90°, the maximum torque is generated.

[0030] In a conventional BEV system, a three-phase current for an AC motor such as a permanent magnet synchronous motor is generated from a DC power source through an inverter. According to one or more embodiments of the disclosed technology, a three-phase current is generated from a smart single-cell battery system 102 without using an inverter. To facilitate this purpose, the smart single-cell battery system 102 includes a plurality of battery cells (not shown) arranged in three separate strings, each of which corresponds to three different phases (e.g., a phase A string, a phase B string, and a phase C string), and the three separate strings are capable of providing corresponding three-phase currents in the three-phase current for driving one or more motors 114. Although the disclosed technology does not involve an AC power source for powering one or more motors 114, the disclosed technology utilizes a smart single-cell battery system 102 in which battery cells are arranged in three strings.

[0031] In this regard, Figure 1 As shown, the smart single-cell battery system 102 includes a plurality of battery cell units 106 arranged in three separate strings, which are indicated as phase A string, phase B string, and phase C string, respectively. The battery cell units 106 associated with the phase A string include cells A1-An, the battery cell units associated with the phase B string include cells B1-Bn, and the battery cell units associated with the phase C string include cells C1-Cn. The number of battery cell units "n" associated with each string can vary. For example, in some embodiments, the number of battery cell units n included in each string is 96, so that there are a total of 288 battery cell units 106 in the smart single-cell battery system 102. However, the number of battery cell units 106 included in the smart single-cell battery system 102 is not limited to this configuration and can be customized to accommodate various usage scenarios.

[0032] Figure 2 1 shows a high-level block diagram of an exemplary battery cell unit 106 according to one or more embodiments described herein. Figure 1 and Figure 2 , in various embodiments, Figure 1 All or some of the battery cells 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn shown in FIG. 1 can correspond to Figure 2 The battery cell unit 106 shown in FIG. Figure 2As shown, each (or at least some) of the battery cell units 106 may include a battery cell cluster 222, which includes one or more battery cells 224 and a cluster plate 200 physically and operatively coupled to the one or more battery cells 224. The battery cells 224 can each include any type of battery cell material, such as a lithium battery cell material, a lithium ion (Li-Ion) battery cell material, a lithium metal battery cell material, a lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery cell material, a molten salt (Na-NiCl2) battery cell material, a nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) battery cell material, or a lead-acid battery cell.

[0033] The cluster board 200 can include or correspond to a circuit board, or more specifically, a printed circuit board PCB including electronic hardware and software components, wherein the electronic hardware and software components enable the cluster board 200 to intelligently control the operation of the corresponding battery cells 224 connected thereto. The electronic hardware and software components can include, but are not limited to, a memory 210 capable of storing computer or machine executable components 202 (e.g., local controller 204, measurement component 206, and modulator 208), and a processing unit 212 that executes the machine executable components 202 stored in the memory 210. The electronic hardware and / or software components can also include a communication component 214 (e.g., a transceiver, etc.) that enables wireless communication between the cluster board 200 and the main controller 106 associated with the main board 104 of the smart single-cell battery system 102.

[0034] The electronic hardware and / or software components can also include a DCDC converter 218. In one or more embodiments, the DCDC converter 218 is electrically connected to the battery cell cluster 222 (e.g., via one or more wired connections) and can convert the voltage output of the battery cell cluster 222 generated by the corresponding battery cells 224 to a desired output voltage (e.g., a higher or lower voltage) as needed to drive the low voltage and / or high voltage loads of the electrical system to which the battery cell unit 106 is connected. For those battery cell units of the smart battery system 102 that power one or more low voltage electrical systems 110, the DCDC converter 218 is further electrically connected to the one or more low voltage electrical systems 110 (e.g., A-side feed or B-side feed), and controls the use of the battery cell cluster 222 to generate and provide the output voltage to the one or more low voltage electrical systems 110 to which it is connected according to the control information determined via the main board 104 and transmitted to the cluster board 200 (as discussed in more detail below). Similarly, for those battery cell units of the smart battery system 102 that power one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112, the DCDC converter 218 is further electrically connected to the one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112, and controls the use of the battery cell cluster 222 to generate and provide an output voltage to the one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112 to which it is connected, based on control information determined via the main board 104 and transmitted to the cluster board 200 (as discussed in more detail below).

[0035] The electronic hardware and / or software components can also include various other PCB electronic components 220 that can include or correspond to various other electronic circuit elements that facilitate the operation of the cluster board 200 and the battery cell cluster 222. For example, the other PCB electronic components 220 can include or correspond to one or more switches, wires, ports, etc. The one or more switches can include, for example, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) switches that can facilitate different operating modes (e.g., off, positive, negative, bypass, etc.) of the battery cells 224 individually and / or the battery cell cluster as controlled by the local controller, modulator 208, and / or DCDC converter 218 according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure described herein. In various embodiments, the one or more switches can include an H-bridge electronic circuit having a plurality of switches (e.g., 4 switches including 4 MOSFET switches).

[0036] The other PCB electronic components 220 can also include one or more sensors that enable the cluster board 108 to measure various operating parameters of the battery cell cluster 222 to which it is connected and / or the electrical system to which it is connected (e.g., one or more low voltage electrical systems 110 or one or more high voltage electrical systems 112). For example, in some embodiments, the other PCB electronic components 220 can include or correspond to a voltmeter that can measure the current operating voltage level of the electrical system to which it is connected. In addition or alternatively, the other PCB electronic components 220 can include one or more sensors that can measure other parameter data of the cluster board 106 and / or the battery cells 224 to which the cluster board 106 is connected, such as but not limited to: state of charge (SoC), state of health (SoH), current output, current input, temperature; pressure (e.g., expansion); chemical properties (e.g., chemical properties on the electrolyte to monitor aging); acceleration (e.g., to sense a collision of an electric vehicle including the device); voltage (e.g., voltage potential across the battery cell material electrodes of the active battery cell material); and / or other parameter data of the cluster board 106 and / or the battery cells 224. The cluster board 200 can also include a system bus 216 that couples the various electronic hardware and software components of the cluster board 200 and / or the battery cell unit 106 to one another.

[0037] In this regard, the smart single-cell battery system 102 can be defined as including a plurality of battery cell clusters (e.g., one battery cell cluster 222 connected to each of the battery cell units 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn) and DCDC converters (e.g., corresponding to the DCDC converters 218, respectively) connected to corresponding battery cell clusters in the battery cell clusters. In some embodiments, all or some of the battery cell clusters 222 associated with the battery cell units 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn, respectively, can include one to eight battery cells 224, each of which is configured to provide an output DC voltage of approximately 3.7V. However, the number and type of battery cells 224 included in each battery cell cluster 222 coupled to each battery cell unit 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn can be varied and customized to provide a specific voltage amount to meet a specific usage scenario. For example, the amount of DC voltage supplied by each battery cell cluster 222 associated with each battery cell unit 106 can vary.

[0038] according to Figure 1In some embodiments, the battery cells 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn can be grouped into different groups (e.g., group 1, group 2, and group 3), which include two or more battery cells 106 connected in parallel via a system bus (e.g., a wired network connection) and are configured to form separate power supply systems that can be independently controlled. For example, Figure 1 As shown, the separate power supply system can include a first power supply system corresponding to group 1, which includes a plurality of battery cell units (e.g., units A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2 in the example shown) connected to each other and to one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110 via a system bus 116. More specifically, each of the battery cell units included in the first power supply system corresponding to group 1 can correspond to Figure 2 , wherein the system bus 116 connects the corresponding DCDC converters 210 of each battery cell unit (e.g., units A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 in the example shown) included in the first power supply system in parallel to each other to form different power channels to one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110.

[0039] The separate power supply system can also include a second power supply system corresponding to group 2, which includes a plurality of battery cell units (e.g., units A3, A4, B3, B4, C3, and C4 in this example) connected to each other via the system bus 118 and also connected to one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110. More specifically, each of the battery cell units included in the second power supply system (e.g., group 2) can correspond to Figure 2 , wherein the system bus 118 connects the corresponding DCDC converters 210 of each battery cell (e.g., cells A3, A4, B3, B4, C3, and C4 in this example) included in the second power supply system in parallel with each other. In various embodiments, the first power supply system (group 1) and the second power supply system (group 2) can be the same or substantially the same and used as separate redundant low-voltage power channels (referred to as A-side feed and B-side feed, respectively) for one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110, which require redundant power channels according to automotive safety integrity level (ASIL) requirements, such as autonomous driving systems.

[0040] The separate power supply system can also include a third power supply system corresponding to group 3, which includes a plurality of battery cell units (e.g., units A5, A6, B5, B6, C5, and C6 in this example) connected to each other and one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112 via the system bus 120. More specifically, each battery cell unit included in the third system (e.g., group 3) can correspond to Figure 2 The battery cell unit 106 shown in the figure, where the system bus 120 connects the corresponding DCDC converters 210 of each battery cell unit (e.g., in this example, units A5, A6, B5, B6, C5 and C6) in parallel with each other to form different power channels to one or more high voltage electrical systems 112.

[0041] In various embodiments, all of the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n (or portions thereof applied to two motors in a four-wheel drive machine) can be used to feed AC current to one or more motors 114. With these embodiments, each of the first, second, and third power supply systems corresponding to groups 1, 2, and 3 can be used to feed AC power for propulsion to one or more motors 114 and the corresponding low-voltage or high-voltage electrical systems to which they are connected. To facilitate this purpose, each of the battery cell units 106 (e.g., each of their respective circuit boards 200) can include an H-bridge, and each of the H-bridges can be connected in series (via a wired connection). The battery cell units 106 can feed the corresponding AC phase current from (each of the three phase strings A, B, and C) to one or more motors 114 via their respective battery cell clusters and H-bridge connections independently of their respective DCDC converters, which feed DC current to the corresponding low-voltage electrical systems 110 or high-voltage electrical systems 112 to which they are connected. Various configurations are contemplated.

[0042] It should be understood that although Figure 1As shown, the number of battery cell units 106 included in the first, second, third and fourth power supply systems (e.g., group 1, group 2 and group 3) is 6, but this arrangement is exemplary only. In this regard, the number of battery cell units 106 and / or the number and type of battery cells 224 included in different power supply systems corresponding to groups 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively, can be varied and customized so that the desired output voltage can be generated to feed the corresponding electrical systems to which they are connected via corresponding DCDC converters. (For example, it should be understood that the battery cells 224 do not directly supply DC power to the low-voltage and high-voltage electrical systems because there is always a DCDC converter between the corresponding battery cell clusters and the low-voltage and high-voltage board grids). In an exemplary embodiment, the number of battery cell units 106 and / or the number and type of battery cells 224 included in the first and second power supply systems, respectively, can be customized so that an output voltage of about 15V can be generated to be fed to one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110, respectively, and the number of battery cell units 106 and / or the number and type of battery cells included in the third power supply system (group 3) can be customized so that an output voltage of about 400V can be generated to be fed to one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112. However, other configurations are contemplated.

[0043] The smart single-cell battery system 102 also includes a mainboard 104, which can include or correspond to a centralized circuit board, PCB and / or computing device, which includes electrical hardware and software components that facilitate intelligent control and management of some or all of the operations of the battery single-cell units 106A1-An, B1-Bn and C1-Cn and / or the electrical systems to which they are connected.

[0044] Figure 3 1 shows a high-level block diagram of an exemplary motherboard 104 according to one or more embodiments described herein. Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 3 In various embodiments, the motherboard 104 can include a memory 310 and a processing unit 312, the memory 310 can store computer or machine executable components 302 (e.g., the main controller 304 and the monitoring component 306), and the processing unit 312 executes the machine executable components 302 stored in the memory 310. The motherboard 104 can also include a communication component 314, which enables wireless communication between the motherboard 104 and the cluster board 200 of each battery cell unit 106.

[0045] In this regard, the communication components 314 and the communication components 214 can respectively include or correspond to suitable hardware and / or software that enables wireless communication between the main board 104 and the corresponding cluster board 200 and optionally other external systems and / or devices. For example, the corresponding communication components can include a transmitter, a receiver and / or a transceiver. The corresponding communication components can employ any suitable proprietary and / or non-proprietary wireless communication protocol, which can include nearly any desired wired or wireless technology, including but not limited to: power line Ethernet, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Fiber optic communications, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Enhanced General Packet Radio Service (Enhanced GPRS), 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Zigbee and other 802.XX wireless technologies and / or legacy telecommunication technologies, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), RF4CE protocol, WirelessHART protocol, 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over low power wireless LAN), Z-Wave, ANT, Ultra Wideband (low power wireless LAN), and / or other proprietary and non-proprietary communication protocols. In such examples and as described above, the motherboard 104 and the corresponding cluster board 200 can therefore respectively include hardware (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a transceiver, a decoder, an antenna, quantum hardware, a quantum processor, etc.), software (e.g., a set of threads, a set of processes, software in execution, quantum pulse scheduling, quantum circuits, quantum gates, etc.) or a combination of hardware and software that facilitates the transmission of information between the motherboard 104 and the corresponding cluster board 200 and external systems, sources and / or devices (e.g., computing devices, communication devices, etc.).

[0046] With particular reference to power supply systems that provide direct current to one or more low voltage electrical systems 110 (groups 1 and 2) and one or more high voltage electrical systems 112 (group 3), in accordance with the disclosed technology, each battery cell unit 106 of these systems can include a DCDC converter 218 powered by a separate battery cell cluster (e.g., battery cell cluster 222), wherein each DCDC converter 218 uses its battery cell cluster 222 to provide a separate DC output voltage to the corresponding low voltage or high voltage electrical system to which it is connected. In various embodiments, the generation and provision of the corresponding output voltage of each DCDC converter 218 to the low voltage or high voltage electrical system to which it is connected can be independently controlled by the main board 104 (e.g., via the main controller 304) according to a defined control protocol based on the monitored power demand of the corresponding electrical system. In particular, the main controller 304 can control when each DCDC converter 218 turns on and off the generation and provision of the DC output voltage based on the dynamic load of the connected low voltage or high voltage electrical system, so that only the amount of DCDC converter used at any given time is tailored to meet the current load on the electrical system. In this regard, when the load increases, the number of DCDC converters activated and supplying power to the electrical system can be increased, and when the load decreases, the number of DCDC converters activated and supplying power to the electrical system can be decreased. It is also possible to independently control each of the different DC power supply systems corresponding to Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3. The control protocol for controlling each of the different DC power supply systems can be the same or substantially the same, with some changes with respect to the specific voltage set point values ​​for the high voltage power supply system (Group 3) relative to the low voltage power supply systems (Group 1 and Group 2), as described below.

[0047] To facilitate this purpose, in one or more embodiments, the main controller 304 can assign different voltage set points (Vsp) to different DCDC converters in the DCDC converters of the same power supply system connected to the first, second and third power supply systems. For ease of description, reference is made to a single DC power supply system corresponding to three different systems of group 1, group 2 and group 3, because the control protocol applied to each different system can be the same or substantially the same. In this regard, with reference to the first power supply system corresponding to group 1 associated with feeding power to a low-voltage electrical system in one or more low-voltage electrical systems, in an example embodiment, the main controller 304 can assign different Vsp to different DCDC converters connected to battery cells A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, respectively. For example, in some embodiments, the main controller 304 can assign different Vsp to each of the different DCDC converters (e.g., each DCDC converter of units A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, etc. can have different Vsp). In other embodiments, the main controller 304 is capable of assigning the same Vsp to a subset of DCDC converters, wherein the subset is capable of including two or more DCDC converters, and also assigning different Vsp to different subsets of DCDC converters and / or individual DCDC converters (e.g., the DCDC converters of units A1 and A2 are capable of having a first Vsp, the DCDC converters of units B1 and B2 are capable of having a second Vsp, the DCDC converter of unit C1 is capable of having a third Vsp, and the DCDC converter of unit C2 is capable of having a fourth Vsp, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth Vsp are different). In some embodiments of these embodiments, the respective DCDC converters grouped into the same subset are capable of being connected to each other via one or more wired connections, and are configured to generate and provide an aggregated or combined DC output voltage. Using these embodiments, the main controller 304 is capable of controlling all DCDC converters grouped in the same subset and connected to each other according to the same Vsp, so that all DCDC converters in the same subset are simultaneously activated and deactivated to generate and provide an aggregated or combined DC output voltage to the electrical system to which they are connected. Reference Figure 5-Figure 8 These embodiments are discussed in more detail, but the same control strategy applied to a single DCDC converter can be applied to a subset of DCDC converters that are assigned the same Vsp.

[0048] In various embodiments, the master controller 304 can accomplish assigning its respective Vsp to the DCDC converter via wirelessly communicating the respective control signals to its respective battery cell 106 (e.g., using the communication component 314 and the respective communication component 214 of the battery cell 106). For example, in some embodiments, the master controller 304 can send a separate control signal to each of the respective battery cell 106, wherein each separate control signal includes a specific Vsp assigned to the DCDC converter 218 of the corresponding battery cell. In other embodiments, the master controller 304 can broadcast the same control signal to all of the respective battery cell units of the same DC power supply system (e.g., the respective power supply systems corresponding to groups 1, 2, and 3), wherein the same control signal includes information identifying different Vsp assigned to different DCDCs, the different Vsp being indexed by a unique identifier of each DCDC or its corresponding battery cell 106. With these embodiments, the local controller (e.g., the local controller 204) associated with the respective battery cell 106 can identify and extract the specific Vsp assigned to it based on its respective unique identifier.

[0049] In any of these embodiments, based on the control signal received by the cluster board 200 including the Vsp assigned to its DCDC converter 218, the DCDC converter 218 can be configured to (e.g., via the local controller 204) control the DCDC converter 218 to activate and deactivate the generation and provision of output voltage to the low voltage or high voltage electrical system to which it is connected according to its assigned Vsp. For example, the local controller 204 can direct the DCDC converter 218 to operate according to its assigned Vsp in response to the receipt of the control signal. This means that the DCDC converter 218 can be configured to activate and deactivate the generation and provision of output voltage to the electrical system to which it is connected (e.g., the low voltage electrical system according to group 1) using the battery cell cluster 222 to which it is connected based on whether the operating voltage level of the electrical system is reduced or increased relative to its assigned Vsp. For example, the DCDC converter 218 can be configured to activate the generation and provision of the output voltage if the current operating voltage of the electrical system is equal to or less than its assigned Vsp, and to deactivate the generation and provision of the output voltage if the current operating voltage of the electrical system is greater than its assigned Vsp. In this regard, the current operating voltage of the electrical system (or simply referred to as the electrical system voltage) used in this document for controlling activation / deactivation of the DCDC converter pair powered by the electrical system refers to the output voltage at the output side of the electrical system. According to the disclosed technology, all DCDC converters connected to the same electrical system (e.g., one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110 or one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112) are connected to the output side of the electrical system (e.g., connected in parallel to the low-voltage electrical system or the high-voltage electrical system at the output side), and are therefore able to sense / measure the output voltage of the electrical system, respectively (e.g., via one or more sensors and / or additional sensors of its corresponding cluster board 200).

[0050] In this regard, Vsp can include or correspond to a voltage level value (e.g., 15.5V, 15.4V, 15.3V, etc.) that controls when the DCDC converter 218 turns on or off the generation of voltage and the supply to the electrical system based on whether the current operating voltage (or output voltage) of the electrical system increases or decreases relative to the voltage level value. The Vsp used to control the power supply to one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110 can be customized based on the predefined minimum and maximum operating voltage levels of these systems (e.g., between 13.5V and 15.5V). Similarly, the Vsp used to control the power supply to one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112 can be customized based on the predefined minimum and maximum operating voltage levels of these systems (e.g., between 400.5V and 390.5V). In some embodiments, the amount of voltage output generated by each DCDC converter (or a subset of DCDC converters) and provided to the electrical system can be predefined. In other embodiments, the amount of voltage output generated by each DCDC converter (or a subset of the DCDC converters) and provided to the electrical system can be determined by the master controller 304 and included in the control signal.

[0051] According to the subject control protocol, the master controller 304 can assign different Vsp to different DCDC converters of the same power supply system (e.g., corresponding to groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively), wherein a defined offset voltage between the different Vsp (e.g., 0.1V or another offset customized for the low voltage or high voltage electrical system) is in a linear cascading order or a descending order within a predetermined voltage level range (e.g., between a defined minimum and maximum Vsp). For example, as applied to the DCDC converters of the first power supply system corresponding to group 1 (e.g., the A-side low voltage electrical system feed), one or more first DCDC converters can be assigned a Vsp of 15.5V, one or more second DCDC converters can be assigned a Vsp of 15.4V, one or more third DCDC converters can be assigned a Vsp of 15.3V, and so on. By assigning different Vsp to different DCDC converters of the same power supply system in this manner, the number of DCDC converters that actively generate voltage outputs and provide the voltage outputs to the corresponding electrical system at any given time will be customized to the current load on the electrical system. In this regard, as the load on the electrical system increases, the operating voltage level of the electrical system will decrease, thereby triggering additional DCDC converters to be activated when the operating voltage level reaches its corresponding Vsp. Likewise, as the load on the electrical system decreases, the operating voltage level of the electrical system will increase, thereby triggering those DCDC converters with Vsp lower than the current operating voltage to shut down when the operating voltage level reaches an increase above its corresponding Vsp. Thus, the different Vsp assigned to the respective DCDC converters controls the priority order in which the respective DCDC converters are activated and deactivated to generate and provide the respective output current to the electrical system to which they are connected using their respective battery cell clusters.

[0052] For example, for the DCDC converters forming one of the low voltage power supply systems (e.g., corresponding to group 1 or group 2), it is assumed that each DCDC converter is capable of generating a maximum output power of 100 watts (W). This means that three DCDC converters activated simultaneously are capable of generating a power of 300W. According to this example, if only one DCDC is activated and the load of the electrical system exceeds 100W, the output voltage from one activated DCDC will begin to decrease. It should be understood that if two or more DCDC converters are connected in series, their output voltages are added in this way when activated. On the other hand, when the DCDC converters are connected in parallel, they will generate approximately the same voltage, depending on Vsp and the load. According to one or more embodiments, when the electrical system is powered by DCDC converters connected in parallel to power the load, if the voltage becomes low due to an increase in the current consumption of the load connected to the electrical system, the individual DCDC converters will only power the electrical system (e.g., if the electrical load consumes more current, the electrical system output voltage will decrease, and if the electrical load consumes less current, the opposite is true). Therefore, if the electrical system voltage becomes lower than its corresponding Vsp based on the increased current consumption of the load, the corresponding DCDC converter will automatically start and generate power.

[0053] Additionally, by configuring the DCDC converters to be activated only when the load of the electrical system causes the current operating voltage level of the electrical system to reach their respective Vsp, the activated DCDC converters will operate at full load conditions (e.g., high loads) rather than at partial load conditions (e.g., low loads), thereby optimizing their efficiency. In this regard, the DCDC converters perform more efficiently at higher loads relative to lower loads.

[0054] In some embodiments, in addition to assigning different Vsp to different DCDC converters of the same power supply system feeding one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110 or one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112, all DCDC converters of the same power supply system can be configured to activate the generation and provision of corresponding output voltages to the electrical systems to which they are connected based on whether the current voltage level of the electrical system drops below a minimum Vsp to ensure that power will always be delivered to the corresponding electrical system during use of the vehicle 100. In some embodiments, the cluster board 200 can facilitate this purpose by using hardware circuits and / or modulators 208 that are configured to generate the required pulse width modulation (PWM) signals from the battery cell cluster 222 and the DCDC converter 118, which ensure that the minimum voltage is delivered by the DCDC converter 218.

[0055] In various embodiments, each of the DCDC converters can be configured to automatically activate and deactivate the generation and provision of its corresponding output voltage in response to a decrease and increase in the current operating voltage of the electrical system to which they are connected (e.g., one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110 or one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112) relative to its assigned Vsp. To facilitate this purpose, in some embodiments, each DCDC converter can include or be electrically connected (e.g., directly via a wired connection or via one or more wireless communication networks) at least one sensor (e.g., a voltmeter), the at least one sensor being connected to the electrical system and / or the corresponding power supply system (e.g., corresponding to groups 1, 2, and 3), the at least one sensor being configured to measure the operating voltage of the electrical system continuously and / or according to a defined update rate (e.g., every 1.0 ms, every 0.1 ms, every 0.01 ms, or other suitable update rate). For example, as Figure 1 As shown, in some embodiments, each DC power supply system can include a voltmeter (e.g., voltmeter 122a, voltmeter 122b, and voltmeter 122c, respectively), which is connected to an electrical channel that supplies power to a corresponding low voltage or high voltage electrical system and measures the operating voltage of the corresponding electrical system. With these embodiments, each DCDC converter can also be electrically connected to a corresponding voltmeter to obtain a measured current operating voltage of the electrical system. In other embodiments, at least one sensor can be included in one or more other PCB electronic components 220 connected to the cluster board 200. In any of these embodiments, the measurement component 206 can be configured to continuously monitor the current operating voltage of the electrical system, and the local controller 204 can guide the DCDC converter 218 to activate or deactivate based on whether the current operating voltage increases or decreases relative to its assigned Vsp.

[0056] Additionally or alternatively, the mainboard 104 can be electrically connected (e.g., via corresponding wired connections 108a, 108b, and 108c) to corresponding voltmeters 122a, 122b, and 122c, and is configured to continuously measure and monitor (e.g., via monitoring component 306) the current operating voltage of the corresponding low-voltage or high-voltage electrical system. With these embodiments, the main controller 304 can be configured to continuously broadcast the current operating voltage level of the corresponding electrical system to the corresponding cluster board 200 connected to the corresponding electrical system according to a defined update rate (e.g., every 1.0ms, etc.). The local controllers 204 can further relay the current operating voltage level to their DCDC converters, which in turn can respond accordingly based on their Vsp. Additionally or alternatively, the local controllers 204 can direct their corresponding DCDC converters to activate or deactivate based on whether the current operating voltage level of the electrical system increases or decreases relative to its assigned Vsp. Various configurations are contemplated.

[0057] In various embodiments, the main controller 304 can assign different Vsp to the DCDC converter based on the state of charge of the corresponding battery cell clusters to which the DCDC converters are respectively connected. In this regard, as described above, the different Vsp assigned to the corresponding DCDC converters 218 control the priority order of using the corresponding DCDC converters and their corresponding battery cell clusters, where those with higher Vsp are used first relative to those with lower Vsp. With this configuration, the DCDC converters assigned with higher Vsp will be activated and used more frequently than those with lower Vsp, resulting in their corresponding battery cell clusters having a higher SoC depletion rate relative to the battery cell clusters connected to the DCDC converters with lower Vsp. Therefore, in various embodiments, in order to evenly balance the utilization of the corresponding battery cell clusters, the main controller 304 can dynamically adjust or reallocate Vsp to the corresponding DCDC converters based on the corresponding SOC of the battery cell clusters. For example, relative to the DCDC converters connected to the battery cell clusters with relatively low SoC, the main controller 304 can assign a higher Vsp to the DCDC converters connected to the battery cell clusters with relatively high SoC. During operation of the vehicle 100, the master controller 304 can also dynamically change or reallocate the Vsp assigned to the corresponding DCDC converter based on changes to the SoC of its corresponding battery cell cluster. For example, when its battery cell cluster has a high SoC, the master controller 304 can assign a high Vsp to the DCDC converter, and after the SoC of the battery cell cluster drops below a certain threshold, assign a lower Vsp to the DCDC converter. Using these embodiments, information about the SoC of the corresponding battery cell cluster 222 can be measured (e.g., via one or more sensors and measurement components 206) and reported to the master controller 304 by the corresponding cluster board 200 to which they are connected via wireless communication according to a defined update rate (e.g., every 1ms, every 10ms, every minute, etc.).

[0058] Additionally or alternatively, the master controller 304 can periodically adjust the different Vsp assigned to the DCDC converters in a manner that rotates the priority order between the DCDC converters over time to balance the energy consumption between their respective battery cell clusters. In various embodiments, associated with allocating and reallocating different Vsp to the DCDC converters during operation of the vehicle, the master controller 304 can also allocate and reallocate different Vsp in a manner that balances the utilization of the DCDC converters between the three strings (e.g., phase A string, phase B string, and phase C string) of the smart single-cell battery system 102. In other words, the priority order of utilization of the battery clusters can be controlled by transferring the Vsp command from the master controller to rotate energy usage between the battery cell clusters and different strings. This strategy ensures that the energy balance between the three phases or strings of the battery pack can be controlled.

[0059] Figure 4 400 provides a more detailed illustration of an exemplary circuit arrangement of the smart single-cell battery system 102 according to one or more exemplary embodiments. For the sake of brevity, the wired connections between the mainboard 104 and the various power supply system feeds are omitted. Figure 1 and Figure 4 ,like Figure 4 As shown, in one or more embodiments, the smart single battery system 102 can include three separate DC power supply systems, including a low-voltage DC power supply system on the A side corresponding to group 1, which feeds a low DC voltage (e.g., 16V in this example) to one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110; a low-voltage DC power supply system on the B side corresponding to group 2, which also feeds a low DC voltage (e.g., 16V in this example) to one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110; and a high-voltage DC power supply system on the group 3, which feeds a high DC voltage (e.g., 400V in this example) to one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112. The low-voltage DC power supply system on the A side can be connected to one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110 via a system bus 116 and one or more smart fuses 404a. Similarly, the low-voltage DC power supply system on the B side can be connected to one or more low-voltage electrical systems 110 via a system bus 118 and one or more smart fuses 404b. The high-voltage DC power supply system can be connected to one or more high-voltage electrical systems 112 via one or more connectors 406. Similarly, Figure 4As shown, all three power supply systems can be connected to the motor 114 (e.g., via hardware connector assemblies 402a and 402b, respectively), and are used to supply AC power to the motor 114, which includes two motors (e.g., M1 and M2, respectively) in this embodiment. For example, the connector assemblies 402a and 402b can each include or be coupled to a hardware (HW) interlock (IL) element, which is used to monitor and ensure that the connector is firmly in place so that AC power can be safely supplied to the motor and / or the battery pack can be charged from the outside. In addition, the DC supply channels of all three power supply systems can be galvanically separated from the AC propulsion channels of the smart single-cell battery system 102. The battery pack (e.g., all battery cells including the corresponding battery cell unit 106) can be charged from the power grid (left side of the figure) or an external DC charger (e.g., right side of the figure).

[0060] Figure 5 An example arrangement 500 for grouping DCDC converters of a distributed system of DCDC converters (eg, smart cell battery system 102) is shown according to one or more embodiments described herein. Figure 1-Figure 5 , as mentioned above Figure 1-Figure 3 As described, in some embodiments, the DCDC converters of the same power supply system (e.g., corresponding to group 1, group 2, and group 3, respectively) can be grouped into different subsets including two or more DCDC converters, respectively. The number of DCDC converters included in the same subset can vary. With these embodiments, the main controller 304 can control all DCDC converters in the same subset in the same manner (i.e., according to the same Vsp), using the same broadcast control signal for the subset, wherein the same Vsp is applied to each DCDC converter in the subset. In some implementations of these embodiments, the main controller 304 can logically group two or more DCDC converters into the same subset. With these implementations, the main controller 304 can dynamically adjust the grouping of DCDC converters into different subsets (e.g., changing which DCDC converters in the DCDC converters are grouped together and the number of corresponding DCDCs grouped together) as needed based on the corresponding SOC of the battery cell cluster, the desired level of control accuracy, the power requirements of the electrical systems they feed, and other factors monitored.

[0061] In other implementations of these embodiments, each of the DCDC converters grouped into the same subset can be electrically connected to each other via one or more wired connections (e.g., buses) and are collectively configured to use their collective battery cell clusters to jointly generate an aggregate or combined output voltage and supply it to the electrical system. According to these embodiments, each subset of DCDC converters can be limited to only include DCDC converters located on the same string or phase of three corresponding phase strings of the smart cell battery system 102, such as Figure 4 In addition, the DCDC converters included in each subset can be electrically connected in parallel along the same string on which they are located via one or more wired connections (e.g., as shown in FIG. Figure 4 ). In addition, although each DCDC converter of the same subset is connected in parallel, they can be controlled by the main controller 304 individually or as a unified subset according to the assigned Vsp.

[0062] In this regard, the exemplary arrangement 500 shows the grouping of DCDC converters for two low voltage independent power supply systems corresponding to low voltage A side feed (e.g., group 1) and low voltage B side feed (e.g., group 2). For ease of illustration, the subsets of DCDC converters of each power supply system are distinguished from each other via gray (A side) and white fill (B side), respectively. According to the exemplary arrangement 500, each gray and white box corresponds to a subset of DCDC converters grouped together in the same subset. Both the A side feed and the B side feed are configured to be the same with respect to the number of subsets (e.g., six per subset) and the number of DCDC converters included in each subset, in which example, the number of DCDC converters included in each subset is five. For example, a subset identified as DCDC A1...A5 represents a grouping of DCDC converters connected to battery cell units A1-A5, respectively, and a subset identified as DCDC B1...B5 represents a grouping of DCDC converters connected to battery cell units B1-B5, respectively, and so on. As shown in the exemplary arrangement 500, each subset of DCDC converters includes only DCDC converters located on the same phase, e.g., phase A, phase B, or phase C. Furthermore, the subsets are arranged such that an equal number of subsets, and therefore corresponding DCDC converters, are located on each of the three strings or phases.

[0063] according to Figure 4In the exemplary embodiment shown, both the A-side low-voltage power supply system (e.g., group 1) and the B-side low-voltage power supply system group their DCDC converters into three subsets, each subset representing each phase or string, each subset including three DCDC converters (corresponding to the battery monomer unit 106) connected in parallel, and configured to provide an aggregate output voltage of 15V. Various other configurations can be envisioned. Similarly, the high-voltage DC power supply system (e.g., group 3) groups the DCDC converters into three subsets, each subset representing each phase or string, and each subset including three DCDC converters (corresponding to the battery monomer unit 106) connected in parallel, and configured to supply an aggregate output voltage of 400V. Various other configurations can be envisioned.

[0064] Figure 6 The DCDC converter for electrically connecting the A-side low voltage power supply system (eg, group 1) and the B-side low voltage power supply system to the Figure 4 The exemplary arrangement 500 and the exemplary arrangement 600 of different low voltage electrical systems grouped into electrically connected subsets are shown in the embodiment. The wired connections between the various electrical components (e.g., the DCDC converter subset, the smart fuses 404a and 404b, and the low voltage electrical systems 110A, 110B, and 110C) are in Figure 6 are represented by solid lines. Figure 1-Figure 6 According to arrangement 600, portions of the battery pack forming the A-side low voltage power supply system (e.g., group 1) and the B-side low voltage power supply system group the corresponding DCDC converters according to arrangement 500. As described above, the dual A-side and B-side low voltage power supply systems can be used to provide redundant power channels (e.g., to provide backup power in the event of a channel failure or the need for dual power supplies) to one or more low voltage electrical systems of a vehicle that require two independently controlled systems in accordance with ASIL requirements, such as autonomous drive systems, etc. According to exemplary arrangement 600, this can be achieved using an A-side low voltage power supply system (e.g., group 1) and a B-side low voltage power supply system (group 2). In this example, Figure 1 The low voltage electrical system 110 shown in FIG. 1 includes three different electrical systems: Figure 6 1 and 10. In the example, the low voltage electrical system 110C corresponds to an electrical system of a vehicle that requires redundant power channels, such as an autonomous drive system or another critical system.

[0065] like Figure 6As shown, both the A-side low voltage power supply system (e.g., group 1) and the B-side low voltage power supply system (group 2) can be connected to and fed to the low voltage electrical system 110C, and independently controlled via the main controller 304 based on the power demand of the low voltage electrical system 110C as needed. The A-side low voltage power supply system (e.g., group 1) can also be connected to and fed to the low voltage electrical system 110A, and independently controlled by the main controller 304 based on the power demand of the low voltage electrical system 110A as needed, and the B-side low voltage power supply system (group 2) can be electrically connected to and fed to the low voltage electrical system 110B, and independently controlled according to the main controller 304 based on the power demand of the low voltage electrical system 110B. In various embodiments, smart fuses 404a and 404b can be respectively included in the power box between the corresponding input power channels and the corresponding electrical systems to which they are connected to protect the electrical systems in the event of an internal short circuit (e.g., feedback from other DCDC subsets) in one DCDC converter subset in the battery pack. In some embodiments, all DCDC subsets can also include internal fuse functionality to protect one or more electrical systems to which they are connected from load short circuits in the secondary side of the DCDC subset. It should also be noted that since the A side and the B side can have different power consumption depending on the needs of the corresponding electrical systems to which they are connected, this can create an imbalance between the corresponding power supply systems. In embodiments where the corresponding low-voltage power supply system is also used to feed a propulsion system (e.g., one or more electric motors 114), the main controller 304 can control the priority use of the corresponding battery cell clusters for propulsion energy supply to balance the three phases of the low-voltage power supply system and the SoC of the corresponding battery clusters on the A side and the B side. In addition, if it is necessary to divert reverse current from the A side to the B side during vehicle operation, the reverse current may be diverted to the A side and the B side. Figure 4 If the grid (i.e., "board net") shown is supplied to the battery pack to charge the corresponding battery cells, in some embodiments, the main controller 304 can reserve several DCDC subsets or individual DCDC converters of the corresponding DC power supply system (e.g., corresponding to groups 1, 2, and 3) and configure them to operate only in the direction of transferring power from the vehicle board net to the battery cells. This can be achieved by setting their respective Vsp to a low value (e.g., zero or below a minimum Vsp) and directing them to operate in the direction of transferring energy from the grid to the battery cells (opposite to the electrical system to which they are connected).

[0066] Figure 7An exemplary control arrangement 700 for a subset of DCDC converters of a distributed system (e.g., smart single-cell battery system 102) for controlling DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. The control arrangement 700 is exemplified with respect to an A-side low-voltage power supply system (e.g., group 1) and a B-side low-voltage power supply system (e.g., group 2) using respective subsets of DCDC converters grouped according to the exemplary arrangement 500. In this regard, the subset of DCDC converters belonging to the A-side low-voltage power supply system (e.g., group 1) is indicated by gray fill, and the subset of DCDC converters belonging to the B-side low-voltage power supply system (e.g., group 2) is indicated by white fill. The control arrangement 700 can be similarly applied to smaller or larger subsets of DCDC converters as well as a single DCDC converter.

[0067] like Figure 7 As shown, different subsets of DCDC converters for the same power supply system can be assigned different Vsp (e.g., via the main controller 304), with a defined offset voltage (e.g., in this example, 0.1V) between the different Vsp in a linear cascade order or descending order within a predetermined minimum and maximum Vsp (in this example, the minimum Vsp is 13.5 and the maximum Vsp is 15.5). For example, referring to the A-side low voltage power supply system, a first subset of DCDC converters (e.g., DCDC A1-A5) can be assigned a highest Vsp set to a maximum Vsp (e.g., 15.5V), a second subset of DCDC converters (e.g., DCDC B1-B5) can be assigned a second Vsp (e.g., 15.4V) lower than the highest Vsp and having an offset of 0.1V, a third subset of DCDC converters (e.g., DCDC C1-C5) can be assigned a third Vsp (e.g., 15.3V) lower than the second Vsp and having an offset of 0.1V, a fourth subset of DCDC converters (e.g., DCDC A6-C10) can be assigned a fourth Vsp (e.g., 15.2V) lower than the third Vsp and having an offset of 0.1V, and a fifth subset of DCDC converters (e.g., DCDC A sixth subset of DCDC converters (e.g., DCDC C6-C10) can be assigned a fifth Vsp (e.g., 15.1 V) lower than the fourth Vsp and with an offset of 0.1 V, and a sixth subset of DCDC converters (e.g., DCDC C6-C10) can be assigned a sixth Vsp (e.g., 15.0 V) lower than the fifth Vsp and with an offset of 0.1 V. In this example, the same control arrangement is used for the A-side low voltage power supply system (e.g., group 1) and the B-side low voltage power supply system (e.g., group 2).

[0068] According to the control arrangement 700, different Vsp are assigned to different subsets of DCDC converters according to a priority order or distribution for balancing and rotating the utilization of the DCDC converter subsets between three phases or strings (e.g., phase A, phase B, and phase C). As described above, the Vsp assigned to each subset is based on whether the system voltage of the electrical system is increased or decreased relative to its assigned Vsp, and controls when the DCDC converters of the subset are automatically activated (e.g., turned on) and deactivated (e.g., turned off) to generate and provide an aggregated DC output voltage to the electrical system to which they are connected. For example, according to the control arrangement 700 and the A-side low voltage power supply system, by assigning a maximum value of Vsp to a subset (in this example, DCDC A1-A5), when the system voltage is at 15.5V or lower, the subset will be triggered to activate the generation of the output voltage and provide the output voltage to the electrical system. In some embodiments, when the system voltage reaches a voltage level that is 0.1V greater than its Vsp, the sub-priority subset, i.e., the subset with the second highest Vsp (e.g., in this example, DCDC B1-B5) can be activated in standby mode. When the system voltage reaches 15.4V, the second subset of DCDC converters (e.g., DCDC B1-B5) can activate the generation of output voltage and provide the output voltage to the electrical system, and the next subset down in the priority order can enter standby mode, and so on. When the system voltage drops to 15.0V based on the increase in load on the electrical system, in this example, all DCDC converter subsets will be activated. In various embodiments, each of the DCDC converter subsets can be configured to automatically turn on if the system voltage level drops to or below a minimum level (e.g., 13.5V in this example). Similarly, when the electrical system voltage increases based on the decrease in load on the electrical system, the corresponding DCDC subset can be automatically deactivated (e.g., turned off) when the system voltage increases above its corresponding Vsp, but there is a limitation that requires at least one subset (e.g., the subset with the highest Vsp) to always remain activated.

[0069] In various embodiments, a subset of DCDC converters (and individual DCDC converters) can be controlled in such a way that there is some hysteresis between the on and off times to avoid frequent on and off switching. For example, if required for stability reasons, the off can be 0.0-0.5V higher than the on level. With this control arrangement, good system efficiency is achieved because the number of active DCDC converters always corresponds to the electrical load in the corresponding electrical system to which they are connected. This means that the active DCDC converters will be fully loaded, thereby providing optimized utilization of the corresponding DCDC converters in embodiments where the type of DCDC converter used is configured to work most efficiently at full load (e.g., as opposed to some types of DCDC converters designed to have a best efficiency point at partial load). As described above, in various embodiments, the master controller 304 can assign different Vsp to a subset of DCDC converters (and individual DCDC converters in embodiments where the subset includes or corresponds to a single DCDC converter) based on the SoC of the individual battery cell clusters to which the subset of DCDC converters (and individual DCDC converters in embodiments where the subset includes or corresponds to a single DCDC converter) is connected, wherein the higher the SoC, the higher the assigned Vsp. The master controller 304 can also assign different Vsp based on other battery cell parameters (such as temperature, SoH, etc.) such that the priority order resulting from the assignment distribution results in those battery cell clusters with larger SoH, optimal temperature levels, etc. being utilized before those battery cell clusters with lower SoH, lower optimal temperature levels, etc. The master controller 304 can also change the Vsp assigned to the respective subset of DCDC converters based on changes to the SoC, SoH, temperature, and other parameters of the DCDC converters. The master controller 304 can further change the Vsp assigned to the respective subsets such that the priority order rotates and balances the utilization of the respective subsets and their battery clusters over time among the three phases, as Figure 8 shown.

[0070] Figure 8 An example control arrangement for utilizing DCDC converters of a distributed system for balancing DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. Specifically, Figure 8The control arrangement 700 and the second control arrangement 800 for the same subset of DCDC converters are shown. In various embodiments, the master controller 304 can reallocate different Vsp to the corresponding subset of DCDC converters according to the allocation schedule shown in the control arrangement 800 after a defined amount of time has passed and / or as needed (e.g., based on SoC, SoH, temperature, etc.) as allocated according to the control arrangement 700 to rotate the priority order in which the corresponding DCDC subsets and their corresponding battery cell clusters are utilized. In this regard, the priority order of the battery clusters can be controlled by shifting the Vsp commands from the master controller 304 to obtain a rotation of energy usage between the battery clusters and ensure that energy balance between the three phases of the battery pack is maintained.

[0071] In this regard, reference Figure 1-Figure 8 , as mentioned above Figure 1-Figure 3 As described, the main controller 304 can continuously or regularly (e.g., according to a defined update rate) measure the operating voltage of the corresponding low-voltage electrical system and the high-voltage electrical system to which the corresponding power supply system (e.g., group 1, group 2, and group 3) is connected, and monitor the SoC, SoH, and temperature of the corresponding battery cell cluster, and determine and allocate Vsp accordingly according to the defined update rate. In some embodiments, the update rate of the main controller 304 can be approximately every 1.0 ms, thereby generating a control loop with an update rate of every 1.0 ms, but other update rates can be applied.

[0072] In some embodiments, if the operating voltage of a particular electrical system begins to decrease below a predetermined limit, the master controller 304 can be configured to increase the Vsp assigned to the corresponding DCDC converter (or subset of DCDC converters) connected to the electrical system by a defined amount (e.g., 0.1V), except for one or more DCDC converters (or subset of DCDC converters) that are already at the highest Vsp (i.e., the highest priority), with an offset voltage of +0.1V steps for each turn in the control loop. Similarly, if the voltage of a particular electrical system begins to increase beyond a predetermined limit, the master controller 304 can be configured to decrease the Vsp assigned to the corresponding DCDC converter (or subset of DCDC converters) connected to the electrical system by a defined amount (e.g., 0.1V), except for one or more Vsp that are already at the highest Vsp (i.e., the highest priority), with an offset voltage of +0.1V steps for each turn in the control loop. Using this master control loop control protocol, the master controller 304 can advantageously adjust the operating parameters (e.g., Vsp) of the power supply system for the corresponding low-voltage and high-voltage electrical systems of the vehicle to operate at the optimal voltage level for the electrical loads. At the same time, if the system voltage decreases relative to the minimum Vsp, such as in response to a large instantaneous increase in electrical load but the system voltage temporarily decreases, the DCDC system will automatically coordinate all DCDC converters very quickly by basically directing each DCDC converter (or a subset of DCDC converters) to turn on. Similarly, if the high electrical load remains or decreases, the main controller control loop will adjust the power supply system operating parameters to best match the power consumption requirements of the electrical system. It should be understood that the main controller 304 can independently control each of the corresponding power supply systems (e.g., Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3) in the same manner using a separate control loop.

[0073] Therefore, the disclosed DCDC converter control strategy for the intelligent single-cell battery system 102 provides several advantages. In particular, the control strategy is based on the need to effectively utilize the corresponding battery cell clusters connected to the corresponding DCDC converters, because the individual DCDCs that are turned on and used always correspond to the electrical load of the vehicle electrical system they supply. This means that each DCDC will operate at high loads and provide good efficiency. The control strategy is safer because if the voltage on the secondary side is lower than the predefined minimum voltage level, all DCDC converters will be triggered to turn on by the hardware circuit. This means that it will not rely on any software to achieve maximum power delivery at low voltage levels. If dual hardware and software implementations from different suppliers are used for the DCDC design, the risk of system failure can be minimized. The control strategy is more robust, there is a high level of redundancy in the distributed system of DCDC converters, and each DCDC converter is powered by its own battery cell. This means that a failure in one battery cell or DCDC converter only represents a power loss of only one DCDC, which can be provided by the remaining working DCDC converters. Furthermore, since low-voltage electrical loads requiring redundancy can be fed from two independent power channels (e.g., low voltage, A-side and B-side) with ASIL B(D), ASIL D can be met at the system level.

[0074] In some embodiments, when the electrical system is not activated, the main controller 304 can also control a subset of the DCDC converter or DCDC converters. For example, the output voltage from the DCDC to the low voltage electrical system can be set to 15.5V. When the vehicle is parked and in low energy consumption, it is likely that only one or two DCDC converters or subsets are kept activated to feed the low voltage electrical system (or if both the low voltage A side and the B side need to be fed, keep two). This can be handled by setting a higher Vsp for one DCDC in the low voltage A side and one DCDC in the low voltage B side. This will likely increase efficiency because a single DCDC converter or subset will operate in a more efficient operating point, especially if it can be maintained at the resonant frequency. In order to obtain energy balance in the battery pack, energy can be obtained from the part with the highest SoC in the battery pack, and rotated between different DCDC converters and different parts of the battery pack over time.

[0075] In some embodiments, the main controller 304 can also execute a fault handling procedure for handling faults in the low voltage DCDC subset. If a fault that affects the power production performance is detected in one or more DCDC converters or a subset of DCDC converters, a fault handling strategy at the system level is required. The fault handling strategy must ensure that the system safety goals are always met when the vehicle is driving to meet the ASIL D at the system level in the vehicle. In some embodiments, the DCDC converter solution in the system solution can preferably come from two different suppliers to minimize the risk of system failure in the DCDC converter system solution for the smart single battery system 102. Therefore, the main controller 304 needs to monitor all DCDC converters, handle faults, and notify the car driver if the power output to the low voltage board network can no longer meet the system safety requirements. This means that the vehicle can most likely operate with a few DCDC converters that fail in generating output power, but the main controller 304 must ensure that the total available power from the available DCDC converters or DCDC converter subsets on the low voltage A side and B side is sufficient to meet the system safety requirements.

[0076] Fig. 9 An exemplary computer-implemented method 900 for optimizing control of a distributed system of DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. According to the method 900, at 902, a system (e.g., an electric vehicle 100, a mainboard 104, etc.) operably coupled to at least one processor can employ a smart cell battery system (e.g., smart cell battery system 102) to power an electrical system of the electric vehicle, the smart cell battery system comprising: a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged into three strings, each of the plurality of battery cell clusters comprising one or more battery cells; and a DCDC converter connected to a corresponding battery cell cluster in the battery cell clusters and the electrical system. At 904, the system can control when a corresponding DCDC converter in the DCDC converter is activated and deactivated to generate and provide a corresponding output voltage to the electrical system using a corresponding battery cell cluster in the battery cell clusters to which they are connected based on a monitored power demand of the electrical system.

[0077] Fig.10Another exemplary computer-implemented method 1000 for optimizing control of a distributed system of DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. According to the method 1000, at 1002, a system (e.g., an electric vehicle 100, a mainboard 104, etc.) operably coupled to at least one processor can employ a smart cell battery system (e.g., smart cell battery system 102) to power an electrical system of the electric vehicle, the smart cell battery system comprising: a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged into three strings, each battery cell cluster in the plurality of battery cell clusters comprising one or more battery cells; and a DCDC converter connected to a corresponding battery cell cluster in the battery cell clusters and the electrical system. At 1004, the system can group the DCDC converters into different subsets, wherein each subset of the different subsets includes two or more DCDC converters associated with the same string of the three strings, and wherein the different subsets include subsets associated with each of the three strings. At 1006 , the system can control when respective ones of the subsets are activated and deactivated to generate and provide respective aggregate output voltages to the electrical system using respective ones of the battery cell clusters to which they are independently connected and based on monitored power demands of the electrical system.

[0078] Fig.11 Another exemplary computer-implemented method 1100 for optimizing control of a distributed system of DCDC converters according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. According to the method 1100, at 1102, a system (e.g., an electric vehicle 100, a mainboard 104, etc.) operably coupled to at least one processor can employ a smart cell battery system (e.g., smart cell battery system 102) to power an electrical system of the electric vehicle, the smart cell battery system comprising: a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged into three strings, each battery cell cluster in the plurality of battery cell clusters comprising one or more battery cells; and a DCDC converter connected to a corresponding battery cell cluster in the battery cell cluster and the electrical system. At 1104, the system can assign different Vsp to corresponding DCDC converters in the DCDC converters (or corresponding subsets in a subset of the DCDC converters). At 1106, based on whether the current voltage level of the electrical system decreases and increases relative to the different assigned voltage set points, the system can (e.g., via the main controller 304 and / or the local controller 204) direct corresponding DCDC converters in the DCDC converters (or corresponding subsets of the subsets of DCDC converters) to activate and deactivate generating and providing corresponding output voltages to the electrical system.

[0079] In various embodiments, different Vsp control priority orders in which corresponding ones of the DCDC converters generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system according to the method 1100. The system (e.g., the master controller 304) can further periodically adjust different Vsp points assigned to corresponding ones of the DCDC converters in a manner that rotates the priority order among the DCDC converters over time.

[0080] One or more flow charts and / or block diagrams in the accompanying drawings show one or more possible architectures, functions and operations of one or more systems, devices and / or methods according to various embodiments described herein. In this regard, one or more blocks in one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams can represent modules, segments and / or parts of instructions, which can include one or more executable instructions for implementing specified logical functions. In one or more alternative embodiments, one or more functions mentioned in one or more of the blocks can occur in a sequence not shown in the figure. For example, one or more blocks shown in succession can be executed substantially simultaneously and / or one or more blocks can be executed in an order opposite to that shown, such as depending on the functions involved. It will also be noted that one or more blocks of one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams and / or one or more combinations of one or more blocks thereof can be implemented by a system based on dedicated hardware, which can perform one or more of the specified functions and / or can perform one or more dedicated hardware and / or computer instructions.

[0081] As indicated, one or more aspects are described herein with reference to one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams of one or more methods, devices and / or systems according to one or more embodiments described herein. It should be understood that one or more blocks of one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams, and / or one or more combinations of blocks in one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams can be implemented by one or more computer-readable program instructions.

[0082] Computer-readable program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, and / or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine. For example, instructions that can be executed via a processor of a computer and / or other programmable data processing device can create one or more devices for implementing one or more functions and / or processes specified in one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams. Computer-readable program instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can instruct a computer, a programmable data processing device, and / or other devices to function in a particular manner. For example, a computer-readable storage medium in which instructions are stored can include an article containing instructions that can implement one or more aspects of one or more functions and / or processes specified in one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams. Computer-readable program instructions can be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing devices, and / or other devices so that one or more operating actions are performed on a computer, other programmable devices, and / or other devices to produce a computer-implemented process. For example, instructions that can be executed on a computer, other programmable devices, and / or other devices can implement one or more functions and / or processes specified in one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams.

[0083] As used in this specification, the term "processor" or "processing unit" can refer to substantially any computing processing unit or device, including but not limited to a single-core processor; a single processor with software multithreaded execution capability; a multi-core processor; a multi-core processor with software multithreaded execution capability; a multi-core processor using hardware multithreading technology; a parallel platform; and a parallel platform with distributed shared memory. In addition, the processor can refer to an integrated circuit, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic controller (PLC), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. In addition, the processor can utilize nanoscale architectures, such as, but not limited to, transistors, switches, and gates based on molecules and quantum dots, in order to optimize space usage or enhance the performance of user devices. The processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing processing units. As used herein, terms such as "storage", "storage", "data storage", "data storage", "database", and any other information storage component substantially related to the operation and function of the component are used to refer to a "memory component", an entity embodied in a "memory", or a component including a memory. The processor can employ distributed and / or federated machine intelligence that can be used to operate and / or facilitate one or more of the above-described computer-readable program instructions.

[0084] The memory and / or memory components described herein can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, and / or can include both volatile and non-volatile memory. As an illustration and not limitation, non-volatile memory can include read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, or non-volatile random access memory (RAM) (e.g., ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM)). Volatile memory can include, for example, RAM, which can be used as an external cache. As an illustration and not limitation, RAM can be obtained in a variety of forms, such as synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous connection DRAM (SLDRAM), direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM), direct Rambus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM) and Rambus dynamic RAM (RDRAM). In addition, the memory components of the system or computer-implemented method disclosed herein are intended to include, but are not limited to, including these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0085] What is described herein includes only one or more examples of one or more systems and / or methods. Of course, for the purpose of describing the subject matter, it is not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components and / or methods implemented by the systems. Nevertheless, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that one or more additional combinations and / or arrangements of the disclosed subject matter are possible. In addition, to the extent that the terms "including," "having," "having," and the like are used in the detailed description, claims, appendices, and / or drawings, these terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising," in that when "including" is used as a transition word in a claim, "including" is interpreted as.

[0086] It should be understood that when an element is referred to as being "coupled" to another element, the term "coupling" can describe one or more different types of coupling, including but not limited to chemical coupling, communication coupling, capacitive coupling, electrical coupling, electromagnetic coupling, inductive coupling, operational coupling, optical coupling, physical coupling, thermal coupling, and / or other types of coupling. As described herein, an "entity" includes a machine, a device, hardware, software, a computing device, and / or a person. According to one or more embodiments described herein, such an entity can facilitate the implementation of the subject matter disclosed herein.

[0087] In addition, the term "or" is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise specified or clear from the context, "X employs A or B" is intended to mean any natural inclusive arrangement. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then "X employs A or B" is satisfied in any of the foregoing cases. In addition, unless otherwise specified or the singular form is clear from the context, the words "one" and "an" used in this specification and the drawings should generally be interpreted to mean "one or more". As used herein, the terms "example" and / or "exemplary" are used to indicate use as an example, instance, and / or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited to such examples. In addition, any aspect and / or design described herein as "example" and / or "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as superior and / or beneficial to other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to exclude equivalent exemplary structures and / or technologies known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0088] The description of one or more various embodiments provided herein is presented for illustrative purposes, but is not intended to be exhaustive and / or limited to the disclosed one or more embodiments. One or more modifications and / or variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and / or spirit of the described embodiments. The terms used herein are selected to best explain the principles of the embodiments, practical applications, and / or technical improvements to technologies found on the market, and / or to enable other persons of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0089] What has been described above merely includes examples of systems and computer-implemented methods. Of course, for the purposes of describing the present disclosure, it is not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or computer-implemented methods, but one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the present disclosure are possible. In addition, to the extent that the terms "including," "having," "having," and the like are used in the detailed description, claims, appendices, and drawings, these terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to that in which the term "including" is interpreted when used as a transitional word in a claim. Descriptions of various embodiments have been presented for illustrative purposes, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terms used herein are selected to best explain the principles of the embodiments, practical applications, or technical improvements to technologies found on the market, or to enable other persons of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method comprising: An intelligent single-cell battery system is used by a system operatively coupled to at least one processor to power an electrical system of an electric vehicle, the intelligent single-cell battery system comprising: a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged in three strings, each battery cell cluster of the plurality of battery cell clusters comprising one or more battery cells; and a direct current to direct current (DCDC) converter connected to a corresponding one of the battery cell clusters and the electrical system; and The system controls when corresponding ones of the DCDC converters are activated and deactivated based on the monitored power demand of the electrical system to generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system using corresponding ones of the battery cell clusters connected to the DCDC converters.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: grouping, by the system, the DCDC converters into different subsets, wherein each of the different subsets includes two or more of the DCDC converters associated with a same string of the three strings, wherein the different subsets include a subset associated with each of the three strings, and wherein the controlling includes: The system controls when corresponding subsets of the subsets are activated and deactivated to generate and provide corresponding aggregate output voltages to the electrical system using corresponding battery cell clusters of the battery cell clusters to which the subsets are connected based on the monitored power demand of the electrical system.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The control includes: assigning, by the system, different voltage set points to the different subsets; and The different subsets are directed by the system to activate and deactivate generating and providing respective aggregate output voltages to the electrical system based on whether a current voltage level of the electrical system is decreasing or increasing relative to the different assigned voltage set points.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The allocating includes allocating a same voltage set point to all DCDC converters included in two or more of the DCDC converters in the same subset, and wherein the directing includes directing all of the two or more DCDC converters to activate and deactivate generating and providing a collective output voltage to the electrical system according to the same voltage set point.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The control includes: assigning, by the system, different voltage set points to respective ones of the DCDC converters; and Based on whether the current voltage level of the electrical system is decreasing or increasing relative to the different assigned voltage set points, the system directs corresponding ones of the DCDC converters to activate and deactivate to generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The control further includes: Based on whether the current voltage level of the electrical system drops below a minimum voltage set point, the system directs all of the DCDC converters to activate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The allocating includes allocating the different voltage set points based on states of charge of corresponding ones of the battery cell clusters to which the DCDC converters are respectively connected.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The allocating includes adjusting the different voltage set points allocated to the DCDC converters based on a change to the state of charge.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The different voltage set points control a priority order in which corresponding ones of the DCDC converters are activated and deactivated to generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system, and wherein the allocating includes allocating the different voltage set points such that the priority order balances utilization of the DCDC converters among the three strings.

10. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The different voltage set point control wherein corresponding ones of the DCDC converters are activated and deactivated to generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system, and wherein the assigning comprises periodically adjusting, by the system, the different voltage set points assigned to the DCDC converters in a manner that rotates the priority order among the DCDC converters over time.

11. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The assigning includes sending control information by the system to the DCDC converters, which identifies the different voltage set points to which the DCDC converters are respectively assigned, wherein based on the receipt of the control information, the DCDC converters operate according to the assigned different voltage set points.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The plurality of battery cell clusters include a first group of battery cell clusters providing a first power source to the electrical system and a second group of battery cell clusters providing a second power source independent of the first power source to the electrical system, wherein respective first DCDC converters of the first group are electrically connected to each other and to the electrical system, wherein respective second DCDC converters of the second group are electrically connected to each other and to the electrical system, and wherein the controlling includes: Activation and deactivation of providing a first output voltage from a corresponding first DCDC converter to the electrical system, and activation and deactivation of providing a second output voltage from a corresponding second DCDC converter to the electrical system are respectively controlled by the system.

13. An intelligent single-cell battery system for supplying power to an electrical system of an electric vehicle, the intelligent single-cell battery system comprising: a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged into three strings, each battery cell cluster of the plurality of battery cell clusters comprising one or more battery cells; a direct current to direct current (DCDC) converter connected to a corresponding one of the battery cell clusters and the electrical system; and A main controller controls when to activate and deactivate corresponding ones of the DCDC converters to generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system using corresponding ones of the battery cell clusters connected to the DCDC converters based on the monitored power demand of the electrical system.

14. The intelligent single-cell battery system according to claim 13, wherein: The master controller groups the DCDC converters into different subsets, wherein each of the different subsets includes two or more DCDC converters associated with the same string of the three strings, wherein the different subsets include subsets associated with each of the three strings, and wherein the master controller controls when corresponding subsets of the subsets are activated and deactivated to generate and provide corresponding aggregate output voltages to the electrical system using corresponding subsets of the battery cell clusters to which the subsets are connected based on the monitored power demand of the electrical system.

15. The intelligent single-cell battery system according to claim 13, wherein the main controller: assigning different voltage set points to respective ones of the DCDC converters; and Based on whether a current voltage level of the electrical system is decreasing or increasing relative to the different assigned voltage set points, corresponding ones of the DCDC converters are directed to activate and deactivate generating and providing corresponding ones of the output voltages to the electrical system.

16. The intelligent single-cell battery system according to claim 15, wherein the main controller: Based on whether the current voltage level of the electrical system drops below a minimum voltage set point, all of the DCDC converters are directed to activate and generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system.

17. The intelligent single-cell battery system according to claim 15, wherein: The master controller assigns different voltage set points based on the states of charge of corresponding ones of the battery cell clusters to which the DCDC converters are respectively connected, and wherein the master controller adjusts the different voltage set points assigned to the DCDC converters based on changes in the states of charge.

18. The intelligent single-cell battery system according to claim 15, wherein: The different voltage set points control a priority order in which corresponding ones of the DCDC converters generate and provide corresponding ones of the output voltages to the electrical system, and wherein the master controller assigns the different voltage set points such that the priority order balances utilization of the DCDC converters among the three strings.

19. The intelligent single-cell battery system according to claim 15, wherein: The different voltage set points control a priority order in which corresponding ones of the DCDC converters are activated and deactivated to generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system, and wherein the master controller periodically adjusts the different voltage set points assigned to the DCDC converters in a manner that rotates the priority order among the DCDC converters over time.

20. A computer program product for facilitating control of supplying power to an electrical system of an electric vehicle from an intelligent single-cell battery system, the intelligent single-cell battery system comprising: a plurality of battery cell clusters arranged into three strings, each battery cell cluster of the plurality of battery cell clusters comprising one or more battery cells; and a direct current to direct current (DCDC) converter connected to a corresponding one of the battery cell clusters; The computer program product includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions being executable by a processor to cause the processor to: Based on the monitored power demand of the electrical system, corresponding ones of the DCDC converters are controlled when to activate and deactivate to generate and provide corresponding output voltages to the electrical system using corresponding ones of the battery cell clusters to which the DCDC converters are connected.

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