Electric vehicle battery system control strategy combined with active cell temperature balance

Abstract

A control strategy for an electric vehicle battery system is described that combines active cell temperature balancing. In one example, a method includes employing, by a system operatively coupled to at least one processor, a smart cell system to power one or more electrical systems of a vehicle, the smart cell system including a plurality of battery cells. The method further includes controlling, by the system, operation of the battery cells according to a control protocol that causes an increase in the temperature of the subset of battery cells based on the temperature of the subset of battery cells being below a threshold temperature. In one example, a control protocol may include circulating current between a subset of battery cells and / or other battery cells excluded from the subset, actively discharging the subset of battery cells, and redistributing power to other battery cells excluded from the subset, among others.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The subject disclosure relates to electric and / or hybrid electric vehicle drive technology, and more particularly to control strategies for electric vehicle battery systems incorporating active cell temperature balancing. Background Art

[0002] Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly popular as a more sustainable mode of transportation. Currently, electric drive trains (e.g., those used in electric vehicles) are based on a battery arrangement with a direct current (DC) voltage of approximately 370 volts (V). Many systems are designed around this battery arrangement to protect and control the individual battery cells. Auxiliary units are used to generate alternating current (AC) voltage to run the motor and charge the individual battery cells. Such systems are often complex and expensive, and can be a source of error.

[0003] It is known from practical experience that electric drive technology is limited, for example, by the battery arrangements available today. This involves limitations given, for example, by complex requirements (e.g. a large number of charging cycles), performance requirements in terms of electrical power output, available capacity, operating conditions, etc. For example, controlling the battery arrangement sets high requirements if an electric machine (e.g. an electric motor) is to be operated therewith.

[0004] In addition, lithium-ion battery cells used in today's commercial electric vehicles are sensitive to temperature, which affects the performance of the battery pack, including range, voltage efficiency, charging time, and the health state (SOH) of the battery pack. For example, cold battery pack temperatures reduce the charge / discharge capacity and power capacity of the battery pack because the chemical reactions inside the battery slow down, which increases the internal resistance. In extreme cold conditions (typically below 0°C), individual battery cells may even stop functioning and suffer irreversible damage.

[0005] Higher battery pack temperatures can also lead to performance degradation, including capacity loss (e.g., due to loss of lithium and reduction of active materials at high temperatures) and power loss (e.g., due to increased internal resistance). Similar to extreme cold, extremely high temperatures (typically above 60°C) can also cause the battery pack to fail to function and, in some cases, to irreversible damage. In the worst case, thermal runaway can even trigger spontaneous combustion and explosion. Summary of the invention

[0006] The following presents an overview to provide a basic understanding of one or more embodiments of the invention. This overview is not intended to identify key or important 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 that is presented later. In one or more embodiments described herein, a system, computer-implemented method, and / or computer program product for a control strategy for an electric vehicle battery system is facilitated that incorporates active cell temperature balancing.

[0007] In one embodiment, a method may include employing, by a system operatively coupled to at least one processor, a smart cell battery system to power one or more electrical systems of a vehicle, the smart cell battery system comprising a plurality of cells. The method further includes controlling, by the system, operation of each cell according to a control protocol, resulting in increasing the temperature of a subset of cells based on the temperature of the subset of cells being below a threshold temperature. In one example, the control protocol may include circulating current between the subset of cells and / or other cells excluded from the subset, actively discharging the subset of cells, and redistributing power to other cells excluded from the subset, among others.

[0008] In another embodiment, a system may include a smart cell battery system configured to power one or more electrical systems of an electric vehicle, the smart cell battery system including a plurality of battery cell units, the plurality of battery cell units respectively including a local controller, the local controller controlling the operation of a corresponding battery cell connected to the local controller. The system may further include a memory storing computer executable components, and a processor executing the computer executable components stored in the memory. The computer executable components may include a master control component that directs one or more local controllers to control the operation of the corresponding battery cells connected thereto according to a control protocol, the control protocol causing an increase in the temperature of a subset of battery cells based on the temperature of the subset of battery cells being below a threshold temperature.

[0009] In another embodiment, a computer program product facilitates controlling operation of individual battery cells of a smart cell battery system for powering one or more electrical systems of an electric vehicle. The computer program product may include executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations including directing one or more of the local controllers to control operation of respective battery cells connected thereto according to a control protocol that results in increasing the temperature of a subset of the battery cells based on the temperature of the subset of the battery cells being below a threshold temperature. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] One or more exemplary embodiments are described below in the detailed description section with reference to the following figures.

[0011] Figure 1 An example smart cell battery system is shown for powering one or more electrical systems of an electric vehicle according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0012] Figure 2A An example battery cell unit of a smart cell battery system is shown in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

[0013] Figure 2B Another example battery cell unit of a smart cell battery system according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown.

[0014] Figure 3 A high-level block diagram of an example battery cell unit of a smart cell battery system is shown in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

[0015] Figure 4 A high-level block diagram of an example motherboard is shown in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

[0016] Figure 5 A high-level flow chart illustrating an example control process for a smart-cell battery system incorporating active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0017] Figure 6 An example control protocol is shown that facilitates active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0018] Figure 7 Graphs are presented showing the effects of an active cell discharge process on voltage, temperature, and state of charge according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0019] Figure 8 An example computer-implemented method for performing active cell temperature balancing is shown in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

[0020] Fig. 9 Another example computer-implemented method for performing active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown.

[0021] Fig.10 Another example computer-implemented method for performing active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown.

[0022] Fig.11Another example computer-implemented method for performing active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The following detailed description is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the embodiments and / or the application or use of the embodiments. In addition, it is not intended to be bound by any express or implied information presented in the previous background or summary or detailed description.

[0024] In one or more embodiments described herein, a system, a computer-implemented method, and / or a computer program product of one or more embodiments described herein are provided to facilitate a system, a computer-implemented method, and / or a computer program product for a control strategy for an electric vehicle battery system incorporating thermal management. The disclosed control strategy is particularly directed to a technique for controlling the temperature of a battery cell of an electric vehicle in a manner that optimizes efficiency while minimizing degradation based on the thermal sensitivity of the battery cell. More particularly, as opposed to using external heating and / or cooling equipment, the disclosed technology uses an intelligent, active cell temperature balancing protocol to actively regulate the temperature of the corresponding battery cell. To this end, the disclosed technology is rooted in a battery system for an electric vehicle that is a smart cell battery system.

[0025] The intelligent single-cell battery system is intended to remove large and expensive parts from conventional powertrains and use batteries more efficiently. More specifically, the intelligent single-cell battery system is a multi-level converter concept that is intended to replace powertrain components by integrating powertrain components such as conventional large converters into printed circuit boards (PCBs) connected to battery cell clusters. These PCBs are wirelessly connected to a central controller that handles advanced control. Each of the PCBs includes local wireless communication hardware, a small DC to DC (DCDC) converter, multiple power switches (e.g., high current and low voltage switches), one or more sensors, and other electronic components hardware and software components that enable them to intelligently control and manage the operation of the corresponding battery cells to which they are connected (e.g., making them "smart"). In addition, the PCB enables the direct current (DC) output from the small battery cluster to be converted into alternating current (AC) to control the electric motor through field-oriented control (FOC). The battery pack can be configured in many different ways depending on the utilization of other high and low voltage electrical systems of the propulsion, vehicle, and the need for charging. By changing the converter switching to a smart cell battery system, the battery pack can operate at twice the voltage level of a similar battery pack using a conventional converter, resulting in lower current with less losses. In addition, only the required battery cells are activated, rather than all batteries needing to be continuously active, thereby improving efficiency.

[0026] In various embodiments, the disclosed active cell temperature balancing protocol is particularly related to a technique for internally heating (e.g., without using an external heating device) selected battery cells of an intelligent cell battery system based on the temperature of the battery cell selected to be below a threshold temperature (e.g., less than 25°C). In this regard, battery cells used in electric vehicles typically have a small thermal operating window in which they perform most efficiently. For example, the optimal thermal operating window is generally about 25°C to about 40°C. As described in the background section, each battery cell may suffer degradation when exposed to a temperature exceeding a certain level outside the thermal operating window. In general, the internal resistance of each battery cell increases as the temperature decreases, which results in high losses in each cell. For example, the internal resistance of a cell can be about five to ten times higher at a temperature 25°C below ambient. The increase in internal resistance can result in a high voltage drop in the cell, which can negatively affect the safety, SOC, and health status (SOH) of the cell over time.

[0027] At a high level, the disclosed active cell temperature balancing protocol is intended to increase the temperature of those battery cells that are cooler than other cells by taking advantage of the ability of the smart cell system to selectively operate desired cells in the battery pack. In one or more embodiments, internal heating of each cell can be achieved by charging and / or discharging each cell with high amplitude (e.g., between about 200 amperes (Amps) and about 400 amperes) pulsed currents generated over a period of time (e.g., about 1.0 μs to about 10.0 seconds), respectively, until the cutoff voltage of the cell is reached. By providing short pulse trains of high amplitude charge and / or discharge currents of less than 1.0 seconds and more preferably on the order of microseconds, the temperature of each cell can be increased and the internal resistance of each cell can be reduced without negatively affecting the battery life of each cell.

[0028] In some embodiments, the charging current and the discharging current may be circulated between two or more low temperature battery cells to internally heat the corresponding cells, respectively. The two or more battery cells may include battery cells grouped together in the same battery cell cluster (and controlled by the same PCB) and / or battery cells associated with different clusters (and controlled by different PCBs). In other embodiments, the discharge current removed from one or more low temperature battery cells may be redistributed to one or more other cells of the smart cell battery system. For example, one or more other cells may include an electric body with a low temperature and / or a low SOC.

[0029] The disclosed technology for selectively raising the temperature of battery cells having a lower temperature than other battery cells facilitates maintaining a uniform temperature of each cell inside the battery pack, which results in optimizing battery safety, performance, and life. The internal heating of each cell can be performed when the vehicle is stationary, during driving of the vehicle, and during alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) fast charging. In some embodiments, the specific control protocol for balancing the temperature of the cells can be customized based on the operating environment of the vehicle (e.g., stationary, city driving, highway driving, AC fast charging, DC fast charging, etc.). For example, in some embodiments, during city driving, which does not typically require the full voltage of the battery pack, the control protocol can selectively ignore the use of power from those cells having a lower temperature than other cells, resulting in better driving efficiency.

[0030] In addition, in some embodiments, the control protocol may control the charging of each battery cell based on temperature. In this regard, the process of performing fast charging on battery cells with low temperatures may result in degradation of the lithium plating and thereby adversely affect battery performance and life over time. When fast charging is performed at low external climate temperatures (e.g., less than 25°C), one strategy that can be used to minimize such degradation involves reducing the overall amplitude of the fast charging current supplied to the entire battery pack. In other words, as the amplitude of the charging current decreases, the charging capacity of the fast charging device decreases to avoid delithiation at low temperatures. For example, the efficiency of the fast charging device may be reduced to 50% or less at temperatures between 25°C and -25°C.

[0031] In some implementations of these embodiments, the control protocol may limit the charging rate of a fast charging device applied to charge the entire battery pack based on the temperature of the corresponding battery cell. In this regard, reducing the charging rate corresponds to charging each battery cell at a lower current amplitude (for example, instead of charging at 300A, the charging rate may be reduced to 100A). For example, the control protocol may reduce the charging rate of each battery cell in proportion to the lowest temperature battery cell, so that the lower the temperature, the lower the charging rate. In some implementations of these embodiments, the control protocol may dynamically increase the charging rate as the temperature of each battery cell increases over a changing duration. In other implementations of these embodiments, the control protocol may involve notifying the operator of the vehicle about when to charge and not charge the battery pack based on the temperature, the SOC of the corresponding battery cell of the vehicle, and / or what charging rate to apply when using an external charging device. For example, a master controller of the smart cell battery system may generate and provide a notification message or the like to a vehicle operator (e.g., via any suitable output device communicatively coupled to the master controller) notifying the operator when charging of the battery pack is avoided based on the temperature of one or more battery cells being below a threshold and / or the SOC of the battery pack being above a threshold acceptable for use of the vehicle under the current operating environment (e.g., based on route, speed, and associated power requirements). In still other embodiments, due to the ability to internally raise the temperature of each battery cell before performing a fast charge and the ability to selectively avoid or bypass fast charging of any battery cell having a temperature below a minimum threshold (e.g., 25° C.), the fast charging device may operate at its highest efficiency (e.g., at its highest current amplitude) even at low temperatures.

[0032] Although one or more devices and / or systems are described below with reference to wheeled vehicles such as automobiles, one or more embodiments described herein are not limited to such use. The battery devices and / or battery systems described herein may be implemented in any suitable electronic system, such as, for example, an electric drive train of an electric vehicle (EV). In fact, one or more devices and / or systems described herein may be used with any of military vehicles, marine vehicles such as ships or marine drones, winged vehicles such as airplanes, and / or rotary-wing vehicles such as helicopters or drones. Similarly, use may be extended to robots and / or any suitable mobile and / or fixed devices using battery devices or battery systems.

[0033] One or more embodiments are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference numerals are used to refer to similar elements throughout. In the following description, for the purpose of explanation, many specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of one or more embodiments. However, in various cases, it is apparent that one or more embodiments can be practiced without these specific details. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "coupled" to another element, it may 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.

[0034] Figure 1 An example smart cell battery system 102 is shown for powering one or more electrical systems of a vehicle 100 according to one or more embodiments described herein. The vehicle 100 may include or correspond to an electric vehicle (EV), a battery electric vehicle (BEV), or a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). The one or more electrical systems may include one or more motors 112, one or more high voltage (HV) electrical systems 110, and / or one or more low voltage (LV) electrical systems 108. The one or more LV electrical systems 108 may 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 LV electrical systems may include, but are not limited to, power steering systems, autonomous driving systems, infotainment systems, navigation systems, backup camera systems, and the like. One or more HV electrical systems 110 may include any type of electrical system associated with the electric vehicle 100 that typically consumes a DC input voltage greater than approximately 50V (e.g., 48V, 72V, 100V, 400V, etc.), such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and other systems.

[0035] One or more motors 112 (e.g., a single motor typically used for a two-wheel drive vehicle and two motors for a four-wheel drive vehicle) may include any type of electric vehicle motor as part of the powertrain or drive of the vehicle, including one or more DC motors and / or one or more AS motors. In various embodiments, one or more motors 112 may include or correspond to a three-phase electric motor, such as a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). A PMSM is a synchronous machine that uses permanent magnets (PM) rather than electromagnetic windings to generate a magnetic field. The three-phase machine operates using a three-phase current system. The base frequency that powers the three-phase system also determines the rotor speed by controlling the rotating magnetomotive force (MMF). The MMF produces torque together with the field of the PM rotor.

[0036] The rotor consists of PM and the three static coils are stator windings. The stator windings are distributed 120° apart from the PM in the center. 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 with phase currents ia, ib and ic. When current passes through the static coils, a magnetic field is generated according to Faraday's law, and a magnetic field is generated by the PM. The maximum torque is generated when the electrical angle between the MMF of the stator and the rotor magnetic field is 90°.

[0037] In conventional BEV systems, three-phase current for an AC motor such as a PMSM is generated from a DC power source by a converter. According to one or more embodiments of the disclosed technology, the three-phase current is generated from a smart cell battery system 102 without using a converter. To facilitate this purpose, the smart cell battery system 102 includes a plurality of battery cells (not shown) arranged in three separate strings corresponding to three different phases (e.g., phase A string, phase B string, and phase C string), respectively, which can provide corresponding three-phase currents for driving the three-phase current of one or more motors 112.

[0038] In this regard, the smart single-cell battery system 102 includes a plurality of battery cell units 106 arranged in three separate strings, represented as phase A strings, phase B strings, and phase C strings, respectively. The battery cell units 106 associated with the phase A string include units A1-An, the battery cell units associated with the phase B string include units B1-Bn, and the battery cell units associated with the phase C string include units C1-Cn. The number "n" of battery cell units associated with each string can vary. For example, in some implementations, the number n of battery cell units included in each string is 96, resulting in 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 suit various usage scenarios.

[0039] Each battery cell unit 106A1-An, B1-Bn and C1-Cn may include one or more battery cells and a PCB device (referred to herein as a "cluster board") that includes several power electronic components that enable them to intelligently control and manage the operation of the corresponding battery cells to which they are connected. In addition, the cluster boards enable the DC output from the corresponding battery cells to which they are connected to be converted into AC to control one or more electric motors 112 through field oriented control FOC. These cluster boards are wirelessly connected to the main board 104 that handles high level control.

[0040] Figure 2Aand Figure 2B An example battery cell unit of the smart cell battery system 102 is shown in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein. Figure 2A An example battery cell unit 200A including a single battery cell 202 is shown. Figure 2B Another example battery cell unit 200B is shown including a plurality of battery cells 202. Figure 1 , Figure 2A and Figure 2B , in various embodiments, Figure 1 All or some of the battery cell units 106A1 -An, B1 -Bn, and C1 -Cn shown in FIG. 1 may correspond to the battery cell unit 200A and / or the battery cell unit 200B.

[0041] like Figure 2A As shown, in some embodiments, one or more of the battery cell units 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn may include a single battery cell 202. In other embodiments, one or more of the battery cell units 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn may include a cluster 206 of battery cells 202, wherein the cluster 206 may include two or more battery cells 202. The number of battery cells 202 included in the cluster 206 may vary. For example, although the battery cell unit 200B is shown as having four battery cells 202, it should be understood that the number of battery cells 202 can be customized for different usage scenarios and power requirements. The battery cells 202 may each include any type of rechargeable electric vehicle battery. For example, the battery cell 202 may include any type of active cell material, such as, for example, 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.

[0042] All or some of the battery cell units 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn may include a cluster plate 204 formed thereon and electrically connected to one or more battery cells 202 associated with the battery cell units 106, respectively. For example, the cluster plate 204 may be physically attached to a single battery cell 202 or one or more of the corresponding battery cells 202 included in the cluster 206. The manner in which the cluster plate is physically attached to a single battery cell 202 (e.g., as illustrated with respect to the battery cell unit 200A) and / or a cluster 206 of battery cells (e.g., as illustrated with respect to the battery cell unit 200B) may vary. For example, the cluster plate 204 may be substantially bonded to one or more battery cells 202, for example, via one or more welded joints (e.g., solder material welded joints, laser material welded joints, etc.) and / or via one or more adhesive material joints. Alternatively, the cluster plate device 204 may be attached to the one or more battery cells 202 via one or more screw connections.

[0043] The manner in which the cluster board 204 (or components thereof) is electrically connected to individual battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206 of battery cells 202 may also vary. For example, each of the battery cells 202 may include one or more terminals or power points (not shown), and the cluster board 204 (or components thereof) may be electrically connected to at least one terminal of the battery cell 202 via any suitable thermal connection (e.g., a bus bar, a direct metal-to-metal component connection, a wired connection, etc.). In some embodiments, each of the battery cells 202 may include four terminals or output points, wherein two of these terminals or output points may be AC ​​terminals or power points and two may be isolated DC terminals or power points. In some embodiments applied to clusters 206 of battery cells 202, the cluster board 204 (or components thereof) may be electrically connected to at least one terminal of each battery cell of the cluster 206. In other embodiments applied to clusters 206 of battery cells 202, the PCB device 204 (or components thereof) may be electrically connected to at least one terminal of at least one battery cell 202 of the cluster 206.

[0044] The battery cells 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn (and / or components thereof) may be electrically connected to each other (e.g., via hardwire connections) in appropriate quantities in series and / or in parallel to achieve a desired voltage and / or to form independent subgroups of battery cells 106 that are connected to different electrical systems (e.g., one or more of the LV electrical system 108 and / or the HV electrical system 110) of the electric vehicle 100. The battery cells 106 (and / or components thereof) and / or subgroups of battery cells 106 may be further electrically connected (e.g., via hardwire connections) to one or more of the one or more motors 112, the LV electrical system 108, and / or the HV electrical system 110.

[0045] For example, in various embodiments, some or all of the battery cell units 106, A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n (or portions thereof, such as two electric motors applied in a four-wheel drive machine) can be used to feed DC current to one or more LV electrical systems 108 and / or one or more HV electrical systems 110, and to feed AC current to one or more motors 112. To facilitate this, the corresponding cluster board 204 of the battery cell unit 106 may include a DCDC converter that can be used to generate a desired DC output voltage for feeding the LV and / or HV electrical system. The DCDC converters of the corresponding battery cell units 106 can be connected in series and / or in parallel (e.g., via a wired connection). The corresponding cluster board 204 can also include an H-bridge and each of the H-bridges can be connected in series (via a wired connection). The battery cell units 106 may feed the respective AC phase current from (each of the three-phase strings A, B, and C) to one or more motors 112 via their respective battery cell clusters and H-bridge connections independent of their respective DCDC converters feeding DC current to the corresponding LV electrical system 110 or HV electrical system 112 to which they are connected. Various configurations are contemplated.

[0046] In this regard, the cluster board 204 may include or correspond to a circuit board device including electronic or electrical hardware (and software) components that enable the cluster board 204 to intelligently control various operations of the corresponding battery cells 202 connected thereto, including supplying DC output and AC output to the corresponding electrical system of the electric vehicle 100. The electronic or electrical hardware components may include, but are not limited to, a DCDC converter, a power module including a certain number of power switches for the DCDC converter and H-bridge (as well as other functions), bus bars, wires, ports, one or more sensors, one or more control units (e.g., including a microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to a memory device, or the like), wireless communication components (e.g., a radio frequency (RF) transmitter / receiver, a transceiver, or the like), and various other components.

[0047] In various embodiments, the battery cells 202 of the smart single-cell battery system 102 can be charged via an external charging device 116 during non-active driving time. The type of external charging device 116 can vary. For example, the external charging device 116 may include a DC charger, a DC fast charger, an AC charger, an AC fast charger, and other types of external EV chargers developed in the future. The battery cell 202 can also be charged during the active driving time via one or more on-board charging mechanisms (e.g., an on-board charger from the power grid, and / or by redistributing current between the monomers according to the disclosed technology). The external AC charger provides AC power to the on-board charger (not shown) of the vehicle 100, converting the AC power into DC to enter each battery cell. As described above, in various embodiments, each of the cluster boards 204 of the battery cell units 106A1-An, B1-Bn, and C1-Cn may include a small DCDC converter. In some embodiments, the DCDC converter may be configured to convert the AC input power received from the external AC charger into DC power associated with charging the battery cell 202. In other embodiments, the vehicle 100 may include a separate dedicated onboard charger configured to convert AC power to DC in association with charging the battery cells 202. DC fast charging bypasses the limitations of the onboard charger and the required conversion, and instead provides DC power directly to the battery cells. Charging time depends on the battery size and the output capacity of the charging equipment, among other factors, but many vehicles are able to obtain an 80% charge in about an hour or less using most currently available DC fast chargers.

[0048] As described above, the cluster board 204 of each of the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n may be wirelessly connected (e.g., via any suitable wireless communication technology) to the main board 104 that handles high-level control. In this regard, the main board 104 and the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n may be configured to operate according to a server-client architecture, wherein the main board 104 transmits (i.e., broadcasts, transmits, sends, etc.) control information to the corresponding battery cell units 106, and wherein the battery cell units 106 are configured to control the operation of the corresponding battery cell units 106 according to the received control information. The operations may include operations related to the effective and ineffective use of the battery cells 202 to power one or more electrical systems of the vehicle 100 (e.g., one or more LV electrical systems 108, one or more HV electrical systems 110, and / or one or more motors), operations related to charging the battery cells 202, operations related to monitoring parameters of the battery cells 202 and / or the cluster board 204, communication operations, and various other operations.

[0049] Figure 3 A high-level block diagram of an example battery cell unit 106 of a smart battery system 102 is shown in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein. Figures 1 to 3 The battery cell unit 106 may include or correspond to some or all of the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n. For the sake of brevity, repeated descriptions of similar elements employed in corresponding embodiments are omitted.

[0050] like Figure 3As shown in FIG. 1 , the cluster board 204 may include a memory 310 that may store computer or machine executable components 302, including a local control component 304, a measurement component 306, and an evaluation component 308. The cluster board 204 may further include a processing unit 312 that executes the machine executable components 302 stored in the memory 310. The cluster board 204 may further include a communication component 314 that enables wireless communication between the cluster board 204 and the main board 104. In some embodiments, the communication component 314 may also enable wireless communication between the cluster boards 204 that are respectively connected to each of the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n. In addition, or alternatively, the cluster boards 204 of the other battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n and the main board 104 may be communicatively coupled to each other via suitable wired connections. In this regard, the communication components 314 may include or correspond to suitable hardware and / or software that enable wireless communication between the cluster board 204 and the main board 104, and optionally other external systems and / or devices. For example, the communication components 314 may include a transmitter, a receiver, and / or a transceiver. The communication components 314 may employ any suitable proprietary and / or non-proprietary wireless communication protocol, which may include virtually any desired wired or wireless technology, including but not limited to: powerline 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 based on low power wireless area network), Z-Wave, ANT, ultra-wideband (UWB) standard protocol and / or other proprietary and non-proprietary communication protocols. In such examples and as described above, the communication component 314 may include hardware (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), transceiver, decoder, antenna, quantum hardware, quantum processor, etc.), software (e.g., thread set, process set, software in execution, quantum pulse scheduling, quantum circuit, quantum gate, etc.) or a combination of hardware and software that facilitates the transmission of information between the cluster board 204 and the main board 104.

[0051] The cluster board 204 may further include one or more sensors 318 and various other PCB electronic components. The one or more sensors 318 may be various types of sensors coupled to the battery cell cluster 206, the individual battery cells 202, and / or the electrical hardware components of the cluster board 204, which are configured to measure and / or detect various conditions associated with the battery cells 202 and / or the cluster 206 and / or the battery cell unit 106. For example, the one or more sensors 318 may include, but are not limited to, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, chemical sensors, power sensors (e.g., voltmeters, current sensors, etc.), motion sensors, fault sensors, contact sensors, impedance sensors, and similar sensors. In some embodiments, the one or more sensors 318 may include one or more impedance sensors configured to measure the impedance of the battery cells 202 via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. For these embodiments, the main board 104 may monitor (e.g., via the monitoring component 406) the impedance of the battery cells of the battery pack associated with detecting abnormal and error conditions. The other PCB electronic components 320 may include or correspond to various electronic components of the cluster board 204 that enable the functions of the cluster board 204 to be applied to the smart single-cell battery system 102. For example, as described above, the other PCB electronic components 320 may include, but are not limited to, a DCDC converter, a power module including a number of power switches for the DCDC converter and an H-bridge (among other functions), bus bars, wires, ports, and various other components. The cluster board 204 may further include a system bus 316 that communicatively and / or operatively connects the various hardware and software components of the cluster board 204 to each other, and to communicatively and / or operatively connects the individual battery cells 202 and / or battery cell clusters 206.

[0052] In various embodiments, the local control component 304 may control the operation of the battery cells 202 and / or the cluster 206. In particular, the local controller 304 may control the connection, disconnection, and / or bypassing of the individual battery cells 202 with each other and with other electrical components of the vehicle 100. To this end, the local controller 304 may control the flow of current into each individual battery cell 202 and / or cluster 206 associated with charging the battery cells 202 and / or cluster 206, as well as the flow of current out of the battery cells 202 and / or cluster 206 via controlling the switching of corresponding power switches (e.g., MOSFETs, FETs, etc. included in other PCB electronic components 320) and controlling the operation of various circuit components of the cluster board 204 (e.g., DCDC converter circuits, H-bridges, modulators, etc. included in other PCB electronic components 320). For example, in some embodiments, the other PCB electronic components 320 may include an H-bridge that connects the individual battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206 to each other, to one or more electrical systems of the vehicle (e.g., one or more LV electrical systems 108, one or more HV electrical systems 110, and / or one or more motors 112), and / or to an external charging device 116. The H-bridge may include any appropriate number of power switches, transistors, capacitors, and / or other circuit elements. The switches and / or transistors may be operated, for example, via control of the local control component 304, to control current flow into the battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206, prevent current flow into the battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206, and control current flow out of the battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206, one or more electrical systems of the vehicle 100, and / or other battery cells of the smart cell battery system 102 associated with other battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n.

[0053] For example, in various embodiments, the battery cells 202 (e.g., individually) and / or the clusters 206 of battery cells may be operated (e.g., by the local control component 304) in different operating modes, including selectively providing positive voltage outputs, negative voltage outputs, and no voltage outputs (e.g., bypass) at the cell level and / or the cluster level. The local control component 304 may also control the type of output current supplied (e.g., AC or DC), the amount of current supplied, and the time or duration of the output current supplied. The amount of current supplied may be a function of the magnitude of the current (generally measured in amperes), the flow rate or voltage level of the current, and the duration of the supply. In some embodiments, the local control component 304 may also control the specific electrical system of the vehicle 100 to which the output current is supplied. The local control component 304 may similarly control the amount (e.g., voltage and / or magnitude) and duration of the input current (e.g., charging current) received and supplied to the corresponding battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206 in association with charging the corresponding battery cells 202. In some embodiments, the local control component 304 may also control the specific circuit path from which the input current is received. For example, the local control component may control the flow of input current (e.g., charging current) to the battery cell 202 from the external charging device 116, from the on-board charging device, from the power grid, and / or from other battery cells associated with the other battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n of the smart battery system 102.

[0054] The measurement component 306 can control the measurement and monitoring of various conditions and / or operating parameters associated with the cluster board 204 and the battery cells 202 and / or the cluster 206. These conditions and / or operating parameters are collectively referred to as battery cell unit parameter information in this article. For example, the battery cell unit parameter information may include various battery cell parameters related to the condition and / or state of the battery cells 202 individually and / or the cluster 206 collectively captured via one or more sensors 318, such as but not limited to temperature, resistance, charge level, voltage level, cell pressure level, cell material chemistry, impedance, and various other parameters. The conditions and / or operating parameters may also include information identifying or indicating the current operating mode of the battery cell 202 and / or the cluster 206 and the amount (e.g., amplitude and flow rate) and timing (e.g., timing of start and completion) of the current extracted from or supplied to the corresponding battery cell 202.

[0055] The battery cell unit parameter information may also include the SOC and SOH of each individual battery cell 202 and / or cluster 206. The state of charge (SOC) of a battery describes the difference between a fully charged battery and the same battery in use. It is associated with the remaining charge available in the cell. It is defined as the ratio of the remaining charge in the battery divided by the maximum charge that can be delivered by the battery. In the field of EVs, the state of health (SOH) is a quality factor of the condition of a battery cell 202 or a battery cell group (e.g., a cluster 206 and / or all of the battery cells 202 included in the smart cell battery system 102) compared to its ideal condition. For example, the unit of SOH may be expressed as a percentage value (or another value), where 100% SOH means that the condition of the battery matches the specifications of the battery. Typically, the SOH of a battery will be 100% at the time of manufacture and will decrease over time and use. However, the performance of the battery at the time of manufacture may not meet its specifications, in which case its initial SOH will be less than 100%. The main factors contributing to battery degradation are driver mode, driver aggressiveness, climate, cabin thermal dynamics and infrastructure, with driver mode and climate being the most influential. Because SOH does not correspond to a specific physical mass, there is no consensus in the industry on how SOH should be determined.

[0056] In various embodiments, the SOH of individual battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206 may be determined by the evaluation component 308 (and / or the main control board 104) based on one or more of the following parameters: internal resistance, internal impedance, internal conductance, capacity, voltage, self-discharge, ability to accept charge, number of charge / discharge cycles, battery life, thermal profile of the battery, and total energy of charge and discharge. To this end, in some embodiments, the measurement component 306 may measure and / or determine (e.g., using one or more sensors 318) the current value of one or more of these parameters, and the evaluation component 308 (and / or the main board 104) may be configured to calculate the current SOH for the battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206 based on current and historical measurements (e.g., parameters tracked over time) using a previously defined algorithm or process.

[0057] In some embodiments, the cluster boards 204 may be configured to periodically and / or continuously provide battery cell parameter information to the main board 104. For example, the respective cluster boards 204 of the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n may be configured to provide the battery cell parameter information to the main board 104 according to a defined frequency (e.g., every 1.0 milliseconds, every 1.0 seconds, every 1.0 minutes, every 5.0 minutes, etc.), in response to a triggering event (e.g., a charge level drops below a threshold, a temperature drops below a threshold, or the like), and / or in response to a request received from the main board 104. As described in more detail below, the main board 104 may be configured to determine and control the operation of the respective battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n at a primary or global level based, at least in part, on the current operating parameters and / or conditions of the respective battery cell units (e.g., as reflected in the battery cell parameter information). In this regard, in various embodiments, the mainboard 104 and the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n may be configured to operate according to a server-client architecture, wherein the mainboard 104 transmits (i.e., broadcasts, transmits, sends, etc.) control information to the corresponding battery cell unit 106 that is determined in part based on its battery cell unit parameters, and wherein the battery cell unit 106 is configured to control the operation of the corresponding battery cell unit 106 based on the received control information.

[0058] The local control component 304 may also control wireless communications between the cluster board 204 and the main board 104 (e.g., via the communication component 314) according to a defined communication protocol. For example, the local control component 304 may control the timing of transmitting battery cell parameter information to the main board 104. The measurement component 306 may control the measurement and collection of any current sensor measurements from one or more sensors 318 connected to the cluster board 204. The evaluation component 308 may perform intelligent processing functions for the cluster board 204. For example, in some embodiments, the evaluation component 308 may perform the same or similar processing functions described with respect to the main board 104, however locally, associated with autonomously performing control functions between receiving control information from the main board 104.

[0059] Figure 4 1 shows a high-level block diagram of an example motherboard 104 according to one or more embodiments described herein. Figures 1 to 4, the motherboard 104 may include a memory 416 that may store computer or machine executable components 402, including a main control component 404, a monitoring component 406, a scheduling component 408, a logging component 410, a machine learning component 412, and a charge regulation component 414. The motherboard 104 may further include a processing unit 418 that executes the machine executable components 402 stored in the memory 416. The motherboard 104 may further include a communication component 420 that enables wireless communication between the motherboard 104 and the cluster board 204 of the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n. For example, the communication component 420 may correspond to the communication component 314, and thus a repeated description is omitted for indirection. The motherboard 104 may further include a system bus 422 that couples the memory 416, the processing unit 418, and the communication component 420 to each other.

[0060] In various embodiments, the master control component 404 may include or correspond to the master controller of the smart single-cell battery system 102. In this regard, the master controller may perform high-level control functions, including directing the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n connected thereto (or more particularly, its local control component 304) on how to control the operation of the corresponding battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206. To facilitate this purpose, the monitoring component 406 may periodically and / or continuously monitor the parameters of the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n and the power demand of the electrical system of the vehicle during the operation of the vehicle 100 (under various operating environments). In some embodiments, the monitoring component 406 may also monitor and / or determine the current operating environment of the vehicle 100, which may change. For example, in some embodiments, different vehicle operating environments may include, but are not limited to, stationary, city driving, highway driving, AC charging, DC charging, and similar operating environments. The monitoring component 406 may also monitor driving mode, driving speed, external climate conditions, vehicle positioning, and various other conditions associated with the vehicle 100. In some embodiments, associated with monitoring battery cell parameter information and power demand, monitoring component 406 may initiate downstream processing functions based on detected changes in information and / or parameter values ​​in the information, which information and / or parameter values ​​in the information correspond to trigger conditions (e.g., an increase or decrease in temperature exceeding a threshold, failure to receive a particular parameter value, indication of a potential fault or error associated with a battery cell, etc.) for downstream processing (e.g., via scheduling component 408, logging component 410, and / or machine learning component 412). In some embodiments, logging component 410 may log (e.g., log and track in one or more log files / logs stored in memory 416, etc.) some or all of the battery cell parameter information and various other monitored conditions of vehicle 100 over time.

[0061] The scheduling component 408 may determine control information for the respective battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1 that controls the operation of the respective battery cell units based at least in part on the monitored parameters of the respective battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1. For example, the scheduling component 408 may determine control information that controls when and how the respective battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1 should operate their respective battery cells and / or clusters 206 to generate and supply current to one or more electrical systems of the vehicle 100 to meet the current power demand under the current operating environment of the vehicle 100. The scheduling component 408 may also determine control information that controls when and how the respective battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1 should perform charging and discharging operations, when and how they should conduct current flow between the respective battery cells 202, and various other operations. The master control component 404 may further direct the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1 to control their operations according to the control information determined by the scheduling component 408. For example, the master control component 404 may transmit (e.g., transmit, broadcast, send, etc.) the control information determined by the scheduling component 408 to the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1, and the corresponding battery cell units (e.g., via their local control components 304) may be configured to control the operations of their corresponding battery cells 202 and / or clusters 206 according to the control information, such as Figure 5 shown.

[0062] in this regard, Figure 5 A high-level flow chart of an example control process 500 of the smart cell battery system 102 is shown in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein. Figures 1 to 5 According to the process 500, each of the battery cells 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n can transmit battery cell parameter information 502 to the mainboard 104. For example, during operation of the vehicle 100 (e.g., including driving and charging operations, and in some embodiments when the vehicle is not in an active operating mode), each of the battery cells 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n can be configured to provide the mainboard 104 with battery cell parameter information 502, including information identifying or indicating one or more parameters of each battery cell. As described above with reference to Figure 3As described, the battery cell parameter information 502 may include information about the current condition of the battery cell unit 106 and / or the corresponding battery cell 202 of the battery cell unit, such as, but not limited to: temperature, cell pressure, cell chemistry, cell resistance level, cell voltage level, current / voltage input / output amplitude, current utilization, SOC, SOH, impedance, and various other parameters as described herein. The battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n may be configured to provide the battery cell parameter information 502 to the motherboard 104 according to a defined frequency (e.g., every 1.0 milliseconds, every 1.0 seconds, every 1.0 minutes, every 5.0 minutes, etc.) in response to a triggering event (e.g., a charge level drops below a threshold or the like) and / or in response to a request received from the motherboard 104.

[0063] The mainboard 104 may further monitor (e.g., via monitoring component 406) battery cell parameter information 502 over time associated with detecting changes in the state and condition of the corresponding battery cell 106 and / or its corresponding battery cell 202. In addition, at 504, the mainboard 104 may monitor the current power demand of the corresponding electrical systems of the vehicle 100 (including one or more LV electrical systems 108, one or more HV electrical systems 110, and one or more motors 112). In association with monitoring the current power demand at 504, the mainboard 104 may also monitor the vehicle operating environment. For example, the vehicle operating environment may reflect the operating mode of the vehicle 100, such as but not limited to: on / off, stationary / idle, driving, city driving, highway driving, fast driving, slow driving, autonomous driving, charging (e.g., AC and / or DC), fast charging (AC and / or DC), etc. In this regard, as Figure 5 , the motherboard 104 can detect and / or determine when the vehicle 100 is connected to an external charging device 116. The motherboard 104 can also detect and determine the type of charging device 116 and the charging capabilities (e.g., capacity / amplitude) of the charging device. As described in more detail below, the motherboard 104 can further selectively control the charging of the battery cells 202 associated with the connection of the smart cell battery system 102 to the external charging device 116. The vehicle operating environment can also reflect external climate conditions (e.g., weather, temperature, etc.), location, route, terrain, driving mode, and the like.

[0064] Based on the monitored battery cell parameter information 502, power demand, and vehicle operating environment, at 506, the mainboard 104 may determine (e.g., using the scheduling component 408) battery cell control information 508 and transmit (e.g., transmit, broadcast, send, etc.) the battery cell control information 508 to the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n, which directs the corresponding battery cell units how to operate their corresponding battery cells 202. As described in more detail below, according to the disclosed technology, at 506, the scheduling component 408 may be specifically configured to determine the battery cell control information 508 based on the battery cell parameter information 502, power demand, and vehicle operating environment according to an active cell temperature balancing protocol. The mainboard 104 may further transmit the battery cell unit control information 508 to the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n, and at 510, the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n may then control the operation of their corresponding battery cells according to the control information 508 (e.g., via their local control components 304). For example, depending on the content of the battery cell control information and the operating environment of the vehicle 100, this may include, at 512, controlling the supply of power to one or more electrical systems of the vehicle according to the battery cell unit control information 508, at 514 controlling the charging of the battery cells when in the charging mode, and additional operations specifically tailored to increase the temperature of one or more battery cells having a low current temperature (e.g., relative to one or more thresholds, such as less than 25°C, less than 15°C, less than 10°C, less than 0°C, etc.).

[0065] In this regard, each of the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n may be configured to independently control (e.g., via its local control component 304) the operation of a corresponding battery cell 202 of the cluster board 204 connected to the corresponding battery cell unit according to the battery cell unit control information 508. To this end, the battery cell unit control information 508 may include or correspond to scheduling information that directs when and how the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n operate, including when to activate and deactivate supplying AC and / or DC power to the corresponding electrical system of the vehicle 100, how much power (e.g., voltage level and / or ampere level) to provide, and when to activate reverse current flow associated with charging operations. Because each of the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n can be independently controlled, the number of battery cell units 106 and / or the number of battery cells 202 used to supply current to one electrical system of the vehicle 100 can be customized based on power needs. In this regard, the motherboard 104 can selectively control the utilization of the battery cell units 106 and / or their corresponding battery cells as needed to meet power requirements, including utilizing only a portion of the battery cell units 106 at any given time. In other words, the motherboard 104 can selectively control the activation of some battery cell units 106 and the deactivation of other battery cell units 106 as needed during operation of the vehicle to meet power requirements.

[0066] In various embodiments, the control logic followed by the scheduling component 408 to determine which battery cell units to activate and when to activate may be based on balancing the utilization of the corresponding battery cell units 106 according to their respective states of charge (SOC). In this regard, the SOC of the battery cell 202 decreases as the battery cell unit is utilized for a longer period of time, and the greater the amount of output current supplied. Therefore, the scheduling component 408 may schedule the utilization of the corresponding battery cell units 106 to supply DC and / or AC power to one or more electrical systems in a manner that prioritizes the utilization of those battery cell units 106 with higher SOCs based on their reported SOCs (e.g., included in the battery cell unit parameter information 302).

[0067] According to the disclosed techniques, in addition to and / or in lieu of the SOC of the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n (or more specifically, their corresponding battery cells 202), the mainboard 104 may further schedule (e.g., via the scheduling component 408) the utilization of the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n in a manner that regulates the temperature of the corresponding battery cell units. More specifically, the scheduling component 408 may determine and schedule the operation of the corresponding battery cells 202 using an active cell temperature balancing protocol that is customized to selectively increase the temperature of selected battery cells that have a current temperature (e.g., reported in the battery cell unit parameter information 502) that is below a threshold temperature (e.g., 25°C). An active cell temperature balancing protocol may define one or more operating processes that may be applied to each battery cell 202 under varying conditions / environments (e.g., individually and / or collectively) of each battery cell 202 of the smart cell battery system 102, power demands, and the operating environment of the vehicle 100, which may result in selectively raising the temperature of one or more battery cells having low temperatures (e.g., relative to one or more thresholds).

[0068] To this end, one or more control processes applicable to raising the temperature of battery cells that are cooler than other battery cells do not involve utilizing any external heating devices. Instead, one or more processes applicable to raising the temperature of the cooler battery cells involve internal heating by charging and / or discharging each cell with a high amplitude (e.g., between about 200 amperes (Amp) and about 400 amperes) pulse current generated over a period of time (e.g., about 1.0 μs to about 10.0 seconds), respectively, for a very short duration (e.g., about 1.0 μs to about 1.0 seconds) until the cutoff voltage of the cell is reached. By providing a short pulse train of high amplitude charge and / or discharge current of less than 1.0 seconds and more preferably on the order of microseconds, the temperature of each cell can be raised and the internal resistance of each cell can be reduced without negatively affecting the battery life of each cell.

[0069] In some embodiments, the charging current and the discharging current may be respectively circulated between a subset (e.g., including two or more) of the low temperature battery cells to internally heat the corresponding cells, where the subset may include battery cells associated with different clusters 206 (and controlled by different cluster boards 204 and local control components 304). In other embodiments, the discharge current removed from one or more low temperature battery cells may be reallocated to one or more other cells of the smart cell battery system 102. For example, the one or more other cells may include cells having a low temperature and / or a low SOC.

[0070] In various embodiments, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may include constraints based on the temperature, SOC, and / or SOH of the corresponding battery cells. For example, in some embodiments, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may limit the current drawn from battery cells having SOC and / or SOH below a threshold level (e.g., 20% relative to SOC and 80% relative to SOH). Similarly, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may limit the supply of current to battery cells having a temperature exceeding a maximum threshold temperature (e.g., 40°C), and / or limit the supply of current to battery cells having a high SOC (e.g., 80%, 90%, etc.) relative to a threshold SOC despite having a low temperature. Ideally, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may facilitate the supply of current drawn from a cooler battery cell to other cooler battery cells having a lower state of charge relative to the cooler battery cells having a higher state of charge. The active cell temperature balancing protocol may also facilitate the supply of current drawn from a cooler battery cell to other warmer battery cells having a lower state of charge relative to the warmer battery cells having a higher state of charge.

[0071] Figure 6 An example control protocol for facilitating active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. Figure 6 As shown, corresponding control protocols 601 and 606 are shown for clusters of battery cells each including four battery cells. Figures 1 to 6 , in various embodiments, Figure 6 Each of the clusters of battery cells shown in the example 601 and 606 corresponds to a cluster 206 controlled by a separate cluster board 204. Although two clusters are used to illustrate the processes 601 and 606. In this regard, it should be understood that only two clusters are shown in the processes 601 and 606 for simplicity. In addition, it should be understood that the number of battery cells included in each cluster may vary. In addition, the example processes 601 and 606 may involve individual battery cells 202 as opposed to clusters of battery cells. Figure 6 The relative SOC (or charge percentage) of the battery cells shown in the diagram is represented by gray fill. The "snowflake" symbol is used to indicate that the temperature of a particular cluster is less than a minimum low temperature threshold (e.g., 25°C). The small flame symbol is used to indicate that the temperature of a particular cluster is within the optimal thermal operating window (e.g., between 25°C and 40°C). The large flame symbol is used to indicate that the temperature of a particular cluster is greater than a maximum high temperature threshold (e.g., 40°C).

[0072] Process 601 illustrates a first example control protocol or process that may be used to internally heat corresponding battery cells of a low temperature cluster. Process 601 involves circulating current between different clusters of two (or more) battery cells. As indicated in process 602, the two (or more) battery cell clusters may include at least one first cluster having a low temperature (e.g., below a threshold). The second cluster or multiple second clusters may include clusters having a low temperature or an optimal temperature (e.g., within an optimal thermal window). In particular, the circulation of current may include circulating a pulse amount of current between the first cluster and the corresponding battery cells included in one or more second clusters, the pulse amount corresponding to a corresponding amount of current extracted or supplied from the corresponding battery cells included in the first cluster and / or one or more second clusters to the corresponding battery cells included in the first cluster and / or one or more second clusters within a corresponding pulse duration of less than 1.0 seconds, and more preferably within a corresponding pulse duration of about 1.0 μs. In various embodiments, the amplitude of the current of the pulse amount is between about 200 amperes and about 500 amperes, more preferably between about 300 amperes and 500 amperes, and even more preferably about 400 amperes. The period or duty cycle between the pulse amounts may be less than 1.0 seconds, more preferably about 1.0 μs or less. The total duration of executing process 601 may be based on the monitored temperature, SOC, SOH, and other parameters of the corresponding monomer. For example, the total duration of executing process 601 may be based on a low temperature cluster or multiple low temperature clusters that reach a desired temperature target (e.g., a target value between 25°C and 40°C), which may vary depending on the external climate temperature. In another example, the active monomer temperature balancing duration may be proportional to the SOC, temperature, SOH, and 1 / (monomer operating time) of the monomer. In addition, or alternatively, the total duration for executing process 601 may be based on the monitored voltage level of the cluster reaching the target voltage level.

[0073] In various embodiments, according to the active cell temperature balancing protocol, the scheduling component 408 may schedule two or more of the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n to perform the process 601 to internally heat the corresponding battery cells, and the two or more battery cell units include at least one low temperature cluster 206 (e.g., relative to a minimum threshold). For example, according to the process 601, the battery cell control information 508 provided to the two or more battery cell units may direct their local control components 304 to control the flow of current between the corresponding cells of the two or more clusters. The control information may include control parameters that define the amplitude, periodicity, and total duration of the pulse current used to perform the process 601. In some embodiments, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may limit the use of the process 601 to battery cells with a minimum SOC and / or SOH. For example, if the SOC and / or SOH of a battery cell is below a threshold (e.g., 20% relative to SOC and 80% relative to SOH), the active cell temperature balancing protocol may limit the current drawn from the battery cell despite the low temperature.

[0074] Process 602 shows a second example control protocol or process that can be used to internally heat the corresponding battery cells of the low temperature cluster. Process 602 involves discharging or removing a high amplitude pulse current from the low temperature cluster and providing the extracted current to one or more second battery cell clusters having a low temperature and / or SOC (e.g., relative to a corresponding threshold). In this regard, process 602 is referred to herein as selective discharge of each battery cell. Each battery cell can be selectively discharged according to process 602 to increase its internal resistance, which results in internal heating of the battery cell. Similar to process 601, the corresponding battery cells of the colder cluster can be selectively discharged by extracting a pulse amount of current from the colder cluster, the pulse amount corresponding to the corresponding current amount extracted from the corresponding battery cell within a corresponding pulse duration of less than 1.0 seconds, and more preferably within a corresponding pulse duration of about 1.0 μs. In various embodiments, the amplitude of the pulse amount of current is between about 200 amperes and about 500 amperes, more preferably between about 300 amperes and 500 amperes, and even more preferably about 400 amperes. The period or duty cycle between pulse quantities may be less than 1.0 seconds, and more preferably about 1.0 μs or less. The total duration of executing process 602 may be based on the monitored temperature, SOC, SOH, and other parameters of the corresponding monomer. For example, the total duration of executing process 602 may be based on a low temperature cluster or multiple low temperature clusters that reach a desired temperature target (e.g., a target value between 25°C and 40°C), which may vary depending on the external climate temperature. In another example, the active monomer temperature balance duration may be proportional to the SOC, temperature, SOH, and 1 / (monomer operating time) of the monomer. In addition, or alternatively, the total duration of executing process 602 may be based on the monitored voltage level of the cluster reaching the target voltage level. The extracted discharge current may be supplied to one or more second clusters having a low temperature and / or a low SOC.

[0075] Figure 7 Graphs are presented that illustrate the effects of an active cell discharge process (eg, process 602 ) on voltage, temperature, and SOC in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein. Figure 7 The corresponding graph shown in shows an active discharge process (eg, process 602) applied to a cluster of battery cells to bring the corresponding cells from an extremely low temperature of -20°C to 0°C. Figure 7 As shown in , each battery cell can be discharged by removing a high amplitude (e.g., 300 amps) pulse current from the corresponding cell. This results in internally increasing the temperature of the corresponding cell. When a high discharge current is extracted, a drop in voltage and SOC can be noticed.

[0076] Refer again Figures 1 to 6In various embodiments, according to the active cell temperature balancing protocol, the scheduling component 408 may schedule two of the battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n to perform the process 602, and the two or more battery cell units include at least one first low temperature cluster from which the discharge current is to be drawn and one or more second clusters to which the discharge current is to be supplied, preferably one or more second clusters with low temperature and / or low SOC. For example, the battery cell control information 508 provided to the corresponding battery cell unit may guide the corresponding cell to perform the process 602 and identify which cluster the discharge current is to be drawn from and which cluster the current is to be supplied to. The control information may include control parameters that define the amplitude, periodicity, and total duration of the pulse current to perform the process 602.

[0077] In some embodiments, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may limit the use of process 602 to cells having a minimum SOC and / or SOH. For example, if the SOC and / or SOH of one or more cells is below a threshold value (e.g., 20% relative to SOC and 80% relative to SOH), the active cell temperature balancing protocol may limit the discharge current drawn from the cells despite the low temperature, as indicated via example process 603 (e.g., note that process 603 shows a control process that will not be executed). Similarly, as indicated via example process 604, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may limit the use of process 602 to provide the drawn discharge current to cells having a temperature greater than a maximum threshold to prevent thermal runaway (e.g., note that process 604 shows another control process that will not be executed). Additionally, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may limit the use of process 602 to provide the extracted discharge current to battery cells having low or normal temperatures but having a SOC greater than a threshold SOC (e.g., 80%, 90%, etc.), as indicated via example process 605 (e.g., note that process 605 illustrates another control process that will not be executed).

[0078] Active cell temperature balancing processes 601 and 602 respectively enable the smart cell battery system 102 to selectively raise the temperature of battery cells having a lower temperature than other temperatures, which facilitates maintaining a uniform temperature of the battery cells inside the battery pack, thereby optimizing battery safety, performance, and life. In various embodiments, internal heating of individual cells using processes 601 and / or 602 may be performed during any operating environment of the vehicle (e.g., during stationary periods of the vehicle, during driving of the vehicle, and during both AC charging and DC charging).

[0079] In this regard, the active cell temperature balancing protocol used by the smart cell battery system 102 and more specifically the scheduling component 408 of the main board 104, which selectively determines which battery cell clusters are to be directed to apply processes 601 and / or 602 under the above-mentioned conditions and constraints, may take into account a plurality of many related variables (e.g., respective cell temperatures, SOC, SOH, power demand, operating environment of the vehicle, external climate, and various other variables). For example, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may define one or more operating processes (e.g., 601 and / or 602) that may be applied to each battery cell 202 under the changing conditions / environments (e.g., individually and / or collectively) of each battery cell 202 of the smart cell battery system 102, the power demand and operating environment of the vehicle 100, "optimally" resulting in selectively raising the temperature of one or more battery cells having a low temperature (e.g., relative to one or more thresholds). In some embodiments, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may employ one or more predefined optimization functions that take into account these dynamic variables.

[0080] In this regard, the specific control protocol used to balance cell temperatures can be customized based on the operating environment of the vehicle (e.g., stationary, city driving, highway driving, AC fast charging, DC fast charging, etc.). For example, in some embodiments, during city driving, which does not typically require the full voltage of the battery pack, the control protocol can selectively ignore the use of power from those cells that have a lower temperature than other cells, resulting in better driving efficiency. The active cell temperature balancing protocol can generally prioritize the use of processes 601 and / or 602 for battery cells that are colder than other cells (e.g., the colder the cell, the higher the priority of applying processes 601 and 602), and prioritize providing the extracted discharge current to those cells that have a lower temperature and / or a lower SOC than other cells.

[0081] In addition, the active cell temperature balancing protocol can also control the usage priority of the corresponding battery cells 202 of the smart cell battery system 102 to power the corresponding electrical system of the vehicle based on temperature, SOC, SOH, power demand, operating environment, etc. To this end, the active cell temperature balancing protocol can control the priority order to schedule the use of each battery cell to power the electrical system of the vehicle based on power demand and using a specific formula / strategy to maintain a uniform temperature of each cell. For example, in various embodiments, the priority order can be determined / controlled using a priority equation according to the following example:

[0082] ∝SOC, 1.5×1 / (single unit operation time)

[0083] Example using priority equation

[0084] According to the example usage priority equation, the usage priority order of the corresponding battery cells of the smart cell battery system 102 will help maintain battery safety, high charging efficiency, high driving efficiency, performance, durability, and minimize thermal runaway of each cell.

[0085] In another example, in some embodiments, during operation of battery cells according to processes 601 and 602, the corresponding battery cells may be operationally and / or logically unavailable for powering one or more electrical systems. Therefore, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may control the timing of the execution of processes 601 and 602 and scale the number of battery cells involved based on power demand (e.g., when power demand decreases, more battery cell units are generally instructed to employ processes 601 and 602). In this regard, the active cell temperature balancing protocol used by the scheduling component 408 may be configured to selectively engage battery cells based on their temperature, SOC, SOH, and many other factors, where cells with lower health and / or SOH have a lower priority for powering the vehicle's electrical systems and a lower priority for applying one or more of the internal heating processes 601 and 602.

[0086] Additionally, the active cell temperature balancing protocol may facilitate raising the temperature of the respective battery cells prior to performing charging via the external charging device 116 so that the charging device may operate at its highest efficiency. In this regard, as described above, the process of performing rapid charging on battery cells having low temperatures may result in degradation of the lithium plating and thereby negatively impact battery performance and life over time. In some embodiments, the mainboard 104 may include a charge regulation component 414 to control and / or regulate charging of the battery pack via the external charging device 116 based on the temperature of the respective battery cells.

[0087] In some embodiments, the charge adjustment component 414 may control the charging rate of the external charging device 116, such as for charging the entire battery pack according to the temperature of the battery cell. For example, in some embodiments, the charge adjustment component 414 may determine the appropriate charging rate for charging the battery pack via the external charging device 116 in proportion to the lowest temperature battery cell, so that the lower the temperature, the lower the charging rate. In this regard, the charge adjustment component 414 may reduce or limit the charging rate of one or more battery cells based on the corresponding temperature of one or more battery cells being below a threshold temperature. To facilitate this, in some embodiments, the charge adjustment component 414 may determine the appropriate charging rate based on the lowest temperature battery cell of the battery pack, and the main control component 404 may instruct the corresponding cluster board 204 to limit the charging current received from the external charging device 116 and transmitted to the battery cell. In some implementations of these embodiments, the charge adjustment component 414 may dynamically increase the charging rate as the temperature of the battery cell increases over a changed duration. In other embodiments, the charge adjustment component 414 may be configured to notify the operator of the vehicle about when to charge and not charge the battery pack and / or what charging rate to apply when using the external charging device 116 based on the temperature, SOC of the corresponding battery cells of the vehicle. For example, the charge adjustment component 414 may generate a notification message, etc. and provide the notification message, etc. to the vehicle operator (e.g., via the communication component 420 and any suitable output device associated with the vehicle 100 and / or the operator and communicatively coupled to the main board 104), such as notifying the operator when to charge and not charge the battery pack and / or what charging rate to apply based on the temperature, SOC of the corresponding battery cells. For example, the charge adjustment component 414 may instruct the operator to avoid charging the battery pack based on the temperature of one or more battery cells being below a threshold and / or the SOC of the battery pack being above an acceptable threshold for using the vehicle in the current operating environment (e.g., based on the route, speed, and associated power requirements). The charge adjustment component 414 may further instruct the operator when to perform fast charging based on the temperature of the battery pack that becomes within the thermal operating window due to the application of the disclosed active temperature balancing protocol.

[0088] In still other embodiments, due to the ability to internally raise the temperature of the battery cells before performing a fast charge and the ability to selectively control the charge rate applied to individual battery cells 202 and / or clusters based on their respective temperatures, the fast charging device can operate at its highest efficiency (e.g., at its highest current amplitude) even at low temperatures. For example, in some embodiments, the charge regulation component 414 can selectively limit fast charging to only those cells having a temperature within a defined thermal window (e.g., ideally 25-40° C.), thereby performing selective fast charging, as shown in accordance with process 606. In this regard, as shown in process 606, the charge regulation component 414 can determine control information (e.g., battery cell unit control information 508) that directs one or more of the battery cell units 106 having battery cells with a temperature outside the optimal thermal operating window to prevent (e.g., shut down the corresponding input current channel) charging of the corresponding battery cell when the vehicle 100 is being charged using the external charging device 116. In other embodiments, the charge regulation component 414 may determine control information (e.g., battery cell unit control information 508) that directs one or more of the battery cell units 106 having battery cells with temperatures below a minimum threshold temperature to limit the charging rate of the charging current supplied to those battery cells via an external charging device (e.g., using 100A instead of, for example, 300A).

[0089] In various embodiments, the scheduling component 408 and the charge regulation component 414 may employ the machine learning component 412 to facilitate determining the battery cell control information 508 according to the active cell temperature balancing protocol. To this end, the machine learning component 412 may employ one or more machine learning (ML) and / or artificial intelligence (AI) models to learn, for example, the relationship (e.g., cause and / or effect) between the operating mode / condition of the corresponding battery cell 106, the temperature of the battery cell 202 and / or cluster 206, the power demand, and various other parameters (e.g., any parameters included in the battery cell parameter information 502, external climate parameters, predicted parameters, and constraints on the active cell balancing protocol discussed herein). Moreover, the monitoring component 406 on the mainboard 104 may monitor the impedance of each cell through EIS measurement, and the machine learning component 408 may be used to infer and trigger any anomalies. In these embodiments, based on learning this relationship, the scheduling component 408 may employ one or more ML and / or AI models to perform one or more tasks, including but not limited to determining or inferring battery cell control information 508, making predictions, making estimates (e.g., cell capacity (e.g., electrical energy) of active cell materials), classifying data, implementing one or more monitoring and / or control operations, and / or another task. In some embodiments, such machine learning models may include artificial intelligence (AI)-based machine learning models, including but not limited to shallow or deep neural network models, support vector machine (SVM) models, classifiers, decision tree classifiers, regression models, and / or any supervised or unsupervised machine learning models that can perform the operations of the above-mentioned machine learning components.

[0090] Figure 8An example computer-implemented method 800 for performing active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. The method 800 includes, at 802, employing, by a system (e.g., vehicle 100 and / or motherboard 104) operatively coupled to at least one processor, a smart cell battery system (e.g., smart cell battery system 102) to power one or more electrical systems of the vehicle, the smart cell battery system including a plurality of battery cells (e.g., respective battery cells 202 controlled by respective cluster boards 204). At 804, the method 800 includes controlling, by the system (e.g., via motherboard 104 and respective cluster boards 204), operation of each battery cell according to a control protocol that results in raising the temperature of a subset of battery cells based on the temperature of the subset of battery cells being below a threshold temperature. For example, the subset may include a single battery cell 202, a cluster 206, and / or two or more battery cells 202 associated with different battery cell units of respective battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n, respectively. In this regard, control may include determining battery cell unit control information 508 (e.g., via scheduling component 408) according to an active cell temperature balancing protocol and directing the corresponding battery cell unit to control the operation of each battery cell accordingly. This may include, for example, directing one or more battery cell units to control the current associated with the battery cell controlled according to process 601, process 602, process 603, process 606, and various other processes.

[0091] Fig. 9Another example computer-implemented method 900 for performing active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. The method 900 includes, at 902, employing, by a system (e.g., vehicle 100 and / or main board 104) operatively coupled to at least one processor, a smart cell battery system (e.g., smart cell battery system 102) to power one or more electrical systems of the vehicle, wherein the smart cell battery system includes a plurality of battery cell units (e.g., battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n), which includes a local controller (e.g., cluster board 204 and / or local control component 304) that controls operation of respective battery cells connected to the local controller. At 904, the method 900 includes determining, by the system (e.g., via scheduling component 408), control information for a subset of the battery cell units that results in increasing a temperature of the subset of the battery cells based on the temperature of the subset of the battery cells being below a threshold temperature. For example, the subset may include a single battery cell 202, a cluster 206, and / or two or more battery cells 202 associated with different battery cell units of the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n, respectively. At 906, the method 900 includes directing, by the system (e.g., via the master control component 404), the corresponding local controller associated with the subset to control the operation of the corresponding battery cell in accordance with the control information. In this regard, it should be understood that the scheduling component 408 can selectively determine the control information for a subset of battery cell units (e.g., a subset including one or more units), and the master control component 404 can selectively direct only the subset to perform operations in accordance with the corresponding control information.

[0092] Fig.10Another example computer-implemented method 1000 for performing active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. The method 1000 includes, at 1002, reporting, by a local controller of a corresponding battery cell unit of a smart battery system to a master controller of the smart battery system, battery cell parameter information (e.g., battery cell parameter information 502), the local controller and the master controller being respectively coupled to a processor, the battery cell parameter information including (at least) a temperature of a corresponding battery cell connected to the local controller. At 1004, the method 1000 includes receiving, by the local controller from the master controller, control information determined by the master controller (e.g., via a scheduling component 408) based on the battery cell parameter information, which results in increasing the temperature of a subset of battery cells based on the temperature of the subset of battery cells being below a threshold temperature. For example, the subset may include a single battery cell 202, a cluster 206, and / or two or more battery cells 202 associated with different battery cell units of the corresponding battery cell units 106A1-n, B1-n, and C1-n, respectively. At 1006, method 1000 includes controlling, by the local controller, operation of the corresponding battery cells according to the control information. For example, depending on the control information, the operation may include, but is not limited to, one or more of processes 601, 602, 603, and 606, and / or powering one or more electrical systems of vehicle 100 according to a usage priority order determined to balance the temperature across the battery cells.

[0093] Fig.11 Another example computer-implemented method 1100 for performing active cell temperature balancing according to one or more embodiments described herein is shown. The method 1100 includes, at 1102, employing, by a system (e.g., vehicle 100 and / or main board 104) operatively coupled to at least one processor, a smart cell battery system (e.g., smart cell battery system 102) to power one or more electrical systems of the vehicle, the smart cell battery system including a plurality of battery cells (e.g., respective battery cells 202 controlled by respective cluster boards 204). At 1104, the method 1100 includes controlling, by the system, charging of the battery cells using an external charging device (e.g., external charging device 116) based on respective temperatures of the battery cells, wherein the controlling includes limiting (or reducing) a charging rate of one or more battery cells based on the respective temperatures of the battery cells being below a threshold temperature (e.g., 25°C, 15°C, 10°C, 0°C, -5°C, or another temperature tailored to the charging capability / magnitude of the external charging device 116).

[0094] One or more flow charts and / or block diagrams in the accompanying drawings illustrate the architecture, function and operation of one or more possible implementations 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 may represent modules, segments and / or parts of instructions, which may include one or more executable instructions for implementing a specified logical function (multiple specified logical functions). In one or more alternative embodiments, one or more functions annotated in one or more boxes may not occur in the order shown in the figure. For example, one or more boxes shown in succession may be executed substantially at the same time, and / or one or more boxes may be executed in the opposite order to that shown, for example, depending on the functions involved. It will also be noted that one or more boxes of one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams and / or one or more combinations of one or more boxes thereof may be implemented by a dedicated hardware-based system that can perform one or more specified functions and / or can perform one or more dedicated hardware and / or computer instructions.

[0095] As indicated, one or more aspects are described herein with reference to one or more flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of one or more methods, devices, and / or systems according to one or more embodiments described herein. It will be understood that one or more blocks of one or more flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and / or one or more combinations of blocks in one or more flowcharts and / or block diagrams may be implemented by one or more computer-readable program instructions.

[0096] Computer-readable program instructions may 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 a box of one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams. Computer-readable program instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can guide a computer, a programmable data processing device, and / or other devices to function in a particular manner. For example, a computer-readable storage medium with instructions stored therein may include an article of manufacture that includes instructions for one or more aspects of one or more functions and / or processes that can be implemented in a box of one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams. Computer-readable program instructions may be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing devices, and / or other devices to cause one or more operations to be 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 a box of one or more flow charts and / or block diagrams.

[0097] As used in this specification, the term "processor" or "processing unit" may 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 with hardware multithreading technology; a parallel platform; and a parallel platform with distributed shared memory. In addition, a processor may 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), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, designed to perform the functions described herein. In addition, the processor may 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 may also be implemented as a combination of computing processing units. As used herein, terms such as "storage", "memory", "data storage", "data storage", "data storage", "database", and substantially any other information storage components 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 may employ distributed and / or joint machine intelligence, which may be employed to operate and / or facilitate one or more of the aforementioned computer-readable program instructions.

[0098] The memory and / or memory components described herein may be any of volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, and / or may include both volatile memory and nonvolatile memory. As an example and not limitation, nonvolatile memory may include read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, or nonvolatile random access memory (RAM) (e.g., ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM)). Volatile memory may include, for example, RAM that can act as an external cache memory. As an illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms, such as synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link 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, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0099] What has been described herein includes one or more pure examples of one or more systems and / or methods. Of course, it is not possible to describe every conceivable combination of methods implemented by components and / or systems for the purpose of describing the subject matter. Nevertheless, one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that one or more other combinations and / or arrangements of the disclosed subject matter are possible. In addition, to the extent that the terms "include," "have," "have" or similar terms are used in the detailed description, claims, appendices and / or drawings, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to that in which the term "include" is interpreted when "include" is used as a transition word in the claims.

[0100] It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "coupled" to another element, the term "coupling" may 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 another type of coupling. As referred to herein, an "entity" may include a machine, device, hardware, software, computing device, and / or a human being. Such an entity may facilitate the implementation of the subject matter disclosed herein according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0101] 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, the articles "one" and "an" as used in the subject specification and drawings should generally be interpreted as meaning "one or more" unless otherwise specified or clearly pointed to the singular form from the context. As used herein, the terms "example" and / or "exemplary" are used to mean used as examples, instances, and / or illustrations. 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 interpreted as being superior and / or superior to other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to exclude equivalent exemplary structures and / or technologies known to ordinary technicians in the art.

[0102] The description of one or more various embodiments provided herein has been presented for illustrative purposes, but is not intended to be exhaustive and / or limited to the one or more embodiments disclosed. 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 over technologies found in the marketplace, and / or to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0103] What has been described above includes only examples of systems and computer-implemented methods. Of course, for the purpose 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 similar terms are used in the specific embodiments, claims, appendices, and drawings, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to that in which the term "including" is interpreted when "including" is used as a transitional word in the claims. Descriptions of different 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 the technologies found in the market, or to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method comprising: employing, by a system operatively coupled to at least one processor, a smart cell battery system to power one or more electrical systems of a vehicle, the smart cell battery system comprising a plurality of battery cells; as well as Operation of the battery cells is controlled by the system according to a control protocol that results in increasing the temperature of the subset of battery cells based on the temperature of the subset of battery cells being below a threshold temperature. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control protocol includes circulating current between respective battery cells included in the subset.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the cycling comprises cycling a pulse amount of current between the respective battery cells, the pulse amount corresponding to a respective amount of current extracted from or supplied to the respective battery cells within a respective pulse duration of less than 1.0 second.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the electric current comprises a high current having between about 200 amperes (Amps) and about 500 Amps. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control protocol comprises circulating current between one or more first battery cells included in the subset and one or more second battery cells excluded from the subset.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the cycling includes circulating a pulse amount of current between the one or more first battery cells and the one or more second battery cells, the pulse amount corresponding to the corresponding amount of current extracted from or supplied to the one or more first battery cells or the one or more second battery cells within the corresponding pulse duration of less than 1.0 second.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the electric current comprises a high current having between about 200 amperes (Amp) and about 500 amperes (Amp).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the control protocol includes discharging one or more battery cells included in the subset.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the discharging comprises drawing a current having a pulse amount between about 200 amperes (Amp) and about 500 amperes from the one or more battery cells, the pulse amount corresponding to a respective amount of current extracted from the one or more battery cells within a respective pulse duration of less than 1.0 second.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the control protocol further comprises providing the pulsed amount of current to one or more other battery cells excluded from the subset.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the control protocol includes charging one or more first battery cells included in the subset.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the charging includes extracting a pulse amount of current between about 200 amperes (Amp) and about 500 amperes from one or more second battery cells excluded from the subset, and supplying the pulse amount to the one or more first battery cells, the pulse amount corresponding to the corresponding current amount extracted from the one or more second battery cells within the corresponding pulse duration of less than 1.0 second.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Charging of the battery cells using an external charging device is controlled by the system based on respective temperatures of the battery cells, wherein controlling the charging includes limiting a charging rate of the one or more battery cells based on the respective temperatures of the one or more battery cells being below the threshold temperature.

14. A system comprising: A smart cell battery system configured to power one or more electrical systems of an electric vehicle, the smart cell battery system comprising a plurality of battery cell units, the plurality of battery cell units each comprising a local controller that controls operation of a corresponding battery cell connected to the local controller; a memory storing computer executable components; as well as a processor that executes the computer executable components stored in the memory, wherein the computer executable components include: A master control component directs one or more of the local controllers to control operation of corresponding battery cells connected to the local controllers according to a control protocol, the control protocol resulting in increasing the temperature of the subset of battery cells based on the temperature of the subset of battery cells being below a threshold temperature.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the control protocol includes cycling current between respective battery cells included in the subset.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the cycling comprises cycling pulse amounts of current between the respective battery cells, the pulse amounts corresponding to respective amounts of current extracted from or supplied to the respective battery cells within respective pulse durations of less than 1.0 second, and wherein the current comprises a high current having between approximately 200 amperes (Amps) and approximately 500 amperes. 17 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the control protocol includes circulating current between one or more first battery cells included in the subset and one or more second battery cells excluded from the subset.

18. A system according to claim 17, wherein the cycling includes circulating a pulse amount of current between the one or more first battery cells and the one or more second battery cells, the pulse amount corresponding to a corresponding amount of current extracted from or supplied to the one or more first battery cells or the one or more second battery cells within a corresponding pulse duration of less than 1.0 second, and wherein the current includes a high current having between about 200 amperes (Amps) and about 500 amperes (Amps).

19. A system according to claim 14, wherein the control protocol includes a first control protocol, and wherein the main control component directs the local controller to control the charging of the corresponding battery cells using an external charging circuit based on the corresponding temperatures of the battery cells and according to a second control protocol, wherein the second control protocol includes reducing the charging rate of the one or more battery cells based on the corresponding temperature of one or more battery cells being lower than the threshold temperature.

20. A computer program product that facilitates controlling the operation of a battery cell of a smart cell battery system for powering one or more electrical systems of an electric vehicle, the computer program product comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performing operations comprising: Directing one or more of the local controllers to control operation of respective battery cells connected to the one or more of the local controllers according to a control protocol that results in increasing the temperature of the subset of battery cells based on the temperature of the subset of battery cells being below a threshold temperature.

Images