Information communication circuit, battery management system, battery pack and power utilization system

Abstract

The utility model discloses an information communication circuit, a battery management system, a battery pack and a power utilization system, and relates to the technical field of batteries, a first end of a connection branch is electrically connected with an external power supply, and a second end is electrically connected with a target position in a control unit power supply circuit; the connection branch is configured to transmit power supply voltage provided by an external power supply to a target position when the external power supply supplies power; the control unit power supply circuit is configured to transmit a power supply voltage to the battery pack control unit to enable the battery pack control unit to perform information communication. According to the utility model, on the premise that unpacking is not needed, information in the battery pack body is inquired, historical information in the pack body is obtained, developers can conveniently analyze and position abnormal reasons, the problems of time consumption, labor consumption and labor consumption caused by unpacking engineering are well solved, and the efficiency of analyzing and positioning the abnormal reasons by the developers is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of batteries, in particular to an information communication circuit, a battery management system, a battery pack and an electricity system. Background Art

[0002] Current battery packs, especially new material battery packs such as lithium battery packs, are generally equipped with a battery management system (BMS). The BMS located in the battery pack works using the power provided by the battery cells inside the battery pack.

[0003] When there are no cells in the battery pack or the cells are scrapped or the power supply system is abnormal, the BMS loses power supply and cannot communicate with the outside world. At this time, the battery pack needs to be disassembled to determine the specific cause of the abnormality. Disassembling the battery pack, especially for very large battery packs, is a very time-consuming, labor-intensive and man-intensive task, resulting in extremely low efficiency for developers to analyze and locate the cause of the abnormality.

[0004] Therefore, how to query the information inside the battery pack without unpacking it, how to obtain the historical information inside the pack without unpacking it, and how to realize the communication between BMS and the outside world to facilitate developers to analyze and locate the cause of abnormalities is an urgent problem to be solved. Utility Model Content

[0005] In view of the above problems, the utility model provides an information communication circuit, a battery management system, a battery pack and a power system, which better solve the above problems.

[0006] The present invention provides an information communication circuit, the information communication circuit comprising:

[0007] A control unit power supply circuit, the control unit power supply circuit being configured to transmit a supply voltage to the battery pack control unit so that the battery pack control unit performs information communication;

[0008] A connecting branch, wherein the first end of the connecting branch is used to be electrically connected to an external power supply, and the second end is electrically connected to a target position in the power supply circuit of the control unit, wherein the connecting branch is configured to transmit the power supply voltage provided by the external power supply to the target position when the external power supply is powered.

[0009] Optionally, the connecting branch includes: a unidirectional conductive structure;

[0010] The one-way conduction structure is configured to transmit the supply voltage provided by the external power supply to the target position when the external power supply is supplying power, and to stop the voltage at the target position from being transmitted to the external power supply when the external power supply is not supplying power.

[0011] Optionally, the unidirectional conductive structure includes: a diode;

[0012] The anode of the diode is used to be electrically connected to the external power source, and the cathode is electrically connected to the target position.

[0013] Optionally, the control unit power supply circuit is configured to transmit the power supply voltage directly to the battery pack control unit, or to use its own first voltage conversion module to convert the power supply voltage into the working voltage required by the battery pack control unit and then transmit it to the battery pack control unit.

[0014] Optionally, the control unit power supply circuit is configured to, when not receiving the power supply voltage, use its own second voltage conversion module and the first voltage conversion module to convert the internal voltage provided by the battery pack into the working voltage, so that the battery pack control unit performs information communication;

[0015] The first end of the second voltage conversion module is used to receive the internal voltage, and the second end is electrically connected to the first voltage conversion module.

[0016] Optionally, the first voltage conversion module includes: a first conversion unit and a second conversion unit;

[0017] The first end of the first conversion unit is electrically connected to the second voltage conversion module in the control unit power supply circuit, and the second end is electrically connected to the first end of the second conversion unit;

[0018] The second end of the second conversion unit is electrically connected to the battery pack control unit.

[0019] Optionally, the target location includes: a line between the first conversion unit and the second voltage conversion module; or,

[0020] On the line between the second conversion unit and the first conversion unit; or,

[0021] On the line between the second conversion unit and the battery pack control unit.

[0022] Optionally, the voltage on the line between the first conversion unit and the second voltage conversion module is 24V;

[0023] The voltage on the line between the second conversion unit and the first conversion unit is 5V;

[0024] The voltage on the line between the second conversion unit and the battery pack control unit is 3.3V.

[0025] Optionally, the second end of the connecting branch is electrically connected to the first end of the second conversion unit through a filtering and voltage stabilizing module; or,

[0026] The second end of the connecting branch is electrically connected to the second end of the second conversion unit through a filtering and voltage stabilizing module.

[0027] Optionally, the connecting branch is isolated from the batteries inside the battery pack.

[0028] The present utility model also provides a battery management system, the battery management system comprising: a plurality of battery monitoring units, a battery pack control unit and any one of the above-mentioned information communication circuits;

[0029] A plurality of the battery monitoring units are electrically connected to the battery pack control unit;

[0030] The information communication circuit is used to provide an operating voltage for the battery pack control unit.

[0031] The present utility model also provides a battery pack, the battery pack comprising: the battery management system as described above and a plurality of batteries;

[0032] The battery management system is used to manage the multiple batteries.

[0033] The present utility model also provides an electric power system, the electric power system comprising: the battery management system as described above, a battery pack, and an electric device powered by the battery pack;

[0034] The battery management system is used to manage the battery pack.

[0035] The information communication circuit provided by the utility model comprises: a connecting branch and a control unit power supply circuit. The first end of the connecting branch is used to be electrically connected to an external power supply, and the second end is electrically connected to a target position in the control unit power supply circuit.

[0036] When the connecting branch is configured to be powered by an external power source, the power supply voltage provided by the external power source is transmitted to the target location; the control unit power supply circuit is configured to transmit the power supply voltage to the battery pack control unit so that the battery pack control unit can perform information communication.

[0037] The information communication circuit proposed by the utility model does not need to be unpacked when there are no batteries in the battery pack or the batteries are scrapped or the power supply system is abnormal. Instead, the battery pack control unit is powered directly by an external power supply through a connecting branch, so that the battery pack control unit can communicate information with the outside, and the information in the battery pack can be queried without unpacking. The historical information in the battery pack can be obtained without unpacking, which is convenient for developers to analyze and locate the cause of the abnormality. It effectively solves the time-consuming, labor-intensive and man-consuming problems caused by the unpacking project, improves the efficiency of developers in analyzing and locating the cause of the abnormality, and has high practicality. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] By reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiment below, various other advantages and benefits will become clear to those of ordinary skill in the art. The accompanying drawings are only used for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiment and are not considered to be limiting of the present invention. Moreover, the same reference symbols are used throughout the accompanying drawings to represent the same components. In the accompanying drawings:

[0039] Figure 1 This is a modular schematic diagram of an information communication circuit according to an embodiment of the utility model;

[0040] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of an information communication circuit in an embodiment of the utility model, taking specific components as an example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] In order to make the above-mentioned purposes, features and advantages of the utility model more obvious and easy to understand, the utility model is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific implementation methods. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described here are only used to explain the utility model, are only part of the embodiments of the utility model, not all of the embodiments, and are not used to limit the utility model.

[0042] The inventors have found that current battery packs, especially new material battery packs, such as lithium battery packs, are generally equipped with a battery management system (BMS). The BMS located in the battery pack uses the power provided by the battery cells inside the battery pack to work. The battery pack starts working after being awakened by the wake-up circuit, usually by CAN communication, external signal triggering, power button triggering, etc. However, sometimes because the battery pack is abnormally damaged or there are no batteries or the batteries are scrapped, the BMS loses power supply and cannot communicate with the outside world, and cannot obtain any information inside the battery pack.

[0043] The inventors further studied and found that the current method to solve the above problem is to unpack the battery pack, that is, to disassemble the battery pack to determine the specific cause of the abnormality. For a small battery pack, the battery pack can be disassembled to analyze the abnormality of its internal hardware, and then determine whether it is a hardware or structural connection abnormality. If not, it can be restored. Small battery packs are relatively simple to unpack and easy to implement because of their small overall structure, small volume, and light weight.

[0044] However, if the battery pack is very large, such as the battery packs currently used in electric vehicles, some of which even weigh dozens of tons and are very large in size, disassembling such battery packs is a very time-consuming, labor-intensive and labor-intensive task, which will lead to extremely low efficiency in developers' analysis and location of the cause of the abnormality.

[0045] The inventors further discovered that the current structure of a BMS usually includes two units: a battery monitoring circuit (BMC) and a battery control unit (BCU). Generally, a BMS has multiple BMCs and one BCU. The BMC is responsible for collecting various types of information and transmitting it to the BCU, and the BCU is responsible for processing this information and communicating with the outside world.

[0046] The batteries (i.e., cells) in the battery pack provide the operating voltage for the BCU. The voltage generated by the battery is generally high, while the current operating voltage of the BCU is relatively low. Therefore, a control unit power supply circuit, i.e., the BCU power supply circuit, is also required to reduce the high voltage generated by the battery to the operating voltage of the BCU.

[0047] For example: the battery generates a voltage of 60V, while the BCU operating voltage is 3.3V, so the 60V is stepped down to 3.3V through the BCU power supply circuit.

[0048] After in-depth research, the inventors found that there are two main reasons for power supply abnormalities such as abnormal damage inside the battery pack or no battery cells or scrapped battery cells:

[0049] 1) Structural abnormalities: including battery cell rupture, copper busbar breakage and burning, etc.

[0050] 2) Electronic anomalies: component failure, PCB corrosion failure, etc.

[0051] When a power supply abnormality occurs, there is no source of 60V voltage, and naturally there is no 3.3V voltage. In this way, the BCU cannot work normally, and naturally cannot process the data collected by the BMC, and cannot communicate with the outside world. Naturally, the outside world cannot view historical information, and can only disassemble the battery pack for analysis.

[0052] In view of the above problems, the inventor has creatively proposed the information communication circuit of the utility model after in-depth research, which solves the above problems better. The scheme of the utility model is specifically explained and illustrated below.

[0053] The information communication circuit of the utility model refers to Figure 1 In the modular schematic diagram shown, the information communication circuit includes: a connecting branch 10 and a control unit power supply circuit 20. The first end of the connecting branch is used to be electrically connected to the external power supply 30, and the second end is electrically connected to the target position A in the control unit power supply circuit 20. At the same time, in order to more clearly illustrate the information communication circuit, the internal voltage provided by the battery pack 50 is also exemplarily shown.

[0054] When the connecting branch 10 is configured to be powered by the external power source 30, the power supply voltage provided by the external power source 30 is transmitted to the target position A; the control unit power supply circuit 20 is configured to transmit the power supply voltage to the battery pack control unit 40. Specifically:

[0055] The control unit power supply circuit 20 is configured to utilize its own first voltage conversion module 201 to convert the supply voltage into the operating voltage required by the battery pack control unit 40, so that the battery pack control unit 40 can perform information communication; or, if the supply voltage provided by the external power supply 30 is the same as the operating voltage required by the battery pack control unit 40, the control unit power supply circuit 20 is configured to transmit the supply voltage directly to the battery pack control unit 40, so that the battery pack control unit 40 can perform information communication.

[0056] Based on the above structure, it can be known that the connecting branch is generally not connected to the external power supply, or the external power supply can also be long-connected to the connecting branch, but generally does not provide voltage. Only when there is a power supply abnormality, the external power supply provides voltage.

[0057] Taking into account the working modes of the voltage provided by the batteries inside the battery pack and the voltage provided by the external power supply, in order to avoid the impact of the large current generated by the internal short circuit of the battery pack on the external power supply, the connection branch and the batteries inside the battery pack need to be completely isolated.

[0058] A preferred connection branch includes: a unidirectional conduction structure; the unidirectional conduction structure is configured to transmit the power supply voltage provided by the external power supply to the target location when the external power supply is powered, and to stop the voltage at the target location from being transmitted to the external power supply when the external power supply is not powered, thereby ensuring the safety of the external power supply and ensuring that the external power supply can normally provide voltage to the BCU.

[0059] A preferred choice for a unidirectional conduction structure is a unidirectional conduction structure including: a diode; the anode of the diode is electrically connected to an external power source, and the cathode is electrically connected to a target position. It should be noted that the diode is only a preferred choice for a unidirectional conduction structure, and any other component or circuit structure that can achieve unidirectional conduction, such as a field effect transistor, can replace the diode, but the circuit structure is relatively more complicated than that of a diode.

[0060] In addition, based on the current BCU power supply circuit structure, under normal circumstances, the high voltage provided by the battery is first filtered and stepped down to 24V, then filtered and stepped down from 24V to 5V, and finally filtered and stepped down from 5V to 3.3V. Therefore, the BCU power supply circuit generally has three levels of step-down conversion: a first voltage conversion module and a second voltage conversion module, wherein the first voltage conversion module includes: a first conversion unit and a second conversion unit.

[0061] The second voltage conversion module is configured to filter and step down the high voltage provided by the battery to 24V, the first conversion unit is configured to filter and step down the 24V to 5V, and the second conversion unit is configured to filter and step down the 5V to 3.3V. That is, the first end of the first conversion unit is electrically connected to the second voltage conversion module in the control unit power supply circuit, and the second end is electrically connected to the first end of the second conversion unit; the second end of the second conversion unit is electrically connected to the battery pack control unit.

[0062] The target position for electrically connecting the branch to the BCU power supply circuit includes: the line between the first conversion unit and the second voltage conversion module; or the line between the second conversion unit and the first conversion unit; or the line between the second conversion unit and the battery pack control unit. That is: the target position for electrically connecting the branch to the BCU power supply circuit can be at the 24V voltage position, so that the voltage that the external power supply can provide is 24V; or the target position for electrically connecting the branch to the BCU power supply circuit can be at the 5V voltage position, so that the voltage that the external power supply can provide is 5V; or the target position for electrically connecting the branch to the BCU power supply circuit can be at the 3.3V voltage position, so that the voltage that the external power supply can provide is 3.3V.

[0063] In addition, considering that the voltage provided by the external power supply may be unstable or have large ripples, when the target position of the electrical connection between the connecting branch and the BCU power supply circuit is at the 24V voltage position, there is no need for a filtering and voltage stabilizing module, because the subsequent first conversion unit and second conversion unit have the function of filtering and voltage stabilization.

[0064] When the target position of the connecting branch and the BCU power supply circuit is at the 5V voltage position, the connecting branch is electrically connected to the BCU power supply circuit through the filter voltage regulator module. Although the subsequent second conversion unit has the function of filtering and voltage regulation, the first conversion unit is crossed, and other parts of the circuit may still use the 5V voltage. In order to ensure the stability of the 5V voltage, a filter voltage regulator module is required.

[0065] Similarly, when the target position of the electrical connection between the connecting branch and the BCU power supply circuit is at the 3.3V voltage position, the connecting branch also needs to be electrically connected to the BCU power supply circuit through the filtering and voltage stabilizing module.

[0066] Naturally, it is understandable that the control unit power supply circuit is configured to convert the internal voltage provided by the battery pack into an operating voltage using its own second voltage conversion module and first voltage conversion module when no power supply voltage is received, so that the battery pack control unit can communicate information.

[0067] In order to better explain and illustrate the above structure, refer to Figure 2 The diagram shown is a structural diagram of an information communication circuit using specific components as an example. Figure 2 BAT represents a battery pack, the voltage provided by which is stepped down to 24V by a second voltage conversion module U1, a diode D represents a connecting branch, and P2 represents an electrical connection terminal thereof with an external power source EPS.

[0068] The 24V voltage is transmitted to the first conversion unit U2. The first conversion unit U2 steps down the 24V voltage to 5V and transmits it to the second conversion unit U3. The second conversion unit U3 steps down the 5V voltage to 3.3V and provides it to the BCU.

[0069] Combination Figure 2 The circuit structure shown in the figure, the working principle of the information communication circuit proposed by the utility model is as follows:

[0070] Under normal working conditions: the voltage provided by the cells in the battery pack BAT is converted to 3.3V through the BCU power supply circuit BCUs to power the BCU, while the external power supply EPS does not provide voltage. The voltage provided by the cells will not be fed back to the external power supply EPS due to the presence of the diode D.

[0071] The BCU collects various data such as the temperature, voltage, and current of each battery cell in the battery pack at regular intervals, performs logical judgment, and stores the data in the black box circuit inside the BCU. It also detects the feedback data from the collision monitoring circuit inside the BCU in real time to determine whether a collision has occurred. When the external controller of the battery pack issues a command to upload the black box information, the BCU sends the request information through the CAN circuit inside the BCU to achieve information communication with the outside.

[0072] When the power supply in the battery pack BAT is abnormal, the battery cell cannot be powered normally, so there is no 24V voltage, and the subsequent 5V and 3.3V power supply circuits also have no voltage, resulting in the BCU being unable to power on, and naturally unable to process any data, and unable to send black box information to the outside. At this time, the external power supply electrical connection terminal P2 of the branch D is connected to the external power supply EPS, so that the external power supply EPS supplies power to the target position of the BCU power supply circuit BCUs, that is, the 24V position. The 24V voltage passes through 24V-5V and 5V-3.3V, and finally obtains a 3.3V voltage, which is provided to the BCU, so that the BCU can power on and work, and can process various types of data, and send to the outside every step of the battery pack before the abnormality, as well as all the abnormality processes recorded in the black box, so as to facilitate developers to analyze and locate the cause of the abnormality, and the entire process does not require the battery pack BAT to be unpacked, which is very convenient.

[0073] Taking any battery cell as an example, the working process when sending abnormal power supply can be more intuitively understood by referring to the following table:

[0074]

[0075]

[0076] It should also be noted that Figure 2 The specific components shown are specific examples for a better understanding of the circuit structure, and do not mean that the circuit structure of the present invention can only be these components. Based on the disclosure of the above technical solution, those skilled in the art can simply infer that components or circuit structures with the same functions (for example, replacing the diode D with a field effect transistor, etc.) all fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0077] Based on the above-mentioned information communication circuit, an embodiment of the utility model also proposes a battery management system, which includes: multiple battery monitoring units, a battery pack control unit and any of the above-mentioned information communication circuits; the multiple battery monitoring units are electrically connected to the battery pack control unit; the information communication circuit is used to provide an operating voltage for the battery pack control unit.

[0078] Based on the above information communication circuit, an embodiment of the utility model further proposes a battery pack, which includes: the battery management system as described above and a plurality of batteries; the battery management system is used to manage the plurality of batteries.

[0079] Based on the above information communication circuit, an embodiment of the utility model further proposes an electricity consumption system, which includes: the battery management system as described above, a battery pack and an electrical device powered by the battery pack; the battery management system is used to manage the battery pack.

[0080] Through the above embodiments, the information communication circuit proposed by the utility model does not need to be unpacked when there are no battery cells in the battery pack or the battery cells are scrapped or the power supply system is abnormal. Instead, the battery pack control unit is directly powered by an external power supply through a connecting branch, so that the battery pack control unit can communicate information with the outside, and the information in the battery pack can be queried without unpacking. The historical information in the pack can be obtained without unpacking, which is convenient for developers to analyze and locate the cause of the abnormality, and effectively solves the time-consuming, labor-consuming and man-consuming problems brought about by the unpacking project, improves the efficiency of developers in analyzing and locating the cause of the abnormality, and has high practicality.

[0081] Although the preferred embodiments of the utility model embodiments have been described, those skilled in the art may make additional changes and modifications to these embodiments once they have learned the basic creative concept. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the utility model embodiments.

[0082] Finally, it should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or terminal device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or terminal device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprise a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or terminal device including the elements.

[0083] The embodiments of the present invention are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and introduced in detail. Specific examples are used herein to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method of the present invention and its core idea. At the same time, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of ​​the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

Claims

1. An information communication circuit, characterized in that: The information communication circuit comprises: A control unit power supply circuit, the control unit power supply circuit being configured to transmit a supply voltage to a battery pack control unit so that the battery pack control unit performs information communication; A connecting branch, wherein the first end of the connecting branch is used to be electrically connected to an external power supply, and the second end is electrically connected to a target position in the power supply circuit of the control unit, wherein the connecting branch is configured to transmit the power supply voltage provided by the external power supply to the target position when the external power supply is powered.

2. The information communication circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The connecting branch includes: a unidirectional conductive structure; The one-way conduction structure is configured to transmit the supply voltage provided by the external power supply to the target position when the external power supply is supplying power, and to stop the voltage at the target position from being transmitted to the external power supply when the external power supply is not supplying power.

3. The information communication circuit according to claim 2, characterized in that: The unidirectional conductive structure includes: a diode; The anode of the diode is used to be electrically connected to the external power source, and the cathode is electrically connected to the target position.

4. The information communication circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control unit power supply circuit is configured to directly transmit the power supply voltage to the battery pack control unit, or to use its own first voltage conversion module to convert the power supply voltage into the working voltage required by the battery pack control unit and then transmit it to the battery pack control unit.

5. The information communication circuit according to claim 4, characterized in that: The control unit power supply circuit is configured to, when not receiving the power supply voltage, use its own second voltage conversion module and the first voltage conversion module to convert the internal voltage provided by the battery pack into the working voltage, so that the battery pack control unit can perform information communication; The first end of the second voltage conversion module is used to receive the internal voltage, and the second end is electrically connected to the first voltage conversion module.

6. The information communication circuit according to claim 4, characterized in that: The first voltage conversion module includes: a first conversion unit and a second conversion unit; The first end of the first conversion unit is electrically connected to the second voltage conversion module in the control unit power supply circuit, and the second end is electrically connected to the first end of the second conversion unit; The second end of the second conversion unit is electrically connected to the battery pack control unit.

7. The information communication circuit according to claim 6, characterized in that: The target position includes: on the line between the first conversion unit and the second voltage conversion module; or, On the line between the second conversion unit and the first conversion unit; or, On the line between the second conversion unit and the battery pack control unit.

8. The information communication circuit according to claim 7, characterized in that: The voltage on the line between the first conversion unit and the second voltage conversion module is 24V; The voltage on the line between the second conversion unit and the first conversion unit is 5V; The voltage on the line between the second conversion unit and the battery pack control unit is 3.3V.

9. The information communication circuit according to claim 7, characterized in that: The second end of the connecting branch is electrically connected to the first end of the second conversion unit through a filtering and voltage stabilizing module; or, The second end of the connecting branch is electrically connected to the second end of the second conversion unit through a filtering and voltage stabilizing module.

10. The information communication circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The connecting branch is isolated from the batteries inside the battery pack.

11. A battery management system, characterized in that: The battery management system comprises: a plurality of battery monitoring units, a battery pack control unit and an information communication circuit as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10; A plurality of the battery monitoring units are electrically connected to the battery pack control unit; The information communication circuit is used to provide an operating voltage for the battery pack control unit.

12. A battery pack, characterized in that: The battery pack comprises: the battery management system as claimed in claim 11 and a plurality of batteries; The battery management system is used to manage the multiple batteries.

13. An electricity system, characterized in that: The power consumption system comprises: the battery management system according to claim 11, a battery pack, and a power consumption device powered by the battery pack; The battery management system is used to manage the battery pack.

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