A BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE AND METHOD OF IT

Abstract

A battery management system (BMS) (100) and a method (300) for managing a battery in an electric vehicle (200) includes a thermal management module (102) that communicates with one or more temperature sensors (202A) located in the battery (200), at least one cooling fan (204) and at least one radiator cover (206) of the vehicle (200). The thermal management module (102) is configured to receive data including temperature values ​​in the battery (202) from the temperature sensors (202A) and to actuate the at least one cooling fan (204) and to open the at least one cooling cover (206) when the occurrence of an undesired thermal event in the battery (202) is determined, thereby enabling an incoming airflow to blow away harmful gases emitted by the battery (200) and to prevent the ingress of the harmful gases into a passenger compartment of the vehicle (200).

Description

The present invention relates generally to the technical field of electric vehicles. In particular, it relates to a battery management system (BMS) and a method thereof for preventing the ingress of harmful gases into a passenger compartment of the vehicle. The issue of safety in electric vehicles (EVs) hardly needs emphasizing, especially regarding the management of thermal events in batteries. As battery energy density continues to increase, thermal events such as thermal spread or thermal instability within the battery lead to an increased release of harmful gases. In such scenarios, passenger safety must be the absolute priority, ensuring occupants have a critical timeframe for safe evacuation. The lack of an efficient battery management system (BMS) to control or delay the ingress of harmful gases from battery systems into the passenger compartment poses a significant safety risk. Furthermore, the complete shutdown of the vehicle's electronics, including the radiator fan, during such adverse thermal events can allow harmful gases to enter the vehicle's interior through the air ducts of the air conditioning (AC) systems or other components, endangering the occupants. DE102013021415A1 discloses the use of a pivoting flap for controlling airflow to regulate the temperature of a battery and / or a drive unit. A control unit controls the pivoting flap for thermal management of the vehicle's drive unit and battery, such that after a cold start of the vehicle, the flap is fully closed until a predetermined battery temperature is reached, and thereafter the flap is moved to various positions between fully open and fully closed depending on the battery temperature and / or the temperature of the drive unit. The cited reference reveals an arrangement for the thermal management of the vehicle's drive unit and battery by circulating air, but does not solve the problem of harmful gases, such as their penetration into the passenger compartment during heat propagation. Therefore, the current state of the art requires an improved and more efficient arrangement for delaying or controlling the ingress of harmful gases emitted from the battery into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. A general object of the present invention is to increase the safety of the occupants of an electric vehicle. One object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of known electric vehicle batteries and to provide a battery management system and a method for managing a battery that increases the safety of the vehicle's occupants. One object of the present invention is to increase the safety of the vehicle's occupants by giving them the opportunity to safely leave the vehicle in the event of undesirable thermal events. Another object of the present invention is to enable the occupants of the vehicle to exit safely by preventing the ingress of harmful gases into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Aspects of the present invention relate to batteries for electric vehicles. In particular, the present invention relates to a battery management system (BMS) and a method for managing a battery in an electric vehicle to prevent the ingress of harmful gases into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. According to one aspect, the disclosed battery management system (BMS) for an electric vehicle battery includes a thermal management module that communicates with one or more temperature sensors located within the battery, at least one cooling fan, and at least one radiator cover of the vehicle. The thermal management module is configured to receive data from the one or more temperature sensors, including temperature values ​​at one or more locations within the battery, and to determine, based on the received data, whether an undesired thermal event has occurred. Furthermore, the thermal management module actuates the at least one cooling fan and the at least one radiator cover when the occurrence of an undesired thermal event is determined.By operating at least one cooling fan and opening at least one cooling cover, an incoming airflow can blow away harmful gases emitted from the battery, thus directing the emitted gases away from the interior of the vehicle. In this way, the disclosed battery management system prevents the harmful gases from entering the passenger compartment of the vehicle. In one embodiment, the vehicle can include a secondary power source corresponding to a low-voltage battery. In one embodiment, the thermal management module can be configured to shut off the power supply to all devices of the vehicle via the battery upon detection of an undesired thermal event. In one embodiment, the thermal management module can be configured to run the at least one cooling fan and actuate the at least one cooling cover using power from the secondary power source when the occurrence of the undesired thermal event is determined. In one embodiment, the at least one radiator cover can be configured to direct the airflow from the at least one radiator fan towards the battery in order to direct harmful gases from the battery away from a passenger compartment of the vehicle. In one embodiment, the thermal management module can be configured to determine the occurrence of the undesired thermal event based on any of the received temperature values ​​that exceeds a threshold temperature value. In one embodiment, the threshold temperature value can be 100 °C. According to one aspect, the disclosed method for managing a battery in a vehicle includes the steps of: receiving data from one or more temperature sensors located at one or more locations within the battery, on a thermal management module of a battery management system; and determining, based on the received data including temperature values, whether an undesired thermal event has occurred. The method further includes the step of: actuating at least one radiator fan and at least one radiator cover of the vehicle after the occurrence of an undesired thermal event has been determined.Running at least one radiator fan and opening at least one radiator cover allows an incoming airflow to blow harmful gases emitted from the battery away from an interior area of ​​the vehicle, thereby preventing the harmful gases from entering a passenger compartment of the vehicle. In one embodiment, the method can additionally include the step of switching off the power supply to all devices of the vehicle from the battery upon detection of a thermal event, and the step of running the at least one radiator fan and actuating the at least one radiator cover using power from the secondary power source of the vehicle. In one embodiment, the method may further include the step of determining the occurrence of the undesired thermal event based on the fact that any one of the received temperature values ​​is above a threshold temperature, wherein the threshold temperature may be 100 °C. Various tasks, features, aspects and advantages of the invention will become clearer from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments together with the accompanying drawings, in which identical numbers represent identical components. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention and to illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Fig. 1A illustrates an exemplary block diagram of the proposed battery management system according to embodiments of the present invention. Fig. 1B illustrates an exemplary block diagram showing various components of an electric vehicle equipped with the proposed battery management system of Fig. 1A according to embodiments of the present invention. Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary schematic representation of an electric vehicle with a radiator fan, radiator cover, and battery, showing the airflow through the battery when the radiator fan is actuated according to embodiments of the present invention.Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of the disclosed method for managing a battery in a vehicle according to the embodiments of the present invention. The following is a detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure shown in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments described herein relate to batteries for electric vehicles. In particular, the present embodiments relate to a battery management system (BMS) and a method for managing a battery to prevent the ingress of harmful gases into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Specifically, the system and method of the present invention operate in combination with a radiator fan and a radiator cover of the vehicle to extract harmful gases from areas from which the harmful gases could otherwise enter the passenger compartment, such as from an air intake duct of an HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system of the vehicle. According to one aspect, an undesirable thermal event is detected based on temperature monitoring, with the battery management system obtaining data regarding the battery temperature from one or more temperature sensors located within the battery. The detection of a temperature anywhere within the battery exceeding a threshold temperature is considered a potentially abnormal thermal event that could lead to thermal propagation to neighboring cells and consequently to thermal instability. The potential ingress of harmful gases into the passenger compartment is prevented by diverting the generated gases from areas where they could otherwise enter. A radiator fan is used to blow air, so that the airflow from the fan carries the harmful gases away from these areas. Simultaneously, the radiator covers, located on the front grille of the vehicle in front of the radiator, are opened to allow airflow from the front of the vehicle. Additionally, the power supply from the electric vehicle's battery to the vehicle is also shut off to prevent any power being drawn from the battery, which could otherwise exacerbate the thermal issue. With power from the battery disconnected, the radiator and radiator covers are powered by a secondary power source. By preventing harmful gases from entering the passenger compartment, a suitable environment is created that allows passengers to evacuate quickly, thus increasing their safety. By utilizing existing vehicle components, such as the radiator fan and the radiator grille cover, the system and method of the present invention provide a cost-effective solution that can be implemented in existing vehicles without structural modifications. Now, with reference to Figures 1A to 2, the proposed battery management system (hereinafter referred to interchangeably as "BMS 100") for a battery 202 of an electric vehicle 200 can include a thermal management module 102, as shown in Figure 1A. The thermal management module 102 can be connected to one or more temperature sensors 202A located in the battery 202, at least one cooling fan 204, and at least one radiator cover 206 of the vehicle 200, as shown in Figures 1B and 2. The one or more temperature sensors 202A can be thermocouple-based sensors located within the battery 202 near the various cells of the battery 202, providing inputs regarding the temperature of the cells or their environment. The thermocouples can provide voltage signals corresponding to the ambient temperature, and the thermal management module 102 can interpret these voltage signals to detect the temperature at the relevant locations. In practice, the thermocouples and the mechanism for interpreting the voltage signals can be an existing arrangement already present with the battery and the vehicle.In one embodiment, the thermal management module 102 (hereinafter also referred to as module 102) can be configured to receive data from one or more temperature sensors 202A, such as voltage signals, which the module 102 can convert into temperature values ​​at one or more locations within the battery 202. The module 102 can determine the occurrence of an undesired thermal event, such as thermal instability or thermal spread, based on the received data, which includes temperature values ​​at various locations within the battery. Such a determination can be based on the fact that the temperature at one of the locations within the battery 202 exceeds a predefined temperature value.The predefined temperature value can be a temperature at which it is likely that the neighboring cells will be affected, leading to an exothermic reaction in the neighboring cells, resulting in a spread of fire / thermal spread / thermal instability in the battery 202. In one aspect of the present invention, the module 102 can act in determining the occurrence of an undesired thermal event in order to prevent the ingress of harmful gases, likely released due to a fire in the battery 202, into the passenger compartment of the vehicle 200. Such ingress could occur through an inlet duct of the vehicle 200's HVAC system. When undesired thermal events are detected, the battery management systems typically shut down all electrical devices to stop drawing power from the battery, thus preventing further heat dissipation resulting from chemical reactions in the battery cells due to battery use. In another aspect, the module 102 prevents the ingress of harmful gases into the passenger compartment by actuating the at least one radiator fan 204 to operate the fan 204 using power from a secondary low-voltage power source, and by actuating the radiator grille covers 206 to open the radiator covers 206 so that the airflow from the front of the vehicle is drawn in by the radiator fan 204 and forced rearward through a duct to flow around the battery 202, which is located under the floor of the vehicle, as shown in Fig. 2. The airflow can blow the harmful gases generated in the battery 202 toward the rear of the vehicle, thus preventing them from entering the air duct of the HVAC system. The radiator fan 204 can be a fan positioned behind the vehicle's radiator, which is part of the vehicle's HVAC system or battery cooling system. At the time an undesirable thermal event is detected, the fan may not be operating, for example, due to a low ambient temperature. The proposed system ensures that a favorable airflow is generated to blow away the harmful gases, preventing them from entering the HVAC system's air duct along with the ambient air. This avoids the risk of passengers being affected by the harmful gases and potentially delaying their evacuation from the vehicle. This increases passenger safety by giving them sufficient time to leave the vehicle. The secondary power source 208 of the vehicle 200 can be a low-voltage battery. In an exemplary embodiment, the voltage can be 12 V. In one embodiment, the threshold temperature value can be 100 °C, so that the thermal management module 102 can cause the cooling fan 204 to rotate / run by drawing power from the secondary power source 208 and open the cooling cover 206 by drawing power from the secondary power source 208 when a temperature of more than 100 °C is detected at any point in the battery. In one embodiment, the at least one radiator cover 206 can be configured to direct the airflow from the at least one radiator fan 204 toward the battery 202 in order to direct harmful gases from the battery 202 away from an interior area and thus prevent their entry into the passenger compartment of the vehicle 200. With reference to Fig. 3, the proposed method 300 for managing a battery (hereinafter referred to as "method 300") is described. Method 300 includes, in step 302, receiving data, including temperature values, from a thermal management module, such as the module 102 shown in Fig. 1A, a battery management system, such as the BMS 100 shown in Fig. 1A, or from one or more temperature sensors, such as the temperature sensors 202A shown in Fig. 1B, located at one or more points within the battery 202.In step 304, procedure 300 may include: determining whether an undesired thermal event, such as thermal instability or thermal spread, has occurred, wherein the undesired thermal event is determined based on the received data, which include temperature values ​​at various locations within the battery 202. A further determination of an undesired thermal event may be based on checking whether the temperature value at any location within the battery 202 exceeds a predefined threshold temperature value, such as 100 °C. Method 300 may further include in step 306: actuating at least one radiator fan, such as the radiator fan 204 shown in Fig. 1B, and at least one radiator cover, such as the radiator cover 206 shown in Fig. 1B, when an undesired thermal event is detected. Upon actuation, the at least one radiator fan 204 runs and the at least one radiator cover 206 opens to allow an incoming airflow to blow away the harmful gases emitted from the battery 202, thus preventing the harmful gases from entering a passenger compartment of the vehicle 200. In one embodiment, the method 300, using the thermal management module of the BMS 100, can also, upon detection of the undesired thermal event, switch off the power supply to all devices of the vehicle from the battery, and the radiator fan 204 is operated and the radiator cover 206 is opened using power from a secondary power source, such as the secondary power source 208 shown in Fig. 1B, of the vehicle 200. Thus, the battery management system 100 and the method 300 of the present invention prevent harmful gases from entering the passenger compartment of the vehicle in order to increase passenger safety and ensure that the occupants are not exposed to the toxic gases released during a thermal spread event, giving them additional time to evacuate the vehicle safely. While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be invented without deviating from its fundamental scope. The scope of the invention is defined by the claims that follow. Therefore, the present invention provides a battery management system and a method for managing a battery in an electric vehicle, which increases the safety of the occupants of the electric vehicle. The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of known electric vehicle batteries and provides a battery management system and a method for managing a battery that increases the safety of the vehicle occupants. The present invention provides a system and a method for a battery that increases the safety of the vehicle occupants by enabling them to safely exit the vehicle in the event of undesirable thermal events. The present invention provides a system and a method for a battery that enables the vehicle occupants to exit safely by preventing the ingress of harmful gases into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. QUOTES INCLUDED IN THE DESCRIPTION This list of documents cited by the applicant was automatically generated and is included solely for the reader's convenience. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA accepts no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature DE 102013021415A1

[0004]

Claims

Battery management system for a battery (202) of an electric vehicle (200), the system (100) comprising: a thermal management module (102) that communicates with one or more temperature sensors (202A) located in the battery (202), at least one cooling fan (204) and at least one radiator cover (206) of the vehicle (200); wherein the thermal management module (102) is configured to: receive from the one or more temperature sensors (202A) located in the battery (202) data comprising temperature values ​​at one or more locations within the battery (202); determine, based on the received data comprising temperature values, whether an undesired thermal event has occurred;When determining the occurrence of such a thermal event, actuate the at least one radiator cover (206) and the at least one radiator fan (204) so ​​that opening the at least one radiator cover (206) and running the at least one radiator fan (204) makes it possible to blow away an incoming airflow of harmful gases emitted from the battery from an interior area of ​​the vehicle, thereby preventing the harmful gases from entering a passenger compartment of the vehicle. System (100) according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle (200) comprises a secondary power source (208), wherein the secondary power source (208) is a low-voltage battery. System (100) according to claim 1, wherein the thermal management module (102) is configured to switch off the power supply to all devices of the vehicle (200) from the battery (202) upon detection of the undesired thermal event. System (100) according to claim 2, wherein the thermal management module (102) is configured to actuate the at least one radiator cover (206) and to actuate the at least one radiator fan (204) using power from the secondary power source (208) when determining the occurrence of the thermal event. System (100) according to claim 1, wherein the at least one radiator cover (206) is configured to direct the airflow arriving from the at least one radiator fan (204) towards the battery (202) in order to direct harmful gases away from the battery (202) and away from a passenger compartment of the vehicle. System (100) according to claim 1, wherein the thermal management module (102) is configured to determine the occurrence of the undesired thermal event based on any of the received temperature values ​​that is above a threshold temperature value. System (100) according to claim 6, wherein the threshold temperature value is at least 100 °C. Method (300) for managing a battery in a vehicle, the method (300) comprising: Receiving (302) data including temperature values ​​at one or more locations within the battery from one or more temperature sensors (202A) located in the battery (202) on a thermal management module (102) of a battery management system (100); Determining (304) on the basis of the received data including temperature values ​​whether an undesired thermal event has occurred;When determining the occurrence of such a thermal event, actuating (306) the at least one radiator cover (206) and the one radiator fan (204) is possible, such that opening the at least one radiator cover (206) and running the at least one radiator fan (204) makes it possible to blow away an incoming airflow of harmful gases emitted from the battery (202) from an interior area of ​​the vehicle in order to prevent the harmful gases from entering a passenger compartment of the vehicle. Method (300) according to claim 8, comprising: upon detection of the undesired thermal event, switching off the power supply to all devices of the vehicle from the battery (202); and running the at least one radiator fan and actuating the at least one radiator cover using power from the secondary power source (208) of the vehicle. Method (300) according to claim 9, comprising: determining the occurrence of the undesired thermal event based on the fact that any one of the received temperature values ​​is above a threshold temperature, wherein the threshold temperature value is 100 °C.

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