Battery device and method for determining application of battery device

Abstract

A battery device attached to a system may include a control IC that controls the operation of the battery device, a memory that stores multiple applications corresponding to multiple systems, and switching logic that, in a mode in which the battery device cannot perform power operations, determines a protocol version that is an identification ID for identifying the system from a message received from the system, and provides the control IC with an application from the multiple applications that corresponds to the determined protocol.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] [CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS] This application claims the benefit of priority based on Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-0158746 dated November 23, 2022, and all contents disclosed in the documents of that Korean patent application are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a battery device and a method for determining an application of the battery device. [Background technology]

[0003] Multiple systems can use multiple batteries interchangeably. Conventionally, a replaced battery (hereinafter referred to as a replacement battery) does not operate in accordance with the system in which it is installed. In other words, regardless of the system in which it is installed, the replacement battery provides the same functionality to that system.

[0004] Recently, a replacement battery has been installed in a system through a Battery Swapping Station (BSS), and the replacement battery can recognize the system through CAN communication with the system to which it is installed. An application switching function can be provided in the replacement battery so that the replacement battery can operate in a manner appropriate to the characteristics of the system it recognizes. After the replacement battery is installed in a system, it periodically receives data from the system. However, the periodic data received by the replacement battery may contain errors. Due to these errors, the replacement battery may recognize the system to which it is installed as having been changed or may fail to recognize the system. This may cause the replacement battery to malfunction. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a battery device that can distinguish and recognize a plurality of systems and operate based on the recognition results. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A battery device attached to a system according to one feature of the invention may include a control IC that controls the operation of the battery device, a memory that stores a plurality of applications corresponding to a plurality of systems, and switching logic that, in a mode in which the battery device cannot perform power operations, determines a protocol version that is an identification ID for identifying the system from a message received from the system, and provides the control IC with an application from the plurality of applications that corresponds to the determined protocol version.

[0007] The battery device may further include a communication device that receives a message from the system through CAN communication and transmits the message to the switching logic, and the message may be a CAN message.

[0008] The modes may include a sleep mode in which the battery device is in a low power state and only performs a monitoring operation to detect an abnormality in the battery device.

[0009] The modes may include a shutdown mode in which power is supplied only to the control IC.

[0010] The control IC can control the operation of the battery pack based on an application provided by the switching logic.

[0011] Another feature of the invention is a method for determining an application for a battery device, which may include the steps of: a communication device receiving a message from an arbitrary system; a switching logic determining whether the battery device is in a specific mode; and, if the determination result indicates that the battery device is in the specific mode, the switching logic deriving a protocol version, which is an identification ID for identifying the arbitrary system, from the message provided from the communication device; the switching logic determining the derived protocol version and selecting an application corresponding to the determined protocol version; the switching logic providing the selected application to a control IC; and the control IC performing a control operation based on the provided application.

[0012] The particular mode may indicate a state in which the battery device cannot operate.

[0013] The message may be a CAN message transmitted via CAN communication between the communication device and the arbitrary system.

[0014] The specific mode may include a sleep mode in which the battery device is in a low power state and only performs a monitoring operation to detect an abnormality in the battery device.

[0015] The specific mode may include a shutdown mode in which power is supplied only to the control IC.

[0016] The step of determining whether the battery device is in a particular mode may include the steps of the switching logic requesting information about the mode from the control IC, and the control IC transmitting the information about the mode to the switching logic in response to the request. [Effects of the Invention]

[0017] It is possible to provide a battery device and a method for determining an application of the battery device that can distinguish and recognize a plurality of systems through communication and operate based on the recognition results. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a battery device and a system incorporating the battery device according to one embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining an application by a battery device according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] The suffixes "module" and / or "section" used in the following description for components are given or used interchangeably solely for the convenience of writing the specification, and do not have any distinct meanings or roles. Furthermore, terms such as "section," "machine," and "module" used in the specification refer to a unit that processes at least one function or operation, and this can be realized by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0020] Furthermore, in describing the embodiments disclosed herein, if it is determined that a detailed description of related publicly known technology may obscure the gist of the embodiments disclosed herein, the detailed description will be omitted. Furthermore, the attached drawings are provided merely to facilitate understanding of the embodiments disclosed herein, and the technical ideas disclosed herein should not be limited by the attached drawings, and should be understood to include any modifications, equivalents, or alternatives within the spirit and technical scope of the present invention.

[0021] Terms including ordinal numbers such as "first," "second," etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited by the terms. The terms are used only to distinguish one component from another.

[0022] When a component is said to be "coupled" or "connected" to another component, it should be understood that it may be directly coupled or connected to the other component, but that there may be other components in between. Conversely, when a component is said to be "directly coupled" or "directly connected" to another component, it should be understood that there are no other components in between.

[0023] In this application, the use of terms such as "comprise" or "have" is intended to specify the presence of any feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof stated in the specification, but should be understood as not precluding the presence or possible addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

[0024] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a battery device and a system incorporating the battery device according to one embodiment.

[0025] At a Battery Swapping Station (BSS), there may be a system group in which batteries can be swapped and used. The system group includes a plurality of systems 1 to N, each of which may have a different power operation to be provided from a battery device. The system may include a power operation and an operation of providing power to the system from the battery device. The systems may be electrical loads that require various types of power, such as vehicles and robots. Each system may have a different rated voltage, rated current, etc. of the power to be provided from the battery. When each of the plurality of systems 1 to N is equipped with a battery device 1 and electrically connected, the system may be a master system that transmits control commands to the battery device 1 to control the power operation.

[0026] The battery device 1 can operate based on an application that processes and calculates control commands received from a master system to generate control signals for controlling power operations. For example, in FIG. 1, the battery device 1 is attached to system i2, and system i2 can transmit its protocol version. The protocol version is an identification ID for identifying each of the multiple systems 1 to N, and each system is assigned a unique identification ID, i.e., a protocol version. The battery device 1 can recognize system i2 as a master system using the protocol version received from system i2. System i2 is a master system for the battery device 1 and can transmit a control command to instruct the battery device 1 to supply power.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 1 , the battery system 1 may include a battery management system 10 , a battery pack 20 , a communication device 30 , a current sensor 40 and a relay 50 .

[0028] The communication device 30 can provide communication between the battery device 1 and the system i2. For example, if the battery device 1 and the system i2 transmit and receive information through CAN communication, the communication device 30 may include a CAN transceiver. The communication method between the battery device 1 and the system i2 is not limited to CAN communication, and the communication device 30 can be realized based on the communication method between the battery device 1 and the system i2. The communication device 30 can transmit received information to the battery management system 10 and transmit information provided from the battery management system 10 to the outside.

[0029] The battery pack 20 may include multiple battery cells connected in series, parallel, or series-parallel. Although only one battery pack 20 is shown in FIG. 1 , the battery device 1 may include two or more battery packs, in which case the multiple battery packs may be connected in series, parallel, or series-parallel. A relay 50 may be electrically connected between the positive terminal (+) and negative terminal (-) of the battery pack 20 and the positive output terminal (+) and negative output terminal (-) of the battery device 1. The relay 50 can be opened or closed under the control of the battery management system 10.

[0030] The current sensor 40 can measure the pack current flowing through the battery pack 20. For example, when power is supplied from the battery device 1 to the system i2, the current sensor 40 can measure the pack current flowing from the battery pack 20 to the system i2. The current sensor 40 can also measure the pack current supplied to the battery pack 20 when the battery device 1 is being charged. The current sensor 40 can be implemented as a Hall sensor. In FIG. 1, the current sensor 40 is located between the positive terminal (+) and the positive output terminal (+) of the battery pack 20. The location of the current sensor 40 shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0031] The battery management system 10 acquires various information (hereinafter, "status information") indicating the status of the battery pack 20, monitors the battery pack 20, and, based on the monitoring results, controls charging or discharging of the battery pack 20, controls cell balancing operations for a plurality of battery cells, and controls protection operations for the battery pack 20. The status information includes information on the voltages of a plurality of battery cells, and the battery management system 10 is connected to a plurality of battery cells constituting the battery pack 20 and can measure the cell voltages. The status information includes information on the pack current, and the current sensor 40 can measure the current flowing through the battery pack 20 and provide the information on the pack current to the battery management system 10. The battery management system 10 can detect abnormal events that may occur in the battery pack 20, such as overvoltage, overcurrent, and overheating, and initiate protection operations for the detected abnormal events.

[0032] The battery management system 10 may include applications realized as programs that are collections of instructions required for controlling and executing monitoring operations, charge / discharge control operations, cell balancing control operations, protection operations, etc. The battery management system 10 may include multiple applications corresponding to at least some of the multiple systems 1 to N. The battery management system 10 can select and execute an application from the multiple applications corresponding to the system to which the battery device 1 is attached, i.e., the master system. By executing the application, the battery management system 10 can control the monitoring operations, charge / discharge operations, cell balancing operations, and protection operations.

[0033] The battery management system 10 includes a main control circuit 11 and a monitoring IC 12 , and the main control circuit 11 includes a switching logic 111 , a memory 112 , and a control IC 113 .

[0034] The monitoring IC 12 is coupled to each of the plurality of battery cells constituting the battery pack 20, and can measure the voltages of the plurality of battery cells and the battery pack voltage, which is the voltage across the battery pack 20. The monitoring IC 12 can measure the temperature of the battery pack 20. The monitoring IC 12 can perform cell balancing for the plurality of battery cells under the control of the control IC 113.

[0035] The control IC 113 executes an application transmitted through the switching logic 111 to control and execute a monitoring operation, a charge / discharge operation, a cell balancing operation, and a protection operation. For example, the control IC 113 may provide a cell voltage measurement control signal for each monitoring period to control measurement of the cell voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells. The control IC 113 may control connection and disconnection of the relay 50 to control the charge / discharge operation. The control IC 113 may provide a cell balancing control signal to the monitoring IC 12 to control a cell balancing operation for a battery cell in an overvoltage state among the plurality of battery cells. The control IC 113 may detect an abnormality and disconnect the relay 50 to control a protection operation.

[0036] The memory 112 can store a plurality of applications 112_1 to 112_M in a plurality of application storage areas, respectively. Each of the plurality of applications 112_1 to 112_M may be an application for a corresponding system among a plurality of systems 1 to M. "M" may be a natural number equal to or less than "N." The memory 112 can be realized as a non-volatile memory. Each of the plurality of application storage areas can be divided by address within the memory 112.

[0037] The switching logic 111 is provided with a CAN message received by the communication device 30 under a specific condition, and can derive a protocol version for the master system from the CAN message. The switching logic 111 can determine the derived protocol version as a protocol version indicating the master system to which the current battery device 1 is attached. The switching logic 111 can determine an application corresponding to the determined protocol version from among the plurality of applications 112_1 to 112_M, and provide the determined application to the control IC 113.

[0038] The specific condition is a condition regarding the state of the battery device 1 and may not include a working mode in which the battery device 1 normally performs a power operation (charging or discharging) and a standby mode indicating a standby state in which the battery device 1 can perform a power operation. Normal modes include a working mode and a standby mode. In the working mode, the battery device 1 actually performs a power operation, and in the standby mode, the battery device 1 is capable of performing a power operation but does not actually perform it. The specific condition may also include a mode other than the normal mode, i.e., a mode in which the battery device 1 cannot perform a power operation. For example, the specific condition may include a sleep mode and a shutdown mode. The sleep mode may indicate a state in which the battery device 1 performs only a specific operation defined in a low-power state. The specific operation may include only a monitoring operation for detecting an abnormality in the battery device 1. The shutdown mode may indicate a state in which power is supplied only to the control IC 113 in the battery device 1. In the shutdown mode, the battery device 1 is essentially in a stopped state. The sleep mode and the shutdown mode are examples of states in which the battery device 1 does not perform a power operation, and the invention is not limited thereto. The sleep mode and the shutdown mode may be determined in various ways based on the design.

[0039] The switching logic 111 can determine an address indicating an application corresponding to the determined protocol version, read the application from the application storage area corresponding to the determined address, and provide the application to the control IC 113 .

[0040] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining an application by a battery device according to an embodiment.

[0041] The communication device 30 can receive a message from any system at any time (S1). For example, the communication device 30 can receive a CAN message through CAN communication. The CAN message may include a protocol version. The communication device 30 can transmit the received message to the control IC 113 and the switching logic 111. Although FIG. 1 illustrates the communication device 30 providing messages to the switching logic 111 and the control IC 113, the communication device 30 can provide the CAN message only to the switching logic 111. Alternatively, the communication device 30 can provide the CAN message only to the control IC 113, which then transmits the CAN message to the switching logic 111. In this case, the control IC 113 must perform at least the operation of transmitting the message provided by the communication device 30 to the switching logic 111 in the sleep mode and the shutdown mode.

[0042] The switching logic 111 may determine whether the battery device 1 is in a sleep mode or a shutdown mode (S2) when a message is provided from the communication device 30. For example, the switching logic 111 may request information about the mode from the control IC 113 (S21) and receive information about the mode in response thereto (S22). If there is no response within a predetermined period after requesting information about the mode from the control IC 113, the switching logic 111 may determine that the battery device 1 is in a sleep mode or a shutdown mode.

[0043] If the determination result in step S2 is that the battery device 1 is in sleep mode or shutdown mode, the switching logic 111 can derive the protocol version from the message (S3). If the determination result in step S2 is that the battery device 1 is not in sleep mode or shutdown mode, the switching logic 111 may not respond to the message. The switching logic 111 can repeat steps S21, S22, and S2 every time a message is received from the communication device 30. The control IC 113 can control the battery device 1 in standby mode or working mode based on the current application.

[0044] Following step S3, the switching logic 111 can determine the derived protocol version and select an application corresponding to the determined protocol version (S4).

[0045] The switching logic 111 can provide the selected application to the control IC 113 (S5). The control IC 113 can execute a control operation based on the application provided through the switching logic 111 (S6).

[0046] In this way, the main control circuit 11 of the battery device 1 according to one embodiment can derive and determine the protocol version from a message received from the master system only when the battery device 1 is in sleep mode or shutdown mode. As a result, even if the master system to which the battery device 1 is attached sends a message containing an incorrect protocol version to the battery device 1 during operation, the battery device 1 can ignore the protocol version contained in the message and operate stably based on the application corresponding to the determined protocol version. This solves the problem of conventional battery devices malfunctioning due to recognizing an incorrect protocol version received from the system.

[0047] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these examples, and various modifications and improvements made by those skilled in the art using the basic concept of the present invention defined in the following claims also fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. In a battery device attached to the system, a control IC for controlling the operation of the battery device; a memory for storing a plurality of applications corresponding to a plurality of systems; a switching logic that, in a mode in which the battery device cannot perform a power operation, acquires a protocol version, which is an identification ID for identifying the system, from a message received from the system, and provides an application corresponding to the acquired protocol version among the plurality of applications to the control IC. Battery equipment.

2. The system further includes a communication device that receives a message from the system through CAN communication and transmits the message to the switching logic; The message is a CAN message. The battery device according to claim 1 .

3. The mode is: a sleep mode in which the battery device operates at low power and only performs a monitoring operation to detect an abnormality in the battery device; The battery device according to claim 1 .

4. The mode is: a shutdown mode in which power is supplied only to the control IC; The battery device according to claim 1 .

5. The control IC includes: controlling operation of the battery device based on an application provided by the switching logic; The battery device according to claim 1 .

6. A method for determining an application of a battery device, receiving a message from a communication device; switching logic determining whether the battery device is in a particular mode; When it is determined that the battery device is in a specific mode, the switching logic acquires a protocol version, which is an identification ID for identifying the arbitrary system, from the message; the switching logic selecting an application corresponding to the obtained protocol version; the switching logic providing the selected application to a control IC; the control IC performing a control operation based on the provided application; The specific mode indicates a state in which the battery device cannot perform power operations. A method for determining the application of a battery device.

7. The message is a CAN message transmitted via CAN communication between the communication device and the arbitrary system. The method for determining an application of a battery device according to claim 6.

8. The specific mode is a sleep mode in which the battery device operates at low power and only performs a monitoring operation to detect an abnormality in the battery device; The method for determining an application of a battery device according to claim 6.

9. The specific mode is: a shutdown mode in which power is supplied only to the control IC; The method for determining an application of a battery device according to claim 6.

10. The step of determining whether the battery device is in a specific mode includes: the switching logic requesting mode information from the control IC; the control IC transmitting information regarding the mode to the switching logic in response to the request. The method for determining an application of a battery device according to claim 6.

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