A multi-battery system provided in a device and a method for controlling that multi-battery system.

Abstract

The present invention relates to a multi-battery including a plurality of battery packs, each including at least one battery cell and a BMS (Battery Managing System), wherein when a power-on signal is received, one of the BMSs set as the master of the plurality of battery packs detects a battery pack that is not powered on among the other battery packs set as slaves, and if a slave battery pack that is not powered on is detected, a signal pre-configured to power on the detected slave battery pack is transmitted to the BMS of the detected slave battery pack, thereby powering on the detected slave battery pack, and only when all slave battery packs and the master battery pack are powered on does it display that the plurality of battery packs are powered on.

Claims

1. The system includes a plurality of battery packs, each containing at least one battery cell, and each containing a Battery Managing System (BMS) that manages the at least one battery cell. When a power-on signal is received to turn on the power, one of the BMSs configured as the master among the plurality of battery packs detects at least one of the other battery packs configured as slaves that is not powered on, If a slave battery pack that is not powered on is detected, a power-on signal, which is set in advance to turn on the power of the detected slave battery pack, is transmitted to the BMS of the detected slave battery pack, thereby turning on the power of the detected slave battery pack. A multi-battery system characterized in that it displays that the power of the multiple battery packs has been turned on, but only when the power of all the slave battery packs and the master battery pack has been turned on.

2. The BMS of the aforementioned master battery pack is When a power-off signal for power-off is received, the system detects which of the at least one slave battery pack is not powered off. If a slave battery pack that is not powered off is detected, the system transmits a pre-set power-off signal to the BMS of the detected slave battery pack, thereby turning off the power to the detected slave battery pack. The multi-battery according to claim 1, characterized in that the power to the master battery pack is turned off after the power to all slave battery packs has been turned off.

3. The BMS of the aforementioned master battery pack is The multi-battery according to claim 1, characterized in that it detects the operating state of each of the plurality of battery packs, including the at least one slave battery pack and the master battery pack, and controls at least one BMS among the plurality of battery packs so that the charge amount or discharge amount of at least one battery pack changes according to the detected operating state, and maintains the same voltage among the plurality of battery packs.

4. The BMS of the aforementioned master battery pack is The multi-battery according to claim 3, characterized in that when at least one of the plurality of battery packs is switched to a protection state in which charging or discharging is stopped, the BMS of the remaining at least one battery pack that is not switched to the protection state is controlled to limit the charging or discharging of the remaining at least one battery pack.

5. The BMS of the aforementioned master battery pack is The multi-battery according to claim 4, characterized in that, depending on whether the at least one battery pack that has been switched to the protected state has been switched to the normal state, the restriction on charging or discharging of the remaining at least one battery pack is released so that all of the plurality of battery packs are charged or discharged simultaneously.

6. The multi-battery according to claim 4, characterized in that when the master battery pack is switched to the protected state, one of the at least one slave battery packs is switched to become the master battery pack, and the master battery pack that has been switched to the protected state is switched to become a slave battery pack.

7. The BMS of the aforementioned master battery pack is When the plurality of battery packs are discharging, the voltage of each of the plurality of battery packs is detected, and a first battery pack having a voltage higher than the voltage of at least one of the other battery packs is detected. The multi-battery according to claim 3, characterized in that the discharge of the remaining at least one battery pack, excluding the first battery pack, is limited so that only the first battery pack is discharged until the voltage of the first battery pack reaches the voltage of the at least one other battery pack.

8. The BMS of the aforementioned master battery pack is When the plurality of battery packs are charging, the voltage of each of the plurality of battery packs is detected, and a second battery pack having a voltage lower than the voltage of at least one of the other battery packs is detected. The multi-battery according to claim 3, characterized in that charging of the remaining at least one battery pack, excluding the second battery pack, is limited so that only the second battery pack is charged until the voltage of the second battery pack reaches the voltage of the at least one other battery pack.

9. The BMS of the aforementioned master battery pack is The temperatures of the plurality of battery packs are detected, and at least one high-temperature battery pack having a higher temperature than the other battery packs, or a low-temperature battery pack having a lower temperature, The multi-battery according to claim 3, characterized in that the BMS of the high-temperature battery pack is controlled to decrease the charging current or discharge current, or the BMS of the low-temperature battery pack is controlled to increase the charging current or discharge current, based on the temperature difference between the high-temperature battery pack or the low-temperature battery pack and the temperature difference between the temperature of the high-temperature battery pack or the low-temperature battery pack and the temperature difference between the temperature of the high-temperature battery pack or the low-temperature battery pack.

10. The aforementioned battery pack is Multiple battery cells; A first charging path into which the charging current supplied from the device to which the multi-battery is attached flows; A second charging path connected in parallel with the plurality of battery cells, which supplies the charging current supplied from the first charging path to the plurality of battery cells; A charging FET (Field Effect Transistor) is positioned between the first charging path and the second charging path, and connects or disconnects the first charging path and the second charging path in accordance with the applied charging gate drive voltage; A second discharge path connected in parallel with the plurality of battery cells, through which the discharge current discharged from the plurality of battery cells flows; A first discharge path that supplies the discharge current flowing out from the second discharge path to the device to which the multi-battery is attached; A discharge FET positioned between the first discharge path and the second discharge path, which connects or disconnects the first discharge path and the second discharge path in response to the applied discharge gate drive voltage; and The multi-battery according to any one of claims 3 to 9, characterized in that it includes a BMS that applies the charging gate drive voltage and the discharging gate drive voltage to the charging FET and the discharging FET.

11. The charging FET and the discharging FET are, When the charging gate drive voltage and the discharge gate drive voltage are greater than or equal to a preset threshold voltage, the amount of current that can be conducted between the first charging path and the second charging path, or between the first discharge path and the second discharge path, changes according to the magnitude of the voltage. The aforementioned BMS is The multi-battery according to claim 10, characterized in that the magnitude of the charging gate drive voltage and the discharging gate drive voltage applied to the charging FET and the discharging FET are controlled to control the amount of charge or discharge of the battery pack.

12. The BMS further comprises at least one variable resistor whose resistance changes according to the BMS control, between at least one of the first and second charging paths and the charging FET, and between at least one of the first and second discharge paths and the discharge FET. The aforementioned BMS is The multi-battery according to claim 10, characterized in that the amount of current flowing between the first charging path and the second charging path, or between the first discharging path and the second discharging path, is controlled by controlling the at least one variable resistor so as to change the amount of charge or discharge of the battery pack.

13. A control method for a multi-battery including a plurality of battery packs, each including at least one battery cell and a Battery Managing System (BMS) for managing the at least one battery cell, In response to a power-on signal, one of the BMSs configured as the master among the plurality of battery packs controls the plurality of battery packs, including the master battery pack and at least one other battery pack configured as a slave, so that the plurality of battery packs are charged or discharged simultaneously; The BMS of the master battery pack collects operational status-related information, including the temperature and voltage of the plurality of battery packs, and whether or not they have switched to a protection state; The BMS of the master battery pack detects some of the battery packs that have been switched to a protected state based on the collected operating state-related information; A step in which the BMS of the master battery pack restricts the charging and discharging of the remaining battery packs, excluding the battery packs that have been switched to the protected state; The BMS of the master battery pack confirms whether some of the battery packs that were switched to the protected state have been switched back to the normal state; and A multi-battery control method characterized in that the BMS of the master battery pack cancels the charging and discharging of the remaining portion of the battery packs according to the confirmation result, and controls the plurality of battery packs so that all of the remaining portion of the battery packs and the portion of the battery packs switched to the normal state are charged or discharged simultaneously.

14. The step of collecting the aforementioned operating state-related information is: The BMS of the master battery pack detects the voltage of each of the plurality of battery packs; The BMS of the master battery pack detects a first battery pack having a voltage higher than the voltage of at least one other battery pack, or a second battery pack having a voltage lower than the voltage of at least one other battery pack; and The multi-battery control method according to claim 13, further comprising the step of the BMS of the master battery pack restricting the discharge of at least one remaining battery pack excluding the first battery pack so that only the first battery pack is discharged, or restricting the charging of at least one remaining battery pack excluding the second battery pack so that only the second battery pack is charged, depending on whether the plurality of battery packs are discharging or charging.

15. A robot equipped with a multi-battery as described in claim 1, The battery section to which the aforementioned multi-battery is attached; A switch unit to which an input signal is received for turning the battery unit on or off; A display unit that displays the power-on or power-off state of the battery unit in accordance with the input signal; and When the battery unit is powered off, if the power-on signal is input via the switch unit, the power-on signal is transmitted to each battery pack of the battery unit so that the power to each battery pack of the battery unit is turned on. A robot characterized by including a control unit that controls the display unit to display the power-on state of the plurality of battery packs when the power to all of the slave packs and the master battery pack are all turned on.

16. The control unit, If the master battery pack is not powered on by the transmission of the power-on signal, the battery unit is controlled to switch one of the at least one slave battery packs to the master battery pack, and to switch the master battery pack that is not powered on to a slave battery pack. The BMS of the battery pack, which has been switched to master according to the control of the control unit, The robot according to claim 15, characterized in that it detects the power supply of at least one slave battery pack that is not powered on by the power-on signal, and turns on the power of the detected slave battery pack.

17. The control unit, When the battery unit is powered on, if the power-off signal is input via the switch unit, the power-off signal is transmitted to each battery pack of the battery unit so that the power to each battery pack of the battery unit is turned off. The robot according to claim 15, characterized in that the display unit is controlled to display the state in which the power to all slave battery packs and the master battery pack are all turned off.

18. The control unit, If the temperature of at least one of the plurality of battery packs falls outside the preset operating temperature range, the at least one battery pack that has fallen outside the operating temperature range is switched to a protected state. Control the BMS of the remaining at least one battery pack that has not been switched to the aforementioned protection state, thereby limiting the charging or discharging of the remaining at least one battery pack. The robot according to claim 15, characterized in that, depending on whether the at least one battery pack that was switched to the protected state has been switched to the normal state, the charging or discharging restriction on the remaining at least one battery pack is released, and the battery section is controlled so that all of the multiple packs are charged or discharged simultaneously.

19. The control unit, When the plurality of battery packs are discharging, the voltage of each of the plurality of battery packs is detected, and the first battery pack having the lowest voltage is detected. The robot according to claim 18, characterized in that it limits the discharge of the first battery pack until the voltage of the remaining battery packs, excluding the first battery pack, reaches the voltage of the first battery pack.

20. The control unit, When the plurality of battery packs are charging, the voltage of each of the plurality of battery packs is detected, and the second battery pack having the highest voltage is detected. The robot according to claim 18, characterized in that it limits charging of the second battery pack until the voltage of the remaining battery packs, excluding the second battery pack, reaches the voltage of the second battery pack.

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