Battery life prediction device and operation method thereof

Abstract

A battery life prediction device according to one embodiment disclosed in this document may include an information acquisition unit that acquires information regarding an end voltage of a battery corresponding to a charging protocol, and a controller that predicts the life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on the information regarding the end voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention claims the benefit of priority based on Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0176327 filed on December 10, 2021, and all contents disclosed in the documents of the Korean patent application are incorporated as part of this specification. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE The embodiments disclosed herein relate to a battery life prediction apparatus and method of operation. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, research and development into secondary batteries has been actively conducted. Here, secondary batteries are batteries that can be charged and discharged, and include both conventional Ni / Cd batteries, Ni / MH batteries, and the more recent lithium-ion batteries. Among secondary batteries, lithium-ion batteries have the advantage of having a much higher energy density than conventional Ni / Cd batteries, Ni / MH batteries, and the like. In addition, lithium-ion batteries can be manufactured to be small and lightweight, so they are used as power sources for mobile devices, and in recent years, their range of use has been expanded to include power sources for electric vehicles, drawing attention as a next-generation energy storage medium.

[0003] Recently, batteries are equipped with a fast charging function. Since the fast charging time is proportional to the cycle life of the battery, the shorter the fast charging time, the shorter the cycle life of the battery. Therefore, it is important to predict the cycle life of the battery according to the charging protocol. Due to the characteristics of the cycle life of the battery, a long-term test must be carried out, so a method for predicting the cycle life of the battery based on the initial cycle is required. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] An objective of the embodiments disclosed herein is to provide a battery life prediction device and its operating method that can predict the cycle life of a battery when the battery is charged according to a charging protocol.

[0005] One objective of the embodiments disclosed herein is to provide a battery life prediction device and an operating method thereof that can predict the cycle life of a battery based on an initial cycle of the battery following a charging protocol.

[0006] One objective of the embodiments disclosed herein is to provide a battery life prediction device and an operating method thereof that can predict the life of a battery when using a fast charging protocol where it is not possible to predict the cycle life of a battery by looking at the existing capacity retention trends.

[0007] The technical problems of the embodiments disclosed in this document are not limited to the technical problems mentioned above, and other technical problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] A battery life prediction device according to one embodiment disclosed in this document may include an information acquisition unit that acquires information regarding an end voltage of a battery corresponding to a charging protocol, and a controller that predicts the life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on the information regarding the end voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol.

[0009] In one embodiment, the controller can perform linear fitting of an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol for each charging cycle of the battery.

[0010] In one embodiment, the controller can predict the life of the battery as the number of cycles at which a drive cut-off voltage is reached based on the linearly fitted graph.

[0011] In one embodiment, the drive cut-off voltage may be 4.2V. In one embodiment, the controller can select a specific interval during the charging cycle of the battery and linearly fit the end-of-charge voltage of the battery during the specific interval.

[0012] In one embodiment, the specific section may be a section in which the cycle is repeated 100 to 200 times. In one embodiment, the controller can predict the number of cycles the battery can be charged.

[0013] In one embodiment, the battery charging device may further include a lifespan comparison unit that compares the lifespan of the battery when charging the battery based on a plurality of charging protocols. In one embodiment, the life comparison unit can compare each of the plurality of charging protocols based on a predicted life of the battery corresponding to each of the plurality of charging protocols.

[0014] In one embodiment, the charging protocol can be configured with information regarding the current to charge the battery in steps depending on the time required to charge the battery.

[0015] An operating method of a battery life prediction device according to one embodiment disclosed in this document may include the steps of acquiring information regarding an end-of-charging voltage of a battery corresponding to a charging protocol, and predicting the life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on the information regarding the end-of-charging voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol.

[0016] In one embodiment, predicting the life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on information about an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol may include linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol for each charging cycle of the battery.

[0017] In one embodiment, the step of predicting the life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on information about the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol may further include predicting the cycle at which a driving end voltage is reached as the life of the battery based on the linearly fitted graph.

[0018] In one embodiment, predicting the life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on information regarding an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol may include selecting a specific interval during a charging cycle of the battery, and linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage of the battery in the specific interval. Effect of the Invention

[0019] The battery life prediction apparatus and its operating method according to an embodiment disclosed herein can predict the cycle life of a battery according to each charging protocol.

[0020] A battery life prediction apparatus and an operating method thereof according to an embodiment disclosed herein can predict the cycle life of a battery based on an initial cycle when charging the battery via a charging protocol.

[0021] The battery life prediction device and its operating method according to an embodiment disclosed in this document can predict the battery life by linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage according to the charging cycle of the battery. In addition, this document may provide a variety of other benefits that may be perceived directly or indirectly. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0022] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a battery life prediction device according to one embodiment disclosed in this document. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates an end-of-charge voltage for a battery according to an embodiment disclosed herein. [Diagram 3]1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operation of a battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed herein. [Figure 4] 1 is a flowchart specifically illustrating an operation method of a battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed herein. [Diagram 5] 1 is a flowchart specifically illustrating an operation method of a battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed herein. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a computing system for performing an operation method of a battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed in this document. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Hereinafter, the embodiments disclosed in this document will be described in detail with reference to the exemplary drawings. When referring to components in each drawing, it should be noted that the same components are referred to by the same reference numerals as much as possible when they are displayed in other drawings. In addition, when describing the embodiments disclosed in this document, if a detailed description of related known configurations or functions is deemed to hinder understanding of the embodiments disclosed in this document, the detailed description will be omitted.

[0024] In describing the components of the embodiments disclosed in this document, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b) and the like may be used. Such terms are merely used to distinguish the components from other components, and do not limit the essence, order, or sequence of the components. In addition, unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the embodiments disclosed in this document belong. Terms as defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the relevant art, and should not be interpreted in an ideal or overly formal sense unless expressly defined in this application.

[0025] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed in this document. 1, a battery life prediction device 100 according to an embodiment disclosed herein may include an information acquisition unit 110 and a controller 120. In an embodiment, the battery life prediction device 100 may further include a life comparison unit 130.

[0026] The information acquiring unit 110 can acquire information about the end voltage of charging of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol. For example, when charging the battery based on the charging protocol, the information acquiring unit 110 can acquire information about the end voltage of charging of the battery for each charging cycle.

[0027] In one embodiment, the charging protocol may be set to information regarding a current for charging the battery in steps according to a time required to charge the battery. For example, the charging protocol may be set to a C-rate for each charging depth of the battery. In this case, the C-rate may refer to the degree of current at which the battery cell is charged in each step.

[0028] The controller 120 can predict the life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on information about the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol. For example, the controller 120 can predict the cycle life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol. In one embodiment, the controller 120 can predict the number of cycles that the battery can be charged with the charging protocol.

[0029] The controller 120 can linearly fit the end voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol for each charging cycle of the battery. For example, the controller 120 can acquire the end voltage of the battery for each charging cycle from the information acquisition unit 110, and can fit each end voltage to a graph. As another example, the controller 120 can fit the end voltage of the battery for each charging cycle to a y=ax+b graph. In one embodiment, y corresponds to the end voltage of the battery, x corresponds to the charging cycle of the battery, a corresponds to the rate of change of the end voltage of the battery for each charging cycle, and b corresponds to the end voltage of the battery in the first charging cycle.

[0030] The controller 120 can predict the cycle at which the driving end voltage is reached as the battery life based on the linearly fitted graph. For example, the driving end voltage may be a voltage at which the battery cannot be charged any faster. As another example, the driving end voltage can be set to 4.2V. As another example, the controller 120 can calculate the cycle at which y becomes the driving end voltage from y=ax+b, which is a graph obtained by linearly fitting the charging end voltage, and predict the cycle as the battery life.

[0031] According to an embodiment, the controller 120 can select a specific section in the charging cycle of the battery. When the specific section is selected, the controller 120 can linearly fit the charging end voltage of the battery in the specific section. In this case, the controller 120 can linearly fit the charging end voltage for each charging cycle of the battery to the y=ax+b graph. In one embodiment, the specific section may be a section between 100 and 200 cycles. However, the specific section is not limited thereto, and may be a section between n and m cycles, where both n and m may be natural numbers, and m may have a value greater than n. In one embodiment, the controller 120 can calculate the cycle at which the driving end voltage is reached based on a graph in which the charging end voltage of the battery is linearly fitted in the specific section, and the cycle can be predicted as the cycle life of the battery.

[0032] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the end voltage of charging of a battery according to an embodiment disclosed herein. Referring to FIG. 2, it can be seen that the charge end voltage (10) of the 21 minute charging protocol is formed in a higher range than the charge end voltage (20) of the 25 minute charging protocol. As a result of linear fitting of the charge end voltage (10) of the 21 minute charging protocol, it can be seen that the change rate is similar to the charge end voltage (20) of the 25 minute charging protocol, but the charge end voltage in the first cycle is formed higher. The reason why the charge end voltage of the 21 minute charging protocol in the first cycle is higher than the charge end voltage of the 25 minute charging protocol is because the charging time is absolutely shortened. In addition, the reason why the change rates of the charge end voltage (10) of the 21 minute charging protocol and the charge end voltage (20) of the 25 minute charging protocol are similar is because the charge transfer resistance and diffusion resistance are similar due to the difference in the charging protocol for the same battery.

[0033] Furthermore, the battery life prediction device 100 can determine that the cycle (Cycle No.) at which the charge end voltage (10) of the 21-minute charge protocol reaches the drive end voltage (4.2 V) is 500 charge cycles. In other words, when charging a battery based on a 21-minute charge protocol, the charge cycle life of the battery can be determined to be 500 times.

[0034] Furthermore, the battery life prediction device 100 can determine that the cycle in which the charge end voltage (20) of the 25-minute charge protocol reaches the drive end voltage (4.2 V) is 1200 charge cycles. In other words, when the battery is charged based on the 25-minute charge protocol, the charge cycle life of the battery can be determined to be 1200 times.

[0035] Since the battery life prediction device 100 can determine the cycle life of a battery based on the initial charging cycle of the battery, it is possible to save time in determining the cycle life of a battery and to more accurately determine the cycle life of a battery.

[0036] Referring back to FIG. 1, the battery life prediction device 100 according to an embodiment disclosed herein may further include a life comparison unit 130. The life comparison unit 130 can compare the life of the battery when the battery is charged based on multiple charging protocols. For example, the life comparison unit 130 can compare the cycle life of the battery when the battery is charged using a 21 minute charging protocol with the cycle life of the battery when the battery is charged using a 25 minute charging protocol.

[0037] In one embodiment, the lifespan comparator 130 can compare each of the multiple charging protocols based on a predicted lifespan of the battery corresponding to each of the multiple charging protocols.

[0038] In one embodiment, the life comparison unit 130 may determine a charging protocol having a corresponding charging cycle life according to the number of charging cycles set by the user. In this case, the life comparison unit 130 may guide the user to the charging protocol.

[0039] The battery life prediction device according to one embodiment disclosed in this document can predict the cycle life of a battery according to each charging protocol. A battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed in this document can predict the cycle life of a battery based on an initial cycle when charging the battery via a charging protocol.

[0040] A battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed in this document can predict the life of a battery by linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage according to a charging cycle of the battery.

[0041] FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of operation of a battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed herein. Referring to FIG. 3, an operation method of the battery life prediction device 100 according to one embodiment disclosed in this document may include a step (S110) of acquiring information regarding an end-of-charging voltage of a battery corresponding to a charging protocol, and a step (S120) of predicting the life of a battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on the information regarding the end-of-charging voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol.

[0042] In the step (S110) of acquiring information on the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol, the information acquiring unit 110 can acquire information on the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol. For example, the information acquiring unit 110 can acquire information on the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol for each charging cycle of the battery. The information acquiring unit 110 can transmit the acquired information on the end-of-charge voltage of the battery to the controller 120.

[0043] In the step (S120) of predicting the life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on the information on the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol, the controller 120 can predict the life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on the information on the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol. For example, the controller 120 can predict the charging cycle life of the battery based on the information on the end-of-charge voltage of the battery.

[0044] 4 and 5 are flow charts specifically illustrating a method of operation of a battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed herein. 4, the method may include a step (S210) of linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol for each charging cycle of the battery, and a step (S220) of predicting the cycle at which the driving end voltage is reached as the life of the battery based on the linearly fitted graph. According to an embodiment, the steps S210 and S220 may be included in the step S120 of FIG.

[0045] In the step (S210) of linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol for each charging cycle of the battery, the controller 120 can linearly fit the end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol for each charging cycle of the battery. For example, the controller 120 can linearly fit the end-of-charge voltage of the battery to a y=ax+b graph. In one embodiment, y corresponds to the end-of-charge voltage of the battery, x corresponds to the charging cycle of the battery, a corresponds to the rate of change of the end-of-charge voltage of the battery for each charging cycle, and b corresponds to the end-of-charge voltage of the battery in the first charging cycle.

[0046] In the step (S220) of predicting the cycle at which the driving end voltage is reached as the battery life based on the linearly fitted graph, the controller 120 can predict the cycle at which the charging end voltage reaches the driving end voltage as the battery life based on the linearly fitted graph. For example, the controller 120 can predict the cycle at which the charging end voltage reaches the driving end voltage as the charging cycle life of the battery. In one embodiment, the driving end voltage may be 4.2V.

[0047] 5, the method may include a step of selecting a specific section in a charging cycle of a battery (S310), and a step of linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage of the battery in the specific section (S320). According to an embodiment, the steps S310 and S320 may be included in the step S120 of FIG.

[0048] In the step of selecting a specific interval during the charging cycle of the battery (S310), the controller 120 can select a specific interval during the charging cycle of the battery. For example, the specific interval may be an interval between 100 and 200 cycles. However, without being limited thereto, the specific interval may be an interval between n and m cycles, where both n and m may be natural numbers, and m may have a value greater than n.

[0049] When a specific section is selected, in the step of linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage of the battery in the specific section (S320), the controller 120 can linearly fit the end-of-charge voltage of the battery in the specific section. For example, the controller 120 can linearly fit the end-of-charge voltage for each charging cycle of the battery to a y=ax+b graph. In one embodiment, the controller 120 can calculate the cycle at which the driving end voltage is reached based on the graph in which the end-of-charge voltage of the battery in the specific section is linearly fitted, and the cycle can be predicted as the cycle life of the battery.

[0050] FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a computing system for performing the method of operating a battery life prediction device according to an embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0051] Referring to FIG. 6, a computing system 1000 according to one embodiment disclosed in this document may include an MCU 1010, a memory 1020, an input / output I / F 1030, and a communication I / F 1040.

[0052] The MCU 1010 may be a processor that executes various programs stored in the memory 1020 (e.g., a battery pack voltage or current collection program, a relay control program included in the battery pack, an internal resistance calculation program, etc.), processes various information including the battery charging end voltage and the battery driving end voltage through such programs, and performs the functions of the battery life prediction device shown in Figure 1 described above.

[0053] The memory 1020 can store various programs related to the collection and diagnosis of battery log information, and can also store various information such as the battery current, voltage, charging end voltage, driving end voltage, and charging protocol information.

[0054] A plurality of such memories 1020 may be provided as necessary. The memory 1020 may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory. The memory 1020 as a volatile memory may be a RAM, a DRAM, an SRAM, or the like. The memory 1020 as a non-volatile memory may be a ROM, a PROM, an EAROM, an EPROM, an EEPROM, a flash memory, or the like. The examples of the memory 1020 listed above are merely illustrative and are not limited to these examples.

[0055] The input / output I / F 1030 can provide an interface that connects input devices (not shown) such as a keyboard, mouse, or touch panel, and output devices such as a display (not shown), to the MCU 1010 to enable data transmission and reception.

[0056] The communication I / F 1040 is configured to be able to transmit and receive various data to and from a server, and may be any of various devices that can support wired or wireless communication. For example, the battery life prediction device can transmit and receive information such as a control program for a relay included in a battery pack, current, current, or charge end voltage of various battery packs from a separately provided external server via the communication I / F 1040.

[0057] In this manner, a computer program according to one embodiment disclosed in this document may be recorded in memory 1020 and processed by MCU 1010 to be realized, for example, as a module performing each function shown in FIG. 1.

[0058] The above description is merely an illustrative example of the technical ideas disclosed in this document, and various modifications and variations may be made by a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the embodiments disclosed in this document pertain without departing from the essential characteristics of the embodiments disclosed in this document.

[0059] Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in this document are intended to explain, not to limit, the technical ideas disclosed in this document, and such embodiments do not limit the scope of the technical ideas disclosed in this document. The scope of protection of the technical ideas disclosed in this document should be interpreted according to the claims below, and all technical ideas within the equivalent scope should be interpreted as being included in the scope of rights of this document.

Claims

1. An information acquisition unit that acquires information regarding a charge end voltage of a battery corresponding to a charging protocol having a predetermined charging time; A controller that predicts a life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on information about an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol; A battery life prediction device comprising:

2. The controller: The battery life prediction device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a linear fitting of an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol for each charging cycle of the battery.

3. The controller: The battery life prediction device according to claim 2 , wherein the battery life is predicted as the number of cycles at which a drive cutoff voltage is reached based on the linearly fitted graph.

4. The battery life prediction device according to claim 3 , wherein the drive cut-off voltage is 4.2 V.

5. The controller: The battery life prediction device according to claim 2 , further comprising: selecting a specific section during a charging cycle of the battery; and linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage of the battery in the specific section.

6. The specific section is 6. The battery life prediction device according to claim 5, wherein the charging cycle is in the range between 100 and 200 times.

7. The controller:

5. The battery life prediction device according to claim 1, which predicts the number of cycles the battery can be charged.

8. A battery life prediction device as described in claim 5, further comprising a life comparison unit that compares the predicted life of the battery for each of a plurality of specific intervals when the battery is charged based on a plurality of different charging protocols for each of a plurality of different specific intervals during a charging cycle of the battery.

9. The life comparison unit is 9. The battery life prediction device according to claim 8, wherein each of the multiple charging protocols is compared based on the life of the battery predicted as the cycle at which a driving end voltage is reached based on a graph obtained by linearly fitting the charging end voltage of the battery corresponding to each of the multiple charging protocols for each charging cycle of the battery.

10. The charging protocol comprises:

5. The battery life prediction device according to claim 1, wherein information relating to a current for charging the battery in steps is set according to the charging time required to charge the battery.

11. A step of obtaining information regarding an end-of-charge voltage of a battery corresponding to a charging protocol having a predetermined charging time; predicting a life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on information about an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol; A method of operating a battery life prediction device, comprising:

12. The step of predicting a life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on information about an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol includes: The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of linearly fitting an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol for each charging cycle of the battery.

13. The step of predicting a life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on information about an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol includes: The method for operating the battery life prediction device according to claim 12, further comprising the step of predicting a cycle at which a driving end voltage is reached as a life of the battery based on the linearly fitted graph.

14. The step of predicting a life of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol based on information about an end-of-charge voltage of the battery corresponding to the charging protocol includes: selecting a particular interval during a charging cycle of the battery; A method for operating a battery life prediction device according to claim 11 , further comprising the step of: linearly fitting the end-of-charge voltage of the battery in the particular section.

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