Battery management device and charging control method thereby

Abstract

Provided is a charging control method, performed by a battery management device, for a battery including a lithium metal as at least part of a negative electrode, the method comprising the steps of: charging a battery on the basis of a first charging rate; and charging the battery on the basis of a second charging rate that is higher than the first charging rate, in response to a state-of-charge (SoC) of the battery reaching a threshold value.

Description

Battery management device and charging control method thereof

[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority to Republic of Korea Patent Application No. 10-2023-0165889, filed November 24, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a battery management device for controlling charging of a battery including lithium metal as at least a portion of an anode, and a charging control method thereof.

[0003] Regarding lithium-ion batteries, which are widely used in the battery field, various charging methods have been developed to rapidly charge the battery while minimizing its adverse effects. One such charging method is to apply a high charge rate (C-rate) at the beginning of the charge, i.e. when the battery's SoC is low, and then gradually lower the charge rate as the charge progresses and the SoC increases. The principle of this conventional technology is that in the early stage of the charging process, there are many empty spaces in the graphite of the anode for lithium ions to penetrate, so even if a high charge rate is applied, dendrite formation is minimal, resulting in relatively less adverse effects on the battery.

[0004] However, this charging method is difficult to apply to next-generation batteries that are expected to replace lithium-ion batteries. That is, since next-generation batteries, such as lithium-sulfur batteries, lithium metal batteries, or all-solid-state batteries, contain lithium metal in their anodes, even at the beginning of charging, if a high charging rate is applied, many dendrites are formed, which ultimately has a significant negative impact on the battery. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the charging method according to the conventional technology described above to next-generation batteries.

[0005] Therefore, a new charging method is needed that can increase the charging speed while minimizing the adverse effects on the battery, which can be applied to next-generation batteries containing lithium metal as at least part of the cathode.

[0006] The disclosed embodiments provide a battery management device and a charging control method thereof. Specifically, the present disclosure proposes a charging method capable of increasing the charging speed of a battery containing lithium metal in at least a portion of the negative electrode while minimizing adverse effects on the battery by increasing the charging rate as the battery's state of charge reaches a critical level.

[0007] Additionally, the present disclosure aims to propose a threshold at which a charging rate can be increased and various methods for determining how much to increase the charging rate after reaching the threshold.

[0008] The technical tasks to be achieved by this embodiment are not limited to the technical tasks described above, and other technical tasks can be inferred from the following embodiments.

[0009] One aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for controlling charging of a battery including lithium metal as at least a portion of an anode, the method comprising: charging the battery based on a first charging rate; and charging the battery based on a second charging rate higher than the first charging rate in response to a state-of-charge (SoC) of the battery reaching a threshold.

[0010] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a charge control method determined based on a profile representing the voltage of the negative electrode according to the SoC of the battery.

[0011] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a charging control method, wherein the threshold is determined based on an SoC corresponding to an inflection point of the profile.

[0012] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a charging control method in which the threshold is determined based on an SoC corresponding to the inflection point where the voltage of the negative electrode increases, decreases, and then increases again according to charging of the battery, based on the profile.

[0013] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a charging control method further determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and State-of-Health (SoH).

[0014] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a charging control method in which the threshold is determined based on the SoC at which the proportion of lithium metal reaction among the chemical reactions decreases below the critical proportion by analyzing the chemical reaction occurring at the negative electrode during the charging process of the battery.

[0015] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the difference between the first and second charging rates may include a charging control method determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, air pressure, and SoH.

[0016] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second charging rate may include a charging control method selected within a range exceeding the first charging rate and below the third charging rate.

[0017] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the third charging rate may include a charging control method in which the candidate charging rate is selected as having the largest size among the candidate charging rates for which at least some of the discharge capacity remaining rate and the coulombic efficiency for the charging result applied in response to reaching the threshold are confirmed to be within a normal range.

[0018] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, when the battery includes sulfur as at least a portion of the positive electrode, the method may include a charge control method in which the first charge rate is 0.2C and the second charge rate is 0.5C.

[0019] Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a battery management system for controlling charging of a battery including lithium metal as at least a portion of an anode, the battery management system comprising: one or more sensors; a processor; and a memory storing one or more instructions, wherein the processor is configured to perform the one or more instructions to charge the battery based on a first charge rate, and in response to a state-of-charge (SoC) of the battery reaching a threshold, to charge the battery based on a second charge rate higher than the first charge rate.

[0020] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a battery management system determined based on a profile representing the voltage of the cathode according to the SoC of the battery.

[0021] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a battery management system determined based on an SoC corresponding to an inflection point of the profile.

[0022] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a battery management system that is determined based on the SoC corresponding to the inflection point where the voltage of the negative electrode increases, decreases, and then increases again according to charging of the battery, based on the profile.

[0023] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a battery management system further determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and State-of-Health (SoH).

[0024] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the threshold may include a battery management system that analyzes a chemical reaction occurring at a negative electrode during a charging process of the battery and determines the SoC at which the proportion of lithium metal reaction among the chemical reactions decreases below a critical proportion.

[0025] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the difference between the first and second charge rates may include a battery management system determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and SoH.

[0026] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second charging rate may include a battery management system selected within a range exceeding the first charging rate and below the third charging rate.

[0027] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the third charging rate may include a battery management system that selects the candidate charging rate as having the largest size among the candidate charging rates for which at least some of the discharge capacity remaining rate and the coulombic efficiency for the charging result applied in response to reaching the threshold are confirmed to be within a normal range.

[0028] Additionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, when the battery includes sulfur as at least a portion of the positive electrode, the battery management system may include a first charge rate of 0.2C and a second charge rate of 0.5C.

[0029] Another aspect of the present disclosure can provide a computer-readable, non-transitory recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the charging control method described above on a computer.

[0030] Specific details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.

[0031] According to the proposed embodiment, one or more of the following effects can be expected.

[0032] According to the embodiments of the present specification, the charging speed can be increased while minimizing adverse effects on next-generation batteries including lithium metal as at least a portion of the negative electrode.

[0033] In addition, according to the embodiments of the present specification, by increasing the charging rate based on an optimized threshold for various situations, an optimized charging speed of the next-generation battery can be secured in any situation.

[0034] Additionally, according to the embodiments of the present specification, a limit value of the charge rate that can be increased after reaching a threshold value can be determined based on the discharge capacity remaining rate and the coulombic efficiency.

[0035] The effects of the present disclosure are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

[0036] Figure 1 shows the interlocking relationship of a battery management device according to one embodiment.

[0037] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a charging control method according to one embodiment.

[0038] Figure 3 is a graph showing an increase in the charging rate after reaching a threshold according to one embodiment.

[0039] FIG. 4 is a graph showing a profile representing the voltage of the cathode referenced to determine a threshold according to one embodiment.

[0040] Figure 5 is a graph showing the discharge capacity remaining rate and coulombic efficiency when the 2-1 charging rate and the 2-2 charging rate are applied after reaching a threshold according to one embodiment.

[0041] FIG. 6 is an example diagram of a table including information on thresholds, first and second charge rates according to temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and SoH according to one embodiment.

[0042] FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a battery management device according to one embodiment.

[0043] The terms used in the examples have been selected from widely used, current terms, taking into account the functions of the present disclosure. However, these terms may vary depending on the intentions of those skilled in the art, precedents, the emergence of new technologies, etc. Furthermore, in certain cases, terms may be arbitrarily selected by the applicant, in which case their meanings will be described in detail in the relevant description. Therefore, the terms used in this disclosure should not be defined simply as names, but rather based on the meanings of the terms and the overall content of the present disclosure.

[0044] When a part of a specification is said to "include" a component, this does not mean that it excludes other components, but rather that it may include other components, unless otherwise stated.

[0045] The expression "at least one of a, b, and c" described throughout the specification may encompass 'a alone', 'b alone', 'c alone', 'a and b', 'a and c', 'b and c', or 'all of a, b, and c'.

[0046] The "terminal" mentioned below may be implemented as a computer or portable terminal that can connect to a server or other terminal via a network. Here, the computer includes, for example, a notebook, desktop, laptop, etc. equipped with a web browser, and the portable terminal may include, for example, a wireless communication device that guarantees portability and mobility, and may include all types of handheld-based wireless communication devices such as communication-based terminals such as IMT (International Mobile Telecommunication), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), W-CDMA (W-Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), smartphones, tablet PCs, etc.

[0047] Below, embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with reference to the attached drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the present disclosure. However, the present disclosure may be implemented in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

[0048] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0049] Figure 1 shows the interlocking relationship of a battery management device according to one embodiment.

[0050] Referring to FIG. 1, the battery management device (100) can operate in conjunction with a battery (200) and a charging device (300). Meanwhile, FIG. 1 only illustrates components related to the present embodiment. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that, in addition to the components illustrated in FIG. 1, other general-purpose components may be included.

[0051] The battery management device (100) can charge the battery (200) by controlling the current input from the charging element (300). Here, the charging element (300) may be a charger for a commonly used battery, and may have various forms depending on the intended use and usage pattern of the battery. The battery management device (100) can control the charging of the battery in various ways, including directly controlling the charging element (300), transmitting the current and voltage information required for the charging element (300), or controlling the current input from the charging element (300) in the middle, and is not limited to the examples mentioned above.

[0052] The battery (200) conceived in the present disclosure is a battery that includes lithium metal as at least a portion of the negative electrode, and may be, for example, at least one of next-generation batteries such as a lithium-sulfur battery, a lithium metal battery, or an all-solid-state battery. That is, the charge control method of the present disclosure, which will be described below, can be applied to various batteries that include lithium metal as at least a portion of the negative electrode, in addition to the examples mentioned above, and is not limited to the examples mentioned above.

[0053] Hereinafter, a charging control method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

[0054] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a charging control method according to one embodiment.

[0055] In step S210, the battery management device (100) may charge the battery (200) based on a first charging rate. In step S220, in response to the state-of-charge (SoC) of the battery (200) reaching a threshold, the battery management device (100) may charge the battery based on a second charging rate that is higher than the first charging rate. Each step will be described in more detail below.

[0056] First, the battery management device (100) can charge the battery (200) based on the first charging rate. Here, the first charging rate and the second charging rate applied after the SoC threshold is reached may be a value representing the speed of charging the battery, expressed as a Current Rate (C-Rate). Specifically, the charging rate is a value calculated by dividing the charging current by the rated capacity of the battery, and the unit may be expressed as C=A / Ah. Accordingly, the battery management device (100) can determine the charging current to be input to the battery based on the first or second charging rate, and charge the battery with the corresponding charging current in conjunction with the charging element (300).

[0057] Referring back to step S210, the battery management device (100) can charge the battery (200) at the first charge rate until the SoC reaches a threshold. In one embodiment, the first charge rate may be a value selected based on several values ​​that can quantitatively measure battery performance degradation due to an increase in charge / discharge cycles of the battery (200), such as a discharge capacity remaining rate or a coulombic efficiency. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the first charge rate may be a value selected within a range in which dendrites are not generated excessively due to a reaction of lithium metal included as at least a portion of the negative electrode.

[0058] The battery management device (100) can continuously measure, or monitor, the SoC of the battery (200) while charging the battery (200) at the first charging rate. Thereafter, the battery management device (100) can detect that the SoC has reached a threshold through monitoring the SoC. In response to the SoC reaching the threshold, the battery management device (100) can charge the battery (200) based on a second charging rate that is higher than the first charging rate. To examine an example of increasing the charging rate in this manner, reference will be made to FIG. 3.

[0059] Figure 3 is a graph showing an increase in the charging rate after reaching a threshold according to one embodiment.

[0060] As shown in FIG. 3, the battery management device (100) may charge the battery (200) based on the first charging rate (120) before the SoC reaches the threshold (110), and then, in response to the SoC reaching the threshold (110), charge the battery (200) based on the second charging rate (130) that is higher than the first charging rate (120). As shown in the drawing, the unit of the charging rate may be C, and the unit of the charging state may be %.

[0061] Below, a threshold as a criterion for increasing the charging rate and a second charging rate that increases in response to reaching the threshold are described.

[0062] First, according to one embodiment, the threshold may be determined based on the SoC at which the proportion of lithium metal reactions in the chemical reactions decreases below the critical ratio, by analyzing the chemical reactions occurring at the negative electrode during the charging process of the battery. Lithium metal, which is included as at least a portion of the negative electrode, can induce dendrite formation through chemical reactions at the negative electrode. Therefore, after the proportion of such lithium metal-induced chemical reactions decreases, dendrite formation may be reduced even when the charging rate is increased. Here, the critical ratio may be simply set to 50%, but may be set in various ways depending on the designer's intention. For example, the critical ratio may be set high for rapid charging of the battery, or low for battery stability, and then the threshold may be set based on the SoC at which the critical ratio is reached. In other words, the critical ratio for determining the threshold is not limited to a specific value and may have various values ​​depending on the designer's intention.

[0063] In one embodiment, for a lithium-sulfur battery, which is a battery including lithium metal as at least a portion of the anode, the threshold may be determined based on the SoC at which the chemical reaction in the anode changes from a lithium metal reaction to a lithium-sulfur shuttle reaction. In batteries including lithium metal as at least a portion of the anode, such as lithium metal batteries or all-solid-state batteries, after a certain SoC, the ratio of the chemical reaction of other components in the anode or electrolyte instead of the reaction by lithium metal in the anode may become greater than the critical ratio. The threshold may be determined based on the SoC at such a certain point.

[0064] Here, the change in the rate of chemical reactions occurring at the cathode can be directly confirmed using various conventionally known chemical reaction analysis methods, or indirectly confirmed through changes in other values. As an example of indirectly confirming the change in the rate of chemical reactions, it is possible to estimate the change in the rate of chemical reactions through the voltage at the cathode. Of course, the change in the voltage at the cathode may not necessarily be caused by the change in the rate of chemical reactions.

[0065] According to one embodiment, a threshold that can act as a trigger for the aforementioned increase in charge rate can be determined based on a profile representing a negative voltage according to the SoC of the battery (200). Here, the negative voltage shown in the profile can have an inflection point, and thus, the threshold can be determined based on the SoC corresponding to the inflection point of the profile. Here, the inflection point may not be an inflection point in the mathematical sense, but may be a point at which the trend of the negative voltage according to charging temporarily fluctuates.

[0066] In one embodiment, such an inflection point may be a point on the profile where the absolute value of the negative voltage increases, then decreases, and then increases again as the battery (200) is charged. Refer to FIG. 4 to examine one embodiment of such an inflection point in a lithium-sulfur battery.

[0067] FIG. 4 is a graph showing a profile representing the voltage of the cathode referenced to determine a threshold according to one embodiment.

[0068] Referring to FIG. 4, first to third voltage graphs (401, 402, and 403) can be confirmed. As will be explained later, the first voltage graph (401) is a case where the first charge rate is maintained throughout the charging process of the lithium-sulfur battery, the second voltage graph (402) is a case where the second-first charge rate, which is higher than the first charge rate, is applied in response to reaching the SoC threshold, and the third voltage graph (403) is a case where the second-second charge rate, which is higher than the first charge rate, is applied in response to reaching the SoC threshold. In all three graphs, it can be confirmed that the absolute value of the negative voltage increases at a point corresponding to the threshold (110), then decreases, and then increases again, as described above. The threshold may be determined as the SoC value of such an inflection point, or may be selected within a specific range corresponding to the inflection point. As indicated in the drawing, the unit of the negative voltage may be V, and the unit of the state of charge may be %.

[0069] The profile representing the cathode voltage expressed in FIG. 4 is only an example related to a lithium-sulfur battery, and may be derived differently depending on the type of battery. Accordingly, the inflection points on the profile where the trend of the cathode voltage changes may also be derived in various ways, and in some cases, there may be multiple inflection points. In addition, the formation of the inflection points may be due to a change in the ratio of the chemical reaction described above, but is not limited thereto, and embodiments that determine the threshold based on an inflection point formed by other factors will also be included within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0070] Thereafter, in response to the SoC reaching the threshold, the battery management device (100) may charge the battery (200) based on a second charging rate that is higher than the first charging rate. Here, the second charging rate may be selected within a range exceeding the first charging rate and lower than or equal to the third charging rate. Here, the third charging rate may be a value corresponding to the maximum charging rate, and may be a value set to prevent a negative effect on the battery if an excessively high charging rate is applied even after the threshold is reached. The third charging rate may be selected as the candidate charging rate that has the largest magnitude among the candidate charging rates for which at least some of the discharge capacity remaining rate and the coulombic efficiency for the charging result applied in response to reaching the threshold are confirmed to be within a normal range. In other words, the third charging rate, which is the maximum charging rate, may be selected as the one that has the largest magnitude while the negative effect on the battery confirmed in terms of the discharge capacity remaining rate and the coulombic efficiency is within an acceptable range. In one embodiment, the normal range can be determined based on the discharge capacity residual rate and coulombic efficiency of a control group to which the same first charge rate is applied throughout the charging process.

[0071] Accordingly, the second charging rate may be selected by the manager within a range exceeding the first charging rate and below the third charging rate by the battery management device (100), or may be selected within the range by a predetermined algorithm by weighting either battery stability or fast charging depending on the situation. Refer to FIG. 5 to examine a case where the discharge capacity remaining rate and coulombic efficiency, which may be used to select such a third charging rate, are within a normal range.

[0072] Figure 5 is a graph showing the discharge capacity remaining rate and coulombic efficiency when the 2-1 charging rate and the 2-2 charging rate are applied after reaching a threshold according to one embodiment.

[0073] Here, the discharge capacity remaining rate may be a value expressed in % of the amount discharged when the battery is connected to an open circuit, and the coulombic efficiency may mean the ratio of the charge capacity and the discharge capacity. In Fig. 5, the first to third upper graphs (501-1 to 503-1) represent the discharge capacity remaining rate as the number of charge cycles on the horizontal axis increases, and the corresponding value may be the vertical axis on the left. In addition, the first to third lower graphs (501-2 to 503-2) represent the coulombic efficiency as the number of charge cycles on the horizontal axis increases, and the corresponding value may be the vertical axis on the right. In addition, Fig. 5 may be linked with the graph of Fig. 4. That is, the first upper and lower graphs (501-1 and 501-2) expressed as dashed lines like the index may correspond to the first voltage graph (401) of Fig. 4. That is, the first upper and lower graphs (501-1 and 501-2) can represent the discharge capacity remaining rate and coulombic efficiency when the first charge rate is applied throughout the charging process, like the first voltage graph (4010), and therefore, the first upper and lower graphs (501-1 and 501-2) can be identified as graphs of the control group. In addition, the second upper and lower graphs (502-1 and 502-2), which are expressed as dotted lines like the index, correspond to the case of the second voltage graph (402) of FIG. 4, and can represent the discharge capacity remaining rate and coulombic efficiency when the 2-1 charge rate is applied after the SoC reaches the threshold. And, the third upper and lower graphs (503-1 and 503-2) expressed as solid lines like the index correspond to the third voltage graph (403) of Fig. 4, and can represent the discharge capacity remaining rate and coulombic efficiency when the 2-2 charge rate is applied after the SoC reaches the threshold. As can be confirmed in Fig. 5, the second upper and lower graphs (502-1 and 502-2) and the third upper and lower graphs (503-1 and 503-2) do not differ significantly from the first upper and lower graphs (501-1 and 501-2).In such a case, both the 2-1 charge rate and the 2-2 charge rate fall within the normal range, and may be at least some of the candidate charge rates. Among the candidate charge rates that fall within the normal range in terms of discharge capacity residual rate and coulombic efficiency, the one with the largest magnitude may be selected as the third charge rate. Of course, embodiments that consider only one of the discharge capacity residual rate and coulombic efficiency, rather than both, are also considered within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0074] In one embodiment, when the battery (200) includes sulfur as at least a portion of the positive electrode, i.e., for example, a lithium-sulfur battery, the first charge rate may be determined as 0.2 C and the second charge rate may be determined as 0.5 C. The first and second charge rates may be determined according to the above-described embodiments.

[0075] The threshold value described above may be determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and the State-of-Health (SoH) of the battery (200), in addition to the change in the profile representing the voltage of the negative electrode or the rate of the chemical reaction described above. For example, when the temperature is high, a change such as an inflection point appearing earlier in the profile representing the voltage of the negative electrode or a rate of reaction by lithium metal dropping earlier may occur, in which case the threshold value may be determined to be lower, and a similar change in the threshold value may be confirmed with respect to humidity, atmospheric pressure, etc. In addition, even when the SoH value is low, the lithium metal may already be largely consumed, causing a rate of reaction by lithium metal dropping earlier, or an inflection point appearing earlier in the profile representing the voltage of the negative electrode, and accordingly, the threshold value may be set lower. The situations described above are all examples, and cases where the opposite of the above examples is true, for example, cases where the threshold is set higher when the temperature is high or the SoH value is low, are also considered to be included in the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, cases where the threshold is determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, air pressure, and SoH are all considered to be included in the scope of the present disclosure.

[0076] Additionally, the difference between the first and second charging rates, i.e., how much to increase the charging rate, may also be determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, air pressure, and SoH. For example, in the case of high temperatures that may accelerate dendrite formation or when the SoH value is low, which may indicate that many dendrites have already formed, the second charging rate may be set to be higher than the first charging rate, but with a somewhat smaller difference. The situations described above are all examples, and cases in which the second charging rate operates in the opposite direction to the examples, such as when the temperature is high or the SoH value is low, are also considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0077] Alternatively, as another embodiment, the first and second charge rates may be determined in a wide range based on the aforementioned discharge capacity remaining rate and coulombic efficiency, and the combination of the first and second charge rates may be determined by further considering at least some of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and SoH. For example, in the case where the aforementioned SoH is low, the first charge rate to be applied before reaching a threshold at which dendrite formation is highly likely may be lowered than before to prevent dendrite formation, and the second charge rate to be applied after reaching a threshold at which dendrite formation is low may be higher than before to accelerate the charging speed.

[0078] According to one embodiment, the battery management device (100) may refer to a table to determine a threshold, a first and a second charging rate by taking into account temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and SoH together. That is, the battery management device (100) may check the status information of the battery (200) at a given point in time, and charge the battery (200) by applying a threshold, a first and a second charging rate optimized for the status information based on a table including information on the threshold, the first and the second charging rate calculated for each temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and SoH. To examine such an embodiment, reference will be made to FIG. 6.

[0079] FIG. 6 is an example diagram of a table including information on thresholds, first and second charge rates according to temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and SoH according to one embodiment.

[0080] Referring to FIG. 6, when humidity, pressure, and SoH are 30%, 1 atm, and 98%, respectively, a table including information on thresholds, first, and second charge rates as the temperature increases from 25°C to 28°C can be confirmed. As in the example described above, the table may be set so that as the temperature increases, the threshold and first charge rate decrease, and the second charge rate increases. According to one embodiment, the battery management device (100) measures the temperature, humidity, and pressure inside a cell, and the SoH of the cell to check state information, and then finds a combination of temperature, humidity, pressure, and SoH on the table that has the highest similarity to the state information, and applies the threshold, first, and second charge rate values ​​corresponding thereto to charge the battery (200). In Fig. 6, for convenience, only the threshold value and the changes in the first and second charging rates according to the change in temperature are shown, but an actual table may include information on the threshold value and the first and second charging rates that vary depending on humidity, air pressure, and SoH. In addition, the trends in the threshold value and the first and second charging rates according to temperature, humidity, air pressure, and SoH shown in the table are only examples, and embodiments in which the threshold value and the first and second charging rates are set according to other trends will also be included in the scope of the present disclosure.

[0081] Refer to FIG. 7 to explain the configuration of a battery management device (100) that controls charging of a battery (200) including lithium metal as at least a portion of the cathode.

[0082] Figure 7 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device according to one embodiment.

[0083] According to one embodiment, the battery management device (100) may include a memory (101), a processor (102), and one or more sensors (103). The battery management device (100) illustrated in FIG. 7 only illustrates components related to the present embodiment. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that other general components may be included in addition to the components illustrated in FIG. 7. In one embodiment, the processor (102) may be included in a controller.

[0084] One or more sensors (103) may include sensors for measuring at least some of temperature, voltage, or current used by the battery management device (100) to measure the state of the battery cells.

[0085] The processor (102) can control the overall operation of the battery management device (100) and process data and signals. The processor (102) can be composed of at least one hardware unit. In addition, the processor (102) can operate by one or more software modules generated by executing program codes stored in the memory (101). The processor (102) can include a memory, and the processor (102) can control the overall operation of the battery management device (100) and process data and signals by executing the program codes stored in the memory.

[0086] The processor (102) may be configured to perform one or more instructions to charge the battery based on a first charge rate, and in response to a state-of-charge (SoC) of the battery reaching a threshold, to charge the battery based on a second charge rate higher than the first charge rate. In addition, the processor (102) may be configured to perform operations for performing a method for controlling charging of a battery including the aforementioned lithium metal as at least a portion of an anode.

[0087] Depending on the embodiment, the battery management device (100) may additionally include a transceiver for performing wired / wireless communication. The battery management device (100) may communicate with an external electronic device using the transceiver. The external electronic device may be a terminal or a server. In addition, the communication technologies used by the transceiver may include GSM (Global System for Mobile communication), CDMA (Code Division Multi Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), 5G, WLAN (Wireless LAN), Wi-Fi (Wireless-Fidelity), Bluetooth (Bluetooth), RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), ZigBee, NFC (Near Field Communication), etc.

[0088] The battery management device according to the above-described embodiments may include a processor, a memory for storing and executing program data, permanent storage such as a disk drive, a communication port for communicating with an external device, a user interface device such as a touch panel, a key, a button, etc. The methods implemented as software modules or algorithms may be stored on a computer-readable recording medium as computer-readable codes or program instructions executable on the processor. Here, the computer-readable recording medium includes a magnetic storage medium (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), floppy disk, hard disk, etc.) and an optical reading medium (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD: Digital Versatile Disc)). The computer-readable recording medium may be distributed to computer systems connected to a network, so that the computer-readable code may be stored and executed in a distributed manner. The medium may be readable by a computer, stored in a memory, and executed by a processor.

[0089] The present embodiment may be represented by functional block configurations and various processing steps. These functional blocks may be implemented by various hardware and / or software configurations that perform specific functions. For example, the embodiment may employ direct circuit configurations such as memory, processing, logic, look-up tables, etc., which may perform various functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the present embodiment may be implemented in a programming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, assembler, etc., including various algorithms implemented as a combination of data structures, processes, routines, or other programming configurations. Functional aspects may be implemented as algorithms that execute on one or more processors. Furthermore, the present embodiment may employ conventional techniques for electronic configuration, signal processing, and / or data processing. Terms such as "mechanism," "element," "means," and "composition" can be used broadly and are not limited to mechanical or physical structures. These terms can also encompass a series of software routines, such as those associated with a processor.

[0090] The above-described embodiments are merely examples, and other embodiments may be implemented within the scope of the claims set forth below.

Claims

1. A method for controlling charging of a battery including lithium metal as at least a portion of an anode, performed by a battery management device, A step of charging the battery based on a first charging rate; and In response to the state-of-charge (SoC) of the battery reaching a threshold, a step of charging the battery based on a second charging rate higher than the first charging rate is included. Charging control method.

2. In paragraph 1, The above threshold is determined based on a profile representing the voltage of the cathode according to the SoC of the battery. Charging control method.

3. In paragraph 2, A charging control method, wherein the above threshold is determined based on the SoC corresponding to the inflection point of the profile.

4. In paragraph 3, The above threshold is determined based on the SoC corresponding to the inflection point where the voltage of the negative electrode increases, decreases, and then increases again according to the charging of the battery, based on the above profile. Charging control method.

5. In paragraph 2, The above threshold is determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, pressure and State-of-Health (SoH). Charging control method.

6. In paragraph 1, The above threshold is determined based on the SoC at which the proportion of lithium metal reaction in the chemical reaction decreases below the critical ratio by analyzing the chemical reaction occurring at the negative electrode during the charging process of the battery. Charging control method.

7. In paragraph 1, The difference between the first and second charge rates is determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, pressure and SoH. Charging control method.

8. In paragraph 1, The above second charging rate is selected within a range exceeding the first charging rate and below the third charging rate. Charging control method.

9. In paragraph 8, The third charging rate is selected as the largest among candidate charging rates for which at least some of the discharge capacity remaining ratio and coulombic efficiency for the charging result applied in response to reaching the threshold are confirmed to be within the normal range. Charging control method.

10. In paragraph 1, When the above battery comprises sulfur as at least a portion of the positive electrode, the first charging rate is 0.2C and the second charging rate is 0.5C. Charging control method.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of any one of clauses 1 to 10 on a computer.

12. A battery management system for controlling charging of a battery including lithium metal as at least a portion of an anode, One or more sensors; processor; and Contains memory that stores one or more instructions, A battery management system, wherein the processor is configured to charge the battery based on a first charge rate by performing the one or more instructions, and in response to a state-of-charge (SoC) of the battery reaching a threshold, charge the battery based on a second charge rate higher than the first charge rate.

13. In paragraph 12, The above threshold is determined based on a profile representing the voltage of the cathode according to the SoC of the battery. Battery management system.

14. In paragraph 13, A battery management system, wherein the above threshold is determined based on the SoC corresponding to the inflection point of the profile.

15. In paragraph 14, The above threshold is determined based on the SoC corresponding to the inflection point where the voltage of the negative electrode increases, decreases, and then increases again according to the charging of the battery, based on the above profile. Battery management system.

16. In paragraph 13, The above threshold is determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, pressure and State-of-Health (SoH). Battery management system.

17. In paragraph 12, The above threshold is determined based on the SoC at which the proportion of lithium metal reaction in the chemical reaction decreases below the critical ratio by analyzing the chemical reaction occurring at the negative electrode during the charging process of the battery. Battery management system.

18. In paragraph 12, The difference between the first and second charge rates is determined based on at least one of temperature, humidity, pressure and SoH. Battery management system.

19. In paragraph 12, The above second charging rate is selected within a range exceeding the first charging rate and below the third charging rate. Battery management system.

20. In paragraph 19, The third charging rate is selected as the largest among candidate charging rates for which at least some of the discharge capacity remaining ratio and coulombic efficiency for the charging result applied in response to reaching the threshold are confirmed to be within the normal range. Battery management system.

21. In paragraph 12, When the above battery comprises sulfur as at least a portion of the positive electrode, the first charging rate is 0.2C and the second charging rate is 0.5C. Battery management system.

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