Electronic device and operating method thereof

Abstract

This electronic device comprises: an information acquisition interface; a memory for storing one or more instructions; and a processor, wherein, when executed, the one or more instructions can instruct the processor to: determine, each time a vehicle is driven, a compensation voltage of each of a plurality of battery cells on the basis of balancing data; determine an accumulated compensation voltage by accumulating the compensation voltage for a predetermined period; acquire a first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells at a diagnosis time point; determine a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells on the basis of the first voltage and the accumulated compensation voltage; determine a voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells on the basis of a reference voltage and the second voltage; determine the amount of change in the voltage deviation according to the predetermined period; and diagnose the state of each of the plurality of battery cells on the basis of the amount of change in the voltage deviation.

Description

Electronic device and method of operation thereof

[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority to Republic of Korea Patent Application No. 10-2024-0098046, filed July 24, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The embodiments disclosed in this document relate to an electronic device and a method of operating the same.

[0003] Recently, research and development on secondary batteries has been actively conducted. Here, secondary batteries are rechargeable and include both conventional Ni / Cd and Ni / MH batteries, as well as recent lithium-ion batteries. Among secondary batteries, lithium-ion batteries have the advantage of having a much higher energy density than conventional Ni / Cd and Ni / MH batteries. Furthermore, lithium-ion batteries can be manufactured in a compact and lightweight form, making them suitable for use as power sources for mobile devices. Recently, their use has expanded to include power sources for electric vehicles, attracting attention as a next-generation energy storage medium.

[0004] If a micro-short circuit occurs within these batteries, it can cause leakage current within that battery. If a micro-short circuit occurs within a battery, causing leakage current, its voltage may gradually decrease compared to other batteries. If this phenomenon persists, a hard short circuit may occur, potentially causing permanent damage to the battery pack.

[0005] One purpose of the embodiments disclosed in this document is to provide an electronic device and an operating method thereof for diagnosing the state of a battery cell by considering the state change due to balancing.

[0006] In addition, one purpose of the embodiments disclosed in this document is to provide an electronic device and an operating method thereof that can diagnose a battery cell by accurately reflecting a state change due to balancing even when the SOC-voltage graph is not linear depending on the composition of the battery cell.

[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 descriptions below.

[0008] According to an embodiment disclosed in the present document, an electronic device includes an information acquisition interface for acquiring voltages of a plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack of a vehicle and balancing data of the plurality of battery cells; a memory for storing one or more instructions; and a processor, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed, cause the processor to determine a compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the balancing data each time the vehicle is driven, to accumulate the compensation voltages of each of the plurality of battery cells for a predetermined period to determine an accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells, to acquire a first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells at a diagnosis time, to determine a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the first voltage and the accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells, to determine a voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells based on a reference voltage and the second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells, to determine an amount of change in the voltage deviation according to the predetermined period for each of the plurality of battery cells, and to diagnose a state of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the amount of change in the voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0009] According to an embodiment, the processor may be configured to determine a compensation capacity of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the balancing data each time the vehicle is driven, identify a start SOC and an end SOC of each of the plurality of battery cells, determine a reference SOC based on the start SOC and the end SOC, and determine a compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the reference SOC and the compensation capacity.

[0010] According to an embodiment, the processor may be configured to determine a balancing time of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the balancing data, determine a balancing capacity of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the balancing time and balancing current of each of the plurality of battery cells, and determine the compensation capacity based on the balancing capacity and rated capacity of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0011] According to an embodiment, the processor may be configured to determine a balancing time for each of the plurality of battery cells based on a voltage and a balancing current of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0012] According to an embodiment, the processor may be configured to determine the difference between a voltage corresponding to the reference SOC and a voltage corresponding to a compensation SOC obtained by adding the compensation capacity to the reference SOC as the compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0013] According to an embodiment, the reference SOC may be set as an average of the start SOC and the end SOC.

[0014] According to an embodiment, the reference SOC may be set to an SOC corresponding to a point where linearity of a graph representing the relationship between the SOC and voltage of a battery cell is greatest in the section between the start SOC and the end SOC.

[0015] According to an embodiment, the processor may be configured to determine a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells by adding the accumulated compensation voltage to the first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0016] According to an embodiment, the processor may be configured to determine an average of second voltages of the plurality of battery cells as the reference voltage, and to determine a difference between the second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells and the reference voltage as a voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0017] According to an embodiment, the processor may be configured to diagnose the plurality of battery cells by comparing a pattern of change in voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells with a preset diagnostic pattern.

[0018] According to an embodiment disclosed in the present document, an operating method of an electronic device may include the steps of: obtaining voltages of a plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack of a vehicle and balancing data of the plurality of battery cells; determining a compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the balancing data each time the vehicle is driven; accumulating the compensation voltages of each of the plurality of battery cells for a predetermined period to determine an accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells; obtaining a first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells at a diagnosis time point; determining a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the first voltage and the accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells; determining a voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells based on a reference voltage and the second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells; determining an amount of change in voltage deviation according to the predetermined period for each of the plurality of battery cells; and diagnosing a state of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the amount of change in voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0019] The electronic device and its operating method according to the embodiments disclosed in this document can diagnose abnormalities in each battery cell more accurately and precisely using balancing data.

[0020] In addition, various effects may be provided, either directly or indirectly, through this document.

[0021] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic device according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an SOC-voltage graph of a battery cell according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0023] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of determining the cumulative compensation voltage of a battery cell according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0024] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of determining voltage deviation of multiple battery cells according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0025] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of determining the amount of change in voltage deviation of a battery cell according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0026] FIGS. 6 to 9 are diagrams showing examples of comparing the amount of change in voltage deviation and the diagnostic pattern according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0027] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a diagnostic method of an electronic device according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0028] Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, and it should be understood that the present invention encompasses various modifications, equivalents, and / or alternatives of the embodiments.

[0029] In this document, the singular form of a noun corresponding to an item may include one or more of said items, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this document, phrases such as "A or B," "at least one of A and B," "at least one of A or B," "A, B, or C," "at least one of A, B, and C," and "at least one of A, B, or C" may each include any one of the items listed together in that phrase, or all possible combinations thereof. Terms such as "first," "second," or "first" or "second" may be used merely to distinguish the corresponding element from other corresponding elements, and do not limit the corresponding elements in any other respect (e.g., importance or order). When a component (e.g., a first component) is referred to as being “coupled” or “connected” to another component (e.g., a second component), with or without the terms “functionally” or “communicatively,” it means that the component can be connected to the other component directly (e.g., wired), wirelessly, or through a third component.

[0030] Each component (e.g., a module or a program) described in this document may include one or more entities. According to various embodiments, one or more components or operations of the components may be omitted, or one or more other components or operations may be added. Alternatively or additionally, a plurality of components (e.g., a module or a program) may be integrated into a single component. In such a case, the integrated component may perform one or more functions of each of the plurality of components identically or similarly to those performed by the corresponding component among the plurality of components prior to integration. According to various embodiments, the operations performed by a module, program, or other component may be executed sequentially, in parallel, iteratively, or heuristically, or one or more of the operations may be executed in a different order, omitted, or one or more other operations may be added.

[0031] The term "module" or "part" used in this document may include a unit implemented in hardware, software, or firmware, and may be used interchangeably with terms such as logic, logic block, component, or circuit. A module may be an integral component, or a minimum unit or part of such a component that performs one or more functions. For example, according to one embodiment, a module may be implemented in the form of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

[0032] Various embodiments of the present document may be implemented as software (e.g., a program or an application) including one or more instructions stored in a machine-readable storage medium (e.g., memory). For example, a processor of the device may call at least one instruction among the one or more instructions stored from the storage medium and execute it. This enables the device to operate to perform at least one function according to the at least one instruction called. The one or more instructions may include code generated by a compiler or code executable by an interpreter. The machine-readable storage medium may be provided in the form of a non-transitory storage medium. Here, "non-transitory" only means that the storage medium is a tangible device and does not contain a signal (e.g., electromagnetic waves), and this term does not distinguish between cases where data is stored semi-permanently and cases where it is stored temporarily in the storage medium.

[0033]

[0034] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic device according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic device (10) may include an information acquisition interface (110), a processor (120), and a memory (130).

[0036] The electronic device (10) can diagnose the status of each of the multiple battery cells included in the battery pack. The electronic device (10) can diagnose the status of the battery cells and determine which cells have an abnormality. For example, the electronic device (10) can determine which battery cells included in the battery pack have an internal micro-short circuit abnormality.

[0037] A battery pack may consist of multiple battery cells arranged in series and / or parallel, and in some cases, the battery pack may be organized into battery banks (or modules), which are collections of battery cells.

[0038] In a battery pack, unevenness (e.g., voltage unevenness) may occur between battery cells, and balancing operations may be performed to resolve this unevenness. Balancing operations can be broadly divided into passive balancing and active balancing. Active balancing can be understood as the concept of redistributing energy between battery cells. For example, active balancing can redistribute the energy of a specific cell to a low-voltage or low-capacity cell. Passive balancing can be understood as the concept of achieving uniformity among battery cells through heat dissipation. For example, passive balancing can achieve uniformity with low-voltage or low-capacity battery cells by lowering the energy of a battery cell with a higher voltage or capacity relative to the low-voltage or low-capacity battery cell. For example, passive balancing can reduce the voltage or capacity of a target battery cell by discharging the target battery cell using a balancing circuit connected to each battery cell.

[0039] Accordingly, the state of the battery cells may change due to the balancing operation within the battery pack. For example, the voltage and capacity of the battery cells on which passive balancing is performed may decrease during the balancing. Accordingly, the electronic device (10) can correct the voltage of each cell at the time of diagnosis by considering the change in the state of each battery cell due to balancing, and can individually diagnose the battery cells by analyzing the corrected voltage. That is, the electronic device (10) can more accurately diagnose the state of the battery cells by considering the state of each battery cell that changes as balancing is performed in the battery pack.

[0040] The electronic device (10) can utilize a SOC-voltage graph representing the characteristics of a battery cell to compensate for state changes due to balancing in a battery pack. However, depending on the composition of the battery cell, the SOC-voltage graph may not be linear and the slope may not be constant. If the SOC-voltage graph of the battery cell is not linear, there may be a large difference in the amount of state change to be compensated (e.g., compensation voltage) depending on the point in time at which the state change due to balancing is compensated. For example, when compensating for state changes due to balancing at a point where the slope of the SOC-voltage graph is large, even a slight change in that point may result in a large difference in the amount of state change to be compensated for.

[0041] Accordingly, the electronic device (10) determines the compensation voltage for each operation and accumulates it to correct the voltage of the battery cell at the time of diagnosis, thereby reducing the compensation voltage error due to the difference in the slope of the graph even when the SOC-voltage graph of the battery cell is not linear. Accordingly, the electronic device (10) can prevent over-diagnosis during battery cell diagnosis and increase the accuracy of the diagnosis.

[0042] In the following, the balancing operation in the battery pack is described assuming passive balancing. However, it should be understood that the operation of the electronic device (10) described below can be equally applied even when the balancing operation is performed as active balancing.

[0043] The electronic device (10) may refer to a battery diagnostic device that performs diagnosis of a battery cell, and the operation of the electronic device (10) may be performed in various devices such as a battery management system (BMS) of a battery pack, a battery management system of a vehicle, a server or cloud connected to a vehicle equipped with a battery pack, a charger, and a charger / discharger.

[0044] The operation of the electronic device (10) will be described in more detail below.

[0045] The information acquisition interface (110) can acquire voltage and balancing data of multiple battery cells included in a battery pack. The voltage data of the multiple battery cells may refer to the operating voltage or open circuit voltage (OCV) of each battery cell. For example, the information acquisition interface (110) can acquire the operating voltage of the battery cells when the vehicle is in operation, and can acquire the open circuit voltage of the battery cells when the battery pack is in an idle state.

[0046] In addition, the balancing data of the plurality of battery cells may include data regarding changes in the state of each battery cell that occur during the balancing operation of the battery pack. For example, the information acquisition interface (110) may acquire the state of each battery cell that changes during the balancing operation as balancing data during the battery cell balancing operation. In addition, the balancing data may include data matching the operation of the vehicle with the state changes of the battery cells. For example, the balancing data may include data matching the SOC changes of the battery cells during the vehicle's driving section. Here, the vehicle's driving section may refer to the section between the time the vehicle's ignition is turned on and the time the ignition is turned off.

[0047] For example, the balancing data may include at least some of battery cell capacity change data, SOC (State Of Charge) change data, voltage change data, and balancing time data. For example, the information acquisition interface (110) may acquire data on the changing capacity of the battery cell, data on the changing SOC, and data on the changing voltage during the balancing process. In addition, the information acquisition interface (110) may acquire data on the balancing time and balancing current for each balancing operation.

[0048] Additionally, balancing data may include data matching the vehicle's driving section with changes in the battery cell's SOC. Here, the vehicle's driving section may refer to the period between the vehicle's ignition being turned on and the ignition being turned off.

[0049] In some cases, the information acquisition interface (110) may acquire additional data such as temperature and SOH (State-Of-Health) of the battery pack in addition to voltage data and balancing data of the battery cell.

[0050] The information acquisition interface (110) may be a component, for example, a sensor, that directly measures the state of the battery pack when the electronic device (10) is a battery management system (BMS) of the battery pack. In addition, the information acquisition interface (110) may be a communication interface that receives information from a component, for example, a BMS of the battery pack, that measures the state of the battery pack when the electronic device (10) is a vehicle BMS, a server, a cloud, a charger, or the like.

[0051] The memory (130) can store various data used by at least one component (e.g., the processor (120)). The memory (130) can store instructions for the operation of the processor (120). The program can be stored as software in the memory (130) and can include, for example, an operating system, middleware, or an application. Unless otherwise specified, the memory (130) in the present disclosure can mean a set of one or more memories (130). For example, the memory (130) can store voltage and balancing data of a battery cell acquired from the information acquisition interface (110). In addition, the memory (130) can store an SOC-voltage graph of a battery cell.

[0052] The processor (120) is a component that can perform calculations or data processing related to control and / or communication of each component of the electronic device (10), and can be operatively connected to the components of the electronic device (10). The processor (120) can load commands or data received from other components of the electronic device (10) into the memory (130), process the commands or data stored in the memory (130), and store the resulting data. Unless there are special circumstances, the processor (120) in the present disclosure may mean a set of one or more processors (120).

[0053] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) can determine a compensation voltage for each of the plurality of battery cells based on balancing data of the plurality of battery cells each time the vehicle is driven.

[0054] The processor (120) can determine a compensation voltage for each of the plurality of battery cells each time the vehicle is driven in order to compensate for changes in the state of the battery cells due to balancing during the process of diagnosing each battery cell. By individually determining the compensation voltage due to balancing of the battery cells each time the vehicle is driven, the processor (120) can analyze the state of the battery cells more accurately and objectively, thereby increasing the accuracy of the diagnosis.

[0055] In addition, the processor (120) determines the compensation voltage for each operation rather than estimating the long-term state change of the battery cell all at once, thereby more accurately reflecting the actual state change of the battery cell and determining the compensation voltage. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a significant difference between the compensation voltage required according to the actual state change of the battery cell at the time of battery cell diagnosis and the compensation voltage determined by the processor (120).

[0056] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine the compensation capacity of each of the plurality of battery cells based on balancing data each time the vehicle is driven. To determine the compensation voltage of the battery cells for each drive, the processor (120) may determine the compensation capacity of each battery cell and determine the compensation voltage corresponding to the compensation capacity.

[0057] The compensation capacity of a battery cell may be a value corresponding to the percentage of capacity that each battery cell loses or gains due to balancing. For example, if a particular battery cell loses 2% of its capacity due to balancing during operation, the compensation capacity may be determined to correspond to the reduced capacity by 2%.

[0058] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine a balancing capacity indicating a state change due to balancing of each of a plurality of battery cells, and may determine a compensation capacity indicating a degree of state change due to balancing based on the balancing capacity of each of the battery cells.

[0059] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine the balancing capacity of each battery cell based on the balancing time and balancing current of each of the plurality of battery cells. The balancing current may be determined during the design phase of the battery pack and may be set to the same for all battery cells. For example, the balancing current may be set to 0.025 A. Additionally, the balancing time may refer to the time for which balancing is performed for each battery cell.

[0060] For example, the processor (120) can determine the balancing capacity of each battery cell by [Mathematical Formula 1] below.

[0061] [Mathematical Formula 1]

[0062] Balancing capacity = balancing time * balancing current

[0063] When multiple balancings are performed during the operation process, the processor (120) can accumulate the balancing capacity determined as described above for each balancing.

[0064] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine a balancing time for each of a plurality of battery cells based on balancing data. The processor (120) may determine a balancing time for each of the battery cells as a process for determining a balancing capacity of each of the battery cells.

[0065] For example, the processor (120) can identify the balancing start time and the balancing end time of each battery cell from the balancing data acquired from the information acquisition interface (110), and can determine the difference between the balancing start time and the balancing end time as the balancing time of each battery cell. For example, the processor (120) can identify the battery cell on which balancing is performed for each balancing operation, and identify the balancing start time and the balancing end time of the battery cell on which balancing is performed. In addition, the processor (120) can determine the interval between the balancing start time and the balancing end time as the balancing time.

[0066] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine the balancing time of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the voltage and balancing current of each of the plurality of battery cells. For example, the processor (120) may determine the balancing time of each of the battery cells at the start of operation. This is merely an example, and the processor (120) may also determine the balancing time at a balancing start time other than the start of operation.

[0067] For example, the processor (120) can identify the voltage of each battery cell at the start of operation, and can identify the deviation of each battery cell and the voltage that becomes the balancing termination condition of the battery cell. For example, the voltage that becomes the balancing termination condition may be the lowest voltage among the voltages of the plurality of battery cells. The processor (120) can determine the balancing time required for balancing until the voltage of each battery cell reaches the voltage that becomes the termination condition from each voltage and balancing current of each of the plurality of battery cells. For example, the processor (120) can determine the power consumption required until the voltage of each battery cell reaches the voltage that becomes the termination condition, and determine the corresponding balancing time.

[0068] In some cases, the processor (120) may estimate the vehicle's operating time as the balancing time.

[0069] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine a compensation capacity of each battery cell based on the balancing capacity and rated capacity of each of the plurality of battery cells. The processor (120) may determine the degree of change in the capacity of each battery cell as the compensation capacity based on the balancing capacity of each battery cell. For example, the unit of the balancing capacity of each battery cell may be Ah, and the unit of the compensation capacity may be %.

[0070] The rated capacity may be the same for all battery cells and may refer to the total capacity of the battery cells. That is, the processor (120) may compare the rated capacity of each battery cell with the balancing capacity to determine the extent to which the battery cell's state has changed due to balancing.

[0071] For example, the processor (120) can determine the compensation capacity of each battery cell by [Mathematical Formula 2] below.

[0072] [Equation 2]

[0073] Compensation capacity = (balancing capacity / rated capacity)

[0074] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) can identify the starting SOC and the ending SOC of each of the plurality of battery cells. The processor (120) can identify the starting SOC and the ending SOC of each battery cell for each operation. For example, the processor (120) can identify the starting SOC and the ending SOC of each battery cell for each operation from voltage data and / or balancing data acquired from the information acquisition interface (110).

[0075] Here, the starting SOC may refer to the SOC of each battery cell at the start of vehicle operation or the SOC at the start of balancing of each battery cell. Similarly, the ending SOC may refer to the SOC of each battery cell at the end of vehicle operation or the SOC at the end of balancing of each battery cell.

[0076] When the processor (120) identifies the starting SOC of the battery cell as the SOC at the start of vehicle operation and the ending SOC as the SOC at the end of vehicle operation, and determines the balancing time of the battery cell at the start of operation, the compensation voltage during operation can be simply determined and system resources can be efficiently utilized.

[0077] In one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine a reference SOC based on the starting SOC and the ending SOC. The reference SOC may refer to a reference for applying the determined compensation capacity to determine the compensation voltage. The processor (120) may determine the reference SOC for each battery cell for each operation.

[0078] As described above, depending on the composition of the battery cell, the SOC-voltage relationship of the battery cell may not be linear. If the SOC-voltage relationship of the battery cell is not linear, the compensation voltage value may vary significantly depending on the SOC point at which the compensation capacity of the battery cell is applied. Accordingly, the processor (120) may determine a reference SOC for compensation of the battery cell.

[0079] In one embodiment, the reference SOC may be set as the average of the start SOC and the end SOC. For example, if the start SOC of a specific battery cell in a run was 80% and the end SOC was 60%, the reference SOC for the battery cell in the run may be set to 70%. The processor (120) may set the reference SOC as the average of the start SOC and the end SOC to reflect the SOC change of the battery cell in the run on average. For example, the processor (120) may set the reference SOC as the average of the start SOC and the end SOC, assuming that the balancing time determined as described above has continuously progressed in the SOC section between the start SOC and the end SOC.

[0080] According to one embodiment, the reference SOC may be set to the SOC corresponding to the point of greatest linearity in a graph representing the relationship between the SOC and voltage of a battery cell in the interval between the start SOC and the end SOC. The processor (120) may set the SOC corresponding to the point of greatest linearity as the reference SOC to prevent excessive differences from occurring due to application of the compensation capacity of the battery cell.

[0081] For example, the processor (120) may be provided with an SOC-voltage graph of each battery cell and may identify a point with the greatest linearity in the SOC-voltage graph of each cell. For example, the processor (120) may identify a point with the smallest double differential value in the SOC-voltage graph and set the SOC corresponding to that point as a reference SOC.

[0082] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine a compensation voltage for each of the plurality of battery cells based on a reference SOC and a compensation capacity. The processor (120) may determine the compensation voltage for each of the plurality of battery cells by applying a compensation capacity based on the reference SOC for each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0083] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine the difference between the voltage corresponding to the reference SOC and the voltage corresponding to the compensation SOC obtained by adding the compensation capacity to the reference SOC as the compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells. The processor (120) may determine the compensation SOC of each battery cell by adding the compensation capacity to the reference SOC of each battery cell. Since passive balancing is assumed, the processor (120) may calculate the compensation SOC by adding the compensation capacity to the reference SOC. Conversely, if the balancing operation in the battery pack is active balancing, the processor (120) may calculate the compensation SOC as a value obtained by subtracting the compensation capacity from the reference SOC.

[0084] For example, the processor (120) may determine voltage values ​​corresponding to the reference SOC and compensation SOC of each battery cell using the SOC-voltage graph of each battery cell. For example, when the voltage value corresponding to the reference SOC of the battery cell is x [mV] and the voltage value corresponding to the compensation SOC is y [mV], the processor (120) may determine the compensation voltage of the battery cell as (yx) [mV]. In this case, since the compensation SOC is greater than the reference SOC, the voltage value y corresponding thereto may also be greater than x.

[0085] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may accumulate the compensation voltages of each of the plurality of battery cells over a predetermined period of time to determine the accumulated compensation voltage of each battery cell. For each period, the processor (120) may accumulate the compensation voltages for each operation performed within the period to determine the accumulated compensation voltage of each battery cell.

[0086] The processor (120) can determine the cumulative compensation voltage of each battery cell for each cycle, and when the cycle is changed, the cumulative compensation voltage of the battery cell can be initialized and the cumulative compensation voltage for the changed cycle can be determined again.

[0087] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may acquire the first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells at a diagnostic point in time. The diagnostic point in time may be set for each cycle and may refer to a point in time for determining the voltage deviation of each battery cell by considering the accumulated compensation voltage in each cycle. The diagnostic point in time may be set based on the same criteria for all cycles.

[0088] In one embodiment, the diagnostic point may be selected during the idle period. For example, the processor (120) may obtain the open circuit voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells at a diagnostic point within the idle period of the battery pack. For example, the diagnostic point may be selected as a point within the idle period where the voltage of the battery cell is above a threshold voltage. The threshold voltage may be, for example, a voltage corresponding to 95% of the SOC.

[0089] As another example, the diagnostic point may be determined as the point with the greatest linearity in the SOC-voltage graph of the battery cell. In order to prevent the compensation voltage from changing due to differences in the graph depending on the point in the SOC-voltage graph of the battery cell, the processor (120) may determine the point with the SOC corresponding to the point with the greatest linearity in the SOC-voltage graph as the diagnostic point.

[0090] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine a second voltage of each battery cell based on a first voltage and an accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells. The processor (120) may determine the second voltage of each battery cell by correcting the accumulated compensation voltage that takes into account a state change due to balancing of the battery cells to the first voltage of each battery cell.

[0091] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine a second voltage of each battery cell by adding an accumulated compensation voltage to the first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells. In order to compensate for a state change due to balancing of the plurality of battery cells, the processor (120) may determine a second voltage by adding the accumulated compensation voltage to the first voltage of each battery cell. For example, if the first voltage of the first battery cell is 4135 mV at the time of diagnosis and the accumulated compensation voltage of the first battery cell in the corresponding cycle is 5 mV, the processor (120) may determine the second voltage of the first battery cell as 4140 mV.

[0092] In this way, the processor (120) can identify the voltage of each battery cell at a diagnostic point in each predetermined cycle, add the accumulated compensation voltage in the corresponding cycle to the identified voltage, and determine a second voltage that compensates for the state change due to balancing.

[0093] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) can determine a voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells based on a reference voltage and a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0094] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine the average of the second voltages of the plurality of battery cells as the reference voltage. At this time, the processor (120) may determine the difference between the second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells and the reference voltage as the voltage deviation of each battery cell.

[0095] This is just an example, and in some cases, the processor (120) may use a value determined based on various operations, such as an average value of the voltage deviations of each of the plurality of battery cells, as the reference voltage.

[0096] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) may determine, for each of a plurality of battery cells, the amount of change in voltage deviation according to a predetermined cycle. For example, the processor (120) may determine, for each battery cell, the difference in voltage deviation determined in adjacent cycles as the amount of change in voltage deviation of the battery cell.

[0097] For example, if the voltage deviation of the i-th (i is a natural number) battery cell in the n-th cycle (n is a natural number greater than or equal to 2) is z[mV], and the voltage deviation of the i-th battery cell in the previous (n-1-th) cycle is w[mV], the processor (120) can determine the amount of change in the voltage deviation of the i-th battery cell for the n-th cycle as zw[mV].

[0098] According to one embodiment, the processor (120) can diagnose the status of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the amount of change in the voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells. The processor (120) can diagnose the status of the battery cells by analyzing the amount of change in the voltage deviation of each battery cell.

[0099] In one embodiment, the processor (120) may diagnose each of the plurality of battery cells by comparing a pattern of change in voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells with a preset diagnostic pattern. For example, the processor (120) may perform a micro-short-circuit diagnosis of the battery cells.

[0100] The processor (120) can diagnose the condition of a battery cell by analyzing the pattern of change in the voltage deviation determined for each battery cell. For example, the processor (120) can identify the pattern of change in the voltage deviation based on the value of the change in the voltage deviation and the change in the value of the change in the voltage deviation.

[0101] For example, if the determined plurality of voltage deviation changes are positive for each battery cell and the sum total of the plurality of voltage deviation changes is greater than or equal to a first reference value (R1), the processor (120) may determine that the pattern of the voltage deviation changes corresponds to the first diagnostic pattern and diagnose that an internal micro-short circuit has occurred in the battery cell. For example, the processor (120) may accumulate the voltage deviation changes of the battery cells to determine the sum total of the voltage deviation changes, and compare the determined sum total with the first reference value (R1).

[0102] For example, in FIG. 6, the voltage deviations (dV'0, dV'1, dV'2, dV'3) determined at each diagnostic time point (t0, t1, t2, t3) are expressed at each point (610, 611, 612, 613). At this time, the change in the voltage deviation of the battery cell may mean the difference in the y-coordinate of each point. For example, when comparing points 610 and 611, it can be confirmed that the change in voltage deviation (△dV'1) for time point t1 corresponds to the interval (621) in size, and the interval (621) has a size of 4 mV. Similarly, the change in voltage deviation (△dV'2) for time point t2 corresponds to the interval (622) in size, and the size may be 1 mV. In addition, the amount of change in voltage deviation (△dV'3) for time t3 may correspond to the interval (623) in size and may be 5 mV. In this case, the processor (120) may determine that the pattern of the amount of change in voltage deviation corresponds to the first diagnostic pattern because the amount of change in voltage deviation is positive and the sum of these (△dV'1+△dV'2+△dV'3 = 10 mV) is greater than or equal to the first reference value (R1).

[0103] In another example, the processor (120) may be configured to determine that the pattern of voltage deviation changes corresponds to a second diagnostic pattern when the amount of change in a plurality of voltage deviations of the battery cells is greater than or equal to a preset second reference value (R2), and to diagnose that an internal micro-short has occurred in the battery. For example, the processor (120) may compare each amount of change in the voltage deviation of the battery cells with the second reference value (R2). When each amount of change in the voltage deviation is greater than or equal to the second reference value (R2), the processor (120) may diagnose that an internal micro-short has occurred in the battery.

[0104] In one embodiment, the second reference value (R2) may be set to a value less than the first reference value (R1). For example, the first reference value (R1) may be set to 10 mV, and the second reference value (R2) may be set to 2 mV.

[0105] For example, as shown in FIG. 7, if the amount of change in voltage deviation at each point in time is 3 mV (corresponding to 721), 2 mV (corresponding to 722), and 4 mV (corresponding to 723), the processor (120) can determine that the pattern of the amount of change in voltage deviation corresponds to the second diagnostic pattern because the amount of change in each voltage deviation is greater than or equal to the second reference value.

[0106] In another example, if the amount of change in a plurality of voltage deviations is positive and at least one of the amounts of change in a plurality of voltage deviations is greater than or equal to a preset third reference value (R3), the processor (120) may determine that the pattern of the amount of change in the voltage deviation corresponds to a third diagnostic pattern and diagnose that an internal micro-short circuit has occurred in the battery.

[0107] In one embodiment, the third reference value (R3) may be configured to be less than a first reference value (R1) preset to correspond to the first diagnostic pattern and to exceed a second reference value (R2) preset to correspond to the second diagnostic pattern. For example, the first reference value (R1) may be set to 10 mV, the second reference value (R2) may be set to 2 mV, and the third reference value (R3) may be set to 6 mV.

[0108] For example, if the amount of change in voltage deviation at each point in time is 1 mV (corresponding to 821), 7 mV (corresponding to 822), and 1 mV (corresponding to 823) as shown in FIG. 8, the processor (120) can determine that the pattern of change in voltage deviation corresponds to the third diagnostic pattern because the amount of change in voltage deviation for point in time t2 is greater than or equal to the third reference value.

[0109] In this way, if the pattern of multiple voltage deviation changes of a battery cell corresponds to a single diagnostic pattern, the processor (120) can diagnose that an internal micro-short circuit has occurred in the corresponding battery cell. In other words, the electronic device (10) can prevent a hard short circuit from occurring in the battery in an unexpected situation by sensitively and strictly diagnosing the condition of the battery.

[0110] In another example, the processor (120) may be configured to determine that the pattern of voltage deviation changes corresponds to the fourth diagnostic pattern when the plurality of voltage deviation changes are positive and the plurality of voltage deviation changes increase over time, and to diagnose that an internal micro-short circuit has occurred in the battery.

[0111] For example, in the case where the amount of change in voltage deviation at each point in time is 1 mV (corresponding to 921), 3 mV (corresponding to 922), and 4 mV (corresponding to 923), as shown in Fig. 9, the processor (120) can determine that the pattern of the amount of change in voltage deviation corresponds to the fourth diagnostic pattern, since the amount of change in diagnostic deviation increases over time.

[0112] According to one embodiment, the first to fourth diagnostic patterns may be based on the premise that multiple voltage deviation variations are positive. That is, a battery cell in which an internal micro-short circuit has occurred may have a voltage deviation from other battery cells that gradually increase over time. Therefore, according to one embodiment, in order to efficiently utilize system resources, the processor (120) may compare the patterns of multiple voltage deviation variations with a preset diagnostic pattern only for battery cells in which all of the multiple voltage deviation variations are positive.

[0113] Meanwhile, if the pattern of the change amount of multiple voltage deviations corresponds to any one of the diagnostic patterns, the processor (120) can diagnose that an internal micro-short circuit has occurred in the corresponding battery cell.

[0114] In addition, if the processor (120) determines that a battery cell is abnormal based on the diagnostic results, it can provide information about the abnormal battery cell to the user. For example, the processor (120) can provide information about the abnormal battery cell to the user terminal via a communication unit (not shown), and can also provide information about the abnormal battery cell via a display provided in a vehicle or charger.

[0115] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an SOC-voltage graph of a battery cell according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0116] Referring to FIG. 2, examples of SOC-voltage graphs of various battery cells are illustrated. First, graph (210) of FIG. 2 shows an example of a battery cell in which the SOC-voltage relationship exhibits linearity in a specific SOC region (region A). As shown in graph (210), when the SOC-voltage graph of a battery cell exhibits linearity, even if the compensation voltage is determined by applying a compensation capacity at a certain point in the linear region, the deviation of the compensation voltage may not be large.

[0117] Next, graph (220) shows examples of battery cells where the SOC-voltage relationship does not clearly show linearity. In such cases, the compensation voltage determined by the application of compensation capacity may vary significantly depending on the diagnosis time point. For example, if the diagnosis time point falls within area (B) of graph (220), the slope of the SOC-voltage curve is large, so the compensation voltage value may vary significantly depending on the difference in the SOC point corresponding to the diagnosis time point. In such cases where the compensation voltage value is determined to be large, there is a possibility that over-inspection may occur because the change in the battery cell is judged to be large.

[0118] Therefore, the processor (120) determines the compensation voltage by balancing for each operation, accumulates it, and uses the accumulated compensation voltage value at the time of diagnosis, thereby reducing over-inspection and increasing diagnosis accuracy.

[0119] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of determining the cumulative compensation voltage of a battery cell according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0120] Referring to FIG. 3, the processor (120) can determine the compensation voltage of the battery cell for each operation and accumulate it to determine the accumulated compensation voltage. For example, in FIG. 3, when the starting SOC of the first battery cell is 80% and the ending SOC is 60% during the first operation of the vehicle, the processor (120) can determine the reference SOC as 70% and the corresponding compensation voltage as 0.5 mV.

[0121] Similarly, when the starting SOC of the first battery cell is 70% and the ending SOC is 50% during operation 2, the processor (120) determines the reference SOC as 60%, determines the corresponding compensation voltage as 1 mV, and accumulates the compensation voltage determined in operation 2 and the compensation voltage determined in operation 1 to determine the accumulated compensation voltage up to operation 2 as 1.5 mV.

[0122] In this way, if the accumulated compensation voltage accumulated over a given period is 5 mV, the processor (120) can determine the compensation voltage of the battery cell as 4140 mV by adding the accumulated compensation voltage of 5 mV to the voltage value at the time of diagnosis, 4135 mV.

[0123] In Fig. 3, the diagnosis point is shown as the point when the SOC of the battery cell is 95%, but the diagnosis point is not limited to this.

[0124] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of determining voltage deviation of multiple battery cells according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0125] Referring to FIG. 4, an example of determining the voltage deviation of a plurality of battery cells (battery cells a to battery cells d) is illustrated.

[0126] The processor (120) can identify the first voltages of battery cells a, b, c, and d at diagnostic points in each predetermined cycle. For example, in FIG. 4, the first voltages of each battery cell at each diagnostic point in time can be Va, Vb, Vc, and Vd, respectively.

[0127] In addition, the processor (120) may determine the second voltage of each battery cell as V'a, V'b, V'c, V'd when the accumulated compensation voltages of each battery cell are V_a, V_b, V_c, and V_d. The processor (120) may determine the second voltage by adding the accumulated compensation voltage to the first voltage of each battery cell. For example, the processor (120) may determine the second voltage V'a of battery cell a as Va+V_a.

[0128] The processor (120) may determine the difference between the reference voltage and the second voltage of each battery cell as the voltage deviation of each battery cell. For example, the reference voltage V'avg may be determined as the average of the second voltages of the battery cells. For example, V'avg may be determined as (V'a + V'b + V'c + V'd) / 4.

[0129] The processor (120) can determine the voltage deviation of each battery cell as dV'a, dV'b, dV'c, and dV'd. For example, the processor (120) can determine the voltage deviation of battery cell c as dV'c = V'c - V'avg.

[0130] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of determining the amount of change in voltage deviation of a battery cell according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0131] Referring to FIG. 5, the processor (120) can determine the amount of change in voltage deviation for each battery cell, and an example thereof is shown. For example, the processor (120) can determine the voltage deviation (dV'0, dV'1, dV'2, dV'3) of the battery cells at diagnostic points (t0, t1, t2, t3) at predetermined intervals.

[0132] In addition, the processor (120) can determine the amount of change in the voltage deviation determined at each predetermined cycle. For example, the processor (120) can determine the difference between the voltage deviations determined at the current time point and the previous time point as the amount of change in the voltage deviation. For example, at time t1, the processor (120) can determine the amount of change in the deviation of the correction voltage corresponding to time t1 as △dV'1 = dv'1-dv'0.

[0133] The processor (120) can diagnose each battery cell by analyzing the pattern of change in the deviation of the correction voltage determined in this way.

[0134] In Fig. 5, the deviation of the correction voltage is determined at four points in time and the change in the deviation of the three correction voltages is illustrated, but the number of points in time at which the voltage deviation is determined is not limited thereto.

[0135] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a diagnostic method of an electronic device according to one embodiment disclosed in this document.

[0136] Referring to FIG. 10, at step S100, the information acquisition interface (110) can acquire voltage and balancing data of multiple battery cells.

[0137] At step S200, the processor (120) may determine the compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells each time the vehicle is driven. For example, the processor (120) may determine the balancing capacity of each of the plurality of battery cells and determine the compensation voltage of each battery cell based on the balancing capacity.

[0138] At step S300, the processor (120) may determine the cumulative compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells. For example, the processor (120) may determine the cumulative compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells by accumulating the compensation voltages determined during operation for a predetermined period.

[0139] At step S400, the processor (120) can obtain the first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells at the diagnosis point. For example, the processor (120) can identify and obtain the first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on voltage data obtained from the information acquisition interface (120).

[0140] At step S500, the processor (120) may determine a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells. For example, the processor (120) may determine a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the first voltage and the accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0141] At step S600, the processor (120) may determine the voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells. For example, the processor (120) may determine the voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells based on a reference voltage and a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0142] At step S700, the processor (120) may determine, for each of a plurality of battery cells, the amount of change in voltage deviation according to a predetermined cycle. For example, the processor (120) may determine, for each battery cell, the difference in voltage deviation determined in adjacent cycles as the amount of change in voltage deviation.

[0143] At step S800, the processor (120) can diagnose the status of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the amount of change in the voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells. For example, the processor (120) can diagnose each of the plurality of battery cells by comparing the pattern of the amount of change in the voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells with a preset diagnostic pattern.

[0144] Meanwhile, the present specification and drawings disclose preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and although specific terms are used, they are used in a general sense only to easily explain the technical contents of the present disclosure and to help understand the embodiments, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the embodiments of the present disclosure pertain that other modified examples based on the technical idea of ​​the present disclosure are possible in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0145] The device or terminal according to the above-described embodiments may include a processor, a memory for storing and executing program data, a permanent storage such as a disk drive, a communication port for communicating with an external device, a user object 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 commands that can be executed on the processor. Here, the computer-readable recording medium includes a magnetic storage medium (e.g., a read-only memory (ROM), a random-access memory (RAM), a floppy disk, a hard disk, etc.) and an optical reading medium (e.g., a CD-ROM, a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)). The computer-readable recording medium may be distributed to computer systems connected to a network, so that the computer-readable code can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. The medium is readable by a computer, stored in a memory, and executed by a processor.

[0146] 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 integrated 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, Python, 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.

Claims

1. An information acquisition interface for acquiring voltages of a plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack of a vehicle and balancing data of the plurality of battery cells; Memory that stores one or more instructions; and Contains a processor, The one or more instructions, when executed, cause the processor to: Each time the vehicle is driven, the compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells is determined based on the balancing data, Accumulating the compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells for a set period of time to determine the accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells, Obtaining the first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells at the diagnosis point, Based on the first voltage and the accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells, a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells is determined, Based on the reference voltage and the second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells, a voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells is determined, For each of the plurality of battery cells, determine the amount of change in voltage deviation according to the set cycle, Configured to diagnose the status of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the amount of change in voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells, Electronic devices.

2. In paragraph 1, The above processor, Each time the vehicle is driven, the compensation capacity of each of the plurality of battery cells is determined based on the balancing data, Identifying the starting SOC and ending SOC of each of the plurality of battery cells, Determine the reference SOC based on the above starting SOC and the above ending SOC, configured to determine the compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the above reference SOC and the compensation capacity, Electronic devices.

3. In paragraph 2, The above processor, Based on the above balancing data, the balancing time of each of the plurality of battery cells is determined, The balancing capacity of each of the plurality of battery cells is determined based on the balancing time and balancing current of each of the plurality of battery cells, configured to determine the compensation capacity based on the balancing capacity and rated capacity of each of the plurality of battery cells, Electronic devices.

4. In paragraph 3, The above processor, configured to determine the balancing time of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the voltage and balancing current of each of the plurality of battery cells, Electronic devices.

5. In paragraph 2, The above processor, The difference between the voltage corresponding to the reference SOC and the voltage corresponding to the compensation SOC obtained by adding the compensation capacity to the reference SOC is determined as the compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells. Electronic devices.

6. In paragraph 2, The above reference SOC is set as the average of the above starting SOC and the above ending SOC. Electronic devices.

7. In paragraph 2, The above standard SOC is, In the section between the above-mentioned start SOC and the above-mentioned end SOC, the SOC corresponding to the point where the linearity of the graph representing the relationship between the SOC and voltage of the battery cell is the greatest is set. Electronic devices.

8. In paragraph 1, The above processor, configured to determine a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells by adding the accumulated compensation voltage to the first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells, Electronic devices.

9. In paragraph 1, The above processor, The average of the second voltages of the plurality of battery cells is determined as the reference voltage. configured to determine the difference between the second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells and the reference voltage as the voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells, Electronic devices.

10. In paragraph 1, The above processor, Configured to diagnose the plurality of battery cells by comparing the pattern of change in voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells with a preset diagnostic pattern, Electronic devices.

11. In a method for diagnosing a battery of an electronic device, A step of obtaining voltage data of a plurality of battery cells included in a battery pack of a vehicle and balancing data of the plurality of battery cells; A step of determining a compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the balancing data each time the vehicle is driven; A step of accumulating the compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells for a predetermined period and determining the accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells; A step of obtaining a first voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells at the diagnosis point; A step of determining a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the first voltage and the accumulated compensation voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells; A step of determining a voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells based on a reference voltage and a second voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells; A step of determining, for each of the plurality of battery cells, the amount of change in voltage deviation according to the set cycle; and A step of diagnosing the status of each of the plurality of battery cells based on the amount of change in voltage deviation of each of the plurality of battery cells, How an electronic device operates.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recording a program for executing the method of Article 11 on a computer.

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