Battery Management Channel Switching for Tree Network Failures

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Solution Overview

Problem

Communication between upper-level and lower-level battery management systems in a tree structure is disrupted when an abnormality occurs, leading to disabled communication performance, which existing systems cannot maintain without additional configuration.

Innovation Solution

A battery management system with a wireless communication unit that detects communication abnormalities and switches to a different communication channel, allowing continuous communication by alternately connecting with other upper-level battery management systems, ensuring data transmission and command reception through a secondary communication channel.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If a tree structure communication is used between upper-level and lower-level battery management systems, then the system complexity is reduced and ease of manufacture is improved, but communication reliability deteriorates when an abnormality occurs in an intermediate path

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveease of manufactureVSAvoidcommunication reliability
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system changes the communication parameter (channel) from the first communication channel to a second communication channel when an abnormality is detected. This parameter change allows the lower-level battery management system to maintain communication with the upper-level controller through an alternative path, resolving the contradiction by enabling reliability improvement through parameter modification without changing the overall tree structure architecture.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If a mesh structure communication is used to prevent communication disabling, then communication reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional interfaces and cables

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication reliabilityVSAvoiddevice complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system dynamically switches between the first communication channel and the second communication channel based on the operational status of the communication path. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maintain reliability similar to a mesh structure while keeping the physical architecture simple like a tree structure, as the redundancy is activated only when needed rather than being permanently deployed.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The invention extracts only the essential redundancy function needed for reliability without implementing a full mesh structure. By separating the communication reliability function from the physical topology, the system achieves the benefits of mesh-like reliability while maintaining tree-structure simplicity, taking out only the necessary alternative communication path capability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentEP3972198B1Battery management system and management method
Publication Date: 2023.12.20 LG ENERGY SOLUTION LTD
  • EP3972198B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3972198B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3972198B1 patent drawingFigure 3A

AI summary

The present invention includes a system for managing a battery, the system includes a wireless communication unit that communicates with a first upper-level battery management system performing communication using a first communication channel, a communication abnormality detection unit that detects a communication abnormality of the first upper-level battery management system performing communication using the first communication channel, and a channel change unit that changes the communication channel of the wireless communication unit to a second communication channel different from the first communication channel when the communication abnormality of the first upper-level battery management system is detected by the communication abnormality detection unit.