Battery Control Apparatus Balancing State Information
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Repetitive charging and discharging in battery cells lead to chemical and aging differences, causing voltage and capacity deviations, resulting in over-charging or over-discharging, which reduces battery capacity and lifespan due to unbalanced state information among cells.
Innovation Solution
A battery control method and apparatus that uses a main controller and differential charge handlers to calculate and balance state information across multiple batteries by adjusting output values and switching times based on state differences, ensuring balanced state information and efficient energy utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If repetitive charging and discharging is performed on battery cells, then battery capacity and energy utilization improve, but chemical and aging differences cause voltage and capacity deviations leading to over-charging or over-discharging which reduces battery lifespan
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the battery system into individually controllable modules, with each battery cell equipped with its own differential charge handler and control circuit. This allows independent monitoring and control of each cell's charging and discharging processes, enabling precise management of state information differences among cells while maintaining overall system productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback control mechanism where the main controller continuously monitors state information (voltage, temperature, charge amount) of each battery cell and adjusts charging/discharging currents in real-time. The differential charge handlers receive feedback signals indicating whether to charge, discharge, or hold each cell, preventing over-charging or over-discharging and extending battery lifespan.
2Reliability
If individual battery cells are controlled separately to balance state information, then battery lifespan is extended, but device complexity increases due to multiple controllers and control circuits
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple control functions into a centralized main controller that manages all differential charge handlers. The main controller receives state information from all battery cells, performs unified calculations to determine charge/discharge requirements, and distributes control signals accordingly. This consolidation reduces the overall number of independent controllers while maintaining individual cell management capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The differential charge handlers are designed as multi-functional units that can perform both charging and discharging operations on individual battery cells based on unified instructions from the main controller. This universal design allows a single type of control unit to handle multiple functions across different cells, reducing system complexity compared to having dedicated controllers for each function.
Data Source
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 1c
AI summary
A battery control apparatus includes: a controller configured to control a switch network to control a connection between a converter and a first battery included in a battery group, among batteries, based on switching time information set to correspond to the first battery, wherein the switching time information is set based on a ratio between first state difference information of the first battery and second state difference information that is calculated based on first state difference information items of the batteries.