Battery Module Control System for Safe Parallel Reuse
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Solution Overview
Problem
The complexity and expense of reusing secondary battery modules in electric vehicles and storage systems, due to the need for standardized battery information storage and management, limit the ability to safely connect batteries with varying degradation levels and capacities in parallel, posing safety risks from reverse currents.
Innovation Solution
A battery module control system with switch circuits, average impedance calculation, and current detection sections that manage charge and discharge rates to prevent unsafe voltage and current levels, allowing for safe reuse without a dedicated storage section for usage history.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If batteries with different degradation levels and capacities are connected in parallel, then the ability to reuse collected batteries is improved, but safety risks increase due to reverse currents and heat generation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the battery system into individually controllable modules, each with its own switch circuit. This allows selective connection/disconnection of specific battery modules based on their characteristics, enabling safe parallel operation of batteries with different degradation levels while maintaining system safety through isolated control of each module.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention implements dynamic control of switch circuits based on real-time detection of voltage differences and charge-discharge rates. The system continuously monitors battery states and adjusts switch configurations dynamically, allowing adaptive management of batteries with varying characteristics while preventing unsafe reverse current flow.
2Reliability
If a reverse current prevention function is provided, then safety is guaranteed, but large variations in capacity between batteries lead to dependence on the battery with the worst degradation level
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the operational status of each battery module through controlled switch circuits. By detecting voltage differences and charge-discharge rates in real-time, the system can actively manage capacity variations among batteries, allowing higher-capacity batteries to contribute more to the overall output while maintaining safety, thus improving total capacity extraction.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the operational parameters (voltage difference thresholds, charge-discharge rate limits) based on the specific characteristics of each battery module. This allows the system to optimize performance for each battery's capacity and degradation level, preventing the worst-case battery from limiting the entire system's productivity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If battery information storage sections complying with standards are provided, then arbitrary secondary battery modules can be managed, but the configuration becomes complicated and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The invention enables battery modules to be identified and managed through their existing unique identification information without requiring additional standardized storage sections. The control system automatically detects and processes battery characteristics using the modules' inherent identification data, eliminating the need for complex standardized storage hardware while maintaining reusability of arbitrary battery modules.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts only the essential identification information already present in each battery module and uses it for control purposes. By relying on existing unique identification data rather than implementing comprehensive standardized storage sections, the system achieves battery module management with significantly reduced complexity and cost.
Data Source
AI summary
In order to provide a battery module control system able to reuse an arbitrary secondary battery module through a simple, inexpensive system, the present invention includes: a plurality of battery modules that are connected to each other in parallel; switch circuits that are provided on charge and discharge routes of a plurality of the battery modules; an average impedance value calculation section (control section) that calculates average impedance values of a plurality of the battery modules; a maximum allowable charge-and-discharge rate input section (input section) that inputs maximum allowable charge-and-discharge rates of a plurality of the battery modules; an allowable voltage difference calculation section (control section) that calculates allowable voltage differences of a plurality of the battery modules on the basis of the average impedance values calculated by the average impedance value calculation section and the maximum allowable charge-and-discharge rates input by the maximum allowable charge-and-discharge rate input section; a common voltage detection section (control section) that detects a voltage of a common charge and discharge route of a plurality of the battery modules; and a plurality of voltage detection sections (control section) that detect voltages of a plurality of the battery modules, wherein, when a difference between the voltage detected by the common voltage detection section and the voltage detected by the voltage detection section corresponding to a predetermined battery module is greater than an allowable voltage difference of the predetermined battery module, a switch circuit provided on a charge and discharge route of the predetermined battery module is so controlled as to be turned OFF.