EV Battery Pack Refurbishment Through Cell Matching and Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electric vehicle battery packs face challenges due to high costs and inefficiencies in maintenance, particularly when a single faulty battery can degrade the entire pack, and the need for continuous use leads to rapid wear and tear, necessitating effective refurbishment methods to extend their operational life.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for refurbishing electric vehicle battery packs by testing individual batteries, selecting replacement batteries with similar parameters to maintain balance, and storing test results in a database to create a refurbished pack that can be used as a source of power for electric vehicles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If battery packs are continuously used without maintenance, then operational availability is improved, but battery life and performance deteriorate due to wear and tear and faulty cells
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary testing and identification of faulty batteries before they cause complete pack failure. By proactively detecting degraded cells through voltage, temperature, and impedance measurements, the system can schedule maintenance during planned downtime rather than waiting for failure, thus extending battery life while maintaining operational availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The battery management system continuously monitors its own state through embedded sensors and control circuits. The system automatically identifies faulty cells, tracks their degradation, and generates maintenance alerts without external intervention, enabling timely refurbishment that extends pack life while ensuring operational reliability.
2Reliability
If entire battery packs are replaced when one battery fails, then reliability is improved, but cost and resource efficiency worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the battery pack into individual cell-level units for monitoring and assessment. By testing and identifying only the faulty batteries within the pack rather than treating the entire pack as a single unit, the system enables selective replacement or refurbishment of only the degraded cells, preserving functional batteries and reducing material waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The system recovers and refurbishes functional batteries by removing only the faulty cells from the pack. Tested good batteries are retained and reassembled into refurbished packs, while only the degraded cells are discarded or sent for specialized recycling, thereby reducing battery material waste and lowering replacement costs.
3Manufacturing precision
If detailed battery testing is performed on all batteries, then manufacturing precision of refurbished packs is improved, but time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs partial testing by focusing measurements only on batteries that show signs of degradation or are suspected of being faulty, rather than uniformly testing every battery in the pack. This selective approach maintains high refurbishment quality by thoroughly testing candidate batteries while reducing overall maintenance time and resource consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses electronic monitoring and diagnostic techniques to rapidly assess battery health through voltage, temperature, and impedance measurements, replacing slower mechanical testing methods. This electronic assessment enables quick identification of faulty cells, maintaining high refurbishment precision while significantly reducing maintenance time.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of repairing a used battery pack from an electric vehicle include removing the battery pack from the vehicle. Battery tests are performed on at least some of the plurality of batteries and a battery test result for each of the batteries tested are obtained and stored in a database. A plurality of replacement batteries are tested and test results for each of the replacement batteries are stored in the database. The battery test results from the database are retrieved and used to create a refurbished battery pack. An apparatus includes a database for storing test results.