Vehicle Battery Shipping Charge Control for Transport Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicle batteries are frequently replaced under warranty due to not being fully charged during transport, leading to increased costs for OEMs, as conventional battery management systems only partially address the issue by minimizing ignition-off draw during shipping.
Innovation Solution
A battery management system that uses sensors to control the battery's state of charge to an optimized level (80-90%) for transport and switches to a cost-based optimization technique when a mileage threshold is reached, reducing malfunctions and warranty costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the battery is kept at a low state of charge (30-50%) during transport to avoid detrimental effects on battery performance and life, then battery reliability is improved, but the battery may become depleted during periodic operations (loading/unloading, lights left on), leading to battery malfunctions and increased warranty costs
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary charging of the battery to a first target SOC (80-90%) before transport begins. This preliminary action ensures the battery has sufficient charge to handle periodic operations during transport without becoming depleted, while still maintaining a charge level that avoids detrimental effects on battery performance and life.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the battery's state of charge during transport and dynamically adjusts charging operations. When the battery SOC drops below a threshold, the system activates charging; when it reaches the target SOC, charging stops. This feedback mechanism prevents both depletion and overcharging, resolving the contradiction between reliability and malfunction prevention.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the battery is fully charged during transport to ensure sufficient power for periodic operations, then the risk of battery depletion is reduced, but this could be detrimental to battery performance and life
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the target state of charge parameter based on the vehicle's operational status. During transport, the target SOC is set to a first level (80-90%) that balances sufficient power availability with battery health preservation. After transport when the vehicle is delivered, the target SOC changes to a second level (50-70%) optimized for long-term storage. This dynamic parameter adjustment resolves the contradiction by adapting the charge level to the specific operational context.
3Loss of energy
If conventional battery management systems minimize ignition-off draw (IOD) current during shipping mode, then energy conservation is improved, but this does not fully prevent battery depletion during periodic operations
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of merely minimizing IOD current, the system performs preliminary charging to a higher target SOC (80-90%) before transport. This preliminary action proactively ensures the battery has sufficient charge reserves to handle periodic operations, going beyond the reactive approach of simply minimizing IOD and fully resolving the battery depletion issue.
Data Source
AI summary
Battery management techniques for a vehicle include a set of sensors configured to measure a set of parameters of a battery of the vehicle and a controller configured to control recharging of the battery to a first target state of charge (SOC) corresponding to optimized battery life when a mileage of the vehicle is less than a threshold mileage corresponding to an expected transport period of the vehicle, wherein controlling the recharging of the battery to the first target SOC prevents battery malfunctions and thereby reduces vehicle warranty costs for an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the vehicle, and control recharging of the battery to a second target SOC determined by a cost-based optimization technique when the mileage of the vehicle reaches the threshold mileage.