Battery String Bypass Switching for Faulted Energy Storage Branches
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing energy storage systems face inefficiencies and reliability issues when a component, such as a battery pack or string-level converter, becomes faulty, leading to non-faulty components being unable to operate and resulting in resource wastage.
Innovation Solution
The proposed energy storage system includes multiple energy storage branches, a switch unit, and a control circuit. The control circuit can reroute energy between branches, allowing a battery string with a faulty component to be charged or discharged using a neighboring non-faulty branch, thereby isolating faulty components and maintaining system operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If one battery pack or string-level converter in a battery string is faulty, then the faulty component stops working, but the entire battery string and other non-faulty battery packs also stop working, causing resource wastage and reduced system reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The battery string is divided into multiple independent battery pack units, each with its own bypass switch. When one battery pack fails, only that specific pack is isolated from the circuit while other packs remain operational, allowing the system to continue functioning with reduced capacity rather than complete shutdown
Solution Approach 2:
Bypass switches are pre-installed for each battery pack and converter before any fault occurs. When a component fails, the control system can immediately activate the corresponding bypass switch to reroute current, enabling rapid fault isolation and continuous operation without waiting for manual intervention or system shutdown
2Reliability
If a string-level converter or battery pack fails, then the faulty component cannot operate, but the non-faulty components in the same charging/discharging loop also cannot operate, leading to resource wastage
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the charging/discharging loop into independent battery pack units with individual bypass paths. This allows isolation of faulty components at the pack level rather than forcing shutdown of the entire string, preventing waste of functional battery packs and converters
Solution Approach 2:
Bypass switches serve as intermediary components that provide alternative current paths around faulty battery packs or converters. When a component fails, the bypass switch activates to reroute electricity through parallel paths, maintaining system operation and preventing loss of non-faulty components
Data Source
AI summary
An energy storage system, to improve operating efficiency and system reliability that exist when a component in the energy storage system is faulty, and avoid a waste of resources. The energy storage system includes a plurality of energy storage branches, at least one switch unit, and a control circuit. Each of the energy storage branches includes a first bus, a string-level converter, and a battery string that are sequentially connected in series, a plurality of balancing converters, and a shared bus. The battery string includes a plurality of battery units connected in series, and each of the battery units includes one battery pack. The battery pack is connected to an input side of one corresponding balancing converter, and output sides of the plurality of balancing converters are separately connected to the shared bus.