Battery Usage Quantification via Gasoline-Equivalent Metrics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for estimating battery degradation and remaining battery life in vehicles are not accurately correlated with usage, leading to premature replacement and inefficient warranty management.
Innovation Solution
A method that generates a battery usage estimate based on distance per gallon of gasoline-equivalent, battery current, and voltage, allowing for a more intuitive and accurate assessment of battery life, which can be transferred to external devices for user and service scheduling purposes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If battery usage is estimated based on time or vehicle travel distance, then the estimation method is simple to implement, but the correlation with actual battery degradation and remaining battery life is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the battery usage estimation from simple time or distance metrics to a comprehensive parameter set including state of charge (SOC) ranges, charge current, temperature, and charge/discharge cycles. This parameter transformation enables accurate correlation with battery degradation while maintaining computational feasibility through structured data collection and processing.
2Reliability
If battery warranty is based on fixed time or distance thresholds, then the warranty management is straightforward, but it leads to premature battery replacement and inefficient resource utilization
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors battery parameters (SOC, current, temperature, cycles) and provides feedback on actual battery degradation status. This feedback mechanism enables dynamic adjustment of replacement timing and warranty management decisions, preventing premature replacement while maintaining operational reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary assessment of battery degradation trends by analyzing historical charge/discharge data and operational conditions. This preliminary action allows proactive planning of battery replacement or maintenance activities, optimizing resource utilization while ensuring battery reliability when needed.
3Measurement precision
If detailed battery operational data is collected and analyzed, then accurate battery degradation assessment is achieved, but data processing complexity and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments battery operational data into distinct categories (charge cycles, discharge cycles, temperature ranges, SOC intervals) and processes each segment separately. This segmentation reduces computational complexity by organizing data into manageable units while maintaining comprehensive analysis for accurate degradation assessment.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and system are described for estimating an amount of battery usage for a traction battery of a vehicle. The traction battery usage estimate may be based on or a function of a distance per gallon of gasoline-equivalent so that the usage estimate may be more familiar to vehicle operators. In addition, the traction battery usage estimate may also be based on traction battery current and traction battery voltage.