Dynamic Battery Cell Grouping for Efficient Charge Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery charging and discharging systems face challenges in efficiently managing variations among cells, leading to potential overcharging or over-discharging, which can reduce battery reliability and lifespan, and often require complex and costly circuitry to prevent these issues.
Innovation Solution
A system that dynamically selects a subset of cells for charging or discharging based on their individual voltage, impedance, or state of charge, allowing for non-contiguous series connections and bypassing underperforming cells, thereby optimizing cell utilization and avoiding overcharging or over-discharging without the need for lossy or expensive charge-distribution circuitry.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If circuitry is added to charge and discharge cells to their individual capacities, then cell utilization is improved, but device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The battery pack is divided into multiple cell groups, with each group containing a subset of cells that can be independently managed. This segmentation allows the system to address cell variations by managing smaller groups rather than individual cells, reducing the complexity of control circuitry while maintaining effective cell utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically reconfigures which cells are connected in series by changing the state of switching elements. This dynamic reconfiguration allows the battery management system to adapt to cell variations over time, optimizing charge-discharge cycles without requiring complex dedicated circuitry for each cell.
2Reliability
If charge-shunting circuit is used to protect battery cells, then overcharging is prevented, but energy is wasted and heat is produced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the protection function from traditional charge-shunting circuitry that dissipates energy as heat. Instead, it uses switching elements to selectively disconnect cells from the charge path, redirecting charge only to the cells that need it while bypassing cells that are already charged, thereby preventing energy waste.
Solution Approach 2:
Switching elements act as intermediaries between the charge source and individual cells. These switches enable precise control over charge distribution, allowing the system to protect cells from overcharging without the energy-dissipating resistors required by traditional charge-shunting methods.
3Use of energy by moving object
If switched-capacitor or flying-capacitor circuit is used, then charging efficiency is improved, but complicated and costly capacitor and transformer network is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive, complex capacitor and transformer networks with simpler, more economical switching elements. These switching components achieve efficient charge distribution through direct series/parallel reconfiguration of cells, eliminating the need for bulky and costly energy storage components while maintaining high charging efficiency.
4Device complexity
If subset of electrically adjacent cells is charged and discharged, then simplified circuitry is used, but sub-optimal performance occurs when cells in the middle of the battery fail or degrade
Solution Approach 1:
The battery is segmented into multiple cell groups that can be independently managed. This segmentation allows the system to bypass degraded or failed cells by reconfiguring which cells are included in active cell groups, ensuring that failures in individual cells do not compromise the entire battery pack's performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically reconfigures cell group compositions based on the state of individual cells. When cells degrade or fail, the switching elements enable the system to adaptively reassign other cells to maintain balanced charge-discharge cycles, ensuring continued optimal performance despite cell failures.
Data Source
AI summary
A non-contiguous group of cells in a battery of cells is selected for charging or discharging the battery.