Redundant battery management systems to ensure safe operations of aerial vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing battery management systems in vehicles, such as electric automobiles and aerial vehicles, are prone to being a single point of failure, leading to unsafe, unreliable, or inefficient operations due to potential errors in determining the state of charge, health, and power of batteries, which can result from hardware, software, or communication faults.
Innovation Solution
Implementing redundant and remote battery management systems that corroborate with on-battery systems to determine the state of charge, health, and power of batteries, using various algorithms and models like electrical, physics-based, and neural network models, and estimators, to provide accurate and reliable data, even in the presence of degraded or suboptimal data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single battery management system is used to monitor battery states, then the system complexity is reduced and ease of operation is improved, but the reliability deteriorates due to single point of failure risk
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a distributed battery management architecture where multiple monitoring units are deployed at different locations (on-battery, off-battery, and remote). Each unit has specialized monitoring capabilities tailored to its specific position and function, rather than using a single monolithic system. This local quality approach allows each monitoring unit to be optimized for its specific role while collectively providing comprehensive redundancy.
Solution Approach 2:
The battery management system is segmented into multiple independent monitoring units distributed across different locations. Instead of a single centralized system, the monitoring function is divided into separate on-battery BMS, off-battery BMS, and remote BMS components. This segmentation creates redundancy where multiple independent units can continue monitoring even if one unit fails, directly addressing the single point of failure problem.
2Reliability
If redundant battery management systems are implemented to improve reliability, then the reliability is improved through corroboration, but the device complexity increases due to multiple systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple battery management monitoring units into a coordinated system where on-battery BMS, off-battery BMS, and remote BMS work together. These separate units communicate and share data, combining their monitoring capabilities to provide comprehensive battery state determination. The merging allows redundancy without requiring completely separate independent systems, reducing overall complexity while maintaining reliability benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The battery management monitoring units are designed with multi-functionality to handle various monitoring tasks across different locations and conditions. Each unit can perform multiple functions including voltage monitoring, current measurement, temperature sensing, and state estimation. This universality reduces the need for specialized dedicated systems for each function, simplifying the overall architecture while providing comprehensive monitoring coverage.
3Measurement precision
If multiple algorithms and models are used for battery state determination, then the measurement precision is improved through corroboration, but the use of energy increases due to computational requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial action by selectively applying different algorithms and models based on operational conditions and data availability. Rather than continuously running all computational algorithms, the system activates specific estimation methods only when needed or when certain conditions are met. This approach maintains measurement precision through corroboration when necessary while reducing energy consumption during normal operations by using simpler monitoring methods.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods related to redundant battery management systems (BMS) may include an on-battery BMS, and one or more off-battery, off-vehicle, and/or remote BMS. The one or more remote BMS may receive data associated with parameters of a battery, and may process the received data using various models, algorithms, or estimators to determine a battery state. The battery state determined by the remote BMS may then be used to corroborate or support a battery state determined by the on-battery BMS, thereby ensuring safe, reliable, and efficient operations of systems, machines, or devices utilizing batteries as power sources.