Wireless Battery Management Failover Using Backup Primary Nodes
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Large battery packs with numerous cells, such as those in electric vehicles, face challenges in monitoring and balancing individual cell health and status, leading to potential imbalances and reduced usable life, especially when the primary battery pack controller malfunctions.
Innovation Solution
A wireless battery management system (WBMS) with a backup primary node that can establish a secondary wireless network with secondary devices, each equipped with a wireless transmitter and battery monitor IC, allowing for continuous monitoring and balancing of battery cells even if the primary node fails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single primary battery pack controller is used to monitor and manage battery cells, then the system structure is simple and cost-effective, but the system reliability deteriorates when the primary controller malfunctions
Solution Approach 1:
A backup primary battery pack controller is pre-configured and maintained in standby mode, ready to immediately take over control functions if the primary controller fails. This preliminary preparation ensures continuity of battery monitoring and management without requiring complex real-time failover logic or additional computational resources during normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The backup primary battery pack controller acts as an intermediary safety mechanism between the battery cells and the primary controller. It provides a passive monitoring path that can actively intervene only when needed, thus adding reliability without requiring the backup to be fully active or integrated into normal operational workflows.
2Reliability
If the primary battery pack controller continuously monitors all battery cells, then cell health is well-maintained, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The backup primary battery pack controller performs monitoring functions at a reduced level during normal operation, only fully activating when the primary controller fails. This partial action approach maintains adequate monitoring coverage with minimal energy expenditure, reserving full monitoring capacity for when it is critically needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The backup controller is designed to be self-activating based on detection of primary controller failure. It automatically transitions from a low-power standby state to full operational monitoring without requiring external triggers or consuming additional communication energy, thus maintaining reliability while minimizing ongoing energy consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes a first plurality of secondary devices, each secondary device of the first plurality of secondary devices including a first wireless transmitter and a battery monitor integrated circuit (IC). The battery monitor IC is configured to obtain battery data from at least one battery cell, and the first wireless transmitter is configured to wirelessly transmit the battery data. A first primary device has a second wireless transmitter wirelessly coupled to the first wireless transmitters of the first plurality of secondary devices via a first wireless network. A second primary device has a second wireless transmitter. The second primary device is configured to detect a fault with the first primary device and, in response detection of the fault, to establish a second wireless network with the first plurality of secondary devices.