Wireless Sensor Nodes for Battery Stack Cell Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for estimating the remaining life of battery stacks in alternative fuel vehicles are inaccurate because they treat the battery as a whole, failing to differentiate between healthy and defective cells, leading to shortened lifespans and inaccurate State of Charge, State of Health, and Remaining Useful Life estimations due to the inability to monitor individual cell performance characteristics like voltage and temperature.
Innovation Solution
A wireless sensor network is implemented within large battery stacks, where each cell is connected to a wireless sensor node that measures and transmits performance characteristics, allowing an external node to determine State of Charge, State of Health, and Remaining Useful Life data for the entire stack.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If current estimation techniques observe the battery as a whole, then the monitoring system is simple, but the accuracy of State of Charge, State of Health, and Remaining Useful Life estimations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the battery stack into individual cell units, each equipped with its own wireless sensor node. This segmentation allows independent monitoring of each cell's voltage, temperature, and other performance characteristics, enabling precise identification of defective cells while maintaining manageable system complexity through modular architecture.
2Reliability
If a single battery cell is monitored individually, then the accuracy of detecting defective cells improves, but the number of sensor nodes and system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each wireless sensor node continuously monitors its associated battery cell and provides real-time feedback on performance characteristics. The system uses this feedback to identify cells operating outside normal parameters, enabling reliable detection of defective cells. The feedback mechanism allows the system to adapt and respond to individual cell conditions without requiring complex centralized control.
3Loss of information
If wireless sensor nodes are deployed at each cell, then individual cell performance monitoring is achieved, but the cost and manufacturing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The wireless sensor nodes are designed as universal, multi-functional units that can be deployed at any battery cell position. Each node performs multiple functions including voltage measurement, temperature sensing, and wireless communication, eliminating the need for custom-designed sensors for different cell locations. This universality simplifies manufacturing by standardizing the sensor components across the entire battery stack.
Data Source
AI summary
Monitoring individual cells within large battery stacks used in alternative fuel vehicles is provided using wireless sensor networks. In one embodiment, a battery stack comprised of a plurality of cells includes a plurality of wireless sensor nodes each electrically connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of cells. Each of the wireless sensor nodes includes a sensor circuit for measuring individual performance characteristics for cells to which the wireless sensor nodes are connected. This cell-specific performance data may then be wirelessly transmitted to an external node, which is coupled to a vehicle battery management system configured to determine at least one of a state of charge, state of health and remaining useful life data for the overall battery stack based on the performance characteristics of the battery stack's individual cells.