# US 10,320,216 B2 · Estimation of charge acceptance capability in a battery assembly

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- Number: US 10,320,216 B2
- Document ID: US10320216B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/147,451
- Filed: 2016-05-05
- Published: 2017-11-09
- Granted: 2019-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2016-05-05
- Assignees: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
- Applicants: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
- Inventors: Brian J. Koch; Robert S. Conell
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10320216B2

## CPC

- H02J 7/82: Control of state of charge [SOC]
- G01R 31/3648: {comprising digital calculation means, e.g. for performing an algorithm}
- G01R 31/3828: using current integration
- H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
- G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12)

## Abstract

A battery assembly includes a battery having first and second electrodes and an electrolyte. A controller is operatively connected to the battery. The controller includes a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which is recorded instructions for executing a method for estimating a charge acceptance capability of the battery. Interaction of the electrolyte and at least one of the first and second electrodes produces a discharge product. The controller is programmed to quantize and track both accumulation and removal of the discharge product when at least one enabling condition is met. The controller is programmed to initialize a timer when the enabling condition is met and increment the timer by a calculation time interval (Δt).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A battery assembly comprising:
a battery having first and second electrodes and an electrolyte;
a current sensor configured to obtain a measured current (Im) of the battery and a voltage sensor configured to obtain a measured voltage of the battery;
a controller operatively connected to the battery, the controller including a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which instructions are recorded, the controller being programmed to estimate a charge acceptance capability of the battery by quantizing an accumulation and removal of a discharge product as a discharge quanta and a charge quanta, respectively, into a set of discrete bins according to a respective age;
wherein interaction of the electrolyte and at least one of the first and second electrodes produces the discharge product;
wherein execution of the instructions causes the controller to:
obtain the measured current (Im), via the current sensor and the measured voltage(Vm), via the voltage sensor;
add the discharge quanta to the set of discrete bins when the measured current (Im) is negative, the discharge quanta being proportional to the measured current (Im);
obtain a charge acceptance current (I) based at least partially on the measured voltage (Vm), an open-circuit voltage (V0) and a circuit resistance (Ro), when the measured voltage (V) is less than the open-circuit voltage (V0);
obtain the charge quanta as a product of the charge acceptance current (I) and a calculation time interval (Δt);
remove a quantity equal to the charge quanta from the set of discrete bins; and
control functioning of the battery based at least partially on the estimated charge acceptance capability.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The assembly of claim 1, further comprising:
wherein the controller is programmed to initialize a timer when at least one enabling condition is met; and
wherein the controller is programmed to increment the timer by the calculation time interval (Δt).

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The assembly of claim 2, wherein the controller is programmed to:
obtain a voltage value (V) based at least partially on the measured current (Im), the calculation time interval (Δt) and a predetermined set of parameters.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The assembly of claim 3, wherein if a bin time interval (tbin) has elapsed, then the controller is programmed to advance the discharge quanta to a next one of the set of bins and reset the timer.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The assembly of claim 3, wherein the predetermined set of parameters include the open-circuit voltage (V0), a circuit resistance (Ro), a diffusion voltage at a time t (Vdiff(t)), and a time constant (τ) of a circuit having a double-layer capacitance (Cdl), a double-layer voltage (Vdl) and a charge transfer resistance (Rct).

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The assembly of claim 5, wherein the voltage value (V) at a time t is defined as:
V(t)=[V0+Im*Ro+(Im*Δt/Cdl)+Vdl(t-Δt)*exp(−Δt/τ)+Vdiff(t-Δt)].

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The assembly of claim 1, wherein the charge acceptance current (I) is based at least partially on the calculation time interval (Δt), a diffusion voltage (Vdiff(t)) at a time t (Vdiff(t)) and a time constant (τ) of a circuit having a double-layer capacitance (Cdl) and a charge transfer resistance (Rct).

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The assembly of claim 7, wherein the charge acceptance current (I) at a time t is defined as I(t)=(F1/F2), such that F1=[Vm−V0−Vdl(t−Δt)*exp(−Δt/τ)−Vdiff(t-Δt)] and F2=[Ro+(Δt/Cdl)].

### Claim 9

A method of controlling a battery assembly, the assembly including a controller, a current sensor, a voltage sensor, a battery with first and second electrodes and an electrolyte, the method comprising:
obtaining a measured current (Im) of the battery, via the current sensor;
obtaining a measured voltage of the battery, via the voltage sensor;
estimating a charge acceptance capability of the battery, via the controller, by quantizing an accumulation and a removal of a discharge product as a discharge quanta and a charge quanta, respectively, into a set of discrete bins according to a respective age, the interaction of the electrolyte and at least one of the first and second electrodes producing the discharge product;
controlling functioning of the battery based at least partially on the estimated charge acceptance capability, via the controller; and
wherein said estimating the charge acceptance capability of the battery includes:
adding the discharge quanta to the set of discrete bins when the measured current (Im) is negative, the discharge quanta being proportional to the measured current (Im), via the controller;
obtaining a charge acceptance current (I) based at least partially on the measured voltage (Vm), an open-circuit voltage (V0) and a circuit resistance (Ro), when the measured voltage (Vm) is less than the open-circuit voltage (V0), via the controller;
obtaining the charge quanta as a product of the charge acceptance current (I) and a calculation time interval (Δt), via the controller;
removing a quantity equal to the charge quanta from the set of discrete bins, via the controller.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising:
obtaining the charge acceptance current (I) based at least partially on the calculation time interval (Δt), a diffusion voltage (Vdiff(t)) at a time t (Vdiff(t)) and a time constant (τ) of a circuit having a double-layer capacitance (Cdl) and a charge transfer resistance (Rct), via the controller.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising:
initializing a timer when at least one enabling condition is met; and
incrementing the timer by the calculation time interval (Δt).

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, further comprising:
if a bin time interval (tbin) has elapsed, advancing the discharge quanta to a next one of the set of bins and resetting the timer, via the controller.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising:
obtaining a voltage value (V) based at least partially on the measured current (Im), the calculation time interval (Δt) and a predetermined set of parameters, via the controller.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined set of parameters include the open-circuit voltage (V0), a circuit resistance (Ro), a diffusion voltage at a time t (Vdiff(t)), and a time constant (τ) of a circuit having a double-layer capacitance (Cdl), a double-layer voltage (Vdl) and a charge transfer resistance (Rct).

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, further comprising obtaining the voltage value (V) at a time t as:
V(t)=[V0+Im*Ro+(Im*Δt/Cdl)+Vdl(t-Δt)*exp(−Δt/τ)+Vdiff(t-Δt)].

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising obtaining the charge acceptance current (I) at the time t as:
I(t)=(F1/F2), wherein F1=[Vm−V0−Vdl(t-Δt)*exp(−Δt/τ)−Vdiff(t-Δt)] and F2=[Ro+(Δt/Cdl)].