US 10,649,040 B2Granted

Leakage current determination

AssigneeNXP USA, Inc.

InventorsStephan Ollitrault, Savino Luigi Lupo

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Abstract

An apparatus for determining the occurrence of a leakage current between a series connected electrochemical battery cells, comprising: a first cell connection terminal for connection to a first cell's first terminal via first filter circuitry; a second cell connection terminal for connection, via second filter circuitry, to a connection between the first cell's second terminal and a second cell's first terminal, the first and second cell adjacent in the series arrangement; a first cell balancing terminal for connection to the first cell's first terminal bypassing the first filter circuitry; a second cell balancing terminal for connection to the connection between the first cell's second terminal and the second cell's first cell terminal; balancing circuitry for providing a connection between the cell balancing terminals; the apparatus configured to provide for identification of a leakage current based at least on a voltage between the cell connection terminals and the cell balancing terminals.

Claims20

Dependent claims

An apparatus for determining the occurrence of a leakage current between a plurality of electrochemical battery cells connected in a series arrangement, each cell having a first cell terminal and a second cell terminal, wherein the apparatus comprises:

a first cell connection terminal for connection to the first cell terminal of a first cell via first filter circuitry;
a second cell connection terminal for connection, via second filter circuitry, to a first node on a connection between a second cell terminal of the first cell and a first cell terminal of a second cell, the first cell and the second cell adjacent to one another in the series arrangement;
a first cell balancing terminal for connection to the first cell terminal of the first cell and bypassing the first filter circuitry;
a second cell balancing terminal for connection to a second node on the connection between the second cell terminal of the first cell and the first cell terminal of the second cell, the first and second cell balancing terminals adjacent to one another in the series arrangement;
balancing circuitry for selectively providing a cell balancing connection between the first cell balancing terminal and the second cell balancing terminal;
the apparatus configured to provide for identification of a leakage current based at least on a voltage difference between one or more of;
i) the first cell connection terminal and the first cell balancing terminal;
and
ii) the second cell connection terminal and the second cell balancing terminal.

6 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

a plurality of electrochemical battery cells connected in a series arrangement, each cell having a first cell terminal and a second cell terminal;
a first cell balancing terminal adjacent to the first cell terminal in the series arrangement;
a second cell balancing terminal adjacent to the first balancing terminal in the series arrangement;
difference determination circuitry configured to determine leakage current based on:
i) a voltage difference between a filtered signal, filtered by first filter circuitry, from the first cell terminal and an unfiltered signal from the first cell terminal that bypasses the first filter circuitry from the first cell balancing terminal;
and
ii) a voltage difference between a filtered signal, filtered by second filter circuitry, from the second cell terminal and an unfiltered signal from the second cell terminal that bypasses the second filter circuitry from the second balancing terminal;
wherein the unfiltered signals are obtained from connections to balancing circuitry to selectively provide a cell balancing connection between the first cell terminal and the second cell terminal.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/659,286Filed 25 Jul 2017
Priority: EP 1630656628 Nov 2016
Published: US 2018/0149689 A131 May 2018
Granted: 12 May 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

H02J 7/54
For charge balancing, e.g. equalisation of charge between batteries: passive balancing, e.g. using resistors or parallel MOSFETs
G01R 19/257
Using digital measurement techniques: using analogue/digital converters of the type with comparison of different reference values with the value…
G01R 31/08
Arrangements for testing electric properties; Arrangements for locating electric faults; Arrangements for electrical testing characterised by…
G01R 31/3008
Current or voltage test: quiescent current [IDDQ] test or leakage current test