Optical communication system for management of vehicle batteries

A battery management system comprising:

• an energy storage device configured to power a vehicle, the energy storage device comprising:
• a plurality of battery modules, wherein each battery module of the plurality of battery modules comprises:
• at least one sensor;
• a processor;
• and
• a battery module optical transceiver;
• a control unit configured to control the storage device;
• and
• at least one control unit optical transceiver associated with the control unit and configured for bidirectional free-space optical communication with the respective battery module optical transceivers of the plurality of battery modules via a plurality of respective free-space optical communication links,
• wherein each respective battery module processor is configured to receive respective sensor readings from the respective at least one sensor and transmit information about the respective sensor readings to the control unit via the respective free-space optical communication link, and
• wherein the control unit is configured to, based on the information about the respective sensor readings, send commands to the respective battery module processors via the respective free-space optical communication links.

A method of controlling a battery of a vehicle, the method comprising:

• providing an energy storage device configured to power the vehicle, the energy storage device comprising:
• a plurality of battery modules, wherein each battery module of the plurality of battery modules comprises:
• at least one sensor;
• a processor;
• and
• a battery module optical transceiver;
• providing a control unit configured to control the energy storage device;
• and
• with a control unit optical transceiver associated with the control unit, establishing bidirectional free-space optical communication with the respective battery module optical transceivers of the plurality of battery modules via a plurality of respective free-space optical communication links,
• with each respective battery module processor, receiving respective sensor readings from the respective at least one sensor and transmitting information about the respective sensor readings to the control unit via the respective free-space optical communication link;
• and with the control unit, based on the information about the respective sensor readings, send commands to the respective battery module processors via the respective free-space optical communication links,
• wherein the commands comprise at least one of a heating command, a cooling command, a balancing command, an output voltage or output current adjustment command, or a shutdown command.