US 2013/0076309 A1 · STACKABLE BI-DIRECTIONAL MULTICELL BATTERY BALANCER

Abstract

A battery balancing system includes at least one sub-stack, each sub-stack comprising a plurality of cells connected in series. The system also includes a balancing module for each sub-stack comprising an independent bidirectional balancer for each cell in the sub-stack. The system includes a daisy chained stackable serial port. The balancing system senses a state of charge (SOC) of each cell in each sub-stack. The average SOC of the sub-stack is determined. For a weak cell, additional charge is provided from its respective sub-stack during the discharging of the battery. For a strong cell, additional charge is removed and provided to its respective sub-stack during discharging of the battery. Any number of sub-stacks can be stacked in series while maintaining the same serial control, allowing a theoretically unlimited number of cells to be supported from a single communication port without the need for additional digital isolators.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A battery balancing system comprising:

at least one sub-stack, each sub-stack comprising a plurality of cells connected in series;
a balancing module for each sub-stack, the balancing module comprising an independent bidirectional balancer for each cell in the sub-stack;
a monitor module configured to sense a SOC of each cell in each sub-stack;
a microprocessor configured to determine an average SOC of the cells for each sub-stack;
and
a daisy chained stackable serial port configured to transmit information to each balancing module, wherein each balancing module is configured to:
provide an additional charge to any weak cell from its sub-stack during a discharging of the battery, and remove additional charge from any weak cell and provide it to its sub-stack during a charging of the battery;
and
remove an additional charge from any strong cell and provide it to its sub-stack during the discharging of the battery, and provide an additional charge from the sub-stack to any strong cell during the charging of the battery.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Stackable bi-directional multicell battery balancer

Life of this patent

Stackable bi-directional multicell battery balancer

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims15