# US 2019/0245237 A1 · Rechargeable multi-cell battery > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2019/0245237 A1 - Document ID: US20190245237A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/384,239 - Filed: 2019-04-15 - Published: 2019-08-08 - Earliest claimed: 2012-05-29 - Assignees: NUtech Ventures - Applicants: NUtech Ventures - Inventors: Wei Qiao; Taesic Kim; Liyan Qu - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190245237A1 ## CPC - H01M 10/4207: {for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially} - H01M 10/04: Construction or manufacture in general (H01M10/058, H01M10/12, H01M10/28, H01M10/38 take precedence) - H02J 7/575: {Parallel/serial switching of connection of batteries to charge or load circuit} - H02J 7/585: {Sequential battery discharge in systems with a plurality of batteries} - H02J 7/82: Control of state of charge [SOC] - H02J 7/84: Control of state of health [SOH] - H01M 2010/4271: {Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing} - Y02E 60/10: Energy storage using batteries - Y02P 70/50: Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product - Y02T 10/70: Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries - H01M: PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY - H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY - Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION - Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract A method for power management of a multi-cell battery includes identifying a desired power value and voltage value, determining a battery voltage value and a battery current value for a battery, determining a number of battery banks from a plurality of battery banks to use for the battery, where each battery bank includes one or more battery cells (or battery modules), checking availability of each of the one or more battery cells (or battery modules), selecting one or more battery banks from the plurality of battery banks, where the selection of a battery bank is based on the availability of the battery cells (or battery modules) included in the battery pack, and a quantity of the selected battery banks is equal to the determined number of battery banks, and connecting the available battery cells (or battery modules) in the selected one or more battery banks to form the battery. ## Claims ### Claim 1 (canceled) ### Claim 2 A method comprising: determining a time duration for repeating a battery balancing cycle based on states-of-charge (SOC) of battery banks in an n×m matrix of battery cells; and after the time duration elapses performing battery balancing steps comprising: identifying a desired power value and a desired voltage value; determining, based on the desired power value and the desired voltage value, a battery voltage value and a battery current value for a battery; determining, based on the battery voltage value and the battery current value, a number of battery banks from a plurality of battery banks to use for the battery, wherein each battery bank includes one or more battery cells, and wherein the battery cells are arranged in the n×m matrix of battery cells, the matrix including m banks each comprising n battery cells; and connecting battery cells in selected battery banks to form the battery. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the desired power value and the desired voltage value are for a load condition, and the method further comprises: determining that the load condition has changed; and identifying, based on a change in the load condition, an updated desired power value and an updated desired voltage value. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the desired power value and the desired voltage value are for a source condition, and the method further comprises: determining that the source condition has changed; and identifying, based on a change in the source condition, an updated desired power value and an updated desired voltage value. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein battery balancing steps further comprising selecting the selected battery banks from the plurality of battery banks by: calculating, for each battery bank in the plurality of battery banks, a state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) of the battery bank; determining, based on a calculated SOC and SOH for each battery bank in the plurality of battery banks, a pool of unselected battery banks; and selecting a particular battery bank from the pool of unselected battery banks, wherein: the battery bank with a highest SOC and SOH is selected as the particular battery bank when the battery is discharged to supply a load, and the battery bank with a lowest SOC and SOH is selected as the particular battery bank when the battery is charged from a source. ### Claim 6 A system comprising: a battery management system including one or more processors; and a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: determining a time duration for repeating a battery balancing cycle based on states-of-charge (SOC) of battery banks in an n×m matrix of battery cells; and after the time duration elapses performing battery balancing steps comprising: identifying a desired power value and a desired voltage value; determining, based on the desired power value and the desired voltage value, a battery voltage value and a battery current value for a battery; determining, based on the battery voltage value and the battery current value, a number of battery banks from a plurality of battery banks to use for the battery, wherein each battery bank includes one or more battery cells, and wherein the battery cells are arranged in an n×m matrix of battery cells, the matrix including m banks each comprising n battery cells; and connecting battery cells in selected battery banks to form the battery. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the desired power value and the desired voltage value are for a load condition, and the operations further comprise: determining that the load condition has changed; and identifying, based on a change in the load condition, an updated desired power value and an updated desired voltage value. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the desired power value and the desired voltage value are for a source condition, and the operations further comprise: determining that the source condition has changed; and identifying, based on a change in the source condition, an updated desired power value and an updated desired voltage value. ### Claim 9 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the battery balancing steps further comprise selecting the selected battery banks from the plurality of battery banks by: calculating, for each battery bank in the plurality of battery banks, a state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) of the battery bank; determining, based on a calculated SOC and SOH for each battery bank in the plurality of battery banks, a pool of unselected battery banks; and selecting a particular battery bank from the pool of unselected battery banks, wherein: the battery bank with a highest SOC and SOH is selected as the particular battery bank when the battery is discharged to supply a load, and the battery bank with a lowest SOC and SOH is selected as the particular battery bank when the battery is charged from a source. ### Claim 10 A system for power management of a multi-cell battery, the system comprising: a battery pack including a plurality of battery cells arranged in an m×n matrix of battery cells, wherein: n battery cells are connected together to form m battery banks, the m battery banks are connected together to form the matrix of battery cells, and m and n are each greater than one; a cell switching circuit including one or more switches, the cell switching circuit configured to control connecting and disconnecting each of the plurality of battery cells to its respective battery bank, and configured to control connecting and disconnecting each of the m battery banks to the matrix of battery cells; and a battery management system configured to perform operations comprising: determining a time duration for repeating a battery balancing cycle based on states-of-charge (SOC) of the m battery banks; and after the time duration elapses performing battery balancing steps comprising: selecting one or more battery banks from the m battery banks, and providing control signals to the cell switching circuit that control the one or more switches included in the cell switching circuit to connect the selected one or more battery banks to provide a desired output power value by the battery pack. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the battery balancing steps further comprise checking, for each battery bank in the m battery banks, an availability of each of the n cells of the battery bank, and wherein selecting the one or more battery banks from the m battery banks comprises: selecting the one or more battery banks based on the availability of battery cells in the one or more battery banks; and selecting a quantity of battery banks that is equal to a number of battery banks needed to achieve the desired output power value. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the battery cells are connected in parallel to form each battery bank and the battery banks are connected in series to form the matrix of battery cells. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more switches included in the cell switching circuit are metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) provides a gate signal to a MOSFET to control turning the MOSFET on or off to connect or disconnect, respectively, a battery cell in a battery bank. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein an opto-coupler provides a gate signal to a MOSFET to control turning the MOSFET on or off to connect or disconnect, respectively, a battery cell in a battery bank. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the battery management system comprises: a sensing and monitoring circuit configured to monitor current state values for each of the plurality of battery cells; a control and protection module configured to determine, based on the current state values for each of the plurality of battery cells, that a particular battery cell should be disconnected from a particular battery bank or connected to a particular battery bank for charging or discharging; and a gate signal generation module configured to generate one or more control signals for use by the cell switching circuit when disconnecting the particular battery cell from the particular battery bank or connecting the particular battery cell to the particular battery bank for charging or discharging. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the battery management system further comprises a model-based state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) tracking module configured to track the SOC and SOH of each of the plurality of battery cells. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, wherein the battery balancing steps further comprise determining that a particular battery cell should be connected to or disconnected from a particular battery bank based on the SOC and the SOH for the particular battery cell.