Improved battery management system and monitoring devices

A communications controller operable to receive sensor measurement data from one or more monitoring devices in a battery system, the communications controller comprising:

• at least one processor operable to generate a timing signal;
• a transmitter operable to transmit the timing signal to the one or more monitoring devices, the timing signal defining a transmission time for transmitting sensor measurement data from at least one of the one or more monitoring devices to the communications controller;
• and
• a receiver operable to receive the sensor measurement data from the one or more monitoring devices;
• and
• wherein the communications controller is further configured to:
• select a sampling time for at least one of the one or more monitoring devices, the sampling time defining a time at which a sensor of the at least one monitoring device is to obtain sensor measurement data from one or more modules of the battery system;
• and
• incorporate the sampling time in the timing signal, prior to transmitting the timing signal to the one or more monitoring devices.

A battery system comprising a plurality of monitoring devices, each monitoring device being associated with one or more modules of the battery system, wherein each monitoring device comprises:

• at least one sensor operable to obtain measurement data of one or more associated modules of the battery system;
• a receiver operable to receive, from a communications controller, a timing signal defining a transmission time for the measurement data;
• and
• a transmitter operable to report the obtained measurement data to the communications controller;
• wherein each monitoring device is configured to:
• use the received timing signal to select a shared sampling time for the at least one sensor of each monitoring device to obtain the measurement data of the one or more modules of the battery system associated with the at least one sensor of each monitoring device;
• and
• transmit the obtained measurement data to the communications controller at the transmission time defined in the received timing signal.

A monitoring device operable to report sensor measurements in a battery system, the monitoring device comprising:

• one or more sensors operable to obtain measurements of one or more modules of a battery system;
• a receiver operable to receive, from a communications controller, a timing signal indicative of the timing of a reporting frame;
• and
• a transmitter operable to report obtained measurements to the communications controller;
• wherein the monitoring device is configured to:
• transmit, previously obtained measurements to the communications controller at one or more transmission times relative to the timing indicated by a timing signal received from the communications controller;
• and
• utilize the received timing signal to select sampling times for the measurements obtained by the one or more sensors to be reported to the communications controller in a later reporting cycle.

A monitoring system for monitoring the status of one or more modules of a battery system comprising:

• one or more monitoring devices in accordance with any preceding clause;
• and
• a communications controller operable to:
• transmit a timing signal indicative of the timing of a reporting frame to the one or more monitoring devices and
• receive reported measurements of one or more modules of a battery system reported by the one or more monitoring devices.

A battery management system, comprising:

• a battery management unit;
• a communications controller operable to receive and process measurements of one or more battery cells of a battery system received from one or more monitoring devices and provide processed measurements to the battery management unit;
• and
• wherein the one or more monitoring devices, each comprise:
• one or more sensors operable to obtain measurements of one or more battery cells of a battery system;
• a transmitter operable to transmit obtained measurements to the communications controller;
• and
• a processor operable to process obtained measurements from the one or more battery cells and cause the obtained measurements to be reported to the communications controller in accordance with a predetermined schedule;
• wherein the communications controller and the processors of the one or more monitoring devices are configured to cause obtained measurements from the one or more battery cells to be reported to the battery management unit in a deterministic manner which is independent of triggering by the processors or the communications controller of any interrupts, external memory access steps or the use of a stack.