Optimizing Battery Management Systems in Electric Vehicles

A method for safely charging a traction battery in electric vehicles to avoid overcharging and potential safety issues. The method involves monitoring battery parameters like state of charge (SOC) during charging, and discharging or stopping charging when the parameter changes by a certain threshold. This prevents continuous charging if the battery is already full, preventing overheating, lithium plating, and other problems.

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Battery module with a relay driver that uses direct current (DC) to control a relay to reduce electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues. The relay driver provides a first DC current to close the relay and a second DC current to keep it closed. The second current has different parameters than the first current. This avoids switching the relay coil with pulse-width modulation or constant voltage that causes EMC problems.

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Electrified vehicle thermal management system that enables optimized cooling and heating of the battery pack and other components while avoiding overcooling. The system uses a valve to selectively direct coolant flow through a bypass loop or the battery pack based on heat rejection from a charge air cooler. This prevents overcooling by bypassing the battery when the coolant is already hot from the air cooler.

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Working vehicle that prevents over-discharge of the battery when driven while connected to an external power source. The vehicle has a battery, charger, sensor, controller, display, and switch. A battery management system monitors the charger and battery when driven while connected to external power. It switches the vehicle to use the charger power instead of the battery power when the charger is connected and a signal allows driving connected. This avoids over-discharge if the operator forgets to switch manually.

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Battery pack structure for electric vehicles that improves temperature uniformity and heating control with a heating plate enclosed in a heating unit. The battery pack has a heating plate that surrounds the battery cells and a separate heating unit that encloses the heating plate. This provides better temperature uniformity and heating compared to directly attaching heaters to individual cells. A control unit monitors the battery temperature and operates the heating unit as needed.

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Secondary battery system with connected battery modules that each have a heating device. The system controller determines the power supplied to each module's heater so that modules with higher SOC or charge receive more heating power. This balances the charge levels between modules by consuming excess energy from higher charged modules. The controller also activates heating based on temperature, SOC, or charge levels. This reduces SOC and charge imbalances between modules while minimizing wasteful power consumption. The system can be used in electric vehicles to maintain module performance and longevity.

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Management of the power provided by the batteries in vehicles to ensure that critical systems always have power while conserving battery capacity when the vehicle is not in use. The management involves disconnecting the main vehicle battery from all systems except the ignition when the engine is off. A separate auxiliary battery powers non-essential systems. This preserves the main battery charge to start the vehicle.

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A battery system that can detect the presence of liquid inside the housing of the battery system. The system uses a liquid detector connected to the battery management system. The detector includes a high-voltage conductor that is connected to the bus bars of the battery cells. The conductor extends into a tray located in the housing. If cooling liquid leaks from the battery module, it will collect in the tray and complete the conductivity path to the conductor, triggering the detector. This enables monitoring of the cooling liquid level and verifying if leaked battery coolant is accumulating in the tray.

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Electric powered working machine that manages battery charging to avoid obstructing work plans while still providing diagnostic battery conditioning charges. The machine has a controller that determines whether to recommend and execute a diagnostic charge with rest periods based on battery history and estimated charge time. This prevents unnecessary and potentially long charges that could disrupt work schedules.

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Battery module that manages heat according to external temperature to prevent power degradation in cold environments. The module includes a housing containing battery cells, busbar frames covering the cells, end plates sealing the housing, and a thin film layer between the busbar frame and end plate. The film layer automatically heats up in cold temperatures to warm the cells and prevent power loss.

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Battery temperature adjustment to maintain performance while reducing energy consumption when parked for extended periods. The system checks scheduled parking time and only adjusts battery temperature if it's shorter than a threshold. This avoids using battery power to maintain temperature during long parking periods when the vehicle is unlikely to be used.

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Estimating the remaining useful life (RUL) and cumulative wear of an electric vehicle battery to optimize battery life, performance and cost. The method involves periodically monitoring battery parameters like state of charge (SOC) and health, using that data to estimate degradation parameters like capacity loss and internal resistance, and then using those estimates to predict RUL and cumulative wear. This allows proactive optimization of battery usage to extend its lifetime.

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Controlling all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries to improve safety in electric vehicles. The system detects when the battery's state of charge (SOC) exceeds 100% due to overcurrent events. It then reduces the maximum SOC limit to prevent further overcharging. This prevents capacity loss and overheating risks from overcharging.

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Efficiently controlling the temperature of an electric vehicle battery to improve charging efficiency by determining the optimal charging temperature based on vehicle driving conditions and battery charge status, and then adjusting the battery temperature to that optimal level before charging.

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Improved battery health estimation that can provide more accurate and reliable state of health (SOH) estimation of batteries, such as EV batteries, without requiring expensive equipment like impedance spectroscopy. The approach involves obtaining parameters from battery charging data that capture changes in the battery's response function. By tracking changes in these parameters over time, the SOH can be estimated.

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Battery temperature adjustment system for electric vehicles to prevent battery deterioration. The system has a battery, cooling device and control system. When the vehicle is connected to an external power source, the control system selects either the battery or external power to cool the battery based on a deterioration sensitivity map. If cooling with external power would cause more deterioration than using battery power, it cools with battery power.

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Monitoring battery cell health and electrolyte properties using external conductive portions on the battery enclosure. The conductive portions are attached to the cell's outer surface and capacitance measurements are taken between them and internal conducting structures like cell terminals. These capacitance values are used to assess battery health, electrolyte level, remaining life, and identify thermal runaway.

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Battery balancing system that isolates individual cells from a stack to prevent overcharging or over-discharging. The system uses inline and outline switches to electrically connect/disconnect cells. When a fault is detected, the system isolates and monitors suspect cells. If the fault reoccurs, the cell is permanently isolated. This proactive balancing prevents cell damage and improves stack performance compared to passive or active balancing.

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Controlling capacitors to reduce common mode currents in electric vehicle power converters. The control involves connecting an extra capacitor when the converter is activated and disconnecting it when the converter is inactivated. This prevents parasitic capacitance discharge that causes common mode currents. A pre-charge circuit can also be used to avoid inrush current when connecting the capacitor.

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Battery management systems (BMS) for electric vehicle batteries that use wireless authentication to securely connect batteries to host vehicles and other devices. The BMS have a short range wireless transceiver that communicates with a matching transceiver in the host platform. The authentication allows mutual identification and authorization of the battery and host. Once authenticated, the BMS enables energy flow and data communication. If not authenticated, the BMS blocks energy transfer and data access. This prevents unauthorized use of batteries and protects against theft when used in shared vehicle services.

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