JP2002025632A - Evaluation device for battery power supply - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an evaluation device for a battery power supply for automatically evaluating the operating condition of a developed battery power supply in detail and in a short time. SOLUTION: The battery power supply 1 is disposed in a thermostatic oven 6 with a set temperature. It is charged by a DC power supply 3 and then caused to discharge to an electronic load 4. The voltage, current, and temperature of a secondary battery are measured by a data logger 5, and measured data is inputted into a controller 2. Data detected by a battery control means provided in the power supply 1 is taken in by the controller 2. The two sets of data are compared with each other to evaluate the operating condition of the power supply 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for automatically acquiring data for evaluating battery characteristics and a battery management function of a battery power supply device having a battery management means for monitoring an operation state of a secondary battery, and storing the data. The present invention relates to an evaluation device for a battery power supply device that can be obtained even in a remote place through a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A battery power supply device using a secondary battery is provided with a battery protection function for protecting the secondary battery from overcharging or overdischarging, etc. Formed. In a battery power supply device such as a portable personal computer, a battery management function is provided, and data such as a battery voltage, a charge / discharge current, and a remaining battery level detected by the battery management function are transmitted to a communication bus (SMBu).
s) to a smart battery that outputs to the computer main body.

[0003] Such a battery power supply device is designed according to the type of the secondary battery to be used and the equipment to which it is applied, and firmware of a microcomputer constituting the battery management function is written. An evaluation device as shown in FIG. 5 is used to evaluate whether this battery power supply device operates normally.

In FIG. 5, a battery power supply device 20 is disposed in a thermostat 26, and charging by a DC power source 23 and discharging by an electronic load 24 are performed under a set temperature condition or charging / discharging current condition of the thermostat 26. The battery voltage, charge / discharge current, and battery temperature of the secondary battery at the time of the measurement are measured by the data logger 25, and these measurement data are input to the controller 22 and stored in the storage device.

On the other hand, data obtained by detecting a battery voltage, a charge / discharge current, and a battery temperature under the same conditions as the above-mentioned measurement are separately acquired by a battery management function provided in the battery power supply device 20 and stored in the storage device of the controller 22. Therefore, by comparing the two data on the same time axis, the battery power supply 20
Can be evaluated.

[0006]

However, in the operation of the conventional evaluation apparatus, a dedicated person is required for operations such as data acquisition, and it takes a long time to obtain an evaluation result due to restrictions such as working hours. However, there is a problem that the development period until the development of the battery power supply device is completed is lengthened.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an evaluation apparatus capable of automatically performing an evaluation operation of a developed battery power supply.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a secondary battery, a battery management unit for monitoring an operation state of the secondary battery, a battery management unit, and a peripheral device. An evaluation device for evaluating the operation of a battery power supply device comprising: a charging power supply for charging the secondary battery, a load device for discharging the secondary battery, and a voltage of the secondary battery. , A current measuring means for measuring a charging current and a discharging current, a controlling means for controlling charging and discharging of the secondary battery, and the voltage measuring means at the time of charging and discharging by the control of the controlling means Data collecting means for collecting measurement data measured by each of the current measuring means and data taken out of the battery management means via the communication means. The charging and discharging of the secondary battery is executed by the control program set in the above, the voltage and current of the secondary battery at that time are measured by each measuring means, and the voltage and current are also detected by the battery managing means, so that data collection is performed. The operation state of the battery power supply device can be evaluated by taking both data by means and comparing both data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery comprising: a secondary battery; battery management means for monitoring an operation state of the secondary battery; and communication means between the battery management means and peripheral devices. An evaluation device that evaluates the operation of the power supply device, a charging power supply that charges the secondary battery, a load device that discharges the secondary battery, and a voltage measurement unit that measures the voltage of the secondary battery,
Current measuring means for measuring charging current and discharging current, temperature measuring means for measuring the temperature of the secondary battery, control means for controlling charging and discharging of the secondary battery, and charging and discharging by the control of this controlling means A voltage measuring unit, a current measuring unit, and a data collecting unit that collects measurement data measured by the temperature measuring unit and data extracted from the battery management unit via the communication unit. Thus, the operation state of the battery power supply device can be evaluated based on the temperature condition of the secondary battery.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery comprising: a secondary battery; battery management means for monitoring an operation state of the secondary battery; and communication means between the battery management means and peripheral devices. An evaluation device for evaluating the operation of a power supply device, which measures a constant temperature chamber containing a battery power supply device, a charging power supply for charging a secondary battery, a load device for discharging a secondary battery, and a voltage of the secondary battery. Voltage measuring means, current measuring means for measuring charging current and discharging current, temperature measuring means for measuring the temperature of the secondary battery, and control means for controlling the temperature of the constant temperature bath and charging and discharging of the secondary battery. Collecting the data measured by the voltage measuring means, the current measuring means, and the temperature measuring means at the time of charging and discharging under the control of the control means, and collecting the data taken out of the battery management means via the communication means. That to become a data collection means those wherein, it is possible to evaluate the operating state at a battery power source device under a plurality of temperature environments by a thermostat.

The battery power supply device is automatically evaluated by the above-mentioned configurations, and the control means and the data collection means are constituted by a computer, so that the evaluation data can be transmitted to an arbitrary place via a LAN or a communication network. it can.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide an understanding of the present invention.
The embodiment described below is an example embodying the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a secondary battery 15, a battery protection circuit 16 for protecting the secondary battery 15 from overcharge and overdischarge, etc., a battery voltage of the secondary battery 15,
A battery power supply device 1 including a battery management circuit 17 that detects a charge / discharge current, a battery temperature, and the like, and manages an operation state.
1 shows an evaluation device for a battery power supply device for evaluating the battery characteristics and the function of the battery management circuit 17.

The battery power supply device 1 is configured in the form of a battery pack containing a secondary battery 15 and a circuit board constituting a battery protection circuit 16 and a battery management circuit (battery management means) 17 in a pack case. The secondary battery 15 is a battery protection circuit 1
6 to a DC input / output terminal 18. The battery management circuit 17 is connected to a storage unit for storing firmware, a serial number, and the like, a detection unit for detecting a battery voltage, a charge / discharge current, and the like, a battery management operation, and the battery power supply device 1. And a microcomputer that forms a communication bus 19 with an electronic device such as a computer.

As shown in FIG. 2, the evaluation device for evaluating the battery characteristics of the battery power supply device 1 and the function of the battery management circuit 17 has a DC power supply function for charging the secondary battery 15 as shown in FIG.
A power supply 3, an electronic load (load device) 4 serving as a load for discharging the secondary battery 15, and a data logger (voltage measuring means / current measuring means /
Temperature measuring means) 5, a thermostatic chamber 6 for accommodating the battery power supply device 1 to be evaluated, a temperature control power supply 7 serving as a power supply for controlling the temperature of the thermostatic chamber 6, a data measuring process for controlling the evaluation operation and data. (Control means / data collection means) 2 for performing the above operations.

The controller 2 is a Windows (registered trademark) 9 which is an example of operation software.
The computer can be constituted by a computer operating at level 5 and the evaluation operation is automatically executed by application software (evaluation software) for controlling the evaluation operation. The controller 2 is provided with a GPIB 8 for connecting the DC power supply 3, the electronic load 4, the data logger 5, and the temperature control power supply 7, respectively. GPIB8
Is a parallel interface for controlling a measuring device, which can transmit signals in parallel with each of the DC power supply 3, the electronic load 4, the data logger 5, and the temperature control power supply 7. Further, in order to connect to the communication bus (SMBus) of the battery power supply device 1,
A converter 9 is provided between the SMBus and the RS232C, and the data of the battery management circuit 17 is taken into the controller 2 by the serial interface RS232C.

In the above configuration, the battery power supply device 1 to be evaluated is disposed in the thermostat 6 and the DC power supply
The DC power supply 3, the electronic load 4, and the data logger 5 are connected to the input / output terminal 18, and the converter 9 is connected to the communication bus 19, so that the evaluation operation can be started. When the evaluation software of the controller 2 is started and the evaluation conditions are set, the evaluation operation is automatically started according to the sequence program.

The sequence program is set in accordance with the evaluation conditions, and is charged and discharged under a plurality of current conditions or charged and discharged under a plurality of temperature conditions. The charging method, charging voltage, charging current, charge termination voltage, and the like by the DC power supply 3 are set according to the type of the battery power supply device 1 to be evaluated, and are supplied from the DC power supply 3 to the battery power supply device 1 under the control of the controller 2. You. The discharging method, the discharging current, and the like by the electronic load 4 are similarly set, and the battery power supply device 1 discharges to the electronic load 4 under the control of the controller 2.

The charging current, discharging current, and battery voltage at the time of charging and discharging are measured by the data logger 5, and the measured data is input to the controller 2 in real time.
The charge current, the discharge current, and the battery voltage detected by the battery management circuit 17 of the battery power supply device 1 during charging and discharging are input to the controller 2 in real time through the converter 9. Therefore, the data measured by the data logger 5 and the data detected by the battery management circuit 17 on the same time axis in the controller 2 can be compared, and the operation state of the battery power supply device 1 can be evaluated.

When evaluating the operating state of the battery power supply device 1 based on the temperature condition, the controller 2 controls the temperature control power supply 7 to change the temperature of the thermostatic bath 6 so that the charging current at the time of charging and discharging at each temperature, The discharge current, the battery voltage, and the battery temperature are measured by the data logger 5, and the controller 2 evaluates the battery power supply device 1 by comparing the charge current, the discharge current, the battery voltage, and the battery temperature detected by the battery management circuit 17 with the controller 2. Done. When performing evaluation under these temperature conditions, it takes time for the constant temperature bath 6 to reach the set temperature, so that charging or discharging is waited until the temperature of the constant temperature bath 6 falls to the set temperature or within the allowable range of the set temperature. It is desirable to control.

The sampling cycle of data by the controller 2 can be set to 1 msec to 10 min. The data sampling cycle is appropriately set according to the type of the battery power supply unit 1 and the time required for temperature change of the thermostat 6. It is stored in a storage device in the controller 2. Also, comparing the data obtained by sampling with the data obtained last time, if the change is zero or less than a predetermined value, the data storage in the storage device is postponed, thereby reducing the load on the storage device. can do.

Since the measurement operation is automatically performed after the setting operation is performed on the controller 2, continuous operation is possible, and there is no need to always have a dedicated person for measurement, and continuous operation is possible. As a result, the required time can be significantly reduced.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the time required for the evaluation operation according to the temperature condition. The time required for manual measurement by a full-time worker 12 hours a day and the time required for an automatic test by the configuration of the embodiment are shown. Comparing. When three sets of evaluation work are performed on one developed battery power unit 1,
The conventional manual test requires about 50 days for data collection, during which time a dedicated person will be in full use. On the other hand, in the automatic test according to the present embodiment, since it is not necessary to assign a dedicated person, operation is possible for 24 hours, and the evaluation can be completed in about 25 days.

By this evaluation operation, the battery voltage, charge / discharge current, battery temperature measured by the data logger 5 when charging / discharging is performed, and the battery management circuit 1 of the battery power supply device 1
Since the battery voltage, the charge / discharge current, and the battery temperature detected by 7 are compared, the operation of the battery power supply device 1 can be evaluated. Since the battery management circuit 17 is constituted by the microcomputer as described above, a mismatch occurs in the comparison when the firmware is not functioning properly. That is,
If there is a bug in the firmware or an unauthorized change of the firmware by the outsourcing developer, it can be found, and the firmware can be normalized.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Has a network I / F 11 and has a LAN (Local
By configuring a computer connected to an area network (Area Network), data can be transmitted from a measurement location to a computer on an arbitrary network. For example, data can be transmitted to a design department of the battery power supply device 1 to perform data processing. It can be used for design change based on the evaluation result.

Also, the network is not limited to LAN,
Data can be transmitted by e-mail via an Internet connection, and data can be transmitted to a remote location. Alternatively, the data may be stored in a storage device such as a hard disk, the storage location may be linked to the WWW site, and the WWW site may be accessed from any location to check the data. When transmitting data over these open networks, it is necessary to take security measures such as encrypting data and granting access rights using passwords.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, the operation for evaluating the operation state of the battery power supply device can be automatically performed, so that the evaluation result can be promptly obtained without providing a dedicated person. Thus, the development of the battery power supply device can be made more efficient. Further, the evaluation data can be transmitted to an arbitrary place via a communication network.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a battery power supply device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an evaluation device.

FIG. 3 is a required time table showing an example of required time required for evaluation.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an evaluation device provided with a network connection configuration.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional evaluation device.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 battery power supply device 2 controller (control means / data collection means) 3 DC power supply (charging power supply) 4 electronic load (load device) 5 data logger (voltage measurement means / current measurement means / temperature measurement means) 6 constant temperature chamber 15 secondary Battery 17 Battery management circuit (battery management means)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Nojima 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Inside Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. 72) Inventor Susumu Segawa 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Pref. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. DC07 EB06 GG03 GG06 GG13 HH01 JA24 KK01 5G003 AA01 BA01 DA07 EA09 GC05 5H030 AS11 FF22 FF42 FF43 FF44

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An operation of a battery power supply device including a secondary battery, a battery management unit for monitoring an operation state of the secondary battery, and a communication unit between the battery management unit and a peripheral device is evaluated. An evaluation device, a charging power supply for charging the secondary battery, a load device for discharging the secondary battery, a voltage measuring unit for measuring a voltage of the secondary battery, and a current measurement for measuring a charging current and a discharging current Means, control means for controlling charging and discharging of the secondary battery, and at the time of charging and discharging under the control of the control means, the voltage measuring means, via the measurement data measured by the current measuring means and via the communication means An evaluation device for a battery power supply device, comprising: data collection means for collecting data taken out from the battery management means. 2. An operation of a battery power supply device including a secondary battery, a battery management unit for monitoring an operation state of the secondary battery, and a communication unit between the battery management unit and a peripheral device is evaluated. An evaluation device, a charging power supply for charging the secondary battery, a load device for discharging the secondary battery, a voltage measuring unit for measuring a voltage of the secondary battery, and a current measurement for measuring a charging current and a discharging current Means, a temperature measuring means for measuring the temperature of the secondary battery, a control means for controlling charging and discharging of the secondary battery, the voltage measuring means, the current measuring means at the time of charging and discharging by the control of this control means, A data collection means for collecting measurement data measured by each of the temperature measurement means and data taken out of the battery management means through the communication means. Apparatus. 3. An operation of a battery power supply device including a secondary battery, a battery management unit for monitoring an operation state of the secondary battery, and a communication unit between the battery management unit and a peripheral device is evaluated. An evaluation device, comprising: a thermostat containing a battery power supply; a charging power supply for charging a secondary battery; a load device for discharging the secondary battery; a voltage measuring unit for measuring a voltage of the secondary battery; Current measuring means for measuring current and discharge current, temperature measuring means for measuring the temperature of the secondary battery, control means for controlling the temperature of the thermostat and charging / discharging of the secondary battery, and control by the control means A data collection unit for collecting measurement data measured by the voltage measurement unit, current measurement unit, and temperature measurement unit at the time of charging and discharging, and data extracted from the battery management unit via the communication unit. Ete becomes possible evaluation device battery power source device according to claim. 4. The evaluation device for a battery power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the data collection unit acquires data at a sampling period of 1 msec to 10 minutes. 5. The data collection unit according to claim 1, wherein the data collection unit compares the acquired data with the previous acquisition data and, when the change is equal to or less than a set value, forgoes data storage in the storage unit. Battery power unit evaluation device. 6. The evaluation of the battery power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit waits for the control operation until the temperature in the thermostat stabilizes within a set temperature or an allowable range of the set temperature. apparatus. 7. The battery power supply according to claim 1, wherein the data collection unit has a function of comparing data provided from the battery management unit with measurement data detected by the voltage measurement unit and the current measurement unit. Equipment evaluation device. 8. The data collection means has a function of comparing data provided from the battery management means with measurement data detected by the voltage measurement means, the current measurement means, and the temperature measurement means. Or the evaluation device for a battery power supply device according to 3. 9. The evaluation device for a battery power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the control means and the data collection means are constituted by a computer. 10. The evaluation device for a battery power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit and the data collection unit are configured by a computer connected to a communication line. 11. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the control means and the data collection means are constituted by a computer connected to a communication line, and transmit the evaluation result to a specified mail address by e-mail. Power supply evaluation device. 12. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the control means and the data collection means are constituted by a computer connected to a communication line, and encrypt the evaluation result and transmit the result of the evaluation to an e-mail address specified by an e-mail. An evaluation device for a battery power supply device as described in the above.