JP2018142415A - Battery module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a battery module capable of forming a battery system by combining multiple battery modules of one kind.SOLUTION: A relay control part 24 has a master mode and a slave mode. In the case of the master mode, a relay control signal from the relay control part 24 is supplied through a gate circuit 26 to a relay drive circuit 32. In the case of the slave mode, an external relay control signal is supplied through the gate circuit 26 to the relay drive circuit 32. Therefore, a battery module is operable in both the modes.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery module whose operation is stopped by a relay.

  In a hybrid vehicle (HV) or an electric vehicle (EV), a high-voltage, large-capacity battery is mounted as a power source for a running motor. In many cases, this battery collects battery cells having a required capacity into a module, and a battery ECU (electronic control unit) for managing the battery module is provided in the module.

  If such a battery module has a capacity required for the vehicle, one battery module may be mounted on one vehicle. That is, if a battery module is designed for a large vehicle, a battery having an optimum capacity may be manufactured and a battery ECU for managing the battery may be developed. However, if battery modules are manufactured exclusively for each vehicle, many types of non-generic modules will be manufactured, which will increase development and manufacturing costs. If one battery module is enlarged, its management becomes difficult. There are also many.

  For this reason, it is conceivable to mount a plurality of battery modules on the vehicle. In this case, it is also necessary to manage the plurality of battery modules as a whole. In Patent Literature 1, a plurality of battery modules are mounted, and when an abnormality occurs, the operation of the plurality of battery modules is stopped by a host control device. Such failure countermeasures and the like are less likely to occur when one higher-level control device performs the control failure.

JP 2014-068524 A

  In the battery system of Patent Document 1, it is necessary to develop a host controller and to deal with the ECU in each battery module so that control from the host controller is possible. The configuration for shutting off the battery module at the time of abnormality needs to operate reliably, but there is also a demand for making such a system as simple as possible in terms of cost.

  The present invention relates to a battery, a battery device including a battery control circuit that controls the battery, a relay that turns on and off power supply of the battery control circuit, a relay drive circuit that turns on and off the relay, and relay control that controls the relay drive circuit Including a relay control unit that outputs a signal, an external relay control signal from the outside, and a gate circuit to which a relay control signal from the relay control unit is input, and the relay control unit includes a master mode, a slave mode, In the master mode, the relay control signal from the relay control unit is supplied to the relay drive circuit via the gate circuit. In the slave mode, the external relay control signal is supplied to the relay drive circuit via the gate circuit. It is characterized by being.

  Further, the battery module may be operated in the master mode when operating alone.

  When a plurality of battery modules are prepared, one battery module may be operated in the master mode and the other battery modules may be operated in the slave mode.

  Further, the battery module that operates in the master mode outputs a relay control signal from the relay control unit, and accepts the battery module external relay control signal that operates in the slave mode.

  The gate circuit is an AND circuit, and in the master mode, the relay control unit fixes the input terminal of the external relay control signal of the gate circuit to the H level and supplies the relay control signal to the relay drive circuit. In the mode, the input terminal of the relay control signal of the gate circuit is fixed to the H level, and the external relay control signal is supplied to the relay drive circuit.

  According to the present invention, one type of battery module can be arbitrarily functioned as either a master or a slave. Therefore, when a battery system is composed of a plurality of battery modules, one type of battery module can be used. Further, the configuration of the battery module has few additional members with respect to the conventional dedicated battery module, and the development and manufacturing costs can be reduced as a whole.

It is a figure which shows the structure of a battery module single-piece | unit. It is a figure which shows the structure of the battery system which combined three battery modules.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

<Battery module>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a battery module according to the embodiment. For example, in the case of a relatively small vehicle such as a passenger car, this battery module can be used alone.

  The high-voltage battery 10 is a battery device composed of a large number of battery cells connected in series and in parallel, and is composed of, for example, a large-capacity assembled battery that outputs a DC voltage of about 200V to 300V. The high voltage battery 10 incorporates a battery control circuit 12 for managing the battery. The battery control circuit 12 performs voltage detection and temperature detection of the battery cell block, and limits charge / discharge based on the detection results. When the battery control circuit 12 stops operating, the main relay is turned off and the high-voltage battery 10 stops operating. The high voltage battery 10 may be a secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery, a fuel cell, or a combination of solar cells.

  The control ECU 20 has a main control circuit 22, which is constituted by a microcomputer. The main control circuit 22 sends a control signal to the battery control circuit 12 to control the operation of the high voltage battery 10. In this example, the control ECU 20 has the ability to also control the motor for driving and the engine, and executes processing necessary for driving control of the vehicle.

  The control ECU 20 has a relay control unit 24, which is also constituted by a microcomputer. The relay control unit 24 is basically always on, and performs a process such as wake-up to shift the main control circuit 22 and the like to an on state when necessary. For example, a process for wake-up is performed when it is detected that the user has turned on the vehicle system for traveling the vehicle or at the timing of periodic self-diagnosis.

  The output of the relay control unit 24 is connected to the relay drive circuit 32 via the gate circuit 26. In this example, the gate circuit 26 is composed of an AND circuit. One input end of the gate circuit 26 is connected to the output of the external input terminal 30 and the relay control unit 24, and the other input end is connected to another output of the relay control unit 24. When both the input signals to the two input terminals are at the H level, the gate circuit 26 outputs the H level.

  This example shows a case where the battery module operates alone, and the external input terminal 30 is not connected to another line. Therefore, the output of the gate circuit 26 is determined by the two outputs of the relay control unit 24. And the relay control part 24 always sets the output connected to the external input terminal 30 to H level, and outputs a relay control signal as another output. Accordingly, a relay control signal is output from the gate circuit 26 and is supplied to the relay drive circuit 32. The gate circuit 26 is not limited to an AND circuit. For example, if the output connected to the external input terminal 30 of the relay control unit 24 is always set to L level, the same result can be obtained by employing an OR circuit instead of the AND circuit. Further, a control signal to the relay drive circuit 32 can be selected using a switch.

  The relay drive circuit 32 supplies current to the relay coil 34 a of the relay 34 in accordance with the control signal supplied from the gate circuit 26. That is, when an H level control signal is supplied, the relay 34 is driven. The relay 34 is a normally open relay, and when a current flows through the relay coil 34a by the relay drive circuit 32, the relay switch 34b is turned on. Note that the relay 34 is not necessarily a normally open relay. When the vehicle system is on, a current flows through the relay coil 34a and the relay 34 is turned on.

  The relay 34 turns on / off the power supply from the power supply line 36. In this example, the relay 34 turns on / off the connection between the power supply line 36, the main control circuit 22, and the battery control circuit 12. Note that a power supply line 36 is directly connected to the relay control unit 24, and power is continuously supplied even when the relay 34 is turned off.

  The power line 36 is an output of an auxiliary battery or the like that supplies power to various on-vehicle auxiliary machines, and is a 12 V power line, for example.

  The relay control unit 24 has an external output terminal 38, from which a relay control signal can be output. In this example, two external output terminals 38 are provided.

  Here, the control ECU 20 controls various operations of the entire vehicle. Basically, the main control circuit 22 performs the control. The relay control unit 24 assists the operation of the main control circuit 22 and wakes up the main control circuit 22 or turns off the relay 34 when an abnormality occurs to stop the operation of the battery module (shut down).

  For example, when the vehicle system is turned off by the user, the relay control unit 24 turns off the relay 34. As a result, power is not supplied to the main control circuit 22 and the battery control circuit 12, and these control circuits are turned off. As a result, the control of the various in-vehicle devices is stopped, the system main relay of the high voltage battery 10 is turned off, and the power output from the high voltage battery 10 is also stopped.

  On the other hand, when the vehicle system is turned on, the relay control unit 24 detects this and turns on the relay 34. As a result, the main control circuit 22 and the battery control circuit 12 wake up to start operation, and the vehicle can run. Various in-vehicle devices are also in an operating state.

  When the main control circuit 22 goes out of control or an abnormality occurs in the high voltage battery 10 due to some error, this signal is supplied to the relay control unit 24. The relay control unit 24 may detect an abnormality in the main control circuit 22, or the main control circuit 22 may perform self-diagnosis and supply the result to the relay control unit 24. Further, the battery control circuit 12 may determine abnormality by itself and transmit an abnormality signal to the relay control unit 24 when the abnormality occurs, or the relay control unit 24 may detect abnormality of the battery control circuit 12.

  When an abnormality is detected, the relay control unit 24 opens the relay 34 by the relay drive circuit 32 and stops the power supply to the main control circuit 22 and the battery control circuit 12. Therefore, the system main relay of the high voltage battery 10 is turned off, the power output from the high voltage battery 10 is also stopped, and safety is ensured.

  Here, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, since no signal is input from the external input terminal 30, the gate circuit 26 simply allows the relay control signal to pass therethrough and is not necessary. However, when a plurality of battery modules are provided in a large vehicle or the like, the overall operation can be smoothly controlled by the plurality of battery modules using the gate circuit 26.

<Battery system>
FIG. 2 shows a battery system using three battery modules shown in FIG. The left battery module 100 operates in the master mode, and the middle and right battery modules 102 and 104 operate in the slave mode.

  First, the battery module 100 always outputs an H level signal and a relay control signal from the relay control unit 24 and supplies them to the gate circuit 26. Therefore, as in FIG. 1, the relay control signal passes through the gate circuit 26 as it is and is supplied to the relay drive circuit 32. Therefore, the relay 34 is turned on and off by the relay control unit 24. In this example, two external output terminals 38 are provided in one battery module, but the number of external output terminals 38 may be one and branch outside.

  Then, the same relay control signal that is supplied to the relay drive circuit 32 is output from the external output terminal 38 of the battery module 100.

  Relay control signals output from the external output terminal 38 of the battery module 100 are input to the external input terminals 30 of the battery modules 102 and 104, respectively. Then, the relay control unit 24 of the battery modules 102 and 104 does not control the external input terminal 30 and always supplies an H level signal to the gate circuit 26. Therefore, the gate circuit 26 of the battery modules 102 and 104 receives the relay control signal of the battery module 100 supplied from the external input terminal 30 as an external relay control signal, and supplies it as it is to the relay drive circuit 32 of its own. Accordingly, the relays 34 of the three battery modules 100, 102, and 104 can be collectively controlled by the relay control signal from the relay control unit 24 of the battery module 100, and the ECU and the battery are controlled to be turned off. Can be prevented from going bankrupt. Further, when an OR circuit is used as the gate circuit 26, the external input terminal 30 is not controlled and an L level signal may be constantly supplied to the gate circuit 26.

  The main control circuit 22 of the control ECU 20 is basically processed by the main control circuit 22 of the battery module 100 that operates as the master mode, and each main control circuit 22 performs various processes in the individual battery modules. Good.

  In each battery module, the master mode or the slave mode may be individually set in a setting computer. Further, the slave mode may be recognized when a predetermined signal is input to the external input terminal 30, and the master mode may be recognized when no signal is input.

  In the present embodiment, the battery modules 100, 102, and 104 may have the same configuration, and by changing the number, one type of battery module can be used from a passenger car to a large vehicle. Moreover, it is only necessary to add the external input terminal 30, the gate circuit, and the external output terminal 38 in the battery module. In the relay control unit 24, it is only necessary to add logic for outputting two output signals according to the master mode and the slave mode. Therefore, the development of the battery module is the same as the development of the battery module dedicated to the vehicle, and the apparatus itself is not enlarged. As described above, the battery module according to the present embodiment is versatile and can be mounted on various vehicles. This configuration itself does not need to be changed so much from the conventional one, and the overall cost can be reduced. Can do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 High voltage battery, 12 Battery control circuit, 20 Control ECU, 22 Main control circuit, 24 Relay control part, 26 Gate circuit, 30 External input terminal, 32 Relay drive circuit, 34 Relay, 34a Relay coil, 34b Relay switch, 36 Power supply Line, 38 External output terminal, 100, 102, 104 Battery module.

Claims (1)

A battery and a battery device including a battery control circuit for controlling the battery;
A relay for turning on and off the power supply of the battery control circuit;
A relay drive circuit for turning on and off the relay;
A relay control unit that outputs a relay control signal for controlling the relay drive circuit;
An external relay control signal from the outside, a gate circuit to which the relay control signal from the relay control unit is input,
Including
The relay control unit has a master mode and a slave mode,
In the master mode, the relay control signal from the relay control unit is supplied to the relay drive circuit through the gate circuit, and in the slave mode, the external relay control signal is supplied to the relay drive circuit through the gate circuit.
Battery module.

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