KR101486810B1 - Removable battery module, Charge Equalization Method and Apparatus for battery string using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a detachable battery module, a charge uniform method and apparatus for a battery string.
To this end, the uniform charge device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes at least one detachable battery module, and cell potential information from the detachable battery module, compares the cell potential information with a previously stored reference value, And a smoothing converter for performing charge uniformization by charging or discharging the battery cells for a predetermined operation time according to the charge uniformity of the control unit.
According to the present invention, since the charge uniform device is modularized into a master unit and a slave unit, expansion and contraction can be performed irrespective of the number of batteries, and circuits are separated for each module, In case of circuit damage, only the damaged module is replaced, so that it is possible to cope efficiently.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a removable battery module, and more particularly,

The present invention relates to a detachable battery module, a charge uniformizing method and apparatus for a battery string, and more particularly, to an IC for monitoring status information of a battery in real time and a charge balancing method for achieving cell balancing (also called charge uniformization) And more particularly, to a method and apparatus for uniforming the charge of a plurality of battery strings using a uniform device.

In the conventional battery operating system, k batteries are divided into M modules and connected in series, and each module has a switch block connected to the right side of the battery. This switch block is responsible for selecting a specific cell to provide the next stage capacitor and current path. The potential stored in the capacitor is then read by the A / D converter and the value is input to the microprocessor. The input battery sensing information is used as information for operating the battery in the microprocessor. If the specific cell is low-charged or overcharged, the microprocessor drives the cell uniform device connected in parallel to each module, .

However, in such a conventional battery operating system, when a plurality of batteries are connected in series and operated on a module-by-module basis, a sensing circuit necessary for battery sensing and a cell uniformity device for each module are required for each module.

However, such a configuration requires a sensing circuit and a cell uniform device for each module, thereby increasing the complexity of the battery operation system circuit.

In addition, if an error occurs in one module, the entire battery operating system is not usable, which is an obstacle to the reliability of the battery operating system.

Accordingly, there is a need to reduce the volume and cost of the entire battery management system by minimizing the sensing circuit for each module and controlling part of the cell charge uniformity device in the sensing circuit.

In addition, a commercial battery monitoring IC is used for battery sensing and cell balancing, and a method for improving the reliability of the system is required.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a single charge- It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly reliable and efficient charge uniform device and method by using an IC circuit.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a charge uniform device and method that can greatly reduce the complexity, cost, and volume of a battery operating system while sufficiently controlling the amount of charge entering the cell.

The present invention also provides a charge uniformizing device for overcoming a voltage stress of a control switch used through modularization of a battery and using a control switch in a high stack voltage situation of a plurality of batteries, And a method.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a detachable battery module. The detachable battery module includes at least one battery cell, a switch block portion for switching the battery cell, a module switch portion for selecting the switch block, and a module switch portion for monitoring the battery cell and measuring the cell potential to transmit cell potential information And a battery monitoring unit.

At this time, the battery monitoring unit and the switch block unit may be constituted by one integrated circuit.

Also, the switch block unit or the module switch unit may be formed of at least one of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), a bipolar junction transistor (BJT), and a relay.

As another embodiment of the present invention, a charge uniform device for a battery string using such a detachable battery module is provided. The charge uniform device includes at least one detachable battery module, a control unit for receiving the cell potential information from the detachable battery module, comparing the cell potential information with a previously stored reference value to determine whether charge uniformity is to be applied to the battery cell, And a charge equalizing circuit for charging and discharging the battery cell for a predetermined operation time according to whether the charges are equalized.

At this time, the control unit and the smoothing converter become the master module, and the detachable battery module becomes the slave module to be detached and removed from the master module.

Also, the battery monitoring unit controls the detachable battery module, and the module switch unit can share the equalizing converter for each detachable battery module, or can isolate the detachable battery module.

In addition, the smoothing converter may be a charge / discharge type DC / DC converter or an insulation transformer. The switch block or module switch may be a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) It can be composed of one.

At this time, if the corresponding battery cell is low-charged or overcharged compared to other battery cells, the controller may move the entire energy of the battery cell to the corresponding battery cell or move the entire energy of the battery cell to the corresponding battery cell.

If only the corresponding battery cell is low-charged or overcharged, the energy of the external power source can be moved to the low-charged battery cell or the energy of the overcharged battery cell can be transferred to the energy of the external power source.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a charge uniformity method for a series connected battery string using a removable battery module. The method includes the steps of monitoring at least one battery cell included in at least one removable battery module to measure a cell potential for the battery cell, transmitting the measured battery cell potential information, Comparing the information with a pre-stored reference value to create a charge equalization cell list for overcharged or uncharged battery cells; connecting a battery module including the battery cells according to the charge equalization list; Performing charge uniformization on the battery cell for a predetermined period, and the like.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the step of performing charge uniformization on the battery cell comprises the steps of: determining whether charge uniformity is applied to the battery cell; determining whether charge uniformization is performed on the battery cell; And remeasuring the cell potential for the cell.

Here, the reference value may be any one of a state of charge (SOC) of the battery cell, a user-specified voltage, a battery pack or an average voltage, a battery pack or a user- have.

The step of determining charge uniformity for the battery cell may include comparing the average value of the battery cells of the detachable battery module with the average value of the battery cells in one of the detachable battery modules, And a step of judging the result.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the corresponding battery cell is low-charged or overcharged as compared with other battery cells, the entire energy of the battery cell is moved to the corresponding battery cell or the entire energy of the battery cell is transferred to the corresponding battery cell, The method may further include moving energy of the external power source to the low-charged battery cell or moving the energy of the overcharged battery cell to the energy of the external power source when only the battery cell is low-charged or overcharged.

Here, the predetermined operation time may be a value calculated through mathematical modeling according to the amount of charging or discharging current of the smoothing means and the energy storage capacity of the battery cell, a pre-stored value, or a predetermined period of time After the charge equalizing operation is performed, it can be determined by comparing with a user-desired value or a programmed pre-stored value (reference value) through the cell voltage, SOC, SOH measurement.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the complexity, cost, and volume of the entire battery management system by using the charge uniform device and the battery monitoring IC in one module and using the specific function of the monitoring IC in the charge uniform device.

As another effect of the present invention, the charge uniformity device can easily control the amount of charge uniform current by using one DC (Direct Current) -DC converter commonly, and by using a reliable monitoring IC, And the cell information can be processed in the central processing unit (i.e., the control unit).

Further, as another effect of the present invention, since the charge uniform device is modularized into a master unit and a slave unit, expansion and reduction can be performed regardless of the number of batteries, and the circuit is separated for each module It can be said that it is possible to cope effectively by replacing only the damaged module when the circuit is damaged and the circuit is damaged.

Further, as another effect of the present invention, since the charge uniform device uses a DC-DC converter, the entire battery cells are divided into a predetermined number and driven for each module, so that the voltage stress of the switch used in the switch block can be reduced, The driving algorithm of the apparatus is determined by the user or by program calculation, and is variable by communication between the central processing unit (i.e., the control unit) and the module.

As another effect of the present invention, all of the battery cells are connected to certain k battery modules, so that a bidirectional control switch having an internal voltage of the battery is used instead of a low voltage bi-directional control switch having only k battery voltages It is possible to sufficiently control the charging charge of the battery cell.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a charge uniform device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a circuit block diagram that implements the concept of Figure 1;
3 is an overall configuration diagram of a charge uniform device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating circuit operation of the charge uniform device for the second cell of the second module in FIG.
5 is a circuit diagram showing an element configuration example of a charge uniform device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation sequence of a charge uniform circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a charge uniform device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The charge uniform device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes detachable battery modules 140a to 140m, a control unit 100 for controlling the detachable battery modules, and battery modules 140a to 140m ), And the like. These configurations will be described as follows.

The battery modules 140a to 140m are removable and include a battery cell, a battery monitoring IC for monitoring the state of the battery cell, and a switch for switching the module. This is shown in FIG. This will be described later with reference to Fig.

The controller 100 may be a microprocessor, a microcomputer, or the like, and an algorithm for performing a balancing (i.e., charge uniformizing) operation of the battery cell according to an embodiment of the present invention is programmed. Of course, a memory may be configured in the controller 100, which may use the internal memory of the controller 100, or a separate memory.

Nonvolatile memories such as EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), SRAM (Static RAM), FRAM (Ferro-electric RAM), PRAM (Phase-change RAM) and MRAM Can be used.

The smoothing converter 130 performs charge uniformization of the battery modules 140a to 140m so that at least one of the battery modules 140a to 140m is subjected to cell balancing (charge equalization) according to an instruction from the controller 100 do. Therefore, the DC-DC converter of the form capable of discharging the charge can be used as the smoothing converter 130.

Figure 2 is a circuit block diagram that implements the concept of Figure 1; 2, the battery module 140a of the detachable battery modules 140a to 140m includes a battery pack 113a including battery cells B _1,1 to B _{1, k} , A monitoring unit 120a for monitoring the state of the battery cells B _1,1 to B _{1, k} in the battery pack 113a and a battery cell B _1,1 to B _{1, k in the} battery pack 113a, A switch block 112a for switching, a module switch 111a for selecting the switch block 112a to switch the charging or discharging of the corresponding battery cell, and the like. These detachable battery modules 140a are arranged in several units 140a to 140m in a uniform device. These components will be described as follows.

The battery packs 113a to 113n are connected in series to a plurality of battery cells B _1,1 to B _{M, k} , and the plurality of battery cells have arbitrary number of batteries (usually eight, The embodiment is not limited thereto). Of course, the battery cells (B _1,1 to B _{1, k)} are also possible but that is shown as being composed of a battery cell (B _1,1 to B _{1, k)} in the battery pack (113a) in series, consisting of parallel Do. The battery cell may be a hybrid battery such as a nickel metal battery or a lithium ion battery.

The battery monitoring units 120a to 120b may be configured using a commercially available battery-dedicated IC. The battery monitoring unit transmits status information of battery cells (for example, B _1,1 to B _{1, k} ) to the control unit 100 and controls battery protection and cell balancing Quot;).

The switch block units 112a to 112n function to connect a low-charged or overcharged specific battery cell to the smoothing converter 130 in the charge uniformization process.

The module switch units 111a to 111n are provided for each module in addition to the cell switch block units 113a to 113m connected to the cells of the respective battery modules 140a to 140n to share the equalizing converter 130 for each module. In addition, these module switch units take charge of the insulation function between the battery modules 140a to 140m and separate these battery modules into individual modules.

2, voltage information and temperature information of the battery cells B _1,1 to B _{M, k} are collected and controlled by the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m, The battery monitoring unit also takes charge of the control of the smoothing converter 130 through the communication of the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m. The operation of the smoothing converter 130 for charge uniformity is controlled according to a predetermined algorithm through the battery cell sensing information of the controller 100. [ A diagram showing this algorithm is shown in Fig. This will be described later.

3 is an overall configuration diagram of a charge uniform device according to an embodiment of the present invention. That is, FIG. 3 shows an example of a charge uniform device using one smoothing converter 130, battery monitoring units 120a to 120m, and control switches 112a to 112m and 200.

That is, there is a control unit 100 for system control based on the information of all the battery cells B _1,1 to B _{M, K} , and one smoothing converter 130 for generating cell charge equalization energies, (100) and is connected to the module switch unit (200). Of course, in an embodiment of the present invention, a bidirectional DC-DC converter capable of charging / discharging can be used as the smoothing converter 130. [

However, an embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this. One module switch unit 200 existing in each battery module is shared by bidirectional cell selection switches 112a to 112m connected to the battery cells B _1,1 to B _{M and K} , The switch blocks 112a to 112m are controlled by the control signals of the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m. The battery monitoring units 120a to 120m located in the respective battery modules are connected directly to the respective battery cells B _1,1 to B _{M and K} to _detect the state information of the battery cells (for example, SOC, SOH, Etc.) can be obtained.

The battery monitoring units 120a to 120m collect status information of the battery cells B _1,1 to B _{M and K} and transmit the information to the control unit 100 as a central processing unit according to the data communication protocol. That is, as described above, the battery monitoring unit 120a monitors the state information (e.g., SOC, SOH, voltage, current, etc.) of each battery cell of the battery cells B _1,1 to B _1, And the battery monitoring unit 120m collects status information of each battery cell of the battery cells (B _{M, 1} to B _{M, K} ).

The controller 100 determines the charge uniformity of a specific battery cell according to a predetermined algorithm and outputs a control signal to the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m of each battery module (140a to 140m in FIG. 2). As described above, the controller 100 and the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m are connected to each other to exchange information. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the communication lines which are dotted lines are connected. Therefore, even if one battery module (140a to 140m in FIG. 2) is removed by an abnormal operation, the remaining battery modules can still communicate with the control unit 100. [

3, the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m are directly connected to the respective battery cells to obtain real-time battery information, and receive a command from the controller 100 to generate a specific control signal. A battery monitoring unit (120a to 120m), the control switch (112a to 112m, and 200) coupled to select the battery cell (B _{M, 1} to B _{M, K)} receives the internal control signal battery monitoring unit (120a to 120m) The switching block units 112a to 112m are turned on and off to generate a cell charge uniformizing current path for a specific cell.

Also, the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m control the ON and OFF operations of the module switch units (111a to 111m in FIG. 2) of the corresponding battery modules (140a to 140m in FIG. 2). This control may be changed according to the number of output pins of the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m and may be configured to directly control the module switch unit 111a to 111m in FIG.

4 is a diagram illustrating circuit operation of the charge uniform device for the second cell of the second module in FIG. For example, a battery stack monitor (product name "LTC6802 ", manufactured by Linear Technology) may be applied to the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m, and a diagram showing this application example is shown in FIG. The LTC6802 is directly connected to each battery cell to measure the potential of the battery cell and measure the temperature of the battery cell as well as a switch for controlling the corresponding battery cell inside.

Of course, FIG. 4 illustrates the case of applying "LTC6802" for the purpose of understanding one embodiment of the present invention, and is applicable to electronic components having the above-described functions.

Continuing with FIG. 4, the commonly used DC-DC converter 130 operates through the full voltage or external voltage of the battery cells B _2,1 to B _{2, K} and is controlled bi-directionally or unidirectionally . Therefore, the DC-DC converter 130 is responsible for charging or discharging the specific battery cells B _2,1 to B _{2, K.} The DC-DC converter 130 is not shown as a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal of the controller 100 or a controller that controls the operation of the DC-DC converter 130 under the control of the controller 100 ) Of the PWM signal.

The low voltage bi-directional control switches 111b and 112b for controlling the charging and discharging currents of the battery cells B _2,1 to B _{2 and K in the} battery pack 113b are turned on and off by the battery monitoring unit 120b . At this time, a simple circuit (O _2,2 , S _2,2 (O2, O2, O2, O2, O2, Etc.) are connected.

As shown in FIG. 4, this circuit uses the voltage of the battery cells B _2,1 to B _{2, K} as a power source device, and performs an ON and OFF switch operation with high reliability.

One embodiment of the present invention has been described above as being structurally composed of two units. The control unit 100 and the DC-DC converter 130 as a central processing unit become one master module, and the control switches 111b and 112b and the battery monitoring unit 120b become a slave module.

This master unit controls the slave module through the overall battery status and system status information and generates charge / discharge energy for cell charge uniformization. The slave module reads battery cell information connected to the module and is responsible for switch control for charge uniformization of a specific battery cell.

4 shows a circuit that connects low-voltage bi-directional control switches for each battery module (140a-140m in FIG. 2) and performs individual charge uniform operation using one common DC-DC converter 130. FIG.

4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a simple implementation using a monitoring IC element integrated with a sensing circuit portion that has been complicatedly configured to sense each cell voltage information of a plurality of cells B _2,1 to B _2, Lt; / RTI > Of course, FIG. 4 shows an example in which a battery stack monitor (product name "LTC6802 ", manufactured by Linear Technology) is applied, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The operation of the charge uniform device shown in FIG. 4 will now be described. The battery cell to be charged is determined (assuming that one of the battery cells B _2,1 to B _{2, K in the} battery module 140b corresponds to, for example, Fig. 4) Let it be assumed that the control switch 112b is turned on and the relay switch 116b, which is a module switch part of the battery module 140b to which the battery cell to be charged belongs, is turned on. In this case, the bidirectional DC-DC converter 130, which is in common, operates under the control of the control unit 100.

In the case of the bidirectional DC-DC converter 130, the operation of the DC-DC can be operated in accordance with the charging or discharging situation, and in the unidirectional operation, the operation can be performed in a predetermined direction. The DC-DC converter used in this case can be operated differently depending on the type of converter used. In addition, the control method may vary depending on the case of a Switched-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) receiving a PWM control signal, and a case of receiving a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) or other switch operation.

The amount of charge uniform charging and discharging current can be easily and efficiently generated through one common DC-DC converter 130 shown in FIG. 4 according to the capacity of the battery cell, and the use of the battery monitoring unit 120b It has the feature of lowering the charge uniformity and reducing the volume.

The above-described DC-DC converter 130 may be composed of a combination of various conventional DC-DC converters or linear regulators. Wherein each converter or regulator includes switching means capable of operating in either bidirectional or unidirectional direction. Such a switch means can be constituted by a combination of electrically insulated switches such as mechanical switches as well as electrical switches. This is shown in Fig.

5 is a circuit diagram showing an element configuration example of a charge uniform device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, a flyback type bidirectional DC-DC converter 130 may be used as the DC-DC converter, and a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) may be used as the switch means. Of course, it will be understood that FIG. 5 only shows an example of implementing the charge uniform device shown in FIG. 1 using other circuit elements, and it is understood that the configuration of the DC-DC converter and the switch can be configured by a combination of other devices .

The charge uniform device proposed in the embodiment of the present invention is performed when the battery potential of each of the serially connected batteries is different from each other when the electric charging device or the electrical load is not connected to the serially connected battery. However, even if an electric charging device or an electric load is connected, if the current receiving capacity of the proposed charge uniforming device is large, or the amount of electric current to be charged or discharged is small, the electric charging device or the electric load is connected .

The charge uniformity device proposed in the embodiment of the present invention starts operation when the potentials of the respective battery cells are different from each other. The start of the operation starts with the battery cell voltage measurement value input to the control unit 100, the SOC State Of Charge) value or SOH (Stage Of Health) in accordance with the algorithm programmed in advance in the control section (100 in FIG. 1)

Next, a description will be made of a process in which the charge uniform operation is performed with reference to the configuration and operation of the charge uniform device described in the above Figs. 1 to 5. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a charge uniform operation sequence according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to the flow chart of Figure 6, the control unit 100 uniformly charges when the algorithm operates the battery monitoring unit (FIG. 2 of 120a through 120m) is stored in the battery cell _(1,1 to B within each battery module (140a to 140m) B _{M, K} ) in real time (steps S600 and S610).

The sensed cell potential values (i.e., voltage values) of the battery cells B _1,1 to B _{M and K} are transmitted to the battery monitoring units 120a through 120m through communication lines between the battery monitoring units 120a through 120m and the control unit 100, To 120m) to the control unit 100. Of course, such transmissions may be performed in real time or at certain time intervals. Accordingly, the controller 100 determines whether the transmission is completed (step S620).

When the control unit 100 has completed the transfer from the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m to the controller 100, the control unit 100 determines whether the battery cell exceeds the reference value or not, And generates a list (step S630).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S620 that the potential value transfer of the battery cell is not completed, steps S600 to S620 are performed again.

When the battery cell to be charged or discharged is determined by the cell list, the control unit 100 first determines at least one of the battery modules 140a to 140m of the module switch unit 110a to 110m in FIG. 2 as the equalization converter 130 ). Of course , The battery monitoring units 140a to 140m connect the corresponding battery module and the smoothing converter. When the corresponding battery module (which may be a single or plural number) is connected to the uniformizing converter 130, the battery monitoring units 140a to 140m cause the switch block unit 112a to connect the corresponding battery cells B _1,1 to B _{M , K} (step S640).

Of course, there is an operation to be controlled by the controller 100 in order to perform the charge uniform process.

a) Step: If it is determined that the potential of any battery cell constituting the series connected battery is likely to be higher or lower than a predetermined value, the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m of the corresponding battery modules 140a to 140m Control command is transmitted.

Step b) The battery monitoring units 120a to 120m of the corresponding battery modules 140a to 140m operate. The battery monitoring units 120a to 120m preferentially operate the switches on the bidirectional control switches 111a to 111m through the internal switches. Then, a control signal for operating the module switch parts 112a to 112m related to the battery module including the battery cell is transmitted.

c) Step: The control unit 100 advances the charge equalizing operation by operating the common smoothing converter 130 (particularly, the DC-DC converter) in the charge direction or the discharge direction.

Continuing with FIG. 6, when the corresponding battery cell is selected, the smoothing converter 130 charges the corresponding battery cell or discharges the battery cell to perform charge uniformization (steps S650 and S660). Of course, according to a command of the control unit 100, the smoothing converter 130 sequentially performs the charge uniform operation from the highest priority battery cell.

The method of performing such charge equalization can be roughly classified into four types as follows.

① If it is judged that a specific battery cell is low-charged compared to other cells:

By moving the entire energy of the battery to the low-charged battery cell, the potential of the low-charged battery cell is effectively increased.

② If it is judged that only a specific cell is low-charged:

The energy of the external power source is moved to the low-charged battery cell to increase the potential of the low-charged battery cell.

③ If it is judged that the specific battery cell is overcharged compared to other cells:

By moving the overcharged battery energy to the entire cell of the battery, the potential of the overcharged battery cell is effectively lowered.

④ If it is determined that only a specific battery cell is overcharged:

By moving the overcharged battery energy to the external power source, the potential of the overcharged battery cell can be lowered.

By repeating the above methods (1) to (4), an overall charge uniformity effect is produced.

Of course, there is a predetermined operation time (hereinafter referred to as charge uniformization time) for such telephone equalization, and there are various methods for determining the predetermined operation time. This is explained as follows.

I) The charge equalization time is determined through mathematical modeling according to the charging or discharging current amount of the smoothing converter 130 and the energy storage capacity of the battery cell. The charge equalizing operation time is determined through the obtained charge uniformizing time, and the equalizing converter can be turned ON and OFF according to the operation time.

(Ii) a method using a value stored in advance in the control unit 100. Accordingly, when the specific battery cell reaches the predetermined cell voltage value through the smoothing converter 130 through the relationship table between the SOC (State Of Charge) value of the battery cell and the voltage, the smoothing converter is turned off.

Here, the value of the corresponding battery cell stored in advance can be varied by the user. For example, the value of a particular cell may be the average value of the entire battery, the SOC average of the entire battery, and may be a specific value that is increased or decreased to a fixed value by the average of all the batteries or the SOC.

Iii) The charge uniformizing operation is performed periodically for a predetermined period of time in a specific battery cell not driving the device through a predetermined charge uniformizing time, and then a desired value or programmed value is measured through the cell voltage, SOC, SOH measurement, And compares it with the stored reference value. This reference value can be either a user-specified voltage, a battery pack or average voltage, a user-specified voltage increase or decrease on a battery pack or average voltage, and SOH (State Of Health).

When the cells are continuously driven in this comparison, the charge uniformity is achieved after a certain period of time. At this time, the reference value of a specific cell can be determined by the above-described method.

Continuing with FIG. 6, the controller (100 in FIG. 2) determines whether charge uniformization is completed through this process (step S670).

As a result of the determination, if the charge uniformization for the battery cells B _1,1 to B _{M, K} has been completed, the battery monitoring units 120a to 120m re-measure the potentials for the battery cells, (Step S680).

Alternatively, in step S670, if the charge equalization for the corresponding battery cell (B _1,1 to B _{M, K} ) has not been completed, steps S630 to S670 are performed again.

In step S680, if the potential of the re-measured battery cell reaches the reference value, the charge equalization process is terminated.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and that many modifications are possible. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

100: control units 110a to 110n:
111a to 111n: module switches 112a to 112n: switch blocks
113a to 113n: Battery packs 120a to 120n:
130: Equalization converter
140a to 140n:

Claims (17)

At least one battery cell,
A switch block unit for switching the battery cell,
A module switch unit for selecting the switch block,
And a battery monitoring unit monitoring the battery cell, measuring a cell potential, and transmitting cell potential information to the control unit,
The battery monitoring unit is connected to the control unit to control battery protection and cell balancing according to a command from the control unit,
Wherein the battery monitoring unit and the switch block unit comprise a detachable battery module having a single integrated circuit;
A controller for receiving the cell potential information from the detachable battery module and comparing the cell potential information with a previously stored reference value to determine whether the charge is equalized to the battery cell; And
A smoothing converter for performing charge uniformization by charging or discharging the battery cells for a predetermined operation time according to charge uniformity of the control unit;
/ RTI >
Wherein the slave unit including the battery cell, the switch block unit, the module switch unit, and the monitoring unit is configured in a module form,
Wherein the master unit including the control unit and the smoothing converter is configured in a module format,
Wherein the slave unit is removable from the master unit. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the switch block unit or the module switch unit is composed of at least one of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), a bipolar junction transistor (BJT), and a relay. delete delete The method according to claim 1,
The reference value may be a battery string that is one of a state of charge (SOC) of the battery cell, a user-specified voltage, a battery pack or an average voltage, a user-specified voltage increased or decreased in a battery pack or an average voltage, and SOH Charge uniformity device. The method according to claim 1,
Whether or not the charge is equalized
Compares the battery cell average value of all of the detachable battery modules,
Comparing the battery cell average value in one of the detachable battery modules,
A charge uniform device for a battery string that is compared with a preset value. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the battery monitoring unit controls the detachable battery module,
Wherein the module switch unit shares the equalizing converter for each of the removable battery modules or insulates the detachable battery modules from each other. The method according to claim 1,
The switch unit or the module switch unit may include at least one of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), a bipolar junction transistor (BJT), and a relay, at least one of which is a DC / DC converter or an insulated transformer. A charge uniform device for a battery string consisting of either one. The method according to claim 1,
The control unit moves the entire energy of the battery cell to the corresponding battery cell or moves the entire energy of the battery cell to the corresponding battery cell when the corresponding battery cell is low-charged or overcharged compared to other battery cells,
Wherein the energy of the external power source is transferred to the low-charged battery cell or the energy of the overcharged battery cell is moved to the energy of the external power source when only the corresponding battery cell is low-charged or overcharged. The method according to claim 1,
The predetermined operation time may be,
A value calculated through mathematical modeling according to the amount of charge or discharge current of the smoothing means and the energy storage capacity of the battery cell,
It is a pre-stored value,
The battery cell is periodically subjected to a charge equalization operation for a predetermined period of time, and then compared with a value desired by the user or a value stored in advance by program measurement through a cell voltage, SOC (State Of Charge), SOH (State Of Health) Charge uniform device for battery string determined by delete delete delete delete delete delete

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