KR20150050215A - Apparatus and method for managing battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus for managing a battery pack, which can extend durability of a secondary battery. According to the present invention, the apparatus for managing a battery pack comprises: a counting unit counting the number of times of charging a battery cell; and a voltage adjusting unit adjusting charging voltage level of the battery cell based on the number of times of charging a battery cell.

Description

[0001] Apparatus and method for managing battery pack [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a technique for managing a battery pack, and more particularly, to a battery pack management apparatus and method capable of extending the service life of the secondary battery.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, demand for portable electronic products such as notebook computers, video cameras, and portable telephones has been rapidly increased, and electric vehicles, storage batteries for energy storage, robots, and satellites have been developed in earnest. Are being studied actively.

The secondary rechargeable batteries are nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, nickel-zinc batteries, and lithium secondary batteries. Among them, lithium secondary batteries have almost no memory effect compared to nickel- It is very popular because of its low self-discharge rate and high energy density.

The conventional method of charging the lithium secondary battery is a two-phase charging process. The charging apparatus starts charging at a charging step of a constant current, and terminates charging at a charging step of a constant voltage. This two-stage charging process is sometimes referred to as "constant-current, constant-voltage (CC-CV)" charging. In the two-step charging process, a constant current is applied until the battery cell of the lithium secondary battery reaches the maximum voltage in the constant current charging step. In the charging process of the constant voltage during the two-step charging process, Until a predetermined voltage is applied.

Lithium secondary batteries can be used repeatedly through charge and discharge, but their performance may deteriorate as the charge / discharge cycle increases. The capacity of the battery in the buffered state, that is, the full capacity of the battery, can be gradually reduced due to the performance deterioration. If the full charge capacity of the battery drops below a certain level, the battery is no longer usable and can be considered to have reached its end of life.

The life of the battery is a very important factor in determining the quality of the battery. Particularly, since batteries are widely used in devices that can be used for a long period of time such as automobiles and electric power storage devices in recent years, the demand for long life of such batteries is more urgent. Of course, the initial capacity of the battery itself can be increased to extend the life of the battery, but this is limited in that the size of the battery must be increased or the use of a high-capacity secondary battery material must be accompanied. Therefore, it would be required to develop a technique that can increase the life of the battery even if the same battery is used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a battery pack management device capable of increasing the service life of a battery cell without changing the size or material of the battery cell.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited thereto. It is also to be understood that the objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations thereof.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery pack management apparatus comprising: a counting unit counting a number of times a battery cell is charged; And a voltage regulator for regulating the magnitude of the charging voltage of the battery cell according to the number of charging times of the battery cell.

In the battery pack management apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention, the voltage regulator reduces the magnitude of the charge voltage to a first voltage when the number of times of charging the counted battery cell is equal to or greater than a first reference number.

Preferably, the voltage regulator decreases the magnitude of the charge voltage to a second voltage lower than the first voltage when the number of times of charging the counted battery cell is equal to or greater than a second reference number of times greater than the first reference number.

Preferably, the voltage regulator decreases the charge voltage from 4.25 V to 4.20 V when the counted number of times of charging the battery cell is equal to or greater than the first reference count.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a battery pack includes a battery pack management device.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a notebook computer including the battery pack management device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of managing a battery pack, the method comprising: counting a number of times a battery cell is charged; And adjusting a magnitude of a charging voltage of the battery cell according to the number of charging times of the counted battery cell.

In the method of managing a battery pack according to an aspect of the present invention, the voltage magnitude control step reduces the magnitude of the charging voltage to a first voltage when the number of charging of the counted battery cell is equal to or greater than a first reference number.

Preferably, the voltage magnitude control step decreases the magnitude of the charge voltage to a second voltage lower than the first voltage when the number of times of charging the counted battery cell is equal to or greater than a second reference number of times greater than the first reference number .

Preferably, the voltage magnitude control step reduces the magnitude of the charging voltage from 4.25V to 4.20V when the number of charging of the counted battery cell is equal to or greater than a first reference number.

The battery pack management apparatus according to the present invention can increase the lifetime of the battery cell, that is, the life cycle, by regulating the charge voltage of the battery cell according to the number of times of charging the battery cell to charge the battery pack.

Particularly, the battery pack management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can increase the life cycle of the battery cell further by gradually decreasing the charging voltage according to the number of charging times of the battery cell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the description of the invention given below, serve to further the understanding of the technical idea of the invention, And should not be construed as limiting.
1 is a block diagram schematically showing a functional configuration of a battery pack managing apparatus according to the present invention.
2 is a view schematically showing a connection structure of a battery pack to which a battery pack management apparatus according to the present invention is applied.
FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating an example in which a charge voltage is adjusted according to the number of times of charging by a battery pack managing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating an example in which the charge voltage is adjusted according to the number of times of charge by the battery pack managing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating an example in which a charge voltage is controlled according to the number of times of charging by a battery pack managing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart schematically showing a battery pack management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms and words used in the present description and claims should not be construed as limited to ordinary or dictionary terms, and the inventor should design the concept of the term appropriately in order to describe its own invention in the best way possible. It should be interpreted as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments described in this specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely the most preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all the technical ideas of the present invention. Therefore, It is to be understood that equivalents and modifications are possible.

In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail. The embodiments of the present invention are provided to explain the present invention more fully to the ordinary artisan, so that the shape and size of the components in the drawings may be exaggerated, omitted or schematically shown for clarity. Thus, the size or ratio of each component does not entirely reflect the actual size or ratio.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a functional configuration of a battery pack managing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view schematically showing a connection configuration of a battery pack to which a battery pack managing apparatus according to the present invention is applied.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a battery pack management apparatus 100 according to the present invention includes a counting unit 110 and a voltage regulator 120.

The counting unit 110 counts the number of times the battery cell 10 is charged. Here, the battery cell 10 is an energy storage element provided in the battery pack 1 and repeatedly charged and discharged through a chemical reaction, which means a secondary battery. Although only one battery cell 10 is shown in FIG. 2, this is merely an example, and the battery cell 10 may be one or more.

Here, the charging counted by the counting unit 110 in one charge can be defined in various meanings. For example, the counting unit 110 can count the number of times that the battery cell 10 has been fully charged up to the full charge as a charge and the number of times the battery cell 10 is fully charged. As another example, the counting unit 110 may count the number of times the charging is attempted, as the charge count, by defining the charge itself as the charge regardless of whether the charge is fully charged or not. As another example, the counting unit 110 may define a time when the battery is fully charged up to the full charge capacity as a single charge, and when the charge is not fully charged, . For example, when the counting unit 110 is not fully charged up to the full charge capacity, the counting unit 110 may count the charge by 0.5 times.

The counting unit 110 may count the number of times of charging by accumulating the number of times each time charging of the battery cell 10 is started or completed. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this method, The counting unit 110 may count the number of times the battery cell 10 is charged by various other methods.

The voltage regulator 120 regulates the magnitude of the charging voltage supplied to the battery cell 10 to charge the battery cell 10. For example, in the configuration of FIG. 2, the charging device may be connected to both ends (Pack +, Pack-) of the battery pack 1 to supply charging power to the battery cell 10, , The voltage magnitude for such a charging power source can be adjusted.

The voltage regulator 120 may include a transformer or the like to regulate the charging voltage of the battery cell 10, and may adjust the charging voltage in various other forms.

Particularly, in the battery pack management apparatus 100 according to the present invention, the voltage regulator 120 regulates the magnitude of the charging voltage of the battery cell 10 according to the number of times of charging of the battery cell 10. To this end, the voltage regulator 120 may receive the count information on the battery cell 10 from the counting unit 110.

The reason why the size of the charging voltage of the battery cell is adjusted according to the number of times of charging is that the number of times of charging becomes a measure indicating the degree of repeated use of the battery cell or the deterioration degree of the battery cell. That is, when the number of times of charging is small, it means that the battery cell is used a little, and when the number of times of charging is large, it means that the battery cell is used a lot. Thus, by measuring the number of times the battery cell is charged, it is possible to determine how long the battery cell has been used and / or how repeatedly the battery cell has been used.

The present invention estimates the degree of deterioration of the battery cell by measuring the number of charging times of the battery cell and adjusts the charging voltage of the battery cell according to the degree of deterioration of the battery cell, thereby prolonging the life of the battery cell. Particularly, when the number of times of charging the battery cell is large, that is, when the degree of deterioration of the battery cell is large, the charging voltage for charging the battery cell is decreased, so that the life of the battery cell can be extended.

FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating an example in which a charge voltage is adjusted according to the number of times of charging by a battery pack managing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the voltage regulator 120 may compare the number of times of charging the battery cell 10 counted by the counting unit 110 with the first reference number N1. If the counted number of times of charging of the battery cell 10 is less than the first reference number N1, the voltage regulator 120 outputs the initial charging voltage, that is, the basic voltage V0, Thereby allowing the battery cell 10 to be charged. On the other hand, when the number of charging of the counted battery cell 10 is equal to or greater than the first reference number N1, the voltage regulator 120 reduces the charge voltage to the first voltage V1.

Here, the first reference number is a number that is a reference for determining whether to reduce the magnitude of the charging voltage, and is a value that is compared with the number of charging counted by the counting unit 110. [

More specifically, when it is assumed that the first reference number of times N1 is set to 300, the voltage regulating unit controls the voltage of the battery cell 10 so that the battery cell 10 is continuously charged with the basic voltage V0 until the counted number of times of charging is 299 When the counted number of times of charging reaches 300, the charging voltage may be lowered to the first voltage V1 so that the battery cell 10 is charged.

However, the first reference number N1, which is the number of times the charging voltage is changed by the voltage regulator 120, may be variously set in consideration of various factors such as the characteristics and the type of the battery cell 10, .

On the other hand, the first voltage, which is the charging voltage when the number of charging times is equal to the first reference number, is a voltage having a value smaller than the previous charging voltage and considers various factors such as the characteristics and type of the battery cell 10, And can be determined as various values.

For example, in a particular battery cell 10, the initial charge voltage may be 4.25 V, where the first voltage may be set to 4.20V. In this case, when the counted number of times of charging the battery cell 10 is less than the first reference number, the voltage regulating unit 120 causes the corresponding battery cell 10 to be charged to 4.25 V, The battery cell 10 can be charged to 4.20V.

As described above, according to one aspect of the present invention, after the predetermined number of charging cycles, the charging voltage is lowered to charge the battery cell 10, which may increase the life cycle of the battery cell 10 .

FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating an example in which the charge voltage is adjusted according to the number of times of charge by the battery pack managing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the voltage regulator 120 may compare the number of times of charging of the counted battery cell 10 with the first reference number N1 and the second reference number N2. Here, the first reference frequency is similar to the first reference frequency in the embodiment of FIG. 3, but the concept of the second reference frequency is added to the first reference frequency in the embodiment of FIG.

The second reference number has a value larger than the first reference number. The second reference frequency may be set to various values in consideration of various factors such as the characteristics and the type of the battery cell 10, the usage environment, and the like, as in the first reference frequency. For example, when the first reference number is set to 300, the second reference number can be set to 600, which is larger than the second reference number. The voltage setting unit may adjust the charging voltage of the battery cell 10 by comparing the number of charging times of the counted battery cell 10 with the first reference number and the second reference number.

4, when the number of times of charging the battery cell 10 is less than the first reference number N1, the voltage regulator 120 determines that the battery cell 10 has the basic voltage V0 ). When the charging and discharging of the battery cell 10 is repeated after the charging and discharging of the battery cell 10 is equal to or greater than the first reference number N1 and less than the second reference number N2, To be charged with voltage V1. When the number of times of charging the battery cell 10 is equal to or greater than the second reference number N2, the voltage regulator 120 determines that the battery cell 10 is at the second voltage V2 ). Here, the second voltage V2 is a voltage lower than the first voltage V1, and may be variously determined according to the characteristics, kind, use environment, etc. of the battery cell 10, like the first voltage.

According to this embodiment, the charging voltage can be gradually reduced more than once according to the number of charging times of the battery cell 10. [ Therefore, as the use of the battery cell 10 increases, the charging voltage is decreased step by step, thereby reducing the capacity reduction of the battery cell 10 and more effectively contributing to the improvement of the service life of the battery cell 10. [

3 and 4 have been described with reference to the configuration in which the voltage regulator 120 reduces the charging voltage by one time or decreases the charging voltage by two times according to the number of times of charging, The present invention is not limited to this configuration. That is, the voltage regulator 120 may reduce the charging voltage three or more times according to the number of charging.

FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating an example in which a charge voltage is controlled according to the number of times of charging by a battery pack managing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the voltage regulator 120 may reduce the voltage constantly at a constant number of charging times. That is, the voltage regulator 120 outputs a signal indicating that the number of times of charging is N1, N2, N3, N4, N5, ... The charging voltage can be reduced by? V. For example, when the number of times of charging is N1, N2, N3, N4, N5, ... The charging voltage can be decreased by 0.01 V every time the reference frequency is reached.

In this case, the number of charging times in which the charging voltage is decreased may be set to a predetermined number of times. For example, each of the reference voltages may be configured to have a predetermined number of intervals, such as 50 times for N1, 100 times for N2, 150 times for N3, 200 times for N4, and 250 times for N5.

According to the embodiment in which the charging voltage is reduced at a constant interval according to the number of times of charging, the voltage regulation structure of the voltage regulator 120 can be simplified.

Referring to FIG. 1, a battery pack management apparatus 100 according to an aspect of the present invention may further include a memory unit 130. Here, the memory unit 130 may store information necessary for the operation of the battery pack management device 100. For example, the memory unit 130 may store information on a first reference number, a second reference number, a first voltage, a second voltage, and the like.

The battery pack management apparatus 100 according to the present invention can be applied to the battery pack 1. [ That is, the battery pack 1 according to the present invention includes the battery pack management device 100 described above. In this case, the battery pack 1 may include the battery cell 10 together with the battery pack management device 100.

Also, the battery pack management apparatus 100 according to the present invention can be applied to a notebook computer. That is, the notebook computer according to the present invention includes the battery pack management apparatus 100 described above.

However, the battery pack management apparatus 100 according to the present invention is not necessarily provided in the battery pack 1 as a whole. For example, at least one of the counting unit 110 and the voltage regulating unit 120 may be provided in the notebook computer body with respect to the battery pack 1 mounted on the notebook computer.

Hereinafter, a battery pack management method according to the present invention will be described.

6 is a flowchart schematically showing a battery pack management method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 can be regarded as each component of the above-described battery pack management device.

Referring to FIG. 6, in the battery pack management method according to an embodiment of the present invention, the number of times of charging the battery cell 10 is counted (S110).

When the number of times of charging the battery cell 10 is counted, the size of the charging voltage of the battery cell 10 is adjusted according to the number of times the battery cell 10 is counted.

Preferably, the counted number of times of charging is compared with the first reference number of times (S120). If the number of times of charging is equal to or greater than the first reference number, the charging voltage is reduced to the first voltage (S130). On the other hand, when the number of charging is smaller than the first reference number, the existing charging voltage is maintained as it is (S131). More specifically, in step S130, the charge voltage may be reduced from 4.25V to 4.20V when the counted number of times of charging the battery cell 10 is equal to or greater than the first reference number.

More preferably, when the number of charging of the counted battery cell 10 is equal to or greater than the first reference number, the counted number of charging can be compared with the second reference number while the charging voltage is reduced to the first voltage (S140). At this time, if the result of the comparison is that the number of charging is equal to or greater than the second reference number, the charging voltage is reduced to the second voltage (S150). Otherwise, the charging voltage is maintained as it is (S151).

Meanwhile, since the method of managing the battery pack shown in FIG. 6 is only an embodiment, it is needless to say that the magnitude of the charge voltage may be gradually decreased by three or more times.

The features described in the individual embodiments herein may be combined and implemented in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described herein in a single embodiment may be implemented in various embodiments individually or in a suitable subcombination.

Although the term 'part' is used herein, such as 'counting unit', 'voltage regulating unit', etc., it refers to a logical unit, It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited thereto.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It will be understood that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

1: Battery pack
10: Battery cell
100: Battery pack management device
110:
120: Voltage regulator
130: memory unit

Claims (10)

A counting unit for counting the number of charging times of the battery cells; And
A voltage regulating unit for regulating the magnitude of the charging voltage of the battery cell according to the number of charging of the battery cell,
And the battery pack management device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the voltage regulator reduces the charge voltage to a first voltage when the counted number of times of charging the battery cell is equal to or greater than a first reference number. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the voltage regulator reduces the charge voltage to a second voltage lower than the first voltage when the number of times of charging the counted battery cell is equal to or greater than a second reference number that is greater than the first reference number. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the voltage regulator reduces the charge voltage from 4.25V to 4.20V when the counted number of times of charging the battery cell is equal to or greater than a first reference number. A battery pack comprising the battery pack management device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. A notebook computer including the battery pack management device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. Counting the number of times of charging the battery cell; And
Adjusting the magnitude of the charging voltage of the battery cell according to the number of charging times of the counted battery cell
And a battery pack. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the voltage magnitude control step reduces the magnitude of the charging voltage to a first voltage when the number of charging of the counted battery cell is equal to or greater than a first reference number. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the voltage magnitude control step includes a battery pack management step of decreasing a magnitude of the charge voltage to a second voltage lower than the first voltage when the number of times of charging of the counted battery cell is equal to or greater than a second reference number of times greater than the first reference number, Way. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the voltage magnitude control step reduces the magnitude of the charge voltage from 4.25 V to 4.20 V when the counted number of times of charging the battery cell is equal to or greater than a first reference number.

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