TWI665843B - Power supply control method for a multi-module parallel battery structure - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a power supply control method of a multi-battery module parallel architecture. In a load system powered by a multi-battery module using a switching discharge architecture, a plurality of battery modules are divided into one main battery module by a predetermined rule. Group and multiple sub-battery modules, and the main battery module as the main control center of all parallel battery modules, and then through a discharge rule, the battery management system in the main battery module controls other sub-cells with power. The battery module supplies power to the load system first, and the main battery module is reserved as the last battery module, so that the load system does not need a central control unit and a dedicated battery outside the battery module.

Description

Power supply control method for multi-battery module parallel architecture

The invention relates to a method for controlling a battery circuit, and more particularly to a method for controlling battery power in a parallel architecture of a plurality of battery modules.

Electric bicycles, electric motorcycles and other electric devices usually carry more than one rechargeable battery module to increase the amount of electricity that can be used by the electric devices. These rechargeable battery modules are mounted in parallel on the electric device. When the battery module supplies power to the electric device, power can be supplied through parallel discharge or switching discharge. Because the battery modules themselves do not necessarily have the same amount of power or voltage, it is rare to directly connect and discharge them in parallel. As for power supply using switching discharge, the discharge order in a plurality of battery modules in an electric device is determined by the power of the battery module itself, that is, the battery with the largest power among all battery modules The module is discharged first. After the battery module is exhausted, the battery module with the next highest battery capacity is discharged.

In the prior art, the central control unit (controller, host) of the device is required to determine and determine the order in which the battery modules are discharged in the electric device. This central control unit is a control center other than the battery module in the electric device, and can control the discharge behavior of the battery module according to the state of the individual battery module and the established control process. Because the central control unit is also a component that needs to be powered, when the central control unit cannot be powered by these battery modules (because there is a high risk of running out of battery power to the central control unit), it is necessary to In addition to these battery modules, a battery dedicated to the central control unit (or other system components) is provided. However, adding an independent battery to power the central control unit is not an efficient way to use space on an electric transportation device with limited space. Based on the analysis of the system composition and cost, adding a central control unit and an independent battery to control the battery module's discharge behavior in addition to the battery module. In addition to increasing the cost, it also increases the complexity of system assembly and problems with electric devices. risk. Moreover, due to different manufacturers or assembly plants, matching problems between the central control unit and the battery modules are also easy to occur, and the risk of system failure is more likely to increase.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides a power supply control method for a multi-battery module parallel architecture.

An embodiment of the present invention discloses a power supply control method for a multi-battery module parallel architecture. A load system includes a load device and a plurality of battery modules connected in parallel with the load device. The power supply control method includes the steps of setting one of the plurality of battery modules to be a main battery module according to a predetermined rule, and the plurality of battery modules that are not set to be a plurality of subsidiary battery modules; the main battery. A battery management system in the module controls the plurality of sub-battery modules to supply power to the load device according to a discharge rule; and when the plurality of sub-battery modules power the load device to the power of the plurality of sub-battery modules When they are all zero, the battery management system of the main battery module controls the main battery module to supply power to the load device according to the discharge rule.

In the embodiment disclosed in the present invention, setting the main battery module according to the predetermined rule is: setting one of the plurality of battery modules as the main battery module according to the identification codes of the plurality of battery modules.

In the embodiment disclosed in the present invention, the main battery module is set according to the predetermined rule: when one of the battery modules is loaded in the load system, so that an identification pin of the battery module is grounded, The battery module is set as the main battery module.

In the disclosed embodiment, the main battery module is set according to the predetermined rule as follows: when one of the battery modules is loaded in the load system, an identification pin of the battery module is changed to a high voltage. In the bit state, the battery module is set as the main battery module.

In the disclosed embodiment, the battery management system in the main battery module controls the plurality of sub-battery modules to supply power to the load device according to the discharge rule: the battery in the main battery module The management system controls the plurality of sub-battery modules based on the power of the plurality of sub-battery modules, starting with a first sub-battery module having the largest power therein, and sequentially supplying power to the load device.

In the embodiment disclosed in the present invention, the battery management system in the main battery module controls the plurality of sub-battery modules, starting with the first sub-battery module having the largest amount of power, and sequentially The power supply of the load device is: when the first auxiliary battery module supplies power to the load device until the power of the first auxiliary battery module is zero, the battery management system in the main battery module automatically controls the Among the plurality of sub-battery modules, a second sub-battery module having the largest amount of power supplies power to the load device.

In the embodiment disclosed in the present invention, the battery management system in the main battery module controls the plurality of sub-battery modules, starting with the first sub-battery module having the largest amount of power, and sequentially The power supply of the load device is: when the first auxiliary battery module supplies power to the load device until the power of the first auxiliary battery module is zero, the battery management system in the main battery module receives the load system After a switch command is issued, the second sub-battery module with the largest amount of power is controlled to supply power to the load device.

In the embodiment disclosed in the present invention, the power supply control method further includes the step that the battery management system of the main battery module obtains the power data of the plurality of subsidiary battery modules from the plurality of subsidiary battery modules.

In the embodiment disclosed in the present invention, the power of any battery module is zero, which is a state in which the power output of the battery module is stopped until the low voltage protection point is reached.

In the power supply control method of the multi-battery module parallel architecture disclosed in the present invention, in a multi-battery module-powered electric device using a switching discharge architecture, the design of the battery module is used to distinguish the plurality of battery modules into One main battery module and a plurality of sub battery modules. The main battery module is used as the main control center of all parallel battery modules, that is to say, the main battery module has absolute control power. In addition to controlling the discharge behavior of the main battery module itself, it also has all the secondary battery modules. Group power control. Any one of the secondary battery modules cannot discharge itself, which can protect the battery modules and avoid abnormal situations where different battery modules are simultaneously discharged. Moreover, it is not necessary to set a central control unit and a dedicated battery outside the battery module, which can effectively simplify the system architecture of the electric device, save the system cost, and maintain the safety requirements of the system.

Certain terms are used in the description and the scope of patent applications to refer to specific elements. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that manufacturers may use different terms to refer to the same component. The scope of this specification and the patent application does not use the difference in names as a way to distinguish components, but rather uses the difference in functions of components as a criterion for distinguishing components. "Inclusion" mentioned in the entire specification and patent application scope is an open-ended term, so it should be interpreted as "including but not limited to." In addition, the term "coupled" or "connected" includes any direct and indirect means of electrical or structural connection. Therefore, if a first device is described as being coupled / connected to a second device, it means that the first device may be electrically / structured to the second device directly, or indirectly electrically / structured to the second device through other devices or connection means.第二 装置。 The second device.

Please refer to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a load system capable of connecting a plurality of battery modules in parallel. The load system 1 includes a load device 2 and a plurality of battery modules, wherein the plurality of battery modules include a main battery module 10 and at least one sub-battery module, and the embodiment in FIG. 1 includes A plurality of auxiliary battery modules 20, 30, 40. These battery modules are connected in parallel with the load device 2 to form a parallel structure of the battery modules. Each battery module can be individually mounted on or removed from the load system 1. Each battery module contains one or more battery cells 14, 24 in series, a battery management system 12, 22 (BMS) inside the battery module, and a communication unit 16 that communicates with other battery modules , 26. More specifically, one or more battery modules may be mounted in the load system 1. When only one battery module is mounted, of course, it is the main battery module 10, and when the load system 1 is mounted with two or more battery modules, one of the batteries will be determined according to specific rules. The module is the main battery module 10, and the other battery modules will be secondary battery modules (at least one secondary battery module). As for how to decide which one is the main battery module 10 and which one (or which) is the secondary battery module, and how the primary and secondary battery modules work together (and does not require a central control unit outside the battery module and Exclusive battery), it will be described in detail in the following paragraphs and illustrations.

Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a power supply control method for a multi-battery module parallel architecture disclosed in the present invention. The steps are as follows:

Step 110: mount at least one battery module in a load system;

Step 120: According to a predetermined rule, one of the battery modules is set as a main battery module in the load system, and the other battery modules that are not set are a plurality of subsidiary battery modules;

Step 130: When the main battery module is activated and receives a power supply command, the main battery module detects whether there are other sub-battery modules in the load system, and the power of at least one of the sub-battery modules is not zero; if yes , Go to step 140, if not, go to step 150;

Step 140: When a sub-battery module with non-zero power exists in the load system, the battery management system in the main battery module controls the sub-battery module to supply power to the load device in the load system according to a discharge rule;

Step 150: When there is no sub-battery module with non-zero power in the load system, the battery management system in the main battery module controls the main battery module to supply power to the load device in the load system according to the discharge rule;

Step 160: When the power of the main battery module is zero, the load system is suspended.

The present invention uses a multi-battery module parallel architecture switching power supply control method to achieve the purpose of power supply control in the load system 1 without the need for a central control unit and a dedicated battery outside the battery module. In particular, it is applied to electric transportation devices with limited space, such as electric bicycles and electric motorcycles. The load system 1 may have a plurality of physical battery mounting slots to mount a plurality of battery modules, respectively. In step 110, at least one battery module is first mounted on the load system 1. Preferably, the load system 1 mounts two or more battery modules on battery mounting slots of different entities. In step 120, one of the battery modules mounted in the load system 1 is set as a main battery module by using a predetermined rule, and the other battery modules that are not set are sub-battery modules. In particular, in addition to the positive and negative pins of the current, each battery module usually has one or more electronic pins of different types. Therefore, in one embodiment, when any battery module is mounted on the load system 1 When a certain battery installation slot is installed, one of the identification pins of the battery module can be conducted by the battery installation slot to be grounded. In this way, this battery module is set as the main battery module 10. Or in another embodiment, when any battery module is mounted on a certain battery mounting slot, when one of the identification pins of the battery module is changed to a high-voltage position, the battery is changed. The module is set as the main battery module 10. In another embodiment, the identification code of the battery module itself can also be used as a way to set the main battery module 10, that is, during the production process of the battery module, that is, the internal battery management system is set to have a certain An identification code battery is used as the main battery module, or when a plurality of battery modules are mounted on the load system 1 at the same time and communicated through the respective communication units 16, 26, one of them is determined by a comparison method of an identification code A certain battery module is the main battery module 10 (for example, comparing the size of the identification code and setting the battery module with the largest or smallest identification code as the main battery module 10). In addition, when only one battery module is mounted in the load system 1, regardless of whether the identification pin of the battery module is grounded (or whether its identification code is in compliance with the specification), due to the battery management of the battery module The system cannot detect the presence of any other battery module through the communication unit. Therefore, in this embodiment, the only battery module naturally operates as the main battery module 10.

After the main and auxiliary battery modules are determined, then in step 130, the main battery module 10 of the load system 1 may be activated through communication, a key switch or a key switch, and receive a power supply command. At this time, the main battery module 10 detects whether there are other auxiliary battery modules 20, 30, and 40 in the load system 1. The battery management system 12 of the main battery module 10 obtains these batteries from other auxiliary battery modules 20, 30, and 40. Power data of the module, and determine whether the power of at least one of the sub-battery modules 20, 30, 40 is not zero. It is specifically noted that the “electricity” referred to in the present invention refers to the “usable capacity” of the battery within the scope that can be understood by those skilled in the art, and the “electricity” mentioned below is also understood as such. When the load system 1 has one or more sub-battery modules 20, 30, and 40 with non-zero power, the battery management system 12 of the main battery module 10 controls the plurality of sub-battery modules 20 according to a discharge rule. 30,40 supplies power to the load device 2 (step 140). The specific method is that the battery management system 12 of the main battery module 10 sends a communication command through the communication unit 16 to control one of the sub battery modules (for example, the sub battery module 20) to supply power, and the sub battery module 20 receives the main battery After the module 10 supplies power, its battery management system 22 turns on the discharge switch to provide power output. In one embodiment, after the battery management system 12 of the main battery module 10 obtains the power data of all the sub-battery modules 20, 30, 40, it controls according to the power levels of the sub-battery modules 20, 30, 40. Sub-battery modules 20, 30, 40 A first sub-battery module (for example, sub-battery module 20 in FIG. 1) having the largest amount of power is started to sequentially supply power to the load device 2. This is one of the discharge rules Embodiment, in other embodiments of the present invention, it is also possible to control the power supply from the sub-battery module with the smallest amount of power in advance, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

During the power supply of one of the sub-battery modules, the sub-battery module also periodically reports its battery status to the battery management system 12 of the main battery module 10, and when the sub-battery module runs out of power, its power is zero. When the power is zero (generally, the power output of the sub-battery module is stopped until the battery's low-voltage protection point is reached), the sub-battery module enters the shutdown mode and returns to the main battery module at the same time. 10 its power has been exhausted, and the main battery module 10 then controls the other sub-battery module to supply power from other sub-battery modules whose power is not zero according to the aforementioned discharge rule.

In particular, after one of the sub-battery modules powers the load device 2 until the power is zero, the battery management system 12 of the main battery module 10 can directly and automatically switch and control the next sub-battery module to the load device 2 powered by. In other embodiments, for the sake of safety, the power supply of the next sub-battery module can also be started manually, that is, when the first sub-battery module (such as the first Sub-battery module 20 in FIG. 1) When power is supplied to the load device 2 until the power of the first sub-battery module is zero, the battery management system 12 of the main battery module 10 receives a switch command from the load system 1 (for example, After the user presses a key switch or communicates and issues a discharge command), according to the foregoing discharge rules, a second sub-battery module (such as the sub-battery module 30 in the first figure) with the maximum power is controlled to the load device 2 powered by.

When the load system 1 still has the secondary battery modules 20, 30, 40 with power, the power supply control method of the present invention is powered by the secondary battery modules 20, 30, 40 first, and only when the main battery module 10 confirms that all secondary batteries After the power of the battery modules 20, 30, and 40 is zero, the battery management system 12 of the main battery module 10 controls the main battery module 10 to supply power to the load device 2 in the load system 1 according to the discharge rule (step 150 ), Until the power of the main battery module 10 itself is also exhausted to zero, the load system 1 is suspended (step 160). This can ensure that in the load system 1, the main control center used to control the parallel battery module architecture can maintain its system control ability, and the power of all other battery modules (that is, the secondary battery modules) is exhausted. After that, the main battery module was allowed to supply power to the load device. The invention does not need to provide a central control unit and a dedicated battery outside the battery module, which can effectively simplify the system architecture of the electric device, save the system cost, and maintain the safety requirements of the system. The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of patent application of the present invention shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

1‧‧‧ load system

2‧‧‧ load device

10‧‧‧ main battery module

12,22‧‧‧Battery Management System

14,24‧‧‧ battery unit

16,26‧‧‧Communication Unit

18, 28‧‧‧ Identification pins

20, 30, 40‧‧‧ battery packs

110 ~ 160‧‧‧step

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a load system capable of connecting a plurality of battery modules in parallel. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a power supply control method for a multi-battery module parallel architecture disclosed in the present invention.

Claims (9)

A power supply control method for a multi-battery module parallel architecture includes a load device and a plurality of battery modules connected in parallel with the load device. The power supply control method includes the steps of: setting the plurality of batteries according to a predetermined rule One of the modules is a main battery module, and the other battery modules that are not set are a plurality of subsidiary battery modules; a battery management system in the main battery module controls the plurality of batteries according to a discharge rule The sub-battery module supplies power to the load device; and when the plurality of sub-battery modules supply power to the load device until the power of the plurality of sub-battery modules is zero, the battery management system of the main battery module is based on The discharge rule controls the main battery module to supply power to the load device. The power supply control method according to claim 1, wherein the setting of the main battery module according to the predetermined rule is: setting one of the plurality of battery modules as the main battery module according to an identification code of the plurality of battery modules. . The power supply control method according to claim 1, wherein the main battery module is set according to the predetermined rule: when one of the battery modules is loaded in the load system, so that an identification pin of the battery module is in a grounded state, The battery module is set as the main battery module. The power supply control method according to claim 1, wherein the main battery module is set according to the predetermined rule as: when one of the battery modules is loaded in the load system, an identification pin of the battery module is changed to a high voltage When in the in-position state, the battery module is set as the main battery module. The power supply control method according to claim 1, wherein the battery management system in the main battery module controls the plurality of auxiliary battery modules to supply power to the load device according to the discharge rule: The battery management system controls the plurality of sub-battery modules based on the power of the plurality of sub-battery modules, starting with a first sub-battery module having the largest power therein, and sequentially supplying power to the load device. The power supply control method according to claim 5, wherein the battery management system in the main battery module controls the plurality of sub-battery modules, starting with the first sub-battery module having the largest amount of power, and sequentially The power supply to the load device is: when the first auxiliary battery module supplies power to the load device until the power of the first auxiliary battery module is zero, the battery management system in the main battery module automatically controls the Among the plurality of sub-battery modules, a second sub-battery module having the largest amount of power supplies power to the load device. The power supply control method according to claim 5, wherein the battery management system in the main battery module controls the plurality of sub-battery modules, starting with the first sub-battery module having the largest amount of power, and sequentially The power supply to the load device is: when the first auxiliary battery module supplies power to the load device until the power of the first auxiliary battery module is zero, the battery management system in the main battery module receives the load After a switching command of the system, the second sub-battery module with the largest amount of power among the plurality of sub-battery modules with the amount of power is controlled to supply power to the load device. The power supply control method according to claim 5, wherein the power supply control method further includes the step that the battery management system of the main battery module obtains power data of the plurality of sub battery modules from the plurality of sub battery modules. According to the power supply control method described in claim 1, wherein the power of any battery module is zero, the power output of the battery module is stopped until the low voltage protection point is reached.