TWI674730B - Parallel battery system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a parallel battery system, which includes a plurality of battery modules connected in parallel to each other, a battery balance module connected in series with each of the plurality of battery modules, a plurality of voltage detection modules, and at least one control module. The battery balancing module includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The plurality of voltage detection modules are configured to detect the voltages of the plurality of battery modules and generate electrical information signals. In the balancing operation, at least one control module determines whether the voltage difference between the battery modules exceeds a predetermined range according to the voltage comparison result. If so, the at least one control module outputs a current-limit signal to configure each battery. The module uses the second circuit as the conduction path, and configures the remaining battery modules to use the first circuit as the conduction path for voltage balancing.

Description

Parallel battery system and method

The invention relates to a parallel battery system and method, in particular to a parallel battery system and method with an active parallel management mechanism.

The weight of the existing high-power battery packs makes transportation very limited, so low-power battery modules can be used to obtain the required high-power battery modules by combining methods to solve transportation problems while satisfying various markets demand.

However, when two battery packs are connected in parallel, according to the electrical characteristics, the current will flow from a battery with a high voltage to a battery with a low voltage. If the voltage difference is large, a large current will be generated, which may be accompanied by sparks, causing damage to the components, or even May cause explosion.

In addition, due to manufacturing differences in batteries, or differences in batteries after use, a plurality of batteries connected in parallel may have an unbalanced current supplied, resulting in a current unbalance value. This current imbalance value will cause the battery temperature to rise abnormally, which will affect the battery life.

Therefore, it is necessary to propose a device and method that can avoid the generation of large currents and achieve the purpose of parallel connection.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a parallel battery system and method for the shortcomings of the prior art.

In order to solve the above technical problems, one of the technical solutions adopted by the present invention Yes, a parallel battery system is provided, which includes a plurality of battery modules and a plurality of voltage detection modules. A plurality of battery modules are connected in parallel with each other and each is connected in series with the battery balancing module. The battery balancing module includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit includes a main switch. The second circuit is connected in parallel with the first circuit and includes a current-limiting auxiliary switch and a current-limiting element connected in series. The plurality of voltage detection modules are respectively connected to the plurality of battery modules, and are configured to detect the voltage of the corresponding battery modules, and each generate an electrical information signal. At least one control module is connected to each of the plurality of voltage detection modules and each of the battery balancing modules. Each voltage detection module transmits electrical information signals to at least one control module. At least one control module is configured to receive and process the electrical information signals and generate a voltage comparison result. In a balancing operation, At least one control module is configured to determine whether the voltage difference between the battery modules exceeds a predetermined range according to the voltage comparison result. If so, the at least one control module outputs a current limit signal to the plurality of battery balancing modules, respectively. To control the conduction of each current-limiting auxiliary switch, so that the plurality of battery modules respectively use the corresponding second circuit as the conduction path; if not, at least one control module outputs a control signal to the plurality of battery balancing modules respectively to control Each main switch is turned on, so that the plurality of battery modules respectively use corresponding first circuits as conduction paths.

In order to solve the above technical problem, another technical solution adopted by the present invention is to provide a parallel battery method, which includes: configuring a plurality of battery balancing modules and a plurality of parallel battery modules in series, each of which is balanced. The module includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit includes a main switch. The second circuit is connected in parallel with the first circuit and includes a current-limiting auxiliary switch and a current-limiting element connected in series. Then, a plurality of voltage detection modules are configured to detect the voltages of the plurality of battery modules and generate an electrical information signal; each of the plurality of voltage detection modules is configured to transmit the electrical information signals to at least one control module. ; Configure at least one control module to receive and process the electrical information signals and generate a voltage comparison result; configure at least one control module to perform a balancing operation, and judge between battery modules based on the voltage comparison result Whether the voltage difference exceeds a predetermined range, and if so, configure at least one control module to The plurality of battery balancing modules respectively output a current-limiting signal to control the conduction of each current-limiting auxiliary switch, so that the plurality of battery modules respectively use a corresponding second circuit as a conducting path, and if not, configure at least one control module to The plurality of battery balancing modules respectively output a control signal to control the main switches to be turned on, so that the plurality of battery modules respectively use corresponding first circuits as conduction paths.

One of the beneficial effects of the present invention is that the parallel battery system and method provided by the present invention can pass the technical solution of the "active voltage balancing architecture". Compared with the prior art, the battery mode needs to be charged / discharged. In the passive mode, the main switch can be activated only when the voltages between the groups are similar. The active voltage balancing structure of the present invention can avoid the generation of excessive current and greatly save waiting time.

Another beneficial effect of the present invention is that the parallel battery system and method provided by the present invention can adjust the voltage balance architecture according to the charge and discharge command. Compared with the prior art, when the battery needs to be recharged and discharged, the battery The passive mode in which the main switch can be activated only when the voltages between the modules are close. The invention can not only overcome the difficulties of parallel management, but also avoid the generation of excessive current, and it can also greatly save waiting time.

In order to further understand the features and technical contents of the present invention, please refer to the following detailed description and drawings of the present invention. However, the drawings provided are only for reference and description, and are not intended to limit the present invention.

1‧‧‧ Parallel Battery System

10A, 10B, ..., 10N‧‧‧ battery modules

12A, 12B, ..., 12N‧‧‧ Battery Balance Module

120A, 120B, ..., 120N‧‧‧First Circuit

122A, 122B, ..., 122N‧‧‧Second Circuit

11A, 11B, ..., 11N‧‧‧Voltage detection modules

13‧‧‧Communication Bus

14‧‧‧ Power

16, 16A, 16B, ..., 16N‧‧‧ control modules

18A, 18B, ..., 18N‧‧‧ display modules

MSA, MSB, ..., MSN‧‧‧ main switch

PSA, PSB, ..., PSN‧‧‧ current-limiting switches

RA, RB, ..., RN‧‧‧ current limiting element

RL‧‧‧Load device

T1, T2‧‧‧ Switches

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a parallel battery system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit layout diagram of a parallel battery system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a parallel battery method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

4 to 6 are block diagrams and circuit layout diagrams of a parallel battery system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a parallel battery method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

The following is a description of the implementation of the "parallel battery system and method" disclosed by the present invention through specific specific examples. This disclosure understands the advantages and effects of the present invention. The present invention can be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and various details in this specification can also be based on different viewpoints and applications, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the concept of the present invention. In addition, the drawings of the present invention are merely a schematic illustration, and are not drawn according to actual dimensions, and are stated in advance. The following embodiments will further describe the related technical content of the present invention in detail, but the disclosed content is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention.

It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements or signals, these elements or signals should not be limited by these terms. These terms are mainly used to distinguish one element from another element, or a signal from another signal. In addition, the term "or" as used herein should, depending on the actual situation, include any one or more of the associated listed items.

For the sake of clarity, in some cases, the present technology may be presented as including independent functional blocks including functional blocks, including steps or routes in a method implemented in a device, device element, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

A device implementing these methods of disclosure may include hardware, firmware, and / or software, and may take any of a variety of forms. The functions described in this article can also be implemented in peripheral devices or built-in cards. By way of further example, this function can also be implemented on a circuit board with different chips or different programs executed on a single device.

The instructions, the medium used to transmit such instructions, the computing resources used to execute them, or other structures to support such computing resources are means for providing the functions described in these publications.

[First embodiment]

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a block diagram of a parallel battery system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the parallel battery system 1 includes a plurality of battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N, which are connected in parallel with each other, and each is connected in series with the battery balance modules 12A, 12B, ..., 12N. In order to avoid excessive current during charging and discharging, the battery modules of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N can properly operate the battery balancing modules 12A, 12B, ..., 12N, so that the parallel battery modules 10A, 10B , ..., Maintain proper voltage distribution between 10N. In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the battery balancing modules 12A, 12B, ..., 12N are operated to appropriately manage the current configuration of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N so that they can be performed at an appropriate current. Discharge.

Each of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N may include a plurality of battery modules, each of which is, for example, a secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery or a lead battery, and may be charged by power supplied from a power source. On the other hand, the electric power stored in each battery pack is discharged as needed.

This system is further configured with a control module 16 and a plurality of voltage detection modules 11A, 11B, ..., 11N. The voltage detection modules 11A, 11B, ..., 11N are connected to the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N and the battery balance modules 12A, 12B, ..., 12N, respectively, and detect their voltages, for example, open circuit voltage (open-circuit voltage, OCV), and generates electrical information signals individually. The control module 16 is used to receive the electrical information signals and process the electrical information signals to obtain each battery module 10A, 10B, ..., 10N voltage and produce voltage comparison results. Here, the voltage comparison result mainly defines the magnitude relationship between the voltages of the battery modules 10A, 10B,..., 10N. According to this voltage relationship, the configurable control module 16 can control the battery balancing modules 12A, 12B, ..., 12N to switch between different states, respectively. In addition, the control module 16 can learn the charging status information of the battery modules 10A, 10B,..., 10N through such communication characteristics, including voltage, current, or remaining power.

It should be noted that the voltage detection modules 11A, 11B, ..., 11N can all be subordinate to the control module 16, and the control module 16 can be implemented by using one or more processors. The processor may be a programmable unit, such as a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (DSP) chip, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and the like. The functions of the processor may also be implemented by one or several electronic devices or ICs. In other words, the functions performed by the processor may be implemented in a hardware domain or a software domain or a combination of a hardware domain and a software domain.

Therefore, under this premise, the control module 16 can detect each battery module 10A, The voltage relationship between 10B,..., 10N is used for active voltage balancing. The specific details will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a circuit layout diagram of a parallel battery system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Here, the operations of the control module 16, the battery balancing modules 12A, 12B, ..., 12N, the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N, and the voltage detection modules 11A, 11B, ..., 11N will be performed. Instructions.

As shown, the battery balancing module 12A includes a first circuit 120A and a second circuit 122A. The first circuit 120A includes a main switch MSA, and the second circuit 122A is connected in parallel with the first circuit 120A, and includes a current-limiting auxiliary switch PSA and a current-limiting element RA connected in series. As the main switch MSA and the current-limiting auxiliary switch PSA, a relay or a semiconductor switch for power may be used. In this embodiment, a case where a switching transistor is used as the main switch MSA and the current-limiting auxiliary switch PSA will be described as an example. As shown, the main switches MSA, MSB, ..., MSN in the first circuits 120A, 120B, ..., 120N, and the current-limiting switches PSA in the second circuits 122A, 122B, ..., 122N , PSB, ..., PSN use semiconductor switches, such as MOSFETs, and the current-limiting elements RA, RB, ..., RN use resistors. The voltage detection modules 11A, 11B, ..., 11N are respectively connected to the second circuits 122A, 122B, ... of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N and the battery balancing modules 12A, 12B, ..., 12N. , 122N, and detect its voltage, for example, open-circuit voltage (OCV), and generate electrical information signals individually, the control module 16 is used to receive electrical information signals and process the electrical information signals, In order to obtain the voltages of the battery modules 10A, 10B,..., 10N respectively, and generate voltage comparison results.

The control module 16 is respectively connected to the first circuit 120A and the second circuit 122A, and is mainly used to determine whether each battery module 10A needs to perform voltage according to the voltage relationship between the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N. Balance to determine the conduction path of the battery module 10A as the first circuit 120A or the second circuit 122A.

In detail, when the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N have different voltages due to self-discharge effects or process differences, if the charge and discharge are required, the voltage difference is large. Excessive current may be generated between the battery modules, resulting in damage to components or abnormally high battery temperatures.

Therefore, in this balancing operation, if the voltage difference between the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N exceeds a predetermined value, voltage balancing is required. Therefore, the control module 16 configures the current-limiting switches PSA, PSB, ..., PSN to be turned on, and configures the main switches MSA, MSB, ..., MSN to be turned off. Specifically, the current difference through the current-limiting switches PSA, PSB, ..., PSN, and the current-limiting element RA reduces the voltage difference between the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N. When the voltage difference or the amount of current is reduced to a safe range, the control module 16 can control the main switches MSA, MSB, ..., MSN to enter a conducting state according to the electrical information signals, and simultaneously operate the switch T1 to conduct. It should be noted that when the switch T1 does not exist, the power supply or load can be directly connected in parallel for charging and discharging, and at the same time, the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N will continue to balance each other, but it does not ensure full power Discharge.

In this embodiment, the parallel battery system has three operating scenarios. First, when the battery modules 10A, 10B,..., 10N are unbalanced, the switch T1 is turned off. At this time, when the switch T2 is turned on and controlled by an external control signal, the power source 14 can independently provide a current to the load RL. Second, when the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N have reached equilibrium, the switch T1 is turned on. When the switch T1 is turned on, it can ensure that the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N are charged and discharged at full power. If the power source 14 is no power at this time, the switch T2 can be turned off by an external control signal. Thirdly, if the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N have reached the balance and the switch T1 is turned on, if the power source 14 has sufficient capacity, the external control control signal can be used to control the switch T2 to turn on, so that the power source 14 can provide current to the load. , Can also charge the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N full power at the same time. It should also be noted that when the user does not connect the battery parallel system 1 to the load RL or the power source 14, the battery parallel system 1 will still perform a balancing operation, so that when the user has a charge and discharge demand, the battery parallel system 1 can directly Full power charge and discharge.

[Second embodiment]

Hereinafter, the parallel battery method of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings. In this implementation In the example, the method provided by this embodiment can also be applied to any of the embodiments described above in a manner or various possibilities conceivable by a person having ordinary knowledge in the art.

In addition, a device implementing these disclosure methods may include hardware, firmware, and / or software, and may take any of a variety of shapes. The functions described herein can also be implemented on peripherals or built-in cards. By way of further example, this function can also be implemented on a circuit board with different chips or different programs executed on a single device.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a flowchart of a parallel battery method according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the parallel battery method in this embodiment includes the following steps:

Step S100: configure a plurality of battery balancing modules and a plurality of parallel battery modules in series. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the battery balancing module includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit includes a main switch, and the second circuit is connected in parallel with the first circuit. Streaming components. The specific configurations of the first circuit and the second circuit have been described above, so repeated descriptions are omitted.

Step S101: Configure a voltage detection module to detect the voltages of each of the plurality of battery modules and generate electrical information signals. And it proceeds to step S102 to configure each voltage detection module to transmit electrical information signals to the control module. The voltage detection circuit can adopt any circuit structure capable of autonomously detecting the voltage change of each battery module.

Step S103: The configuration control module receives and processes electrical information signals, and generates a voltage comparison result. The control module processes the electrical information signal to obtain the voltage of each battery module, and the voltage comparison result mainly defines the voltage relationship between the battery modules.

Step S104: The control module can perform active voltage balancing by detecting the voltage relationship between the battery modules. In this balancing operation, if the battery modules are compared, each battery module has a certain degree of For voltage differences, voltage balancing is required. Therefore, each battery module must be configured to use the second circuit as a conduction path.

Step S105: The configuration control module determines whether the voltage difference between the battery modules reaches a predetermined range. Specifically, the lower the The current reduces the voltage difference between the battery modules.

If the voltage detection circuit determines in step S105 that the voltage difference between the battery modules has exceeded a predetermined range, which means that it is impossible to charge and discharge a large current within a safe range, it proceeds to step S106 to configure the control module to the battery balancing mode. The group outputs a current-limiting signal respectively, and proceeds to step S107 to configure each battery module to use the second circuit as a conduction path.

If the control module determines in step S105 that the voltage difference between the battery modules does not exceed a predetermined range, which means that it is possible to charge and discharge a large current in a safe range, it proceeds to step S108 and configures the control module to output a control signal to control each The battery module uses the first circuit as a conduction path.

Therefore, compared to the prior art, the passive method of activating the main switch when the voltages between the battery modules are close when charging / discharging is required. The method of the present invention can avoid excessive voltage by using an active voltage balancing architecture. The generation of current can also greatly save waiting time.

[Third embodiment]

Please refer to FIGS. 4 to 6, which are block diagrams and circuit layout diagrams of a parallel battery system according to a third embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that this embodiment has a plurality of control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N. For the control module 16A, it is directly connected to the corresponding voltage detection module 11A and communicates through the communication bus. 13 Connect the control modules 16B, ..., 16N. The voltage detection modules 11A, 11B, ..., 11N are connected to the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N and the battery balance modules 12A, 12B, ..., 12N, respectively, and detect their voltages, for example, open circuit voltage (open-circuit voltage, OCV), and generate electrical information signals individually. The multiple control modules 16A, 16B,..., 16N respectively receive and process electrical information signals through the communication bus 13 and generate voltage comparison results. The voltage detection modules 11A, 11B, ..., 11N can also be subordinate to the control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N, respectively, and managed by the control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N, or Modules that only communicate with control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N.

In this embodiment, the voltage detection modules 11A, 11B, ..., 11N are connected respectively The second circuits 122A, 122B, ..., 122N in the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N and the battery balance modules 12A, 12B, ..., 12N are configured to detect the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N voltage, and generate electrical information signals including the above voltage information, and transmit them to the control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N through the communication bus 13. The control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N receive the electrical information signals, and further process and analyze the voltages of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N and generate voltage comparison results. Similar to the first embodiment, according to the voltage relationship between the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N, each control module 16A, 16B, ..., 16N can determine the battery modules 10A, 10B, ... ., 10N needs voltage balancing to determine the conduction path of the battery module 10A, 10B, ..., 10N is the first circuit 120A, 120B, ..., 120N or the second circuit 122A, 122B, ... , 122N.

In detail, when the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N have different voltages due to self-discharge effect or process differences, if charging and discharging are required, excessive current may be generated between battery modules with large voltage differences. As a result, components are damaged or the battery temperature rises abnormally. Therefore, before charging and discharging, the balancing operation needs to be performed first.

Further description is made with reference to FIG. 5. According to the voltage comparison results between the battery modules 10A, 10B,..., 10N, the control modules 16A, 16B,..., 16N will know that the voltage of the battery module 10N is the lowest.

In this embodiment, a charging operation is taken as an example. In order for the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N to reach full power charging in a safe and fast manner, one of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N can be mounted first, preferably The premise that the person with the lowest voltage can be put on first, but not limited to this, the premise that the person with the second lowest voltage is put on first. Specifically, when the control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N have learned that the voltage of the battery module 10N is the lowest, the control module 16N outputs a control signal, so that the battery module 10N directly uses the first circuit 120N as a conduction path. The rest of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ... and so on use the second circuits 122A, 122B, ... and so on as a conduction path. Therefore, in the charging operation, the power source 14 of this embodiment can charge the battery module 10N in advance, so that the power of the battery module 10N can be charged. The voltage rises rapidly to approach the voltages of the remaining battery modules 10A, 10B. At the same time, in order to prevent excessive current from being generated between the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., the battery modules 10A, 10B, ... can pass through the second circuit 122A, 122B, ... among each other. Current-limiting switches PSA, PSB, etc., and current-limiting resistors RA, RB, etc. perform balanced operation with a safe amount of current.

During the charging operation, each control module 16A, 16B, ..., 16N will continue to detect the voltage of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N until the control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N detect When the voltage difference between the lowest voltage battery module 10N and the battery module with the next lowest voltage reaches a predetermined range, or the two are equal, the control modules 16A, 16B, ... will output control signals to control the battery modules 10A, Those with the lowest voltage in 10B, ... use the corresponding first circuits 120A, 120B ... as the conduction paths, and the remaining battery modules are maintained in a balanced operation state, that is, the second circuit is used as the conduction path, and the above operations are repeated . At this time, because the voltage difference between the battery modules using the first circuit as the conduction path is similar, it can ensure that the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N are charged with a current in a safe range, and The voltage of the battery module will gradually approach the remaining battery modules until all the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N use the first circuit as a conduction path.

Further description is made with reference to FIG. 6. According to the voltage comparison results between the battery modules 10A, 10B,..., 10N, the control modules 16A, 16B,..., 16N can know that the voltage of the battery module 10N is the highest.

In this embodiment, a discharge operation is taken as an example. In order for the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N to reach full power discharge in a safe and fast manner, one of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N can be mounted first, preferably The premise that the person with the highest voltage can be put on first, but not limited to this, the premise that the person with the next highest voltage can be put on first. Specifically, when the control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N have learned that the voltage of the battery module 10N is the highest, the control module 16N outputs a control signal, so that the battery module 10N directly uses the first circuit 120N as a conduction path. , And the rest of the battery modules 10A, 10B,... 122B, ..., etc. as the conduction path. Therefore, in the charging operation, in this embodiment, the load RL can be discharged in advance, so that the voltage of the battery module 10N can drop rapidly to approach the voltages of the remaining battery modules 10A, 10B,... At the same time, in order to prevent excessive current from being generated between the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., the battery modules 10A, 10B, ... can pass through the second circuit 122A, 122B, ... among each other. Current-limiting switches PSA, PSB, etc., and current-limiting resistors RA, RB, etc. perform balanced operation with a safe amount of current.

During the discharging operation, each control module 16A, 16B, ..., 16N will continue to detect the voltage of the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N until the control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N detect When the voltage difference between the lowest voltage battery module 10N and the battery module with the next lowest voltage reaches a predetermined range, or the two are equal, the control modules 16A, 16B, ... will output control signals to control the battery modules 10A, Those with the highest voltage in 10B, ... use the corresponding first circuits 120A, 120B, ... as the conduction paths, and the remaining battery modules are maintained in a balanced operation state, that is, the second circuit is used as the conduction path, and the above operations are repeated. . At this time, because the voltage difference between the battery modules using the first circuit as the conduction path is similar, it can ensure that the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N are charged with a current in a safe range, and The voltage of the battery module will gradually approach the remaining battery modules until all the battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N use the first circuit as a conduction path.

Therefore, compared with the prior art, the passive mode that the main switch can be activated when the voltage between the battery modules is close when charging / discharging is adopted, the present invention uses an active voltage balancing architecture to avoid the generation of excessive current. At the same time, waiting time can be greatly saved.

In addition, please refer to FIG. 5 again, the control modules 16A, 16B, ..., 16N are also connected to a plurality of display modules 18A, 18B, ..., 18N, respectively corresponding to the battery modules 10A, 10B,. .., 10N, according to the difference between control module 16A, 16B, ..., 16N output current-limiting signal and control signal, display modules 18A, 18B, ..., 18N can be configured at the same time according to control modules 16A, 16B , ..., 16N output signals to display the balance status of a plurality of battery modules 10A, 10B, ..., 10N. For example, the display module 18A, 18B, ..., 18N can each include LED indicators. When the battery modules 10A, 10B need to use the second circuit 122A, 122B as the conduction path, the LED indicators of the display modules 18A, 18B can be displayed. Instructions for balancing operations, such as a red light, and the remaining control modules, for example, the control module 16N, can control the LED indicators of the display module 18N to show that a balanced state is reached, for example, a green light. This display status can be used to indicate whether full power can be charged without manual balancing.

[Fourth embodiment]

Hereinafter, another aspect of the parallel battery method of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the parallel battery method is mainly applicable to the third embodiment, but is not limited to this. The method provided by this embodiment can also be applied to the above in a manner or various possibilities conceivable by those having ordinary knowledge in the field. Any implementation described herein.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a flowchart of a parallel battery method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Step S200: configure a plurality of battery balancing modules and a plurality of parallel battery modules in series. As shown in Figures 4 to 6, the battery balancing module includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit includes a main switch, and the second circuit is connected in parallel with the first circuit. The second circuit includes a current-limiting auxiliary switch and a current-limiting switch connected in series. Streaming components. The specific configurations of the first circuit and the second circuit have been described above, so repeated descriptions are omitted.

Step S201: Configure a voltage detection module to detect the voltage of each battery module and generate an electrical information signal.

In step S202, each voltage detection module is configured to transmit electrical information signals to a plurality of control modules through a communication bus. For example, after obtaining the voltage of each battery module, multiple control modules can exchange voltage information with each other through a communication bus.

In step S203, a plurality of control modules are configured to receive and process electrical information signals, and generate voltage comparison results. The voltage comparison result mainly defines the relationship between the voltages of the battery modules. According to this voltage relationship, each control module can be used to control the battery balancing module to switch between different states.

Step S204: Configure the control module to control the battery module with the highest / lowest voltage to use the first circuit as the conduction path. As described in the third embodiment, the charging operation is taken as an example. In order for the battery module to reach full power charging quickly, the premise of using the lowest voltage can be taken first. Take the discharge operation as an example. In order for the battery module to quickly reach full power discharge, the premise of the highest voltage can be taken first.

Step S205: Configure the control module to control the remaining battery modules for balancing operations. In this balancing operation, according to the user's charge and discharge commands, in order to avoid generating excessive current between the battery modules, the battery modules can pass through the current-limiting switch and the current-limiting resistor in the second circuit for safety. The amount of current is balanced.

Step S206: Configure the voltage detection module and the control module to detect whether the voltage difference between the battery module with the highest / lowest voltage and the battery module with the second highest / lowest voltage exceeds a predetermined range. Specifically, the highest or lowest voltage in the battery module can be passed through the first circuit as a conduction path, and the voltage of the remaining battery modules can be approached at a faster speed, and the remaining battery modules can be passed through the second circuit as a conduction path. The lower current is used for charging and discharging, so that each battery module balances with a safe amount of current until the voltage of the highest or lowest battery module is close to the highest or lowest voltage among the remaining battery modules.

If the voltage detection module and the control module determine in step S206 that the voltage difference between the battery module with the highest voltage and the battery module with the next highest voltage reaches a predetermined range, or the two are equal, or have the lowest voltage When the voltage difference between the battery module and the battery module with the next low voltage reaches a predetermined range, or the two are equal, it means that a large current can be charged and discharged in a safe range. Then return to step S204 and configure the control module. The battery module with the highest / lowest voltage is controlled to use the first circuit as the conduction path, and the process proceeds to step S205, and the control module is configured to control the remaining battery modules for balancing operation, and the corresponding second circuit is used as the conduction path. At this time, due to the similar voltage difference, it can ensure that the battery modules are charged and discharged with a current within a safe range.

If the voltage detection module and the control module determine in step S206 that the voltage difference between the battery module with the highest voltage and the battery module with the next highest voltage has not reached the pre- A predetermined range, or the voltage difference between the battery module with the lowest voltage and the battery module with the next lower voltage has not reached the predetermined range, then proceed to step S207 to maintain the remaining battery modules in a balanced operation, that is, configure the remaining batteries The module uses the second circuit as a conduction path, and returns to step S206 to continuously detect whether the voltage difference between the battery module having the highest / lowest voltage and the battery module having the second highest / lowest voltage exceeds a predetermined range.

Therefore, compared with the prior art, the passive way of activating the main switch is required when the voltage between battery modules is close when charging and discharging. The invention adjusts the voltage balance architecture based on the charging and discharging commands, which not only overcomes the difficulties of parallel management. In addition to avoiding excessive current generation, it can also greatly save waiting time.

The contents disclosed above are only the preferred and feasible embodiments of the present invention, and therefore do not limit the scope of patent application of the present invention. Therefore, any equivalent technical changes made by using the description and drawings of the present invention are included in the application of the present invention Within the scope of the patent.

Claims (16)

A parallel battery system includes: a plurality of battery modules connected in parallel with each other, each connected in series with a battery balancing module, the battery balancing module comprising: a first circuit including a main switch; and a second circuit And is connected in parallel with the first circuit and includes a current-limiting auxiliary switch and a current-limiting element connected in series; and a plurality of voltage detection modules, which are respectively connected to the plurality of battery modules and configured to detect corresponding ones The voltage of the battery module each generates an electrical information signal; at least one control module is connected to each of the plurality of voltage detection modules and each of the battery balance modules; each of the voltage detection modules Transmitting the electrical information signal to the at least one control module, the at least one control module is configured to receive and process the voltages of the plurality of battery modules and generate a voltage comparison result, wherein in a balancing operation, the at least one A control module is configured to determine whether the voltage difference between the battery modules exceeds a predetermined range according to the voltage comparison result, and if so, the at least one control module reports the plurality of The battery balancing module outputs a current-limiting signal to control the current-limiting auxiliary switches to be turned on, so that the plurality of battery modules respectively use the corresponding second circuit as a conducting path. If not, the at least one control module A control signal is respectively output to the plurality of battery balancing modules to control the main switches to be turned on, so that the plurality of battery modules respectively use the corresponding first circuits as conduction paths. The parallel battery system according to claim 1, wherein if the at least one control module determines that the voltage difference between the plurality of battery modules is 0, the at least one control module is configured to separately output the control signal control The battery modules use the first circuit as a conduction path. The parallel battery system according to claim 1, wherein the number of the at least one control module is a plurality, and the plurality of control modules are directly connected to corresponding voltage detection modules, and are connected to each other through a communication bus. . The parallel battery system according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of control modules are configured to respectively receive and process the electrical information signals through the communication bus, and generate the voltage comparison result. The parallel battery system according to claim 1 or 4, wherein in a discharging operation, the at least one control module is configured to control the plurality of battery modules to use the corresponding first circuit as a conduction path to load a load. The device is discharged and the remaining battery modules perform this balancing operation. The parallel battery system according to claim 5, wherein in the discharging operation, the at least one control module is configured to control the battery module having the highest voltage to use the corresponding first circuit as a conduction path to the load The device is discharged and the remaining battery modules perform this balancing operation. The parallel battery system according to claim 1 or 4, wherein in a charging operation, the at least one control module is configured to control one of the plurality of battery modules with the corresponding first circuit as a conduction path To charge the selected battery module through a power source, and the remaining battery modules perform the balancing operation. The parallel battery system according to claim 7, wherein in the charging operation, the at least one control module is configured to control the battery module having the lowest voltage to use the corresponding first circuit as a conduction path to pass through the The power supply charges the battery module having the lowest voltage, and the remaining battery modules perform the balancing operation. A parallel battery method includes: configuring a plurality of battery balancing modules and a plurality of parallel battery modules in series, each of the plurality of battery balancing modules including: a first circuit including a main switch; and a second A circuit connected in parallel with the first circuit and comprising a current-limiting auxiliary switch and a current-limiting element connected in series; A plurality of voltage detection modules are configured to detect the voltages of the plurality of battery modules and generate an electrical information signal; each of the plurality of voltage detection modules is configured to transmit the electrical characteristics to the at least one control module. Information signals; configure the at least one control module to receive and process the electrical information signals and generate a voltage comparison result; configure the plurality of the at least one control module to perform a balancing operation, and judge based on the voltage comparison results Whether the voltage difference between the battery modules exceeds a predetermined range, and if so, the at least one control module is configured to output a current limiting signal to the plurality of battery balancing modules respectively to control the current limiting auxiliary switches to be turned on So that the plurality of battery modules respectively use the corresponding second circuit as a conduction path; if not, the at least one control module is configured to output a control signal to the plurality of battery balancing modules respectively to control each of the main circuits. The switch is turned on, so that the plurality of battery modules respectively use the corresponding first circuit as a conduction path. The parallel battery method according to claim 9, wherein if the at least one control module determines that the voltage difference between the plurality of battery modules is 0, the at least one control module is configured to output the control signal control respectively The battery modules use the first circuit as a conduction path. The parallel battery method according to claim 9, wherein the number of the at least one control module is a plurality, and the parallel battery method further includes: directly connecting the corresponding control modules to the corresponding voltage detection modules. , And are connected to each other through a communication bus. The parallel battery method according to claim 11, further comprising: configuring the plurality of control modules to receive and process the electrical information signals through the communication bus, and generate the voltage comparison result. The parallel battery method according to claim 9 or 12, further comprising: configuring the at least one control module to perform a discharge operation, and controlling the plurality of battery modules One of the groups uses the corresponding first circuit as a conduction path to discharge a load device, and the remaining battery modules perform the balancing operation. The parallel battery method according to claim 13, further comprising: configuring the at least one control module to perform the discharging operation, and controlling the battery module having the highest voltage to use the corresponding first circuit as a conduction path to the load. The device is discharged and the remaining battery modules perform this balancing operation. The parallel battery method according to claim 9 or 12, further comprising: configuring the at least one control module to perform a charging operation, and controlling one of the plurality of battery modules to use the corresponding first circuit as a conduction path, The selected battery module is charged through a power source, and the remaining battery modules perform the balancing operation. The parallel battery method according to claim 15, further comprising: configuring the at least one control module to perform the charging operation, and controlling the battery module having the lowest voltage to use the corresponding first circuit as a conduction path to pass the power source. The battery module having the lowest voltage is charged, and the remaining battery modules are subjected to the balancing operation.