TWM592618U - Battery module with a hot swap function - Google Patents

Abstract

A battery module with a hot swap function uses a smart chip and an ideal diode controller to control a power transistor so as to implement a multi-step charge or discharge. Consequently, battery modules which have different voltages or battery capacities can be immediately connected in parallel. When the battery module is hot swapped, the battery module also can avoid an excessive charge current or discharge current to damage itself.

Description

Dynamically insertable battery module

This creation is about a battery module, especially about a dynamically pluggable battery module.

As the requirements of various electric vehicles and energy storage systems for battery capacity continue to increase, it is difficult for a single battery module to meet the demand. Therefore, multiple battery modules need to be connected in parallel to increase the battery capacity. However, different types of battery modules will have different voltages and battery capacities. Even the voltage and battery capacity of the same type of battery modules will vary depending on the time of use, and batteries with different voltages and battery capacities will be used. When modules are connected in parallel, a battery module with a lower battery capacity and voltage may be injected into a large current by other battery modules to cause damage, which may result in reduced life. In severe cases, the battery module may also cause fire or explosion.

Therefore, a battery module that can be directly connected in parallel without considering voltage and battery capacity is desirable.

One of the purposes of this creation is to propose a battery module that can be inserted and removed dynamically.

One of the purposes of this creation is to propose a battery module that can be directly connected in parallel.

One of the purposes of this writing is to propose a battery module that prevents current reverse charging.

One of the purposes of this creation is to propose a battery module that can prevent the charging current from being too high.

One of the purposes of this writing is to propose a battery module that can avoid excessive discharge current.

One of the purposes of this creation is to propose a battery module that decides to operate according to the voltage at the output.

According to this creation, a dynamically pluggable battery module includes a voltage terminal, a battery, a discharge switch, a charge switch, a first power transistor, a smart chip, and an ideal diode controller. The discharge switch, the charge switch and the first power transistor are connected in series between the voltage terminal and the battery. The smart chip turns off the first power transistor when the first voltage is less than the second voltage at the voltage terminal. The ideal diode controller turns off the first power transistor when the third voltage at the first end of the first power transistor is greater than the fourth voltage at the second end of the first power transistor, wherein the first The first terminal of the power transistor is coupled to the voltage terminal, and the second terminal of the first power transistor is coupled to the battery.

In one embodiment, the battery module further includes a discharge circuit connected in parallel with the charge switch, the discharge switch, and the first power transistor. The discharge circuit is connected to the battery and the voltage terminal in a first discharge mode A discharge path is formed between the battery and the battery to provide a first discharge current to the voltage terminal during the first discharge mode, wherein the battery module enters the first discharge mode when it is started. During a second discharge mode, the ideal diode controller turns on the first power transistor partially, so that the battery provides a second discharge current greater than the first discharge current to the voltage terminal. During a third discharge mode, the ideal diode controller is turned off and the smart chip controls the first power transistor to be fully turned on, so that the battery provides a third discharge current greater than the second discharge current to the voltage terminal .

In one embodiment, the battery module further includes a charging current limit switch connected in parallel with the first power transistor. During a first charging mode, the charging current limit switch is turned on to generate a first charging current to Charging batteries. During a second charging mode, the ideal diode controller is turned off and the smart chip turns on the first power transistor to generate a second charging current to charge the battery.

In one embodiment, when the battery module starts, if the second voltage is within a normal operating range, the smart chip performs a soft start function, and if the second voltage is below a normal operating range, the smart chip enables The battery module is in the first discharge mode to provide the first discharge current to the load. If the second voltage is lower than a normal operating range and lower than a preset value, the smart chip disconnects the battery module from External connection.

The battery module of this creation can achieve multi-stage charging or discharging through a smart chip and an ideal diode controller. Therefore, regardless of whether the voltage and battery capacity of the battery module are the same, they can be directly used in parallel. The polar body controller can quickly turn off the first power transistor to prevent excessive charging or discharging current and avoid damage to the battery module.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the battery module 100 of the present invention which is dynamically pluggable. In the battery module 100 of FIG. 1, the voltage terminal 104 is used to connect other battery modules and loads, a charging switch Q1, a discharging switch Q2 The power transistor Q3 is connected in series between the battery 102 and the voltage terminal 104 to control the charging and discharging of the battery module 100. The smart chip 108 provides control signals S1 and S2 to control the charging switch Q1 and the discharging switch Q2, respectively, and the driving unit 114 A control signal S3 is provided to control the power transistor Q3. The smart chip 108 is a microcontroller (MCU) as the battery module 100, which has a master-slave battery module judgment function, so that multiple parallel battery modules 100 can set the master-slave relationship and set the battery module 100's Independently numbered, the smart chip 108 can also manage the status of the battery module 100, such as voltage and battery capacity, and display the status of the battery module 100 by communication or light display, so that the user can decide according to the displayed status Whether to replace the battery module 100, or change the maximum discharge current, maximum charge current or power of the battery module 100. The battery module 100 of FIG. 1 further includes detection circuits 106 and 112. The detection circuit 106 is connected to the battery 102 and the smart chip 108. The detection circuit 106 may be, but not limited to, an analog front end (AFE) circuit. The circuit 112 is connected to the voltage terminal 104 of the battery module 100 and the smart chip 108. The detection circuit 112 includes a series resistor R1, a resistor R2, and a control switch SW1. The detection circuit 112 can be implemented in many ways, and is not limited to the architecture shown in FIG. 1.

When the battery module 100 is started, the detection circuit 106 detects the voltage Vb of the battery 102 to generate a detection signal Sd1 to the smart chip 108, and the smart chip 108 provides a control signal S5 to turn on the control switch SW1 to start the detection circuit 112, so that The resistors R1 and R2 divide the voltage Vpo+ of the voltage terminal 104 to generate the detection signal Sd2 to the smart chip 108. The smart chip 108 generates the control signal S4 according to the detection signals Sd1 and Sd2, and the driving unit 114 generates the control signal S3 to control the power according to the control signal S4 Transistor Q3. The smart chip 108 can determine whether the battery voltage Vb is greater than the voltage Vpo+ of the voltage terminal 104 according to the detection signals Sd1 and Sd2. When the voltage Vb is greater than the voltage Vpo+, the control signal S4 output by the smart chip 108 will turn on the power transistor Q3. The battery 102 provides a discharge current to an external battery module or load. When the voltage Vb is less than the voltage Vpo+, the control signal S4 output by the smart chip 108 will turn off the power transistor Q3 to prevent the battery 102 from being reverse-charged by a large current.

The smart chip 108 needs to receive the detection signals Sd1 and Sd2 from the detection circuits 106 and 112 before being processed by the firmware to generate the control signal S4. Therefore, when the voltage Vpo+ of the voltage terminal 104 is suddenly greater than the battery voltage Vb, For example, the dynamic chip 108 may not turn off the power transistor Q3 in time, so the battery module 100 of FIG. 1 also has an ideal diode controller 110. The ideal diode controller 110 detects the voltages of the two terminals NA and NB of the power transistor Q3. Since the two terminals NA and NB of the power transistor Q3 are coupled to the battery 102 and the voltage terminal 104, respectively, the ideal diode controller 110 can determine whether the voltage Vb is greater than the voltage Vpo+ through the voltages of the terminals NA and NB. When the voltage Vb is greater than the voltage Vpo+, the ideal diode controller 110 outputs a control signal S6 to the driving unit to turn on the power transistor Q3. When the voltage Vb is less than the voltage Vpo+, the control signal S6 output by the ideal diode controller 110 will turn off the power transistor Q3. The ideal diode controller 110 of the present invention is processed through hardware, so it can quickly determine whether the voltage Vb is less than the voltage Vpo+, so that the battery module 100 will not cause damage to the battery 102 during dynamic insertion and removal.

2 shows a second embodiment of the dynamically pluggable battery module 100 of the present invention, which has the same battery 102, charging switch Q1, discharging switch Q2, power transistor Q3, and smart chip 108 as the battery module 100 of FIG. 2. The ideal diode controller 110 and the driving unit 114. In addition, the battery module 100 of FIG. 2 further includes a discharge circuit 116. The discharge circuit 116 includes a power transistor Q5, a resistor R3, a resistor R4, a control switch SW2, a diode D1, and a diode D2. The power transistor Q5 and the resistor R3 are connected in series between the battery 102 and the voltage terminal 104. The polar bodies D1 and D2 are connected in series between the control terminal and the voltage terminal 104 of the power transistor Q5, and the resistor R4 and the control switch SW2 are connected in series between the battery 102 and the control terminal of the power transistor Q5. When the battery module 100 is started or connected to the load, the battery module 100 enters the first discharge mode, and the smart chip 108 generates a control signal S7 to turn on the control switch SW2, so that the voltage Vb is applied to the control terminal of the power transistor Q5 to turn on The power transistor Q5 and the discharge circuit 116 are thus activated to form a discharge path between the battery 102 and the voltage terminal 104, so that the battery 102 provides a discharge current Id1 to the voltage terminal 104. In the discharge circuit 116, the voltage VBE+VR3 is equal to the voltage VD1+VD2, so the discharge current Id1 can be determined by selecting the resistor R3 with different resistance or the diode D2 with different voltage VD2, so that the discharge current Id1 is 0.1 Between A~3A.

Then, if the current required by the external load is greater than the discharge current Id1 provided by the discharge circuit 116, the smart chip 108 will send control signals S1 and S2 to turn on the switches Q1 and Q2, and the ideal diode controller 110 determines the voltage Whether Vb is greater than the voltage Vop+, when the voltage Vb is greater than the voltage Vpo+, the ideal diode controller 110 turns on the power transistor Q3, so that the battery 102 provides a discharge current Id2 greater than the discharge current Id1, and the battery module 100 enters The second discharge mode. Since the ideal diode controller 110 has voltage clamping characteristics, the voltage across the power transistor Q3 is limited to a fixed range and the power transistor Q3 is in a semi-conducting state, so the discharge current Id2 can be limited to 20A~50A between.

The smart chip 108 of FIG. 2 monitors the voltage, discharge current, and battery capacity of the battery module 100 at any time, and contacts the smart chips of other battery modules connected in parallel through a communication mechanism (not shown) to obtain information about other battery modules. For voltage, battery capacity, and charge and discharge current information, when the voltage Vb of the battery module 100 is greater than the voltage Vpo+, the difference between the voltage Vb and the voltage Vpo+ is less than a first preset value, and the battery capacity of the battery module 100 is different from other battery modules When the difference in battery capacity of the group is less than a second preset value, the battery module 100 enters the third discharge mode. During the third discharge mode, the smart chip 108 turns off the ideal diode controller 110 and sends a control signal S4 to the driving unit 114 to fully turn on the power transistor Q3 to generate a discharge current Id3 greater than the discharge current Id2, and the discharge current Id3 About 100A~120A.

The battery module 100 of FIG. 2 has a multi-stage automatic balancing function, which provides smaller discharge currents Id1 and Id2 in the first and second discharge modes to prevent the load or other battery modules from being damaged by high current charging. When the battery module 100 is balanced with the load or other battery modules (the difference between the voltage Vb and the voltage Vpo+ is less than a first preset value and the difference between the battery capacity of the battery module 100 and the battery capacity of other battery modules is less than A second preset value), the battery module 100 enters the third mode to generate a larger discharge current Id3.

FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the dynamically pluggable battery module 100 of the present invention. The battery module 100 of FIG. 1 has a battery 102, a charging switch Q1, a discharging switch Q2, a power transistor Q3, and a smart chip 108. 3. The ideal diode controller 110 and the driving unit 114, the difference is that the battery module 100 of FIG. 3 further includes a charging current limit switch Q4 and a sensing circuit 118. The charging current limiting switch Q4 is connected in parallel with the power transistor Q3, and the sensing circuit 118 senses the charging current supplied to the battery 102 to control the turning on or off of the charging current limiting switch Q4. The sensing circuit 118 includes a sensing resistor RS, a reference voltage Vref1, a reference voltage Vref2, a selection switch 120, and a comparator 122. The sensing resistor Rs is connected in series with the battery 102. The comparator 122 compares the voltage VRS on the sensing resistor RS and the reference The voltage Vref1 or Vref2 generates a comparison signal Sc to control the charging current limit switch Q4 to turn on or off. The reference voltages Vref1 and Vref2 are preset values. The selection switch 120 provides the reference voltage Vref1 or Vref2 to the comparator according to the control signal from the smart chip 108 122.

In FIG. 3, when the voltage Vb is less than the voltage Vpo+ and the difference between the voltages Vb and Vpo+ is greater than a first predetermined value TH1, the battery module 100 enters the first charging mode. During the first charging mode, the power transistor Q3 is turned off by the ideal diode controller 110, and the charging current limit switch Q4 is turned on by the comparator 122, so there will be a charging current Ic1 through the charging current limit switch Q4, the discharge switch Q2 and The charging switch Q1 charges the battery 102 so that the voltage Vb of the battery 102 rises. The charging current Ic1 generates a voltage VRS when passing through the sensing resistor RS. When the voltage VRS is greater than the reference voltage Vref1 or Vref2, the comparator 122 turns off the charging current limit switch Q4 to prevent the charging current Ic1 from being greater than a second predetermined value TH2, wherein The second preset value TH2 will change with the reference voltages Vref1 and Vref2. When the voltage VRS is less than the reference voltages Vref1 or Vref2, the comparator 122 will turn on the charging current limiting switch Q4 again, so as to continuously turn on and off the charging current limiting switch Q4 maintains the charging current Ic1 at the second preset value TH2. The smart chip 108 can change the value of the charging current Ic1 by selecting different reference voltages Vref1 or Vref2. The charging current Ic1 is about 2A~20A. When the voltage Vb is less than the voltage Vpo+, the difference between the voltages Vb and Vpo+ is smaller than the first predetermined value TH1 and the difference between the battery capacity of the battery module 100 and the battery capacity of other battery modules is smaller than the third predetermined value TH3, The battery module 100 enters the second charging mode. During the second charging mode, the ideal diode controller 110 is turned off, and the smart chip 108 sends a control signal S4 to the driving unit 114 to turn on the power transistor Q3, thereby generating a charging current Ic2 greater than the charging current IC1 through the power transistor Q3 The battery 102 is charged to shorten the charging time, and the charging current Ic2 is about 0~120A.

The battery module 100 of FIG. 3 has a multi-stage automatic balancing function. In the first charging mode, the battery 102 is charged with a smaller charging current Ic1 to prevent the battery 102 from being damaged by high current charging. When the load or other battery modules reach equilibrium (the difference between the voltages Vb and Vpo+ is smaller than the preset value TH1 and the difference between the battery capacity of the battery module 100 and the battery capacity of the other battery modules is less than the third preset value TH3), the battery module 100 enters the second mode to allow the charging current Ic2 to charge the battery 102 to save the charging time.

The battery module 100 of FIGS. 2 and 3 uses power transistors (Q3, Q4, and Q5) and operational amplifiers (110 and 122) as current control elements, so the operating current range can be greatly increased, and the size and size can also be reduced. The heat source is completely different from the conventional method of using a power resistor to limit current.

FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the dynamically pluggable battery module 100 of the present invention, which has the same battery 102, charging switch Q1, discharge switch Q2, power transistor Q3, and smart chip 108 as the battery module 100 of FIG. The ideal diode controller 110, the detection circuit 112, and the driving unit 114, the difference is that the battery module 100 of FIG. 4 further includes a discharge circuit 116. When the battery module 100 is started, the charge switch Q1, the discharge switch Q2, and the power transistor Q3 are turned off, and the smart chip 108 sends control signals S5 and S7 to activate the detection circuit 112 and the discharge circuit 116 respectively, so that the detection circuit 112 detects the voltage The voltage Vpo+ at the terminal 104 generates the detection signal Sd2 to the smart chip 108, and the discharge circuit 116 generates a discharge current Id1 to charge the load connected to the voltage terminal 104. The detailed operation of the discharge circuit 116 can refer to the embodiment of FIG. 2. When the smart chip 108 determines that the voltage Vpo+ is within the normal operating range of the battery module 100 according to the detection signal Sd2, the smart chip 108 performs the soft start function and enters the normal working mode after the soft start, turning on the switches Q1 and Q2. When the smart chip 108 determines that the voltage Vpo+ is lower than the normal operating range according to the detection signal Sd2, the power transistor Q5 is continuously turned on to continuously provide the discharge current Id1 to charge the load. When the smart chip 108 determines that the voltage Vpo+ is lower than the normal operating range and lower than a preset value according to the detection signal Sd2, the smart chip 108 determines that the load is short-circuited. At this time, the smart chip 108 turns off the power transistor Q5 so that the battery module 100 and the external When disconnected, the smart chip 108 can warn the user through the LED light or the communication path.

The above description of the preferred embodiment of the present creation is for the purpose of clarification, and is not intended to limit the precise form of the creation to the disclosed form. Modifications or changes are possible based on the above teaching or learning from the embodiments of the creation The examples are for explaining the principles of this creation and for those skilled in the art to choose and describe the actual application of this creation in various embodiments. The technical ideas of this creation are intended to be derived from the scope of patent applications and their equality Decide.

100: battery module 102: battery 104: voltage terminal 106: detection circuit 108: Smart chip 110: Ideal diode controller 112: Detection circuit 114: Drive unit 116: Discharge circuit 118: sensing circuit 120: selector switch 122: Comparator

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a battery module that can be dynamically plugged in this invention. FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the battery module that can be dynamically plugged. FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the battery module that can be dynamically plugged. FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the battery module that can be dynamically plugged.

100: battery module

102: battery

104: voltage terminal

106: detection circuit

108: Smart chip

110: Ideal diode controller

112: Detection circuit

114: Drive unit

Claims (14)

A dynamically pluggable battery module, including: A voltage terminal for connecting other battery modules or loads; One battery, providing a first voltage; A charging switch; A discharge switch; A first power transistor connected in series with the charging switch and the discharging switch between the voltage terminal and the battery; A smart chip, coupled to the first power transistor, when the first voltage is less than the second voltage at the voltage terminal, turn off the first power transistor; and An ideal diode controller, coupled to the first power transistor, turns off when the third voltage at the first end of the first power transistor is greater than the fourth voltage at the second end of the first power transistor A first power transistor, wherein the first end of the first power transistor is coupled to the voltage terminal, and the second end of the first power transistor is coupled to the battery. If the battery module of claim 1, further includes: A first detection circuit, connected to the battery and the smart chip, and detecting the first voltage to generate a first detection signal; and A second detection circuit, connected to the voltage terminal and the smart chip, and detecting the second voltage to generate a second detection signal; Wherein, the smart chip determines whether the first voltage is greater than the second voltage according to the first detection signal and the second detection signal. The battery module according to claim 1 further includes a driving unit connected to the first power transistor, the smart chip and the ideal diode controller, and is controlled according to the output of the smart chip and the ideal diode controller The first power transistor is turned on or off. The battery module of claim 1 further includes a discharge circuit connected in parallel with the charge switch, the discharge switch and the first power transistor to be used between the battery and the voltage terminal in a first discharge mode A discharge path is formed so that the battery provides a first discharge current to the voltage terminal during the first discharge mode, wherein the battery module enters the first discharge mode when it is started. The battery module according to claim 4, wherein the discharge circuit includes: A second power transistor, connected between the battery and the voltage terminal, is turned on during the first discharge mode to generate the first discharge current; A resistor connected in series with the second power transistor; One first diode; A second diode is a diode, and is connected in series with the first diode between the control terminal of the second power transistor and the voltage terminal. The battery module of claim 4, wherein when the first voltage is greater than the second voltage, the battery module enters a second discharge mode; and during the second discharge mode, the ideal diode controller enables The first power transistor is partially turned on, so that the battery provides a second discharge current greater than the first discharge current to the voltage terminal. The battery module of claim 6, wherein when the first voltage is greater than the second voltage and the difference between the first voltage and the second voltage is less than a preset value, the battery module enters a third discharge mode And during the third discharge mode, the ideal diode controller is turned off and the smart chip controls the first power transistor to be fully turned on, so that the battery provides a third discharge current greater than the second discharge current to the Voltage terminal. The battery module of claim 1 further includes a charging current limit switch connected in parallel with the first power transistor, and is turned on during a first charging mode to generate a first charging current to charge the battery, wherein the battery module The group enters the first charging mode when the first voltage is less than the second voltage and the difference between the first voltage and the second voltage is greater than a first preset value. The battery module of claim 8 further includes a sensing circuit connected to the charging current limit switch, during the first charging mode, sensing the first charging current to control the charging current limit switch to turn on or off, to The first charging current is maintained at a second preset value. The battery module of claim 9, wherein the smart chip controls the second preset value to change the value of the first charging current. The battery module of claim 8, wherein when the first voltage is less than the second voltage and the difference between the first voltage and the second voltage is less than the first preset value, the battery module enters a second Charging mode; during the second charging mode, the ideal diode controller is turned off and the smart chip turns on the first power transistor to generate a second charging current to charge the battery. The battery module of claim 4, wherein in the first discharge mode and the second voltage is within a normal operating range, the smart chip performs a soft start function. The battery module of claim 4, wherein in the first discharge mode and the second voltage is lower than a normal operating range, the battery module maintains the first discharge mode. The battery module of claim 4, wherein in the first discharge mode and the second voltage is lower than a preset value, the discharge circuit is closed and the smart chip sends a short-circuit signal.

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