WO2015126225A1

WO2015126225A1 - Battery management unit and method for setting identifier by using frequency modulation

Info

Publication number: WO2015126225A1
Application number: PCT/KR2015/001767
Authority: WO
Inventors: 박정민; 허진석
Original assignee: 주식회사 엘지화학
Priority date: 2014-02-24
Filing date: 2015-02-24
Publication date: 2015-08-27

Abstract

Disclosed is a battery management unit for setting a communication identifier through the frequency of a start signal. The battery management unit according to the present invention analyzes the frequency of a received start signal. If the frequency of the start signal is a fundamental frequency, the battery management unit sets itself as a master unit. If the frequency of the start signal is not the fundamental frequency, the battery management unit sets itself as a slave unit. In addition, when outputting a start signal to another neighboring battery management unit, the battery management unit according to the present invention outputs the start signal by modulating the frequency of the start signal into a frequency produced by adding an additional frequency value to the frequency as received in the battery management unit. Thus, the battery management unit is capable of setting the status of the battery management unit and also setting a communication identifier of the battery management unit by analyzing the value of the received frequency.

Description

Battery management unit and method for setting identifiers using frequency modulation

The present invention relates to a battery management apparatus and method for setting an identifier, and more particularly, to a battery management apparatus and method for setting its own status in a multi-battery management apparatus having a master-slave structure. .

This application is a priority application for Korean Patent Application No. 10-2014-0021282, filed February 24, 2014, and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2015-0025843, filed February 24, 2015. All the contents disclosed in the specification and drawings of this application are incorporated in this application by reference.

The secondary battery, which has high applicability according to the product range and has electrical characteristics such as high energy density, is not only a portable device but also an electric vehicle (EV), a hybrid vehicle (HV, hybrid vehicle), and power storage driven by an electric driving source. It is widely applied to devices (Energy Storage System). The secondary battery is attracting attention as a new energy source for improving eco-friendliness and energy efficiency in that not only the primary advantage of drastically reducing the use of fossil fuels is generated but also no by-products of energy use are generated.

The battery pack applied to the electric vehicle or the like has a structure in which a plurality of cell assemblies including a plurality of unit cells are connected in series to obtain a high output. In addition, the unit cell may be repeatedly charged and discharged by an electrochemical reaction between components, including a positive electrode and a negative electrode current collector, a separator, an active material, an electrolyte, and the like.

In addition to the basic structure, the battery pack includes power supply control for driving loads such as a motor, measurement of electrical characteristics such as current and voltage, charge / discharge control, voltage equalization control, state of charge (SOC), and the like. Algorithm for estimating a is applied to further include a battery management unit (BMU) for monitoring and controlling the state of the secondary battery.

On the other hand, as the need for a large-capacity structure, including utilization as an energy storage source in recent years, there is an increasing demand for a battery pack of a multi-module structure in which a plurality of battery modules are connected in series and / or in parallel.

Since the battery pack of the multi-module structure includes a plurality of batteries, it is limited to control the charge / discharge state of all batteries using a single BMU. Therefore, in recent years, each battery module included in the battery pack is equipped with a BMU, one of the BMUs is designated as a master BMU, and the remaining BMUs are designated as slave BMSs. Control technology is used.

Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2010-141971 discloses an example of the prior art for the master-slave system. The prior art discloses a technique for transmitting a start signal to a BMU designed to have a slave status from the beginning.

However, the conventional technology as described above requires the production of a BMU having a master status and a BMU having a slave status separately, and requires a double effort of developing an algorithm suitable for each status. In addition, when an operation such as replacement / addition of the existing battery pack is required, an identifier setting according to the status of the replaced / added BMU is complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described prior art, and an object thereof is to provide a battery management unit and a method for setting an identifier by a simple algorithm.

Battery management unit according to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, the first terminal and the second terminal which can be connected to the serial communication line; A memory unit for storing the fundamental frequency of the start signal; And a controller configured to set its status as a master unit when a frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal corresponds to a fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit.

The control unit according to the present invention may set its status as a slave unit when the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal does not correspond to the basic frequency stored in the memory unit.

The memory section according to the invention further stores additional frequency values. In this case, the controller may set the status of the controller and output a start signal obtained by adding an additional frequency value stored in the memory unit to the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal through the second terminal.

The control unit according to the present invention may set its own communication identifier by determining whether a frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal is a value in which some additional frequency values are added to the basic frequency.

The battery management unit according to the present invention comprises a plurality of battery management units; And a serial communication line connecting the plurality of battery management units. It may be one component of the battery management system including a.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the serial communication line is a daisy chain.

A battery management system according to the present invention includes a battery management system; And a plurality of secondary batteries electrically connected to control the charging and discharging by the battery management system.

Battery pack according to the invention, the battery pack; And a load supplied with power from the battery pack. In this case, the load may further include an external control unit connected to one end of the serial communication line included in the battery pack. The external control unit may output a start signal having a fundamental frequency through the serial communication line. On the other hand, the load may be an electric drive means or a portable device.

The communication identifier setting method of the battery management unit according to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem includes a first terminal and a second terminal that can be connected to the serial communication line, a memory unit storing the basic frequency of the start signal, and a control unit A method of setting a communication identifier by a battery management unit, the method comprising: (a) determining, by the controller, whether a frequency of a start signal received through the first terminal corresponds to a fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit; And (b) setting, by the controller, its status as a master unit when the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal corresponds to a fundamental frequency.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the step (b) is characterized in that the control unit transfers its status to the slave unit when the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal does not correspond to the fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit. It further includes setting.

The memory unit of the battery management unit may further store additional frequency values. In this case, the method of setting a communication identifier according to the present invention includes (c) setting a status of the controller by the controller and adding a start signal obtained by adding an additional frequency value stored in the memory unit to a frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal. Outputting through the second terminal; may further include.

In the method of setting a communication identifier according to the present invention, (d) the controller determines whether the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal is a value in which some additional frequency values are added to the basic frequency, and sets its own communication identifier. Setting may be further included.

According to one aspect of the invention, it is possible to automatically set the status of the battery management units via frequency modulation of the start signal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is no need to separately produce a battery management unit according to the status or to install a separate algorithm. Therefore, the production of the battery management unit is easy and the configuration of the battery management system is easy.

According to another aspect of the present invention, it is possible to add or replace a new battery management unit with a simple operation.

The following drawings attached to this specification are illustrative of preferred embodiments of the present invention, and together with the detailed description of the invention to serve to further understand the technical spirit of the present invention, the present invention is a matter described in such drawings It should not be construed as limited to.

1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a battery management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a battery management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms or words used in the specification and claims should not be construed as having a conventional or dictionary meaning, and the inventors should properly explain the concept of terms in order to best explain their own invention. Based on the principle that can be defined, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a battery management unit 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the battery management unit 10 according to the present invention includes a first terminal 11, a second terminal 12, a memory unit 14, and a controller 15.

The first terminal 11 and the second terminal 12 may be connected to the serial communication line 13. The control unit 15 receives a signal for starting the battery management unit 10 through the first terminal 11, and the control unit 15 activates another battery management unit through the second terminal 12. Outputs a signal

For reference, the battery management unit 10 normally waits in a sleep state and starts starting when a signal is received from a unit having a higher status (for example, a master unit or an external control unit). At this time, a signal for starting the startup of the battery management unit 10 is a 'starting signal'.

The serial communication line 13 refers to a connection method in which a receiver receiving a signal becomes a transmitter and transmits the signal to another adjacent receiver connected thereto by a relay method.

The first terminal 11 and the second terminal 12 refer to two terminals connected to the serial communication line 13. In this specification, each battery management unit 10 receives a start signal through the first terminal 11, and a start signal through the second terminal 12 in another battery management unit connected through the serial communication line. Explain by passing. However, 'first' and 'second' are terms for distinguishing two terminals connected to the serial communication line 13 and do not mean location / function / communication order / priority.

The memory unit 14 stores the fundamental frequency of the start signal.

The controller 15 determines whether the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal 11 corresponds to the fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit 14. The controller 15 sets its status as a master unit when the frequency of the start signal corresponds to a fundamental frequency.

On the other hand, the controller 15 sets its status as a slave unit when the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal 11 does not correspond to the fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit 14.

Meanwhile, the memory unit 14 may further store additional frequency values.

The controller 15 sets its own position (master or slave) and then starts a start signal obtained by adding an additional frequency value stored in the memory unit 14 to the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal 11. Output through the second terminal 12.

Furthermore, the controller 15 may set its own communication identifier by determining whether the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal 11 is a value in which some additional frequency values are added to the basic frequency.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the controller 15 may determine whether the frequency value of the start signal input to the first terminal 11 corresponds to the fundamental frequency, and how many additional frequencies have been added to the fundamental frequency. In order to be able to do so, the battery management unit 10 may further include a frequency analyzer. The frequency analyzer may analyze the frequency of the start signal input through various methods. For example, the frequency analyzer may analyze the power value profile for each frequency of the start signal, and determine a frequency value having the largest power value as the frequency of the start signal.

In addition, according to an embodiment, in order for the controller 15 to output the start signal to which the additional frequency value is added through the second terminal 12, the battery management unit 10 may include a frequency generator ( frequency generator) may be further included. The frequency generator may generate a frequency corresponding to a frequency value obtained by adding a predetermined number of additional frequency values to a fundamental frequency. Through this, a start signal having a desired frequency value may be output through the second terminal 12.

According to another embodiment, the battery management unit 10 may further include a frequency modulator. The frequency modulator may modulate the frequency value of the start signal received through the first terminal 11 to a frequency corresponding to a frequency value to which a predetermined number of additional frequency values are added. Through this, a start signal having a desired frequency value may be output through the second terminal 12.

In order to better understand the battery management unit 10 according to the present invention, it will be described through a battery management system including a plurality of battery management units and a serial communication line connecting the plurality of battery management units.

2, N battery management units 10 according to the invention are connected to one another via a serial communication line 13.

The serial communication line may be a daisy chain. Daisy-chain refers to a bus connection that is connected continuously. Daisy chains, unlike simple bus connections, support a signal transmission scheme in which one device in a chain can relay signals to another device. All devices connected in a daisy chain can transmit the same signal, but the device receiving the signal can also modulate the signal to the other device.

For convenience of understanding, it is assumed that the battery management system includes a battery management system and a plurality of secondary batteries (not shown) electrically connected to control charge and discharge by the battery management system. would.

The battery pack may be a component of a battery driving system including a battery pack and a load supplied with power from the battery pack.

Examples of the battery driving system include an electric vehicle (EV), a hybrid vehicle (HEV), an electric bicycle (E-Bike), a power tool, a power storage device, an energy storage system, an uninterruptible power supply, a UPS, A portable computer, a portable telephone, a portable audio device, a portable video device, and the like may be used. An example of the load may include various circuit components supplying power supplied by a battery or a motor that provides rotational power by the power supplied by the battery pack. It may be a power conversion circuit for converting the power required.

For convenience of understanding, the electric vehicle EV will be selected and described from the examples listed above. The electric vehicle has a central control unit for controlling various components of the electric vehicle. The central control unit also controls the battery pack. Thus, the central control unit is connected to one end of the serial communication line 13 included in the battery pack. From the standpoint of the battery management unit 10, the central control device recognizes the external control unit 20 because it controls the battery pack.

The external control unit 20 outputs a start signal having a fundamental frequency through the serial communication line 13. As an example, the fundamental frequency is 10 Hz.

The battery management unit 10-1 directly connected to the external control unit 20 through the serial communication line 13 of the battery management units receives a start signal. In this case, the battery management unit 10-1 sets itself as a master unit because the frequency of the received start signal corresponds to a fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit 14. The battery management unit 10-1 outputs a start signal obtained by adding the additional frequency value stored in the memory unit 14 to the serial communication line 13. As an example, the additional frequency value is 10 Hz. Accordingly, the battery management unit 10-1 outputs a start signal having a frequency of 20 Hz to the battery management unit 10-2 connected to the right side.

The battery management unit 10-2 sets its status as a slave unit because the frequency of the received start signal does not correspond to the fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit 14. And the battery management unit 10-2 outputs the starting signal which added the additional frequency value to the said serial communication line 13. Therefore, the battery management unit 10-2 outputs a start signal having a frequency of 30 Hz to the battery management unit 10-3 connected to the right side.

In addition, since the frequency of the received start signal does not correspond to the fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit 14, the battery management unit 10-3 sets its status as a slave unit.

It is possible to automatically set the status of the battery management units 10 through the frequency modulation of the start signal as described above.

In addition, as described above, each battery management unit 10 can set its own communication identifier by determining whether the frequency of the received start signal is a value in which some additional frequency values are added to the basic frequency. For example, each battery management unit 10 may recognize the number of added frequencies as its communication identifier. More specifically, the battery management unit 10-2 has a frequency of the start signal received by the battery management unit 10-2, and the frequency value added to the basic frequency 10 Hz is 10 Hz. Since the additional frequency value has been added once, the battery management unit 10-2 sets its communication identifier to 'slave-1'. The battery management unit 10-3 sets its communication identifier to 'slave-2' because the added frequency value is 20 Hz (two additions). The battery management unit 10-3 sets its communication identifier to 'slave-3' because the added frequency value is 30 Hz (three additions). In this manner, the battery management unit 10 may set communication identifiers so that they do not overlap each other. The communication identifiers 'slave-1 and slave-2 slave-3' are arbitrarily set identifiers for convenience of understanding and do not limit the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention can set various types of identifiers.

Meanwhile, the controller 15 may include a processor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), another chipset, a logic circuit, a register, a communication modem, and a data processor, which are known in the art to execute the above-described various control logics. Device and the like. In addition, when the above-described control logic is implemented in software, the control unit 15 may be implemented as a set of program modules. In this case, the program module may be stored in the memory unit 14 and executed by a processor.

The memory unit 14 may be inside or outside the controller 15 and may be connected to the controller 15 by various well-known means. The memory unit 14 is a mass storage medium such as a semiconductor device or a hard disk known to be capable of recording and erasing data such as RAM, ROM, EEPROM, etc., which collectively refers to a device for storing information regardless of the type of device. Does not refer to a particular memory device.

On the other hand, the control unit 15 measures the electrical characteristics including the voltage or current of the secondary battery, charge and discharge control, equalization control, SOC (State Of Charge) to perform the function as the battery management unit 10 Various control functions applicable at the level of those skilled in the art, including estimation of the In addition, the controller 15 transmits to a higher unit (master unit or external control unit) than the self via the serial communication line 13 regarding the state of the secondary battery in charge thereof, or from the upper unit to the secondary battery. It can receive a control signal associated with charging and discharging.

Meanwhile, in describing the present invention, each component of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 should be understood as logically divided components rather than physically divided components.

That is, each configuration corresponds to a logical component in order to realize the technical idea of the present invention, so that even if each component is integrated or separated, if the function performed by the logical configuration of the present invention can be realized, it is within the scope of the present invention. It should be construed that the components that perform the same or similar functions are to be interpreted as being within the scope of the present invention regardless of whether they correspond in terms of their names.

Although the present invention has been described above by means of limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto and will be described below by the person skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Of course, various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the claims.

Claims

A first terminal and a second terminal that can be connected with the serial communication line;

A memory unit for storing the fundamental frequency of the start signal; And

And a controller configured to set its status as a master unit when a frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal corresponds to a fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit.
The method of claim 1,

And the control unit sets its own status as a slave unit when the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal does not correspond to the basic frequency stored in the memory unit.
The method of claim 2,

The memory unit further stores an additional frequency value,

After setting the status of the controller, the control unit outputs a start signal obtained by adding the additional frequency value stored in the memory unit to the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal through the second terminal. Management unit.
The method of claim 3,

The control unit determines that the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal is a value in which some additional frequency values are added to the basic frequency, and sets its own communication identifier.
A plurality of battery management units according to claim 4; And

A serial communication line connecting said plurality of battery management units; Battery management system comprising a.
The method of claim 5,

And the serial communication line is daisy chained.
A battery management system according to claim 5; And

And a plurality of secondary batteries electrically connected to control charge and discharge by the battery management system.
A battery pack according to claim 7; And

And a load supplied with power from the battery pack.
The method of claim 8,

The load further includes an external control unit connected to one end of the serial communication line included in the battery pack,

And the external control unit outputs a start signal having a fundamental frequency through the serial communication line.
The method of claim 9,

And the load is an electric drive means or a portable device.
A battery management unit including a first terminal and a second terminal that can be connected to a serial communication line, a memory unit storing a basic frequency of a start signal, and a control unit, the method for setting its communication identifier,

(a) the control unit determining whether a frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal corresponds to a fundamental frequency stored in the memory unit; And

(b) setting, by the controller, its status as a master unit when the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal corresponds to a fundamental frequency; setting a communication identifier of the battery management unit Way.
The method of claim 11,

The step (b) may further include setting, by the controller, its status as a slave unit when the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal does not correspond to the basic frequency stored in the memory unit. How to set communication identifier of unit.
The method of claim 12,

The memory unit further stores an additional frequency value,

(c) outputting, through the second terminal, a start signal obtained by adding the additional frequency value stored in the memory unit to the frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal after the controller sets its own status; The communication identifier setting method of the battery management unit further comprising.
The method of claim 13,

(d) determining, by the controller, whether a frequency of the start signal received through the first terminal is a value in which some additional frequency values are added to the basic frequency, and setting a communication identifier of the start signal; And a communication identifier setting method of the battery management unit.