WO2018219760A1

WO2018219760A1 - Charging device for charging batteries in a battery-driven object, battery-driven object, and method for charging batteries in a battery-driven object

Info

Publication number: WO2018219760A1
Application number: PCT/EP2018/063583
Authority: WO
Inventors: Marcus PARENTIS
Original assignee: Robert Bosch Gmbh
Priority date: 2017-06-01
Filing date: 2018-05-23
Publication date: 2018-12-06
Also published as: DE102017209282A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a charging device (300) for charging batteries (302, 304) in a battery-driven object. The charging device (300) comprises a control module (306) for controlling a charging operation of a battery (302) contained in the battery-driven object. The control module (306) comprises a supply terminal (314) that can be coupled to an external voltage source (402) in order to apply a charging voltage to the control module (306) and an interface module (316) for transmitting parameters relating to the charging operation of the battery (302). In addition, the charging device (300) comprises at least one auxiliary control module (308) for controlling a charging operation of at least one auxiliary battery (304) contained in the battery-driven object. The auxiliary control module (308) is coupled or can be coupled to the control module (306) in order to charge the auxiliary battery (304) using the charging voltage, and has an auxiliary interface module (318) for transmitting auxiliary parameters relating to the charging operation of the auxiliary battery (304).

Description

description

title

Charger for charging batteries in a battery powered object, battery operated object and method for charging batteries in a battery powered object

State of the art

The invention is based on a device or a method according to the preamble of the independent claims. The subject of the present invention is also a computer program.

When using lithium polymer batteries of various configurations, such as parallel connection and series connection, in robots or flight systems, the batteries for charging or discharging usually get out of the system

taken. In order to be able to load the individual cells of the lithium-polymer batteries in a controlled manner, what are known as balancers are used to charge the batteries.

Disclosure of the invention

Against this background, the approach presented here becomes one

A charging device for charging batteries in a battery powered object, a battery powered object, a method for charging batteries in a battery powered object, a device using this method, and finally a corresponding computer program according to the main claims presented. The measures listed in the dependent claims advantageous refinements and improvements of the independent claim device are possible. There will be a charging device for charging batteries in one

battery-powered object, the charging device comprising: a control module for controlling a charging operation in the

battery-powered object battery, wherein the control module has a connectable to an external power supply terminal for applying a charging voltage to the control module and an interface module for transmitting parameters relating to the charging of the battery; and at least one additional control module for controlling a charging operation of at least one auxiliary battery located in the battery-powered object, wherein the auxiliary control module is coupled or coupleable to the control module to charge the auxiliary battery using the charging voltage, and an auxiliary interface module for transmitting additional parameters relating to the charging process Additional battery has.

A charging device can be understood to mean a charging electronics arranged in or on the object of a plurality of control and interface modules assigned to each battery and coupled to one another, for example. The battery-powered object may be, for example, a

Aircraft such as a drone, a robot, a sports device or a

Model vehicle or airplane acting. The object can also be an eScooter, a quad, a trike, an eWheely, a Kickelec, an eBike, a Forklift, a SmartWheel, an AutoBod or an electric car without any claim to completeness. By a battery or additional battery, for example, a lithium-ion battery, in particular as a lithium polymer battery can be understood. The approach can also be applied to future batteries that have the same charging properties. The control module or the additional control module can be, for example, a control controller in the form of a balancer for uniform charge distribution between different cells of the battery or the additional battery. The control module and the additional control module may, for example, be connected in series with each other, so that the Additional control module is connected to the supply connection via the control module. The parameters or additional parameters may be, for example, a voltage, a current, a capacitance or an internal resistance of the battery or the auxiliary battery or individual cells of the battery or the auxiliary battery. The interface module or the auxiliary interface module can, for example, a component of a

Bus system, in particular a CAN bus, for transmitting the parameters or the additional parameters, in particular also for wireless transmission. The parameters can be determined using a suitable

Interface protocol, for example in the form of electrical signals to be transmitted. The interface module and the additional interface module can also be connected to one another in series, for example. The control module or, alternatively or additionally, the additional control module may include one or more switching elements for making or separating an electrically conductive one

Have connection between the control module and the additional control module. The switching element may be controllable, for example, using the parameters or the additional parameters in order to allow a parallel or offset charging of the battery and the auxiliary battery.

The approach presented here is based on the finding that the batteries of a battery-powered object, such as a flying system or a robot with multiple lithium-polymer batteries, using an appropriate on-board charging technology, d. H. a charging electronics placed in the object, can be loaded in parallel or one after the other without human assistance via just one charging lead. As charging line, for example, a coil can be used. It can charge the individual batteries or

Battery cells by exchanging appropriate parameters via a bus system, such as a CAN bus, closely monitored and controlled.

According to one embodiment, the control module may be at least two

Cell terminals for separately contacting at least two battery cells of the battery and be realized as a balancer for controlling a charge distribution between the battery cells of the battery. Additionally or alternatively, the additional control module may include at least two auxiliary cell terminals for separately contacting at least two battery cells of the auxiliary battery and realized as a balancer for controlling a charge distribution between the battery cells of the auxiliary battery. A balancer may be understood to mean an electronic equalizing control circuit for uniformly distributing an electrical charge in the galvanic cells within the battery or the auxiliary battery which differ slightly from one another, for example due to manufacturing tolerances in their capacity or their internal resistance. The balancer may be part of a battery management system of the battery operated object. By this embodiment, almost the entire capacity of the battery or the auxiliary battery can be used. Furthermore, an age-related change over time of the individual cells of the battery or the additional battery can be effectively counteracted.

According to a further embodiment, the control module or, additionally or alternatively, the additional control module may be designed to separate a coupling of the additional control module with the control module using the parameters or, additionally or alternatively, the additional parameters. As a result, the battery and the additional battery can be charged separately, in particular successively. Depending on the embodiment, for example, an acceleration of a respective charging of the battery or the

Additional battery can be achieved.

It is advantageous if the supply connection is realized as part of a plug connection. Additionally or alternatively, the supply connection may have at least one coil for wirelessly receiving an electrical energy representing the charging voltage. This embodiment is a simple, fast and safe electrical contact of the

Charging the battery operated object allows.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the interface module or the

Additional interface module or both interface modules are each implemented as a bus interface module or, additionally or alternatively, as an interface module for wireless data transmission. This enables a particularly efficient data transmission. Furthermore, this can be a

Wiring costs when charging the batteries kept as low as possible become. In particular, this can avoid the risk of a short circuit or explosion due to touching cables or plugs.

A further advantage is the so-called "Smart Energy Management", where batteries can be switched off in a different charging status to avoid over-discharging, and safety can be increased, as temperature management prevents overheating of cells or battery packs. This can extend the life of the batteries, with the added benefit of being scalable, allowing for unproblematic scaling, allowing parallel and serial interconnections.

According to a further embodiment, the supply connection can be connected to the additional control module via the control module. As a result, the wiring effort for interconnecting the individual modules within the battery-operated object can be further reduced.

The approach presented here also provides a battery-operated object with a charging device according to one of the preceding embodiments.

In addition, the approach presented here creates a method for charging batteries in a battery-operated object by means of a charging device according to one of the preceding embodiments, the method comprising the following steps:

Transmitting the parameters and / or the additional parameters; and

Controlling the charging of the battery using the parameters and / or the additional parameters and / or controlling the charging of the

Additional battery using the parameters and / or additional parameters.

This method can be implemented, for example, in software or hardware or in a mixed form of software and hardware, for example in a control unit. Also of advantage is a computer program product or computer program with program code which can be stored on a machine-readable carrier or storage medium such as a semiconductor memory, a hard disk memory or an optical memory and for carrying out, implementing and / or controlling the steps of the method according to one of the above

described embodiments, in particular when the program product or program is executed on a computer or a device. Embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and explained in more detail in the following description. It shows:

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a charging system for loading

Batteries by means of external charging devices;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of an aircraft with connecting lines for connecting a charging system from FIG. 1; FIG.

Fig. 3 is a schematic representation of a charging device according to a

Embodiment;

Fig. 4 is a schematic representation of a battery-powered object

according to an embodiment;

Fig. 5 is a schematic representation of a supply connection in one

Loading device according to one embodiment; and

6 is a flowchart of a method according to a

Embodiment.

In the following description of favorable embodiments of the present invention are for the in the various figures

represented and similar elements acting the same or similar

Reference numeral used, wherein a repeated description of these elements is omitted.

1 shows a schematic representation of a charging system 100 for charging batteries 102 by means of external charging devices 106, each comprising a charger 110 and a balancer 112, such as a lithium polymer balancer. For example, an aircraft, by means of four batteries 102 type 6S1P is operated automatically without human help. For example, the aircraft lands on a platform, is centered and contacted. In this case, all lines 114 of the respective cells of the batteries 102 are led to the respective balancer 112. According to the example shown in FIG. 1, these are six cells per battery, thus a total of eight lines 114.

Since the aircraft has a total of four batteries 102, a total of 32 lines 114 are required for charging, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic representation of an aircraft 200 with

Connecting lines 202 for connecting the charging system of FIG. 1.

By way of example, the aircraft 200 has connection lines 202 corresponding to the number of batteries used and corresponding to the respective number of cells of the batteries, which is a high

Wiring effort means. By means of the approach presented here, however, the wiring effort for charging such a battery-operated object can be reduced to a minimum by the corresponding

Loading electronics is carried in the object, as will be illustrated below with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of a charging device 300 according to an exemplary embodiment. The charging device 300 is configured to charge a battery 302 and at least one auxiliary battery 304 in a battery powered object. For this purpose, the charging device 300 comprises a control module 306 for controlling a charging process of the battery 302 and at least one

Auxiliary control module 308 for controlling a respective charging operation of

Additional batteries 304. In FIG. 3, by way of example only two of several possible additional batteries 304 with their respective additional control modules 308 are shown. Depending on the embodiment, the battery-powered object comprises about only two or even four or more than four batteries.

The batteries 302, 304 are, for example, identically constructed accumulators each of a plurality, for example six battery cells, in particular, for example, about lithium-polymer accumulators. Here are the

Battery cells of the battery 302 separately connected via respective one cell line 310 with corresponding cell terminals 311 of the control module 306. Likewise, the respective battery cells of the auxiliary batteries 304 are also connected separately via a respective cell line 310 with corresponding additional cell terminals 312 of the respective additional control modules 308. To create a

Charging voltage, the battery 302 is additionally connected via two charging lines 313 to the control module 306. Likewise, the additional batteries 304 are each connected via two such charging lines 313 with their respective additional control module 308. Thus, the batteries are according to that shown in FIG

Embodiment depending on a total of eight lines connected to their respective control module.

According to an embodiment, the cell lines 310 become the

Detecting the parameters of the battery cells of the batteries 302, 304 coupled via the cell lines 310 to the respective modules 306, 308. Additionally or alternatively, the battery cells may be charged using the cell lines 310.

The control module 306 has a supply terminal 314 for applying the charging voltage for charging the batteries 302, 304. In which

Supply terminal 314 is, according to one embodiment, the only external connection via the charging device 300

Charging voltage for charging the batteries 302, 304 is supplied.

According to this embodiment, the control module 306 and the

Additional control modules 308 connected in series via corresponding connection lines 315, so that the additional control modules 308 on the

Control module 306 can be acted upon by the charging voltage and can use these for charging the auxiliary batteries 304. Depending on the exemplary embodiment, however, the control modules 306, 308 can also be interconnected in other constellations.

An electrically conductive coupling between in each case two of the control modules, in FIG. 3 for instance between the control module 306 and an additional control module 308 connected directly thereto or also between two additional control modules 308, is for example triggered by actuation of corresponding switching elements

Components of the control modules can be separable, so for example the charging voltage is applied only to the battery 302, as long as it is not fully charged.

Furthermore, the control module 306 has an interface module 316 for transmitting parameters relating to the charging of the battery 302, such as an internal resistance or a voltage. Analogously, the additional control modules 308 are each with a corresponding

Additional interface module 318 for transmitting corresponding additional parameters with respect to a respective charging of the auxiliary batteries 304 equipped. The interface modules 316, 318 are designed in particular as components of a bus system, here a CAN bus. According to one

Embodiment, the interface modules 316, 318 analogous to the control modules 306, 308 connected via corresponding interface connection lines 320 in series with each other.

The parameters transmitted via the bus system can be read, for example, by an external device via a suitable interface, for example also for wireless communication, wherein the external device uses the transmitted parameters, for example for error analysis. The charging processes are additionally or alternatively carried out by means of at least one of the control modules 302, 304 using the battery parameters exchanged via the respective interface modules.

Depending on the exemplary embodiment, the charging device 300 is designed to charge the batteries 302, 304 by means of the control modules 306, 308 automatically in succession or in parallel when the charging voltage is applied as an input voltage. In this case, the control modules 306, 308 synchronize for the individual

Batteries with each other and free the charging voltages for the individual cells via the interface modules 316, 318, here for example via CAN bus, about the error about individual cells of the batteries 302, 304 are read out. Optionally, the input terminals of the batteries 302, 304 have a reverse current cut-off. For example, in the event of a defective battery or in the event of a short circuit, the relevant battery 302, 304 is disconnected from the system. The start of the charge is released via the bus. If the system does not work with Charging voltage is supplied, no voltage is applied to the contacts or cables.

Due to the interconnected control modules and the

Supply connection of the charging device 300 is only a supply line, which is either wired or implemented in induction technology, for applying the charging voltage for all batteries to be charged 302, 304 required. Two further lines are used, for example, for communication via the

Bus system. Alternatively, the communication also takes place wirelessly via radio, Wifi or Bluetooth.

If the batteries are to be charged one behind the other, they will be charged

For example, by means of at least one of the control modules 306, 308 decoupled from each other and then coupled together again during operation. According to one exemplary embodiment, the control module 306 and / or at least one of the additional control modules 308 each have at least one switching element for controlled interruption of the connection lines 315 and / or controlled disconnection of the charge lines 313 coupled to the respective module 306, 308. By a corresponding uncoupling of the charging lines 313, a battery 302, 304 can be bridged, so that this battery 302, 304 is excluded from the charging process at least temporarily.

4 shows a schematic illustration of a battery-operated object 400 according to an exemplary embodiment. The object 400, here a drone, has a loading device according to an embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 3. Shown is the supply terminal 314, here exemplified as a component of a two-pin connector for

Connecting an external power source 402 is realized.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic representation of a supply connection 314 in a charging device according to one exemplary embodiment. In contrast to FIG. 4, the contacting between voltage source 402 and

Supply terminal 314 according to this embodiment inductively, ie wirelessly by means of two coils 500th FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of a method 600 according to FIG

Embodiment. The method 600 for charging batteries in a battery-powered object can be performed, for example, using

Control modules and interface modules according to an embodiment described above with reference to FIGS 3 to 5 are executed.

In this case, in a step 610, the parameters or, additionally or alternatively, the additional parameters are transmitted by means of the interface modules. In a further step 620, the transmitted parameters or additional parameters are used to control the charging of the batteries or additional batteries. This is done by means of the respective control or additional control modules of the

Loader.

If an exemplary embodiment comprises a "and / or" link between a first feature and a second feature, then this is to be read so that the embodiment according to one embodiment, both the first feature and the second feature and according to another embodiment either only first feature or only the second feature.

Claims

claims

A charging device (300) for charging batteries (302, 304) in a battery powered object (400), the charging device (300) comprising: a control module (306) for controlling a charging operation of a battery powered object (400) the battery (302), wherein the control module (306) has a supply terminal (314), which can be coupled to an external voltage source (402), for applying a voltage

Charge voltage to the control module (306) and a

Interface module (316) for transmitting parameters relating to the charging of the battery (302); and at least one additional control module (308) for controlling a

Charging at least one auxiliary battery (304) located in the battery-operated object (400), wherein the auxiliary control module (308) is coupled or coupleable to the control module (306) to charge the auxiliary battery (304) using the charging voltage and an auxiliary interface module (318) for transmitting additional parameters relating to the charging of the auxiliary battery (304).

2. Loading device (300) according to claim 1, wherein the

Control module (306) at least two cell terminals (311) for separately contacting at least two battery cells of

Battery (302) and as a balancer for controlling a

Charge distribution between the battery cells of the battery (302) is realized and / or in which the additional control module (308) at least two additional cell terminals (312) for separately contacting at least two battery cells of the auxiliary battery (304) and as Balancer for controlling a charge distribution between the

Battery cell of the auxiliary battery (304) is realized.

Charging device (300) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the control module (306) and / or the additional control module (308) is designed to couple the additional control module (308) to the control module (306) to charge the battery (302)

Use of the parameters and / or the additional parameters to separate.

Charging device (300) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the supply connection (314) is realized as part of a plug connection and / or has at least one coil (500) for wirelessly receiving an electrical energy representing the charging voltage.

Charging device (300) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the interface module (316) and / or the

Additional interface module (318) is implemented as a bus interface module and / or as an interface module for wireless data transmission.

Charging device (300) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the supply connection (314) is connected to the additional control module (308) via the control module (306).

Battery operated object (400) with a charging device (300) according to one of claims 1 to 6.

Method (600) for charging batteries (302, 304) in one

battery powered object (400) by means of a charging device (300) according to one of claims 1 to 6, the method comprising the steps of:

Transmitting (610) the parameters and / or the additional parameters; and Controlling (620) the charging of the battery (302) and / or the charging of the auxiliary battery (304) using the parameters and / or the additional parameters.

A computer program configured to execute and / or drive the method (600) of claim 8.

10. A machine-readable storage medium on which the computer program according to claim 9 is stored.