This application claims priority to and benefit of Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 200910105109.0, filed on Jan. 16, 2009.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery managing device and a method of using the battery managing device.
2. Background of the Related Art
With the advancement of the society and the development of the economy, people pay more attention to the hybrid power vehicles and electric vehicles for they can save the energy and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. But charging a battery of such vehicles is difficult because of the huge capacitance of the battery. There is much work to do to improve the technique of charging. The disadvantage of the present charger is that the charging controlling curve does not aim at the battery. The charging controlling curve which is saved in advance in the charger is not correlative to the battery.
The present invention provides a battery managing device which correlates the charger to the battery charging characteristics.
The present invention provides a battery managing device including a single chip used for determining a charging voltage and a charging current correlative to a residual capacitance of the battery and controlling the charger coupled to the battery managing device to charge the battery in the charging voltage and charging current determined by the single chip.
The present invention further provides a method of using the battery managing device, including (1) determining a charging voltage and a charging current correlative to a residual capacitance of the battery via the single chip; (2) controlling the charger coupled to the battery managing device to charge the battery in the charging voltage and charging current via the single chip.
The battery managing device according to the present invention determines a charging voltage and a charging current correlative to a residual capacitance of the battery and controls the charger coupled to the battery managing device to charge the battery in the determined charging voltage and charging current. It makes the charger be more correlative to the battery.
The aforementioned features and advantages of the invention as well as additional features and advantages thereof will be more clearly understood hereinafter as a result of a detailed description of embodiments when taken in conjunction with the drawings.
As shown in
The charger 1 is an ordinary charger known by the technicians. The charger 1 includes an AC/DC voltage converting module or DC/DC voltage converting module used for converting the voltage of the power grid into the voltage needed by the battery, a hardware protecting circuit used for protecting the hardware and the charging receiver.
The present invention further provides a method of using the battery managing device 2 including a single chip 25, including: (1) determining a charging voltage and a charging current correlative to a residual capacitance of the battery via the single chip; (2) controlling the charger coupled to the battery managing device to charge the battery in the charging voltage and charging current via the single chip.
The battery managing device further includes a capacitance detecting module (not shown in figures) and an A/D converting module (not shown in figures). The capacitance detecting module is coupled to the A/D converting module. The A/D converting module is coupled to the single chip 25. The capacitance detecting module is used for detecting the residual capacitance of the battery 3. The capacitance detecting module is known by the technicians.
The charger works in the high voltage and current. The detecting information may be influenced by the electromagnetic interference which is generated by the charger. It is difficult to detect the battery information. In order to overcome the difficulty, the battery managing device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a current detecting module 21, a voltage detecting module 22, a temperature detecting module 23, an A/D converting module 24, a single chip 25 and a memorizer module 26. The current detecting module 21, the voltage detecting module 22 and the temperature detecting module 23 is respectively coupled to the A/D converting module 24. The A/D converting module 24 is coupled to the single chip 25. The memorizer module 26 is coupled to the single chip 25.
The battery 3 includes a battery monomer or more. As a preferred embodiment, the battery 3 includes several series-wound battery monomers.
The series-wound battery monomers can be divided into several battery groups. The battery groups can have the same number of the battery monomers. Or the battery groups can have the different numbers of the battery monomers. As a preferred embodiment, the battery groups can have the same number of the battery monomers. The temperature detecting module 23 detects the temperature of each battery monomer and battery group.
The current detecting module 21 is used for detecting the current of the battery 3 when the battery 3 is discharged. The voltage detecting module 22 is used for detecting the voltage of the battery monomer when the battery 3 is charged.
The current detecting module 21, the voltage detecting module 22 and the temperature detecting module 23 is respectively coupled to the A/D converting module 24. The A/D converting module 24 is used for converting the current detected by the current detecting module 21, the voltage detected by the voltage detecting module 22 and the temperature detected by the temperature detecting module 23 into digital information and delivering the digital information to the single chip 25.
The memorizer module 26 is used for storing the information of the total capacitance of the battery 3, the residual capacitance of the battery 3, the rated voltage of the battery monomer and the rated voltage of the battery 3. The memorizer module 26 is further used for recording the information when the battery 3 is discharged or charged, such as the current, the time of being discharged or charged. The memorizer module 26 also record how many times the battery 3 has been charged. The information can be used in the research and development of the battery.
The battery managing device 2 can be coupled to the charger 1 in many kinds of ways. As a preferred embodiment of the invention, both the battery managing device 2 and the charger 1 have a CAN communicating module. The charger 1 further has a single chip. The battery managing device 2 is coupled to the charger 1 via a CAN bus so that they can communicate conveniently. The battery managing device 2 can be coupled to the charger 1 in other ways as long as the information of the charging voltage and charging current generated by the battery managing device 2 can be sent to the charger 1. And then the charger can charge the battery according to the information of the charging voltage and charging current.
As a preferred embodiment of the invention, the step (1) includes (1-1) obtaining an original residual capacitance of the battery from the memorizing module and determining an original charging voltage and an original charging current correlative to the original residual capacitance via the single chip; (1-2) determining a present charging voltage and a present charging current correlative to the present residual capacitance of the battery via the single chip.
The original residual capacitance in step (1-1) is calculated by following steps: (1-1-1) obtaining the amount of the capacitance which has been run out via the single chip, wherein the amount of the capacitance which has been run out (drained) is the integral value of the discharging voltage and the discharging current calculated by the single chip; (1-1-2) subtracting the amount of the capacitance which has been run out (drained) from the total capacitance of the battery to obtain the original residual capacitance via the single chip; (1-1-3) storing the original residual capacitance in the memorizer module via the single chip; (1-1-4) obtaining the original residual capacitance from the memorizer module via the single chip when the battery is charged.
In step (1-1-1), the battery managing device 2 is coupled to the battery 3. For example, the battery managing device 2 can be integrated with the battery 3 to record the information of the battery 3.
The present residual capacitance in step (1-2) is calculated by following steps: (1-2-1) obtaining the amount of the capacitance which has been stored in the battery when the battery is charged via the single chip; (1-2-2) obtaining the present residual capacitance by adding the original residual capacitance and the amount of the capacitance which has been stored in the battery when the battery is charged via the single chip; wherein the amount of electricity which has been stored in the battery is the integral value of the charging voltage and the charging current.
Further, the method includes: (3) determining whether the battery 3 is fully charged by the single chip 25. The single chip 25 determines whether the residual capacitance of the battery 3 is as much as the total capacitance or whether the voltage of one of the battery monomers is as much as the rated voltage to determine whether the battery 3 is fully charged. As a preferred embodiment, the single chip 25 determines whether the voltage of one of the battery monomers is as much as the rated voltage to determine whether the battery 3 is fully charged. It can prolong the life-span of the battery 3.
The step (3) includes: (3-1) controlling the charger 1 to stop charging the battery 3 via the single chip when the battery 3 is fully charged; (3-2) controlling the charger 1 to continue charging the battery 2 via the single chip when the battery 1 is not fully charged.
In order to protect the battery monomer of the battery 3, the battery managing device further includes a temperature detecting module coupled to the A/D converting module, the step (1) and step (2) further includes: (s-1) dividing the series-wound battery monomers into several battery groups and detecting the temperature of every battery monomer and battery group via the temperature detecting module 23; (s-2) determining whether the temperature of one of the battery monomers and battery groups reaches the predetermined safe temperature via the temperature detecting module 23; (s-3) alarming and stopping charging the battery 3 if the temperature of one of the battery monomers and battery groups reaches the predetermined safe temperature; (s-4) going on charging the battery 3 if the temperature of any battery monomer and battery group does not reach the predetermined safe temperature.
The predetermined safe temperature is correlative to the kinds of the battery 3. For example, it can be 65 degrees centigrade.
An alarming device which is used for alarming can be positioned on the charger 1 or the battery managing device 2. The alarming device can be a buzzer. It can be avoided that the battery 3 explodes by accident.
The charger 1 works in the high voltage and current. The detecting information may be influenced by the electromagnetic interference which is generated by the charger 1. The battery managing device 2 can overcome such disadvantages and promote the nicety of the detecting information.
The principles of the preferred embodiment described herein is therefore illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated in the appended claims and all variations which come within the spirit and meaning of the claims are intended be embraced therein.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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200910105109.0 | Jan 2009 | CN | national |