Patent Application
20140019790
1. Field
The described embodiments relate to techniques for monitoring a battery in an electronic device. More specifically, the described embodiments relate to techniques for monitoring the battery by determining a float current of the battery.
2. Related Art
Rechargeable batteries powering electronic devices such as laptop computers, smartphones, and tablet computers are often designed to have a life span, under normal use conditions, of 3 to 5 years and a cycle life of 500 to 1000 recharging cycles. However, as a result of manufacturing defects or abuse by users (e.g., damage due to being dropped, having something fall on it, or liquid spills), a rechargeable battery may develop defects that can include soft or hard shorts in one or more cells in the battery. These may not only reduce the useful life of the battery, but may also result in excessive heating and/or swelling of the battery, which can cause thermal runaway that may damage the electronic device and could be dangerous for the user.
Hence, use of electronic devices may be facilitated by monitoring a battery powering the electrical device.
In the figures, like reference numerals refer to the same figure elements.
The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the described embodiments, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the described embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the described embodiments. Thus, the described embodiments are not limited to the embodiments shown, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.
The data structures and code described in this detailed description are typically stored on a computer-readable storage medium, which may be any device or medium that can store code and/or data for use by an electronic device and/or battery management unit with computing capabilities. For example, the computer-readable storage medium can include volatile memory or non-volatile memory, including flash memory, random access memory (RAM, SRAM, DRAM, RDRAM, DDR/DDR2/DDR3 SDRAM, etc.), magnetic or optical storage mediums (e.g., disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs, DVDs), or other mediums capable of storing data structures or code. Note that, in the described embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium does not include non-statutory computer-readable storage mediums such as transmission signals.
The methods and processes described in this detailed description can be included in hardware modules. For example, the hardware modules can include, but are not limited to, one or more, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable-logic devices, and microcontrollers. When the hardware modules are activated, the hardware modules perform the methods and processes included within the hardware modules. In some embodiments, the hardware modules include one or more general-purpose circuits that are configured by executing instructions (program code, firmware, etc.) to perform the methods and processes.
The methods and processes described in the detailed description section can be embodied as code and/or data that can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium as described above. When a battery management unit with computing capabilities reads and executes the code and/or data stored on the computer-readable storage medium, the battery management unit performs the methods and processes embodied as data structures and code and stored within the computer-readable storage medium. For example, in some embodiments, a processing subsystem in the battery management unit can read the code and/or data from a memory subsystem in the battery management unit that comprises a computer-readable storage medium and can execute code and/or use the data to perform the methods and processes.
In the following description, we refer to “some embodiments.” Note that “some embodiments” describes a subset of all of the possible embodiments, but does not always specify the same subset of embodiments.
Electronic device 100 can be (or can be included in) any device that includes a rechargeable battery. For example, electronic device 100 can be (or can be included in) a laptop computer, an appliance, a subnotebook/netbook, a tablet computer, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, or another device.
Battery 102 may be any rechargeable battery or battery system including one or more batteries and/or battery cells coupled together in any parallel or series configuration to output any desired voltage and/or current. Battery 102 may be implemented in any rechargeable battery chemistry, including but not limited to nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium ion, and lithium polymer battery chemistries.
BMU 104 may be any battery management unit implemented in any technology and may include any combination of hardware and software, and digital and analog circuitry. BMU 104 may include one or more microcontrollers and/or other hardware modules, and may be implemented on one or more integrated circuits. BMU 104 will be discussed in more detail with reference to
Other subsystems 106 represents all of the other subsystems that may be present in electronic device 100 and may include but is not limited to one or more processing subsystems (e.g., CPUs), memory subsystems (e.g., volatile and non-volatile), communications subsystems, display subsystems, data collection subsystems, audio and/or video subsystems, alarm subsystems, media processing subsystems, and/or input/output (I/O) subsystems. Note that one or more of the subsystems in other subsystems 106 may be powered by battery 102.
Processing subsystem 202 includes one or more devices configured to perform computational operations. For example, processing subsystem 202 can include one or more central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or programmable-logic devices.
Memory subsystem 204 includes one or more devices for storing data and/or instructions for processing subsystem 202 and input/output (I/O) subsystem 206. For example, memory subsystem 204 can include dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), flash memory, and/or other types of memory. In addition, memory subsystem 204 can include firmware and mechanisms for controlling access to the memory.
I/O subsystem 206 is a subsystem that includes input and output subsystems for inputting and outputting digital and analog signals to and from BMU 104. For example, I/O subsystem 206 may include one or more digital and/or analog programmable input and output ports and analog to digital input ports. Processing subsystem 202 uses I/O subsystem 206 to communicate with battery 102 and other subsystems 106. Additionally I/O subsystem 206 may include ports to control and/or measure the current and/or voltage flowing into battery 102 (e.g., to charge battery 102 using a power adapter, not shown) and the current and/or voltage flowing out of battery 102.
Processing subsystem 202, memory subsystem 204, and I/O subsystem 206 are coupled together using bus 208. Bus 208 is an electrical, optical, or electro-optical connection that the subsystems can use to communicate commands and data among one another. Although only one bus 208 is shown for clarity, different embodiments can include a different number or configuration of electrical or other connections among the subsystems.
Although shown as separate subsystems in
Although we use specific subsystems to describe BMU 104, in alternative embodiments, different subsystems may be present in BMU 104. For example, BMU 104 may include one or more additional processing subsystems 202, memory subsystems 204, and/or I/O subsystems 206. Additionally, one or more of the subsystems may not be present in BMU 104. Moreover, in some embodiments, BMU 104 may include one or more additional subsystems that are not shown in
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the functionality of BMU 104 may be implemented in multiple ways. For example, BMU 104 may be implemented using one or more hardware modules (e.g., microcontrollers and/or other integrated circuits) in electronic device 100. Similarly, a portion of the functionality of BMU 104 may be implemented in software that executes on a processor of electronic device 100, and/or combinations of in-situ hardware and/or software components in electronic device 100.
The operation of BMU 104 will be described with reference to
After battery 102 is charged to the predetermined SOC (step 302), then at step 304 BMU 104 determines the float current of battery 102. For example, if BMU 104 charges battery 102 to a full SOC and thereafter maintains the battery at its float voltage, the current drawn by battery 102, the float current, is measured by BMU 104 at step 304. BMU 104 may measure the float current using a known current sense resistor in BMU 104 (not shown) coupled to I/O subsystem 206. BMU 104 measures the voltage at each node of the sense resistor (e.g., using A/D converters in I/O subsystem 206) to determine the voltage drop across the resistor, which is then used along with the known resistance value to determine the current.
At step 304, BMU may measure the float current one or more times. In some embodiments, each of the float current measurements is separated by a predetermined period of time. In some embodiments the predetermined time period may be based on the measurement speed of BMU 104 or may be selected to be any other value (e.g., 10 minutes). For example, BMU 104 may measure the float current 3 times over a 10 minute interval, or once every 10 minutes. Then, in step 306 BMU 104 averages the float current measurements taken during step 304 to obtain a mean float current.
At step 308, if the mean float current is not greater than a predetermined value, then the process returns to step 304. In some embodiments, BMU 104 may wait a predetermined time before implementing step 304 again or step 304 may be implemented again only after a predetermined number of charge/discharge cycles have occurred since BMU 104 last implemented step 304. For example, at step 308, if the mean float current is not greater than the predetermined value, then BMU 104 waits one hour before implementing step 304 again. In some embodiments, the predetermined time may be in the range from 10 minutes to 2 hours.
The predetermined value for step 308 may be determined using any suitable technique, including but not limited to bench top and/or field testing of damaged/defective and undamaged batteries similar to battery 102.
In some embodiments, one or more initial float current measurements may be made of battery 102 during the assembly of electronic device 100 or as part of a pre-shipping or pre-sale calibration process. The initial measurement(s) may then be used as a baseline to determine the predetermined value based on an absolute or relative increase from the initial measurement(s). Furthermore, in some embodiments, at step 308 a slope of the float current versus time may be determined and when the slope exceeds a predetermined value, the process continues to step 310 and an alert is generated.
Note that in some embodiments, BMU 104 may determine the mean float current using fewer than all of the measured values. For example, float current values that are determined to be “outliers” based on a predetermined absolute or relative difference with other float current values may be excluded from the mean calculation.
At step 308, if BMU 104 determines that the mean float current is greater than the predetermined value, then at step 310 BMU 104 generates an alert and/or causes an alert to be generated by other subsystems 106 in electronic device 100. The generated alert may include but is not limited to one or more of: a visual cue (e.g., text warning or icon), an auditory cue (e.g., a warning sound or prerecorded message), transmitting a message to the user or the manufacturer, and/or an alert that includes an action such as disconnecting battery 102, and/or preventing it from recharging.
In some embodiments, after an alert is generated at step 310 (e.g., a visual or auditory cue), BMU 104 continues to allow battery 102 to power electronic device 100, returns to step 304, and increases the predetermined value to a second predetermined value. Then, when the mean float current exceeds the second predetermined value at step 308, at step 310 the alert generated by BMU 104 includes preventing battery 102 from being recharged and/or disconnecting battery 102, preventing it from powering electronic device 100. In some embodiments, the second predetermined value is 15 mA.
Although the subsystems of a BMU are described as an example, in some embodiments, some or all of the above-described functions are implemented using different mechanisms. For example, in some embodiments, one or more separate integrated circuit chips perform the indicated operations. In these embodiments, the integrated circuit chips can include specialized circuits that implement some or all of the above-described operations, and/or can include general-purpose circuits that execute program code (e.g., firmware, etc.) that causes the circuits to perform the operations. In some embodiments, a combination of integrated circuit chips and a processing subsystem (not shown) in electronic device 100 is used to implement the system.
The foregoing descriptions of embodiments have been presented only for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments to the forms disclosed. Accordingly, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. Additionally, the above disclosure is not intended to limit the embodiments. The scope of the embodiments is defined by the appended claims.
