The present disclosure relates to battery management techniques capable of estimating parameters of elements forming a battery model for providing control of an associated battery.
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) utilize a combination of an internal combustion engine with an electric motor to provide motive power. This arrangement provides improved fuel economy over a vehicle that has only an internal combustion engine. One method of improving the fuel economy in an HEV is to shutdown the engine during times that the engine operates inefficiently, and is not otherwise needed to propel the vehicle. In these situations, the electric motor is used to provide all of the power needed to propel the vehicle. When the driver power demand increases such that the electric motor can no longer provide enough power to meet the demand, or in other cases such as when the battery state of charge (SOC) drops below a certain level, the engine should start quickly and smoothly in a manner that is nearly transparent to the driver.
The HEV includes a battery management system that estimates values descriptive of the battery pack and/or battery cell present operating conditions. The battery pack and/or cell operating conditions include battery SOC, power fade, capacity fade, and instantaneous available power. The battery management system should be capable of estimating values during changing cell characteristics as cells age over the lifetime of the pack.
A battery management system includes a battery pack and at least one controller. The at least one controller inputs current to the battery pack at each of at least two different states of charge. The at least one controller also outputs open circuit voltage data for a state of charge other than the at least two different states of charge based on model parameters of positive and negative electrodes derived from open circuit voltage measurements corresponding to the input.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein. It is to be understood, however, that the disclosed embodiments are merely examples and other embodiments can take various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features could be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the embodiments. As those of ordinary skill in the art will understand, various features illustrated and described with reference to any one of the figures can be combined with features illustrated in one or more other figures to produce embodiments that are not explicitly illustrated or described. The combinations of features illustrated provide representative embodiments for typical applications. Various combinations and modifications of the features consistent with the teachings of this disclosure, however, could be desired for particular applications or implementations.
The embodiments of the present disclosure generally provide for a plurality of circuits or other electrical devices. All references to the circuits and other electrical devices and the functionality provided by each are not intended to be limited to encompassing only what is illustrated and described herein. While particular labels may be assigned to the various circuits or other electrical devices disclosed, such labels are not intended to limit the scope of operation for the circuits and the other electrical devices. Such circuits and other electrical devices may be combined with each other and/or separated in any manner based on the particular type of electrical implementation that is desired. It is recognized that any circuit or other electrical device disclosed herein may include any number of microprocessors, integrated circuits, memory devices (e.g., FLASH, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), or other suitable variants thereof) and software which co-act with one another to perform operation(s) disclosed herein. In addition, any one or more of the electric devices may be configured to execute a computer-program that is embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that is programmed to perform any number of the functions as disclosed.
An HEV battery system may implement a battery management strategy that estimates values descriptive of the present operating condition of the battery and/or one or more battery cells. The battery pack and/or one or more cells operating conditions include battery state of charge, power fade, capacity fade, and instantaneous available power. The battery management strategy may be capable of estimating values as cells age over the lifetime of the pack. The precise estimation of some parameters may improve performance and robustness, and may ultimately lengthen the useful lifetime of the battery pack. For the battery system described herein, estimation of some battery pack and/or cell parameters can be realized as discussed below.
A battery pack 14 may include a traction battery having one or more battery cells that store energy which can be used by the electric motors 4. The vehicle battery pack 14 typically provides a high voltage DC output and is electrically connected to a power electronics module 16. The power electronics module 16 may communicate with one or more control modules that make up a vehicle computing system 22. The vehicle computing system 22 may control several vehicle features, systems, and/or subsystems. The one or more modules may include, but are not limited to, a battery management system. The power electronics module 16 is also electrically connected to the electric motors 4 and provides the ability to bi-directionally transfer energy between the battery pack 14 and the electric motors 4. For example, a typical battery pack 14 may provide a DC voltage while the electric motors 4 may require three-phase AC current to function. The power electronics module 16 may convert the DC voltage to a three-phase AC current as required by the electric motors 4. In a regenerative mode, the power electronics module 16 will convert the three-phase AC current from the electric motors 4 acting as generators to the DC voltage required by the battery pack 14.
In addition to providing energy for propulsion, the battery pack 14 may provide energy for other vehicle electrical systems. A typical system may include a DC/DC converter module 18 that converts the high voltage DC output of the battery pack 14 to a low voltage DC supply that is compatible with other vehicle loads. Other high voltage loads may be connected directly without the use of a DC/DC converter module 18. In a typical vehicle, the low voltage systems are electrically connected to a 12V battery 20.
The battery pack 14 may be controlled by the power electronics module 16 which may receive commands from a vehicle computing system 22 having one or more control modules. The one or more control modules may include a battery control module. The one or more control modules may be calibrated to control the battery pack 14 using a battery model parameter estimation method which estimates an average sense of effective battery internal resistance during operation to determine battery power capability. The power capability prediction enables the battery pack 14 to prevent over-charging and over-discharging.
The battery parameter prediction method and/or strategy may assist in determining battery current limits and power capability in real-time (i.e., during operation). Many battery parameter estimation processes are affected by the fidelity of battery models and unpredicted environmental conditions or unexpected noises during battery operations. The vehicle battery measurement method/strategy may use a battery model to measure the battery pack in the vehicle to obtain several parameters during operation.
A vehicle battery measurement method may be implemented to eliminate the need for extensive offline testing. The vehicle battery measurement method may use the battery model (e.g., a black box model, an equivalent circuit model, an electrochemical model, etc.) to measure the battery pack in the vehicle to obtain an open circuit voltage during operation. The estimated battery parameters may include fluctuating trajectories which increase when the vehicle is in certain system modes including, charging mode, sustaining mode, or depleting (i.e., discharging) mode. These battery parameters tend to be sensitive to internal and external noises and environmental conditions when using the one or more battery models to estimate these parameters in real time.
In response to the measured open circuit voltage, the system may generate a battery open circuit voltage curve to provide information for predicting battery responses. For example, a battery terminal voltage at a given state of charge is a summation of an open circuit voltage and voltage changes caused by a battery current input profile. Other battery state variables, such as the state of charge and over potential, are computed using the measured open circuit voltage.
The open circuit voltage curve may be identified off-line through battery tests. The off-line testing may generate one or more predefined tables that makeup the open circuit voltage curve. On-board open circuit voltage curve identification may be possible using measured battery terminal voltages at different state of charge points for computing the open circuit voltages with the consideration of battery dynamics. The vehicle battery measurement method of on-board testing is done using one or more sensors, algorithms, and/or a combination thereof to measure the open circuit voltages at different battery state of charge points during vehicle operation. In the case of on-board identification, battery models may be used to estimate battery open circuit voltages.
Using input current profiles 204 and output voltage profiles 206 around a given state of charge, open circuit voltages may be estimated from state estimators based on the battery model 202. An estimation procedure to determine open circuit voltages may use various estimation approaches, such as an Extended Kalman filter and Unscented Kalman filter. Depending on the model structure, the battery model 202 may include additional inputs, such as temperature and battery state of charge (SOC). The additional inputs may be used to calculate battery parameters to control the battery pack.
The system may measure OCV data points 306 at different SOCs, when the battery is fully relaxed, i.e., in a steady state or in a resting period. The system may estimate OCV data points 306 with the consideration of battery dynamics such that the battery is not in a steady state. For example, the system may measure an OCV data point 306 having a value of three and five tenths voltage (3.5V) based on a twenty percent (20%) SOC. In another example, the system may measure an OCV data point 306 having a value of four and two tenths voltage (4.2V) based on a ninety nine percent (99%) SOC.
The system may receive a sufficient number of OCV data points 306 used to construct an estimated open circuit voltage profile curve 308 by interpolation. The sufficient number of OCV data points 306 may include at least ten or more data points. It may be possible to measure a sufficient number of OCV data points 306 to identify an OCV profile curve 308, but the OCV point measurements may require additional computational efforts. In contrast, a small number of OCV data points 306 may deteriorate the OCV profile curve identification accuracy.
The system may reduce the number of OCV data points 306 to identify an OCV profile curve 308 without deteriorating the OCV identification accuracy using pre-identified OCV curves. The pre-identified OCV curves include an OCV profile curve of the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The OCV profile curve using a reduced number of data points may be generated based on the pre-identified OCV curves and identified parameters defined in terms of normalized Li-ion concentrations at each electrode.
The graph has an x-axis 402 representing normalized Li-ion concentration of the battery and a y-axis 404 representing OCV of each electrode. An OCV of a battery cell is computed as the difference between the OCVs of a positive electrode and a negative electrode at a given SOC. The ranges of lithiation are defined corresponding to the battery state of charge at the positive electrode at one hundred percent (100%) 406 and zero percent (0%) 408, and for the negative electrode at zero percent (0%) 412 and one hundred percent (100%) 414.
An OCV curve with respect to the lithiation of the positive electrode material is depicted in 418, and an OCV curve with respect to the lithiation of the negative electrode material is depicted in 420.
The OCV at a given state of charge is computed from the following equation:
OCV=Up(θp)−Un(θn) (1)
wherein Up(θp) is the OCV of the positive electrode, and Un(θn) is the OCV of the negative electrode. The positive electrode Up(θp) is expressed as Up=f1(θp), a function representing the OCV curve with respect to a normalized Li-ion concentration of the positive electrode θp. The negative electrode Un(θn) is expressed as Un=f2(θn), a function representing the OCV curve with respect to a normalized Li-ion concentration of the negative electrode θn.
The normalized Li-ion concentrations of the positive electrode and the negative electrode are defined using the following equations:
wherein cp is the Li-ion concentration of the positive electrode in the battery cell, cp,max is the maximum Li-ion concentration of the positive electrode, and the subscript SS represents a stead state of a battery dynamics.
The OCV of the positive electrode at a one hundred percent (100%) SOC point 406 has a greater value than the data point at a zero percent (0%) SOC point 408. The OCV of the negative electrode at a one hundred percent (100%) SOC point 414 is smaller than or equal to the value of the data point at a zero percent (0%) SOC point 412.
The corresponding state of charge at each electrode is expressed using the following equation:
wherein the system may use an interpolated OCV curve of each electrode to determine the OCV data points of the positive electrode 410 and of the negative electrode 416.
From equation (3), the normalized Li-ion concentration at each electrode is calculated using the following equation:
θp=θp,0%+SOCp,SS(θp,100%−θp,0%) (4a)
θn=θn,0%+SOCn,SS(θn,100%−θn,0%) (4b)
wherein θp,0% is the normalized Li-ion concentration of the positive electrode at zero percent (0%) SOC, θp,100% is the normalized Li-ion concentration of the positive electrode at one hundred percent (100%) SOC, θn,0% is the normalized Li-ion concentration of the negative electrode at zero percent (0%) SOC, and θn,100% is the normalized Li-ion concentration of the negative electrode at one hundred percent (100%) SOC.
Using equations (1)-(4), the OCV curve is defined in the entire SOC range, i.e., from zero percent (0%) to one hundred percent (100%), in terms of the normalized Li-ion concentration at the positive electrode at θp,0%, θp,100%, and the normalized Li-ion concentration at the negative electrode at θn,0%, θn,100%.
The parameters may be identified by solving an optimization problem with multiple constraints minimizing the error between estimated OCV points and measured OCV points as formulated using the following equation:
The optimization problem with multiple constraints in equation (5) is subject to the following equations:
θp,i=θp,0%+SOCp,i(θp,100%−θp,0%) (6a)
θn,i=θn,0%+SOCn,i(θn,100%−θn,0%) (6b)
{circumflex over (V)}
OC(θp,i,θn,i)=Up(θp,i)−Un(θn,i) (6c)
{circumflex over (V)}
OC(θp,100%,θn,100%)=Vmax (6d)
{circumflex over (V)}
OC(θp,0%,θn,0%)=Vmin (6e)
SOCi=SOCp,i=SOCn,i (6f)
wherein {circumflex over (V)}OC(θp,i, θn,i) is the estimated OCV at the ith measurement, Vmax is the battery output voltage upper limit, Vmin is the battery output voltage lower limit, SOCi is the battery state-of-charge at the ith OCV measurement, and N is the number of OCV measurements.
The model parameters to construct an OCV curve are the positive electrode at θp,0%, θp,100, and the negative electrode at θn,0%, θn,100% obtained by solving equation (5) subject to the constraints in equations (6a)-(6f).
The constraints in equations (6d) and (6e) may not be used for some cases, but the constraints in equations (6a)-(6c) and (6f) may always be satisfied.
The number of OCV measurements may be at least two, but the practical number of OCV measurements may be determined to achieve the desired OCV estimation accuracy regarding the Li-ion battery chemistry.
Referring again to
At step 502, during a key-on event which allows the vehicle to be powered on, the vehicle computing system may begin powering up the one or more modules. The powering up of the one or more modules may cause variables related to the battery management system to initialize before enabling one or more algorithms used to control the battery at step 504.
The initialized parameters in the one or more modules may be predetermined values or stored values at the last key-off event. Before enabling the algorithms at a key-on event, the parameters should be initialized. For example, the battery management method may initialize several variables including, but not limited to, the OCV data points, voltage limits, current limits, SOC range, and/or other battery related parameters.
At 506, the system may measure and/or estimate the OCV at a SOC data point using several types of sensors and/or algorithms. Once the system has received an OCV at a SOC data point, the system may calculate the SOC change from the time step of previous OCV measurement to the current time at step 508.
At step 510, if the SOC change is smaller than a predetermined constant, the battery controller waits for a predetermined amount of time to calculate a SOC change. If the SOC change is larger than and equal to a predetermined constant, the index k is increased by one at step 512. At step 514, if the battery is in a charge or discharge state, the system may wait until the battery is in a steady-state before measuring a new SOC data point.
For example, the SOC at the index k is fifty percent (50%) and the SOC at the index k+1 is fifty-one percent (51%), the SOC change may be small; therefore a large number of OCV measurements may be required to cover the entire SOC range and to identify an OCV curve. In contrast, if the SOC at the index k is sixty percent (60%) and the SOC at the index k+1 is forty percent (40%), the SOC change may be large enough to cover the entire SOC range with a small number of OCV measurements.
At step 516, the system may determine whether it has enough OCV data points to identify an OCV curve. If enough data points are received, the system may identify an OCV curve using the measurement data at different SOC points based on the embodiment at step 518.
At step 520, the system may determine that additional identification is needed to generate the OCV curve. The battery performance may change over the life of the battery based on a number of factors including, but not limited to, degree of lithiation of the electrodes, electrode capacity ratios, and/or electrode compositions. Battery control algorithms may use the identified OCV curve to account for the life of the battery.
At step 522, if the system detects a key-off event, the system may end the one or more algorithms used to manage the battery pack and/or the one or more battery cells. The vehicle computing system may have a vehicle key-off mode to allow the system to store one or more parameters in nonvolatile memory such that these parameters may be used by the system for the next key-on event. The one or more parameters may include OCV data points, SOC data points, and/or an OCV curve profile.
Compared to
The OCV profile curve 812 in
While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms encompassed by the claims. The words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. As previously described, the features of various embodiments can be combined to form further embodiments of the invention that may not be explicitly described or illustrated. While various embodiments could have been described as providing advantages or being preferred over other embodiments or prior art implementations with respect to one or more desired characteristics, those of ordinary skill in the art recognize that one or more features or characteristics can be compromised to achieve desired overall system attributes, which depend on the specific application and implementation. These attributes can include, but are not limited to cost, strength, durability, life cycle cost, marketability, appearance, packaging, size, serviceability, weight, manufacturability, ease of assembly, etc. As such, embodiments described as less desirable than other embodiments or prior art implementations with respect to one or more characteristics are not outside the scope of the disclosure and can be desirable for particular applications.