Patent Description:
A battery used as an energy source for various portable electronic devices, including smart phones, notebook computers, and PDA's, may have a temperature that rises above a reference temperature by various circumstances such as when a short circuit occurs inside a cell built into a battery, when an electronic device with a battery consumes an abnormally large amount of power, or when an electronic device with a battery is exposed to a high temperature environment, for example.

In this way, when the temperature of the battery rises above the reference temperature, as a large amount of gas is released by the decomposition of the electrolyte or active material built into the battery cell, the internal pressure of the cell rises rapidly, so that there is a problem that not only there is a risk of the cell explosion, but also the electrochemical characteristics of the battery cell are deteriorated, thereby reducing the lifespan of the battery.

In order to solve these problems, when the temperature is measured by contacting the temperature sensor at a specific location of the battery cell and detected above the standard, it was determined that the temperature of the battery cell was abnormal, and measures such as blocking the current of the battery were taken to prevent further temperature rise.

However, the method of measuring the temperature by contacting the temperature sensor with the surface of the battery cell as described above has a problem in that it is measured slower than the actual cell surface temperature when the temperature sensor does not come into close contact with the battery cell due to the limitations of physical device design such as process, or due to time difference due to conduction or convection.

For example, the cell surface temperature rises due to heat generation during overdischarge, and the temperature value measured by the temperature sensor rises more slowly than the actual cell surface temperature at the time, resulting in a situation in which the measurement time is delayed. In this case, since there is a limit to determining the current temperature of the actual battery cell, as a result, the safety diagnosis determination of the battery cell is delayed.

(Patent Document <NUM>) <CIT>. <CIT> relates to a device for determining the remaining capacity in a battery.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-described problem, and to minimize the temperature measurement delay by using a software algorithm method for estimating the current actual cell surface temperature by reflecting the gradient of the measured temperature change of the battery cell.

A battery cell surface temperature estimation system according to the present invention includes: a temperature measurement unit configured to measure a measurement cell surface temperature that is a surface temperature of a battery cell being charged/discharged at a predetermined cycle interval; a delay time acquisition unit configured acquire a delay time that is a time required for the measurement cell surface temperature to reach a maximum temperature for each predetermined temperature section from a charge/discharge end time point of the battery cell; a first memory unit configured to store a delay time corresponding to each charge/discharge state of the battery cell for each predetermined temperature section as a database based on data on the delay time obtained from the delay time acquisition unit; a second memory unit configured to store a measurement cell surface temperature value measured by the temperature measurement unit; and a cell surface temperature prediction unit configured to calculate a delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature measured by the temperature measurement unit based on the database of the first memory unit, and predict an actual cell surface temperature of the current battery cell using the calculated delay time.

Specifically, the cell surface temperature prediction unit includes: a current delay time calculation unit configured to extract a temperature section to which the current measurement cell surface temperature measured by the temperature measurement unit belongs from among the predetermined temperature sections stored in the first memory unit, and calculate a delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature by using a temperature value corresponding to the extracted temperature section and a delay time corresponding to the charging/discharging state of the current battery cell; a temperature deviation calculation unit configured to calculate a difference between a measurement cell surface temperature value corresponding to a previous time point by the delay time calculated by the current delay time calculation unit and a current measurement cell surface temperature value, based on a current time point; and an actual cell surface temperature estimation unit configured to estimate a current measurement cell surface temperature plus the temperature deviation calculated by the temperature deviation calculation unit as the measurement cell surface temperature to be measured after the delay time at the current time point.

At this time, the cell surface temperature prediction unit predicts the measurement cell surface temperature value estimated by the actual cell surface temperature estimation unit as the current actual cell surface temperature of the battery cell.

Moreover, the data on the delay time corresponding to each charge/discharge state of the battery cell for each predetermined temperature section stored in the first memory unit is updated every time the battery cell is charged/discharged.

Furthermore, the battery cell surface temperature estimation system further includes a temperature state diagnosis unit configured to compare the current actual cell surface temperature predicted by the actual cell surface temperature prediction unit with a predetermined reference value, and diagnose the current temperature state of the battery cell according to a comparison result.

A battery cell surface temperature estimation method according to the present invention includes: a temperature measurement step of measuring a measurement cell surface temperature that is a surface temperature of a battery cell being charged/discharged at a predetermined cycle interval; a delay time acquisition step of acquiring a delay time that is a time required for the measurement cell surface temperature measured in the temperature measurement step to reach a maximum temperature for each predetermined temperature section from a charge/discharge end time point of the battery cell; a database provision step of storing the delay time corresponding to each charge/discharge state of the battery cell for each predetermined temperature section into a database based on the data on the delay time for each predetermined temperature section obtained through the temperature measurement step and the delay time acquisition step; and a cell surface temperature prediction step of calculating a delay time corresponding to the current measured cell surface temperature of the battery cell based on the database obtained in the database provision step and predicting an actual cell surface temperature that is an actual temperature value of the current battery cell, using the calculated delay time.

In detail, the cell surface temperature prediction step includes: a current delay time calculation step of extracting a temperature section to which the current measurement cell surface temperature belongs among a predetermined temperature section of the database, and calculating a delay time corresponding to the current measured cell surface temperature of the battery cell by using the temperature value corresponding to the extracted temperature section and the delay time corresponding to the charge/discharge state of the current battery cell; a temperature deviation calculation step of calculating a difference between the measurement cell surface temperature value corresponding to the previous time point by the delay time calculated in the current delay time calculation step based on the current time point and a current measurement cell surface temperature value; and an actual cell surface temperature estimation step of estimating a current measurement cell surface temperature plus the temperature deviation calculated in the temperature deviation calculation step as the measurement cell surface temperature to be measured after the delay time at the current time point.

At this time, the cell surface temperature prediction step predicts the measurement cell surface temperature value estimated in the actual cell surface temperature estimation step as the current actual cell surface temperature of the battery cell.

Moreover, the battery cell surface temperature estimation method further includes a temperature state diagnosis step of comparing the current actual cell surface temperature predicted in the cell surface temperature prediction unit with a predetermined reference value, and diagnosing the current temperature state of the battery cell according to a comparison result.

Furthermore, the data on the delay time corresponding to each charge/discharge state of the battery cell for each predetermined temperature section stored in the database is updated every time the battery cell is charged/discharged.

The present invention estimates the measurement delay time based on the current measurement temperature by reflecting the measurement temperature change gradient of the battery cell, and predicts the value estimated as the temperature after the measurement delay time based on the present as the current actual cell surface temperature. Therefore, the temperature of the battery cells may be monitored with improved accuracy in real time by minimizing the measurement delay that occurs when measuring the temperature of the battery cell in a physical way.

Due to this, since it is possible to diagnose the temperature state of the battery cell more accurately and quickly, battery stability may be improved.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those of ordinary skill in the art may easily implement the present invention. However, the present invention may be implemented in various forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

<FIG> is a block diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of a battery cell surface temperature estimation system according to the present invention. The system of the present invention includes a temperature measurement unit <NUM>, a delay time acquisition unit <NUM>, a first memory unit <NUM>, a second memory unit <NUM>, an actual cell surface temperature prediction unit <NUM>, and a temperature state diagnosis unit <NUM>.

The temperature measurement unit is a configuration that measures the temperature of the battery cell <NUM> being charged/discharged at a predetermined cycle interval, and specifically, is provided at a predetermined position among the surface of the battery cell <NUM> to measure the cell surface temperature. Hereinafter, the temperature of the battery cell measured by such a temperature measurement unit will be referred to as a measurement cell surface temperature and described.

The delay time acquisition unit is a configuration that measures and acquires the delay time, which is the time it takes from the charge/discharge end time point of the battery cell until the measurement cell surface temperature measured by the temperature measurement unit <NUM> reaches the maximum temperature for each predetermined temperature section.

For example, if the temperature section is set at <NUM> degree intervals and the measurement cell surface temperature at the charge/discharge end time point is about <NUM> degrees, the time it takes for the measurement cell surface temperature to reach <NUM> degrees, that is, the highest temperature in the section of <NUM> degrees to <NUM> degrees, from that point, the time it takes to reach the maximum temperature of <NUM> degrees in the section of <NUM> degrees to <NUM> degrees, the time it takes to reach the maximum temperature of <NUM> degrees in the section of <NUM> degrees to <NUM> degrees, and the time it takes to reach the maximum temperature of <NUM> degrees in the section of <NUM> degrees to <NUM> degrees are measured, and the time acquired for each temperature section at this time is the delay time.

That is, the delay time means the time difference between the charge/discharge end time point and the time when the measurement cell surface temperature reaches the maximum temperature of the corresponding temperature section for each temperature section.

The first memory unit is a configuration that databases and stores the delay time corresponding to each charge/discharge state of the battery cell for each predetermined temperature section based on the data on the delay time acquired from the delay time acquisition unit <NUM> every time the battery cell is charged/discharged.

For example, as shown in the table of <FIG>, charging delay time of <NUM> and discharging delay time of <NUM> at <NUM> degrees mean that it took <NUM> seconds from the end time point of charging of the battery cell until the measurement cell surface temperature reaches <NUM> degrees and it took <NUM> seconds from the end time point of discharging of the battery cell until the measurement cell surface temperature reaches <NUM> degrees.

The first memory unit forms a database and stores the delay time data for each charge/discharge state for each temperature section in such a table format.

Meanwhile, the first memory unit updates and stores the data obtained from the delay time acquisition unit <NUM> for every charge/discharge of the battery cell. Accordingly, since the most recent temperature change trend may be reflected in predicting the actual temperature of the battery cell, it is possible to predict the actual surface temperature of a battery cell with improved accuracy.

The second memory unit is a configuration that stores the measurement cell surface temperature value measured at a predetermined period by the temperature measurement unit <NUM>.

The cell surface temperature prediction unit is a configuration that calculates a delay time corresponding to the measurement cell surface temperature of the current time measured by the temperature measurement unit <NUM> based on the database of the first memory unit <NUM>, and predicts the actual cell surface temperature at the current time by using the calculated delay time. This cell surface temperature prediction unit may include the following detailed configuration.

The delay time calculation unit may extract a temperature section to which the current measurement cell surface temperature measured by the temperature measurement unit <NUM> belongs among the temperature sections stored in the first memory unit <NUM>, and calculate the delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature by using the temperature value corresponding to the extracted temperature section and the delay time corresponding to the charge/discharge state of the current battery cell.

Referring to <FIG> for an example, if the current battery cell is discharging and the current measurement cell surface temperature is <NUM> degrees, the temperature section to which the current measurement cell surface temperature belongs is a <NUM> to <NUM> degree section, and the delay times in the discharge state corresponding to the corresponding temperature values of <NUM> and <NUM> degrees respectively are <NUM> and <NUM>. In this case, the delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature may be calculated as about <NUM> seconds through the expression {(<NUM>+<NUM>)/<NUM>}.

In this way, the current delay time calculation unit may calculate the delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature based on the database of the first memory unit <NUM>.

The delay time calculated here is a time for which measurement in the temperature measurement unit <NUM> is delayed compared to the actual cell surface temperature state based on the present, and that is, means that the temperature measurement unit <NUM> is measuring slower than the actual cell surface temperature by the calculated delay time.

The temperature deviation calculation unit may calculate the difference between the measurement cell surface temperature value corresponding to the previous time point by the delay time calculated by the current delay time calculation unit <NUM> and the current measurement cell surface temperature value based on the current time point.

For example, if the delay time calculated by the current delay time calculation unit <NUM> is <NUM> seconds as described above, the difference between the measurement cell surface temperature value <NUM> seconds ago and the current measurement cell surface temperature value is calculated based on the current time point. If the measurement cell surface temperature value <NUM> seconds ago was <NUM> degrees, <NUM> degrees, which is a difference from the current measurement cell surface temperature value of <NUM> degrees, is calculated.

The actual cell surface temperature estimation unit estimates a value obtained by adding the temperature deviation value calculated by the temperature deviation calculation unit <NUM> to the current measurement cell surface temperature value as the corresponding measurement cell surface temperature after the delay time, and predicts this as the current actual cell surface temperature.

For example, if the current measurement cell surface temperature is <NUM> degrees, the delay time calculated by the current delay time calculation unit <NUM> is <NUM> seconds, and the temperature deviation calculated by the temperature deviation calculation unit <NUM> is <NUM> degrees, the measurement cell surface temperature value to be measured in the temperature measurement unit <NUM> after <NUM> seconds from the current time point is estimated as <NUM> degrees, which is a value obtained by adding <NUM> degrees to <NUM> degrees, and is predicted as the current actual cell surface temperature. Since the measurement cell surface temperature is delayed by <NUM> seconds compared to the actual cell surface temperature, under the assumption that the same fluctuation will continue after <NUM> seconds by the difference between the measurement cell surface temperature <NUM> seconds before and the current measurement cell surface temperature based on the present, a value obtained by adding the temperature difference to the current measurement cell surface temperature is estimated as the measurement cell surface temperature to be measured after <NUM> seconds, and this is predicted as the actual cell surface temperature.

The reason is that although the temperature sensor measuring the cell surface is in contact with the cell surface, a time difference occurs due to contact design, conduction, and the like, and as shown in the graph of <FIG>, the temperature is measured slower than the actual cell surface temperature. Accordingly, for example, a difference occurs in the time point showing the highest temperature at the end of the discharge, and if the actual cell surface temperature decreases immediately after the discharge ends, the measurement cell surface temperature shows the highest temperature after the delay time after the end of the discharge and then decreases.

Therefore, the present invention calculates the current measurement delay time by using a change in the temperature of the battery cells and a difference in time when the maximum temperature is measured after the end of charging/discharging, and reflects this and estimates the actual cell surface temperature at the current time point to improve its accuracy. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a problem of delay in diagnosing the temperature state of the battery cell caused by the measurement delay.

When the current actual cell surface temperature is predicted by the cell surface temperature prediction unit <NUM>, the temperature state diagnosis unit compares this with a predetermined reference value and diagnoses the current temperature state of the battery cell according to the comparison result. The temperature state diagnosis unit may diagnose the current temperature state of the battery cell using a conventional method.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method for estimating a battery cell surface temperature according to the present invention. With reference to this, each step will be described.

The temperature measurement step is a step of measuring a measurement cell surface temperature, which is a temperature value of a battery cell being charged/discharged, at a predetermined cycle interval, and is performed by the temperature measurement unit <NUM> provided at a predetermined position on the surface of the battery cell.

The delay time acquisition step is a step of measuring and acquiring the delay time, which is the time it takes from the charge/discharge end time point of the battery cell until the measurement cell surface temperature measured in the temperature measurement step S100 reaches the maximum temperature for each predetermined temperature section. This step is made by the delay time acquisition unit <NUM>, and since it has been described above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The database provision step is a step of storing the delay time corresponding to each charge/discharge state in a database for each predetermined temperature section based on the data on the delay time for each predetermined temperature section obtained through the temperature measurement step S100 and the delay time acquisition step S200.

Specifically, data on the delay time for each predetermined temperature section obtained is accumulated and learned by repeatedly performing the delay time acquisition step (S200) every time the battery cell is charged/discharged, so that for example, as shown in the table of <FIG>, a database including a delay time corresponding to each charge/discharge state for each predetermined temperature section may be provided.

At this time, the data included in the database, that is, the delay time value for each charge/discharge state for each predetermined temperature section, is updated according to the data on the delay time for each charge/discharge of the battery cell to reflect the real-time temperature state of the battery cell through the temperature measurement step S100 and the delay time acquisition step S200.

The cell surface temperature prediction step is a step of calculating the delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature, based on the database obtained in the database provision step, and predicting the actual cell surface temperature, which is the actual temperature value of the current battery cell, using the calculated delay time, and may include the following steps.

First, the temperature section to which the current measurement cell surface temperature belongs is extracted from among the temperature sections stored in the database, and the delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature is calculated using the temperature value corresponding to the extracted temperature section and the delay time corresponding to the charge/discharge state of the current battery cell.

Referring to <FIG> for an example, if the current battery cell is discharging and the current measurement cell surface temperature is <NUM> degrees, the temperature section to which the current measurement cell surface temperature belongs is a <NUM> to <NUM> degree section, and the delay times in the discharge state corresponding to the corresponding temperature values of <NUM> degrees and <NUM> degrees respectively are <NUM> and <NUM>. In this case, the delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature can be calculated as about <NUM> seconds through the expression {(<NUM>+<NUM>) / <NUM>}.

In this way, the delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature can be calculated based on the database.

The delay time calculated here is the delay time for measurement in the temperature sensor compared to the actual cell surface temperature state based on the present, and that is, means that the temperature measurement unit <NUM> is measuring slower than the actual cell surface temperature by the calculated delay time.

When the delay time at the current time point is calculated through the current delay time calculation step S410, a difference between the measurement cell surface temperature value corresponding to the previous time point by the calculated delay time and the current measurement cell surface temperature value is calculated based on the current time point.

For example, if the delay time calculated in the current delay time calculation step S410 is <NUM> seconds, a difference between the measurement cell surface temperature value <NUM> seconds ago and the current measurement cell surface temperature value is calculated based on the current time point. If the measurement cell surface temperature <NUM> seconds ago is <NUM> degrees and the current measurement cell surface temperature is <NUM> degrees, the difference between them, that is, <NUM> degrees, is calculated.

The actual cell surface temperature estimation step is, if the difference between the measurement cell surface temperature before the current delay time and the current measurement cell surface temperature is calculated, to estimate the measurement cell surface temperature to be measured after the delay time based on the present using this, and predict the estimated temperature as the current actual cell surface temperature.

For example, if the current measurement cell surface temperature is <NUM> degrees, the current delay time is <NUM> seconds, and the difference between the measurement cell surface temperature before <NUM> seconds and the current measurement cell surface temperature is <NUM> degrees, the measurement cell surface temperature to be measured <NUM> seconds later from the current time point is estimated to be <NUM> degrees, which is a value of <NUM> degrees plus <NUM> degrees, and this is predicted as the current actual cell surface temperature. Since the measurement cell surface temperature is delayed by <NUM> seconds compared to the actual cell surface temperature, under the assumption that the same fluctuation will continue after <NUM> seconds by the difference between the temperature of the measurement cell surface temperature <NUM> seconds before and the current measurement cell surface based on the present, the current measurement cell surface temperature plus the temperature difference between the past and present is estimated as the measurement cell surface temperature to be measured after <NUM> seconds, and this is predicted as the actual cell surface temperature.

The temperature state diagnosis step is a step of comparing the temperature value predicted as the current actual cell surface temperature through the cell surface temperature prediction step S400 with a predetermined reference value and diagnosing the current temperature state of the battery cell according to the comparison result, which may diagnose the current temperature state of the battery cell using a conventional method.

Claim 1:
A battery cell surface temperature estimation system comprising:
a temperature measurement unit (<NUM>) configured to measure a measurement cell surface temperature that is a surface temperature of a battery cell (<NUM>) being charged/discharged at a predetermined cycle interval; characterised in that,
a delay time acquisition unit (<NUM>) configured acquire a delay time that is a time required for the measurement cell surface temperature to reach a maximum temperature for each predetermined temperature section from a charge/discharge end time point of the battery cell (<NUM>);
a first memory unit (<NUM>) configured to store a delay time corresponding to each charge/discharge state of the battery cell for each predetermined temperature section as a database based on data on the delay time obtained from the delay time acquisition unit;
a second memory unit (<NUM>) configured to store a measurement cell surface temperature value measured by the temperature measurement unit; and
a cell surface temperature prediction unit (<NUM>) configured to calculate a delay time corresponding to the current measurement cell surface temperature measured by the temperature measurement unit based on the database of the first memory unit, and predict an actual cell surface temperature of the current battery cell (<NUM>) using the calculated delay time.