Patent ID: 8729904

Claim:
A method of producing a safety model for a battery management system for a battery pack comprising the actions of: a) analyzing a first cell version to determine values of parameters characterizing its release of energy under a substantially worst-case destructive internal cell malfunction; b) analyzing a second cell version to determine its vulnerability to damage from externally impinging energy; said analysis such as to characterize the second cell version's degree of vulnerability to be induced into an energy releasing condition as a function of factors comprising its internal state; c) modeling to determine the intensity of the energy that impinges on a cell of the second version, that second version cell being in an energy receiving cell location within a given battery pack design; the energy resulting from an internal failure of a cell of the first version at an energy releasing cell location in the battery pack; d) determining the probability of the cell in the energy receiving cell location being induced into an energy-releasing failure by energy released from the releasing cell position; such determining accomplished by applying the values determined in the above action (a) into the analyzing of action (b) and then applying those results into the model of action (c) wherein the actions of analyzing and modeling and determining are at least partially accomplished by calculations performed by a computer system having a processor and memory.