Patent ID: 8587256

Claim:
A battery management system, comprising: a sensing unit, the sensing unit sensing cell voltages and cell currents of a plurality of battery cells; and a Main Control Unit (MCU), the MCU determining a State of Charge (SOC) of the plurality of the battery cells and controlling charging and discharging based on the cell voltages and cell currents of the plurality of the battery cells, wherein the MCU includes: an SOC measurer, the SOC measurer measuring first SOCs of each of the battery cells and, after a predetermined duration, second SOCs of each of the battery cells, and a controller, the controller determining whether a first difference value between a maximum value from among the second SOCs of the plurality of battery cells and the second SOCs of each battery cell is greater than a first reference value or determining whether a second difference value between the first and second SOCs of respective battery cells is greater than a second reference value, and determining which battery cell among the plurality of the battery cells is a shorted battery cell when the first difference value for the battery cell is greater than the first reference value or when the second difference value for the battery cell is greater than the second reference value, and wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the second difference values are greater than the second reference value if the first difference values for all the battery cells are less than the first reference value.