Apparatus and method for managing battery system

摘要

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, provided is an apparatus for managing a battery system having a plurality of battery cells connected in series, the apparatus comprising a performance measurement section for measuring a performance of each of the battery cells; a cell switching section for turning on or off a connection of each battery cell to other battery cells; and a controlling section for comparing the performance of each battery cell measured by the performance measurement section with a reference performance and, in the presence of the battery cell(s) having measured performance lower than the reference performance, controlling the cell switching section to interrupt the connection of the relevant battery cell(s) to other battery cells.

主权项

1. An apparatus for managing a battery system having a plurality of battery cells including first and second battery cells connected in series, the apparatus comprising:
a performance measurement section for measuring at least one of voltage, current, resistance and capacity of each of the battery cells as a performance of each of the battery cells, respectively; a system switching section for turning on or off a current flow path for the whole of the plurality of battery cells; a first cell switching section having a positive terminal directly connected to a negative terminal of the system switching section and having a negative terminal directly connected to a positive terminal of the first battery cell, the first cell switching section for turning on or off a connection between the first battery cell and other battery cells; a second cell switching section having a positive terminal directly connected to a negative terminal of the first battery cell and having a negative terminal directly connected to a positive terminal of the second battery cell, the second cell switching section for turning on or off a connection between the second battery cell and other battery cells; a controlling section for comparing the performance of each of the battery cells measured by the performance measurement section with a reference performance and, in the presence of the each of the battery cells having a measured performance lower than the reference performance, controlling at least one of the first and second cell switching sections to interrupt the connection, to other battery cells, of each of the first and second battery cells, respectively, having the measured performance lower than the reference performance, and turning off the system switching section before controlling either of the first and second cell switching sections; and an auxiliary battery configured to, in the presence of the interruption of the connection, to other battery cells, of each of the battery cells having the measured performance lower than the reference performance, additionally connect to other battery cells in series, instead of each of the battery cells interrupted.