System and method for balancing a storage battery for an automotive vehicle

摘要

A system and method is provided for balancing a storage battery for an automotive vehicle. The battery is of the type including a plurality of storage cells. The system includes a thermoelectric device and a controller. The thermoelectric device receives thermal energy and converts the thermal energy into electric energy. The controller determines a subset of the storage cells in the battery to be charged based on an amount of electric charge in each of the storage cells. Furthermore, the controller causes the electric energy to be distributed to each storage cell in the subset in an effort to balance the battery in the vehicle.

主权项

1. A battery balancing system comprising:
a thermoelectric device disposed within a battery including cells to receive thermal energy therefrom and convert the thermal energy into electric energy; and a controller configured to
receive input indicative of electric charge in each of the cells, andcharge a subset of the cells with least electrical charge based on an electric charge difference between a cell having highest electric charge and a cell having lowest electric charge.