A battery system includes: switches; two battery modules, each of the two battery modules including three strings of battery cells configured to, at different times be: connected in series and to a first positive terminal via first ones of the switches; connected in parallel and to a second positive terminal via second ones of the switches; and disconnected from both of the first and second positive terminals; and a switch control module configured to: determine state of charges (SOCs) of the strings of battery cells, respectively; determine, using model predictive control, periods of phases, respectively, to balance SOCs of the battery modules; determine, using model predictive control, periods for the strings, respectively, to be connected during the phases to balance the SOCs of the strings of battery cells; and selectively actuate the switches based on the periods of the phases and the periods for the strings of battery cells.

A method for operating an energy storage system, which includes at least one energy store with a plurality of cells and is designed to supply an electric drive system of a vehicle is provided. The method includes identifying a reference cell from among the cells, and carrying out a first symmetrization procedure for the cells at a first point in time, at which the reference cell has a first reference charge state. The method also includes carrying out a second symmetrization procedure for the cells, if the following conditions a) and b) are met at a second point in time following the first point in time: a) the voltage difference between the voltage of the cell with the lowest voltage and the voltage of the cell with the highest voltage is greater than or equal to a specified voltage difference; and b) the reference state of charge of the reference cell at the second point in time lies within a specified state of charge range, the state of charge range being determined in such a way that it includes the first reference state of charge.

This control device includes: a reception unit that receives information that indicates characteristics of a power supply/demand adjustment process; and a determination unit that, on the basis of the information that indicates the characteristics of the power supply/demand adjustment process, determines as usage information to be used for the adjustment process the state of a power grid or an index that relates to an adjustment power amount that was received from a predetermined device.

Systems and methods are described for managing charging and discharging of battery packs. In one or more aspects, a system and method are provided to minimize overcharging of battery cells of specific battery chemistries while still enabling fast charging cycles. In other aspects, a buck converter may be used to reduce a voltage of power used to charge the cells. In further aspects, a fast overcurrent protection circuit is described to address situations involving internal short circuits of a battery cell or battery pack. In yet further aspects, a bypass circuit is provided in series-connected battery packs to improve the charging of undercharged battery packs while also increasing the efficiency of the overall charging process. In other aspects, a circuit is provided that permits a controller to determine a configuration of battery packs. In yet further aspects, a system may determine a discharge current for a collection of battery packs based on each battery pack's state of health (SOH) and forward that determination to an external device.

An electrical energy storage device includes a plurality of energy cell slots for receiving energy cells; and a controller; wherein the controller is arranged to estimate a characteristic of a cell in each slot; and wherein the controller is arranged to apply charge and discharge currents to each cell slot dependent upon at least one estimated characteristic currently associated with that slot. The controller may be a single controller that controls all slots or it may be implemented as multiple controllers each controlling more than one cell slot or a controller for each slot. The characteristic may be one or more of: a power capability, a storage capacity, a cell impedance, an energy cell type and an energy cell chemistry.

An electronic device may comprise: a first battery having a first capacity; a second battery having a second capacity; a power management module which individually controls a charging state of the first battery and the second battery; a memory; and a processor operably coupled to the power management module, wherein the processor calculates a first cycle relating to the charging state of the first battery and a second cycle relating to the charging state of the second battery, and discharges one of the first battery and the second battery before the other battery on the basis of a reference use voltage determined based on the first cycle or the second cycle.

The invention relates to an energy storage system for a repeated drawing/intake, storage and release of electrical energy having a control unit and an energy store comprising a plurality of storage cells that are organized in storage modules, with the control unit being configured to separately determine the state of charge of at least some of the storage cells. The control unit is configured to recognize whether at least one storage cell should be removed; to electrically disconnect the storage cell to be removed from the remaining storage cells after the recognition that at least one storage cell should be removed; to recognize whether the disconnected storage cell has been replaced by a new storage cell; and to electrically connect the new storage cell to the remaining storage cells.

A control system includes a state-of-charge (SOC) measuring unit and a controller. The SOC measuring unit measures a SOC of a first battery pack and a SOC of a second battery pack. The controller adjusts the SOC of the first battery pack and the SOC of the second battery pack. When a difference between the SOC of the first battery pack and the SOC of the second battery pack is less than a first threshold value, the controller performs an adjustment to adjust the SOC of the first battery pack and the SOC of the second battery pack so that said difference becomes equal to the first threshold value. An average of the SOC of the first battery pack and the SOC of the second battery pack before the adjustment is equal to an average of the SOC of the first battery pack and the SOC of the second battery pack after the adjustment. The controller pulse-charges or pulse-discharges the first battery pack and the second battery pack using a first C-rate.

A battery system includes: a first positive terminal; a second positive terminal; a negative terminal; switches; two battery modules, each including three strings of battery cells that are configured to, at different times be: connected in series and to the first positive terminal via first ones of the switches; connected in parallel and to the second positive terminal via second ones of the switches; and disconnected from both of the first and second positive terminals; and a switch control module configured to: determine state of charges (SOCs) of the strings of battery cells, respectively; determine, using model predictive control, periods of phases, respectively, to balance SOCs of the battery modules; determine, using model predictive control, periods for the strings, respectively, including setting one of the periods for one of the strings to be included in at least two of the phases; and selectively actuate the switches based on the periods of the phases and the periods for the strings of battery cells.

The present invention discloses a modular multi-type power pack charging apparatus. The modular multi-type power pack charging apparatus comprises a plurality of power packs coupled together in series or parallel and connected with charging hardware. A management database is provided and configured to store data related to a type of the plurality of power packs. A charging database is configured to store the charge cycle of each of the plurality of power packs for consumption. A processor with controller hardware and a memory unit coupled to the charging database and the management database to retrieve the performance of the plurality of power packs. The memory unit comprises a plurality of modules to perform charging and discharging of the plurality of power packs. Further, a display interface continuously displays a status of charging and/or discharging of the plurality of power packs.