Dual Rechargeable Battery Arrangement

Abstract

The rechargeable battery arrangement includes a first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells, a second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells, and a third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells. The arrangement further includes a first converter having a first connection pair is connected to the third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells, and a second connection pair, connected in series with the first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells. A series connection consisting of the first plurality of first charge storage cells and the first converter is connected in parallel to the second plurality of second charge storage cells. Moreover, the first converter is configured to convert at least one of a voltage and a current supplied by the third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells, and to output said voltage and/or current at the second connection pair. In addition, a lowest potential of the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells forms a first connection of the accumulator arrangement, and a highest potential of the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells forms a second connection of the accumulator arrangement.

Claims

1. An accumulator arrangement comprising: a first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells; a second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells; a third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells; and a first converter comprising a first connection pair and a second connection pair, wherein the first connection pair of the first converter is connected to the third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells, wherein the second connection pair of the first converter is connected in series with the first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells, wherein a series connection consisting of the first plurality of first charge storage cells and the first converter is connected in parallel to the second plurality of second charge storage cells, wherein the first converter is configured to convert at least one of a voltage and a current supplied by the third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells, and to output said at least one of the voltage and current supplied by the third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells at the second connection pair, and wherein a lowest potential of the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells forms a first connection of the accumulator arrangement, and a highest potential of the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells forms a second connection of the accumulator arrangement.

2. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising: a second converter comprises a first connection pair and a second connection pair, wherein the first connection pair of the second converter is connected to the second plurality of second charge storage cells, wherein the second connection pair of the second converter is connected to the third plurality of third charge storage cells, and wherein the second converter is configured to transport an electric charge from the second plurality of second charge storage cells to the third plurality of third charge storage cells.

3. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising: a third converter comprises a first connection pair and a second connection pair; and a fourth plurality of series-connected fourth charge storage cells connected to the first connection pair of the third converter, wherein the second connection pair of the third converter is connected in series with the second plurality of second charge storage cells, wherein the third converter is configured to convert at least one of a voltage and a current supplied by the fourth plurality of series-connected fourth charge storage cells, and output the at least one of the voltage and a current supplied by the fourth plurality of series-connected fourth charge storage cells at the second connection pair of the third converter.

4. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 2, further comprising: a third converter comprises a first connection pair and a second connection pair; and a fourth plurality of series-connected fourth charge storage cells connected to the first connection pair of the third converter, wherein the second connection pair of the third converter is connected in series with the second plurality of second charge storage cells, wherein the third converter is configured to convert at least one of a voltage and a current supplied by the fourth plurality of series-connected fourth charge storage cells, and output the at least one of the voltage and a current supplied by the fourth plurality of series-connected fourth charge storage cells at the second connection pair of the third converter.

5. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising: a control device, wherein, if an electric machine connected to the accumulator arrangement has a higher current consumption for a predefined period of time, the control device is configured to activate the first converter such that charge is drawn from the first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells and from the third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells, and wherein, if the electric machine has a constant power consumption for a predefined period of time, the control device is further configured to activate the first converter such that charge is drawn only from the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells.

6. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 2, further comprising: a control device, wherein, if an electric machine connected to the accumulator arrangement has a higher current consumption for a predefined period of time, the control device is configured to activate the first converter such that charge is drawn from the first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells and from the third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells, and wherein, if the electric machine has a constant power consumption for a predefined period of time, the control device is further configured to activate the first converter such that charge is drawn only from the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells.

7. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 3, further comprising: a control device, wherein, if an electric machine connected to the accumulator arrangement has a higher current consumption for a predefined period of time, the control device is configured to activate the first converter such that charge is drawn from the first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells and from the third plurality of series-connected third charge storage cells, and wherein, if the electric machine has a constant power consumption for a predefined period of time, the control device is further configured to activate the first converter such that charge is drawn only from the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells.

8. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 5, wherein, if an electric machine connected to the accumulator arrangement has a higher current consumption for a predefined time period, the control device is further configured to activate the third converter such that charge is drawn from the first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells, and wherein, if the electric machine has a constant power consumption for a predefined period of time, the control device is further configured to activate the third converter such that charge is drawn only from the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells and the fourth plurality of series-connected fourth charge storage cells.

9. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 6, wherein, if an electric machine connected to the accumulator arrangement has a higher current consumption for a predefined time period, the control device is further configured to activate the third converter such that charge is drawn from the first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells, and wherein, if the electric machine has a constant power consumption for a predefined period of time, the control device is further configured to activate the third converter such that charge is drawn only from the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells and the fourth plurality of series-connected fourth charge storage cells.

10. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 7, wherein, if an electric machine connected to the accumulator arrangement has a higher current consumption for a predefined time period, the control device is further configured to activate the third converter such that charge is drawn from the first plurality of series-connected first charge storage cells, and wherein, if the electric machine has a constant power consumption for a predefined period of time, the control device is further configured to activate the third converter such that charge is drawn only from the second plurality of series-connected second charge storage cells and the fourth plurality of series-connected fourth charge storage cells.

11. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 5, wherein the control device is configured to activate the second converter such that charge is drawn from the second plurality of second charge storage cells and is supplied to the third plurality of third charge storage cells.

12. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 8, wherein the control device is configured to activate the second converter such that charge is drawn from the second plurality of second charge storage cells and is supplied to the third plurality of third charge storage cells.

13. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said first charge storage cells and third charge storage cells are configured for a higher current output and/or a shorter-duration current output than the second charge storage cells, and wherein the second charge storage cells are configured for a higher capacitance than the first charge storage cells and the third charge storage cells.

14. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 2, wherein said first charge storage cells and third charge storage cells are configured for a higher current output and/or a shorter-duration current output than the second charge storage cells, and wherein the second charge storage cells are configured for a higher capacitance than the first charge storage cells and the third charge storage cells.

15. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 3, wherein said first charge storage cells and third charge storage cells are configured for a higher current output and/or a shorter-duration current output than the second charge storage cells, and wherein the second charge storage cells are configured for a higher capacitance than the first charge storage cells and the third charge storage cells.

16. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the first charge storage cells and the third charge storage cells comprise a capacitor, and that the second charge storage cells comprise an accumulator.

17. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the first charge storage cells and the third charge storage cells comprise a capacitor, and that the second charge storage cells comprise an accumulator.

18. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 15, wherein the first charge storage cells and the third charge storage cells comprise a capacitor, and that the second charge storage cells comprise an accumulator.

19. The accumulator arrangement according to claim 1, wherein a number of third charge storage cells is lower than approximately 25% of a number of first charge storage cells.

20. A drive system for a vehicle having an electric drive, the drive system comprising: the accumulator arrangement according to claim 1; an inverter having AC and DC connections; and an electric machine, wherein the accumulator arrangement is connected to the DC connections of the inverter, and the electric machine is coupled to the AC connections of the inverter.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] The invention will now be explained by means of non-limiting embodiments with reference to the attached figures.

[0027] FIG. 1 is a view of circuit diagram of a first embodiment of the invention;

[0028] FIG. 2 is a view of details of a wiring of the first embodiment of the invention;

[0029] FIG. 3 is a view of further details of the wiring of the first embodiment of the invention;

[0030] FIG. 4 is a view of an expansion of the first embodiment of the invention;

[0031] FIG. 5 is a view of a second embodiment of the invention;

[0032] FIG. 6 is a view of a third embodiment of the invention; and

[0033] FIG. 7 is a view of an accumulator arrangement of the state of the art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] FIG. 7 illustrates an accumulator arrangement 1 of the state of the art having output connections 14, to which an inverter 12 is connected, an electric machine 18 being connected to the alternating-current connections 16 of this inverter 12. The accumulator arrangement 1 of the state of the art comprises a first series connection 2 of first charge storage cells 4, for example, capacitors, which are designed for high current output. The first series connection 2 of first charge storage cells 4 is connected to a DC-to-DC converter 10, which is connected to a second series connection 6 of second charge storage cells 8 that are optimized for high capacitance. The second charge storage cells 8 may, for example, be lithium-ion cells. The second series connection 6 of second charge storage cells 8 forms the intermediate circuit voltage and is connected to the direct-current-side input 14 of the inverter 12.

[0035] The DC-to-DC converter 10 has to be designed such that it can convert the total power that can be supplied by the first series connection 2 of the first charge storage cells, whereby its production requires high expenditures and a lot of space.

[0036] A first embodiment of an accumulator arrangement 100 according to the invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 1. The accumulator arrangement 100 comprises a first series connection 102 of a plurality of first charge storage cells 104. The output connections of a first DC-to-DC converter 110 are connected in series with the first series connection 104. A third plurality 108 of third charge storage cells 106 is connected to the input connections of the first DC-to-DC converter 110. The accumulator arrangement 100 further comprises a second plurality 112 of second charge storage cells 114. The second plurality 112 of second charge storage cells 114 is connected parallel to the series connection of the first DC-to-DC converter 110 and the first series connection 102 of first charge storage elements. The output voltage of the second series connection 112 of second charge storage elements 114 forms the so-called intermediate circuit voltage, which is connected to direct-current connections 116 of an inverter 118, whose output connections 120 are connected to an electric machine 122.

[0037] The second charge storage elements 114 are designed for high capacitance and are formed, for example, by lithium-ion cells. The first charge storage cells 104 and the third charge storage cells 108 are designed for a rapid and high current output and are formed, for example, by capacitors.

[0038] In the case of the accumulator arrangement 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, the second series connection 112 comprises a number of 96 second charge storage cells 114. The first series connection 102 comprises 80 first charge storage cells 104. The third series connection 106 of third charge storage cells 108 comprises 16 charge storage cells. Therefore, only 16 third charge storage cells 108 are connected to the first DC-to-DC converter 110. Therefore, only one sixth of the voltage, compared with the state of the art illustrated in FIG. 7, is present at the input connections of the first DC-to-DC converter. The first DC-to-DC converter 110 can therefore be designed to be significantly weaker than what is required in the state of the art. Thus, on the one hand, expenditures for producing the accumulator arrangement 110 according to the invention are reduced and, on the other hand, efficiency is improved because a DC-to-DC converter 110 with a lower voltage applied thereto, as a rule, has a lower absolute power dissipation, whereby consequently also the efficiency of the accumulator arrangement 100 is increased. In addition the space requirement is reduced.

[0039] The method of operation of the first embodiment will now be explained in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The second series connection 112 of FIG. 1 is replaced by a replacement circuit diagram 103 consisting of a direct-current source 103a and an internal resistance 103b connected in series therein. The first series connection 102 generates as voltage in the amount of 328 V. The third series connection 106 of third charge storage cells 108 generates an input voltage of 66 V. If the first charge storage cells 104 and the second charge storage cells 108 are to supply no current, for example, because a vehicle is moving at a constant speed and the electric machine demands no power, the first DC-to-DC converter 110 has to compensate a voltage difference of 360 V−328 V=32 V. As a result, an output voltage of 32 V has to be present at the output connections of the first DC-to-DC converter.

[0040] FIG. 3 illustrates a condition in which current I1 is to be supplied by the first series connection 102 of first charge storage cells as well as by the first DC-to-DC converter 110. For this purpose, a voltage U1 of 33 V has to be present at the output connections of the first DC-to-DC converter 110. In the condition illustrated in FIG. 3, the voltage of the third plurality 106 of third charge storage cells 108 amounts to 66V. The current I2 in the third plurality of third charge storage cells 108 is calculated as follows:

[00001]$I.Math..Math.2=\frac{U.Math..Math.1\times I.Math..Math.1}{U.Math..Math.2\times \eta };$

[0041] wherein η is the efficiency of the first DC-to-DC converter.

[0042] As a result, the current I2 flowing in the third plurality 106 of third charge storage cells 108 is dependent on the efficiency η of the first DC-to-DC converter. The charging condition of the first series connection 102 of first charge storage cells 104 therefore differs from that of the third series connection 106 of third charge storage cells 108. The third series connection 106 of third charge storage cells 108 therefore has to be charged separately from the first series connection 102 of first charge storage cells 104.

[0043] Reference is made to FIG. 4, which shows a second embodiment of the invention, which corresponds essentially to the first embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3. In terms of precision, only those components will be described in the following which are additions to the second embodiment compared to the first embodiment. Compared to the first embodiment, the second embodiment of the accumulator arrangement 100′ according to the invention comprises an additional second DC-to-DC converter 130, whose output connections are connected to the third series connection 106 of third charge storage cells 108. The input connections of the second DC-to-DC converter 130 are connected to the second series connection 112 of second charge storage devices 114. By means of the second DC-to-DC converter 130, the charging condition of the third series connection 106 of third charge storage cells 108 can be changed independently of the charging condition of the series connection 102 of first charge storage cells 104. It thereby becomes possible to symmetrize the charging condition of the third series connection 106 of third charge storage cells 108 with the charging condition of the first series connection of first storage cells 104. As a result, the method of operation and the activation of the accumulator arrangement 100′ according to the invention can be simplified and improved. The inventors of the present invention assume that the necessary symmetrization current IBAL is comparatively low because only some of the losses have to compensated in the battery system, and because the battery system or the second DC-to-DC converter, as a rule, has a high efficiency. The second DC-to-DC converter 130 therefore only has to have a relatively low efficiency in comparison to the DC-to-DC converter 110.

[0044] FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the invention, which essentially shows the same components as the first embodiment of the invention that was described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. A first series connection 102 of first charge storage cells 104 is not linked by means of a DC-to-DC converter 110 to the intermediate circuit and thus to the inverter 118. In contrast to the first embodiment, the second embodiment of the accumulator arrangement 100″ according to the invention only has a third DC-to-DC converter 140, whose output connections are connected in series with the second series connection 112 of second charge storage cells 114. A fourth series connection 142 of fourth charge storage cells 144 is connected to the input connections of the third DC-to-DC converter 140.

[0045] As mentioned above, the first charge storage cells 104 are designed or optimized for a rapid and high current output and are formed, for example, by capacitors. The second charge storage elements 114 and the fourth charge storage elements 144 are designed for a permanent current output and are formed by accumulators, such as lithium-ion accumulators.

[0046] The third embodiment has the advantage that the power of the first charge storage cells 104 becomes available particularly rapidly and without any losses.

[0047] Reference is made to FIG. 6, which illustrates a fourth embodiment of the accumulator arrangement 100′″ according to the invention, which essentially is a combination of the first embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and of the second embodiment of the invention described with reference to FIG. 5. The output connections of the third embodiment of the accumulator arrangement 100′″, which form the intermediate circuit voltage of an inverter 118, are connected to a series connection consisting of the first DC-to-DC converter 110 and the first series connection 102 or first charge storage cells 104 and parallel to the series connection consisting of the third DC-to-DC converter 140 and the second series connection 112 of second charge storage cells 114. A third series connection 106 of third charge storage cells 108 is connected to the input connections of the first DC-to-DC converter 110. A third series connection 142 of third charge storage cells 144 is connected to the input connections of the third DC-to-DC converter.

[0048] The first charge storage cells 104 and the third charge storage cells 108 may be optimized for a rapid and high current output and be formed, for example, by means of capacitors. The second charge storage cells 114 and the fourth charge storage cells 144 may be optimized for a capacitance that is as high as possible and may be formed, for example, by accumulator cells. This embodiment also may have a second DC-to-DC converter 130 in order to symmetrize the charge storage cells.

[0049] According to the invention, only partial cells of one cell string are connected parallel to another cell string by means of a DC-to-DC converter. The DC-to-DC converter and the cells of a partial string connected thereto may be called a current valve, which controls as to when charge is drawn from which of the parallel connected strings. The invention has the advantage that the DC-to-DC converters can be designed to be less efficient, whereby expenditures, installation space and power dissipation are reduced.

[0050] The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.