Patent Application Titled “Universal Battery Pack, Electric Vehicle Powertrain Design And Battery Swapping Network With Battery Health Management” Published Online (USPTO 20220289067): Patent Application
2022 OCT 05 (NewsRx) -- By a
No assignee for this patent application has been made.
Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The transportation industry is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity and heat production have also increased to concerning levels as populations and urbanization has increased. The sustainability and environmental concerns of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by these economic sectors have led to the development of renewable energy generation sources such as solar and wind for electricity production and the increased adoption of electric vehicles (EV) as an alternative to internal combustion engines (ICE) in the transportation sector.
“The alternative forms of energy generation and transportation too have their own set of challenges. For example, renewable energy generation through solar and wind is heavily dependent on the availability of wind or solar radiation from the sun during the day. As a result, the production of energy through solar and wind is often described as a “feast or famine”. The variability of solar and wind as the sources of energy often leads to either a surplus of production and a need for curtailment or the lack of production enough to fulfil the base load. To address the variability issues, the renewable energy resources like solar and wind are often installed with local energy storage units such as batteries or pumped hydro (Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES)) are used. The batteries or the pumped hydro store surplus energy generated and fulfil the base load demand when generation is not up to par or is unavailable. However, installation of the batteries or pumped hydro is very expensive.
“In addition, adoption of electric vehicles comes with its own challenges. The challenges include, but not limited to, cost of batteries, range of the electric vehicle from a single charge, charging infrastructure and battery life and degradation. The electric vehicles rely on a battery pack comprising a number of identical batteries or individual battery cells as the energy storage medium needed for propulsion power. The battery packs make up one to two thirds the cost of the electric vehicle and are expensive. Current energy storage for the applications described thus far rely on lithium-ion (Li-ion) based battery chemistries due to their energy density, long cycle life and power density properties. The cost of producing Li-ion batteries is relatively expensive for a variety of reasons. The reasons include, but not limited to, low availability of raw materials needed, geo-political and ethical concerns in the mining and supply chain of the raw materials, the current costs of investments for research and development, tooling and expertise, and logistics needed to produce the batteries at scale. Some of the above reasons have caused a slowdown in the adoption rate of electrified transportation despite its efficiency and simplicity benefits, as the cost of electric vehicles is significantly higher compared to its ICE counterpart.
“Further, the energy density of Li-ion based batteries is less when compared to the energy density of gasoline and diesel, which have up to 40 times more energy density than that of the Li-ion based batteries. Although the electric vehicle has an efficiency rating that could be up to 10 times or more that of diesel, the limitation of weight and volume of battery packs on-board the vehicle leads to a limited amount of drivable range on-board the vehicle. The drivable range presents anxiety for drivers of EV’s with longer range requirements. In addition, the required amount of time needed to fully charge a depleted battery pack varies between 1 to 12 hours depending on charge power or speed, battery chemistry, battery size, and charging methods. The charging requirements, compared to filling up a vehicle at a gas station which could take anywhere from 5 to 15 mins, further highlight the challenge of drivable range.
“Global EV sales today are currently under 10 million vehicles. However, the global EV sales are expected to grow up to 125 million vehicles by 2030 due to government policies, incentives, and rising interest amongst major automakers. The future of transportation is also largely expected to become autonomous and shared, with autonomous electric (AV) cars, vans, trucks, drones and heavy duty vehicles expected to be constantly driven around, delivering people, goods and services all across the globe with minimal down time. As EV/AV volume scales, the charging infrastructure challenge of the electric vehicles can be split into two, with downstream challenge involving the availability of EV chargers in appropriate locations to meet charging demands of electric vehicles and the upstream challenge of generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure needed to meet the additional electricity demand of such high penetration of electrified transportation. The large-scale penetration of EVs will impact the reliability and safety of the electricity grid due to the randomness and uncertainty of EV users’ charging behavior in the spatial and temporal domain. The decision of where and when a user is likely to charge or discharge in vehicle to grid (V2G) applications become difficult to predict. From the distribution grid operators perspective, these decisions are dictated by a number of direct and indirect factors including: battery characteristics, power supply, EV size, geographical location, quantity/scale of EVs, downstream charging infrastructure, policies, incentives and subsidies, traffic conditions, charging price, operational model, environmental impact and many more factors. This challenge of modeling charging and discharging of EVs varies significantly from traditional load modeling due to both the temporal and spatial complexity of EV charging load, as EV are mobile in nature, while the typical load profile is stationary and typically only varies in time, such as homes, office buildings, industries and so on. The advent of autonomous electric vehicles adds further complexity to the charging infrastructure challenge as these vehicles will be expected to see minimal downtime and will drive a significant number of daily miles. The possibility of EVs to also push power back into the grid from their onboard battery also add further complexity to the system model. Inaccurate forecasting of EV charging/discharging load, can lead to unforeseen load that could be detrimental to the grid, therefore some form of flexibility is needed at the charging station that can accommodate for the complexities in the prediction of EV charging/discharging load such as local energy storage or generation at, or near, the EV charging station or charging location.
“Battery degradation is another challenge that electrified transportation faces. Due to the inherent nature of Li-ion battery chemistries, degradation of the battery components over time is inevitable, however this degradation can be accelerated by several different factors. Li-ion batteries have a very finite operating temperature range which when exceeded, could cause temporary or permanent damage to the cells, and could cause accelerated degradation when operated at the extremes of the temperature range. Li-ion batteries also have a strict power density curve which dictates the charge/discharge rate and hence the charging power and charging speed. Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) for example, is a means of increasing the charging speed of Li-ion batteries and reducing charging wait times; however, studies have shown that the repeated use of DCFC to charge Li-ion can lead to accelerated degradation of the cells. The configuration of Li-ion cells to form a battery pack, parallel or series connections or a combination of both, the specific cathode and anode materials that form the cells, the shape and enclosure of the cells (cylindrical, prismatic, pouch cells), operational duty cycle, calendar aging, and even the method of cooling or heating the cells (air, liquid, thermoelectric, heat pumps, resistive heating) could all contribute to the degradation of a cell. Li-ion cell degradation could sometimes be a safety concern as cells could sometimes experience a phenomenon known as thermal runaway which could be destructive or sometimes explosive if cells are operated or stored at elevated temperatures for too long or cells are improperly vented. The high costs of batteries highlighted earlier as well as the safety concerns, make battery degradation an imminent issue needing to be addressed. Thermal runaway and other battery degradation mechanisms could however be avoided or mitigated through advanced cell monitoring, control of charging and discharge and accurate estimation of cell of states and parameters.”
There is additional background information. Please visit full patent to read further.”
In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent application: “Considering the above problems that exist in the shift towards renewable energy generation and the adoption of electrification with issues related to energy storage cost, charging load modeling, charging infrastructure and battery management, the present invention provides a number of innovations, designs and inventions that are aimed at providing a wholistic solution to the problems that have been highlighted thus far. These innovations range from a broader system of battery sharing and charging networks, to battery swapping stations, to monitoring and optimization methods for managing the systems disclosed, to innovative designs of the battery pack and vehicle platform that allow for reconfigurable vehicle components based on application.
“According to one aspect of the present invention, a modular electric vehicle battery pack is disclosed which consists of a high voltage connection, an intelligent wireless on-board battery management system, geographic position sensor, an onboard cooling system, a DC/DC converter, and an on-board wide band gap bidirectional AC/DC charger. The modular battery pack is optimized for battery swapping in electric vehicle applications as well as Vehicle to Grid (V2G) stationary applications and supporting electricity grid. The physical enclosure design of the battery pack is designed with the intent to mate with battery collection frame latches through a battery box kingpin.
“Another variation of the modular battery pack is also disclosed. The modular battery pack consists of a closed loop cooling system. This battery pack variation may have no external inlet/outlet for cooling the battery pack, instead all the components for cooling are embedded within the battery pack itself. The closed loop cooling system in one specific design consists of an electric fan, an electric pump, a chiller plate, a radiator, a heater coil, an electric AC compressor, and hoses all within the battery pack itself. The electric components in the battery pack are powered through the DC/DC converter that is onboard the battery pack, eliminating the need for an external power source. In another design, the cooling system features an air cooled heat sink that is pressed onto one or more sides of the battery pack separated by a heat exchange material such as aluminum which also forms a part of the structure of the battery pack. This novel design allows for ease of battery sharing and enables use in stationary applications as the battery pack can easily be connected to the vehicle platform with fewer connections with no need for complicated liquid coolant connections. This design also allows for the battery pack to function as an independent power source when used in stationary applications or charged off-board the vehicle at a battery swapping station.
“An intelligent wireless battery management system (BMS) that is capable of monitoring cells within a battery pack, active balancing individual cells across the battery pack, protecting the battery pack from various fail mode conditions such as overcurrent protection, over/under voltage conditions, over/under temperature conditions, measurement and estimation of states and parameters such as state of charge, state of power, state of health, internal resistance, usable capacity, operating temperature, estimated duty cycle, and an Internet of Things (IoT) communication device for reporting this information wirelessly to the vehicle on board controller, battery swapping station or cloud connected charge management system is designed and implemented. The system is capable of actively balancing the cells onboard the vehicle during charging or shortly after through a balancing circuit that measures the voltage across each individual cell and slowly bleeds off overcharged cells into cells that are undercharged or into a bleeding resistor as heat. The BMS also includes an onboard computer/controller and a wireless communication module used for estimation and control of the BMS functions, and for sharing of information from the BMS to the various external systems such as battery swapping stations, electricity grid and/or a battery sharing network (BSN). The algorithms for estimating some of the non-trivial estimations such as state of health (SOH) are also presented in the present disclosure.
“In another aspect of the present invention, a swappable electric vehicle platform is disclosed. The swappable platform allows for a variety of vehicle body platforms to be combined with the same electric vehicle platform. The swappable electric vehicle platform features the electric powertrain, battery collection frame and modular battery pack. The swappable electric vehicle platform, in automotive applications, also incorporates a steering rack motor that can be controlled wirelessly through a steering wheel sensor, a wireless embedded controller for controlling the electric motor and braking system through wireless signals from the throttle and brake pedal on board the interchangeable vehicle body. Further, the swappable electric vehicle platform allows for wireless selection of drive modes and gears from a wireless gear selector aboard an interchangeable vehicle body.
“In another aspect of the present invention, a novel electric vehicle mechanical powertrain is disclosed. The electric vehicle mechanical powertrain consists of a single electric motor with a four-wheel drive (4WD), two speed transmission-transfer case and stock front and rear differentials with a rear axle drive shaft to drive the rear wheels and a front axle drive shaft that powers the front wheels. The electric motor is mounted to the vehicle with a tripod configuration, given the two mounts behind the electric motor and a third mount in front of the motor where the motor adapter housing mates with the transfer case. The mounts are supported with rubber bushings to allow for absorbing torque vibrations of the motor during operation. The configuration allows for a single motor to provide power to either the rear axle, the front axle or both axles on the electric vehicle through the transfer case and front and rear differentials. The configuration also allows for selection of two different gears through a gear selector on the transfer case for a high and low gear. The motor and transfer case are linked mechanically through a custom shaft with an internal spline on the motor side (female end) and an external spline on the transfer case side (male end).
“A battery collection frame which is a structural member of the vehicle platform and consists of a fifth wheel latch assembly that can be adjusted on a rack assembly to accept a modular battery pack of different sizes, dimensions and configurations. The battery collection frame may be welded or bolted to an existing subframe or form a part of the vehicle platform itself. The latch assembly contains multiple components that form the assembly similar to a standard fifth wheel latch assembly used in on-road heavy duty trucks. Two or more fifth wheels” latches are placed on the battery collection frame and adjusted through the racks to align a battery pack with a matching kingpin aligned to the latch slots and the electrical and optional coolant connections on-board the vehicle platform. The kingpin/fifth wheel latch assembly, forces compliance between the battery pack and the electrical/coolant connections on-board the vehicle platform. The fifth wheel is adjusted through the rack assembly to accommodate different battery pack dimensions and sizes. The latches can be released either manually by a user or automatically through a hydraulic or electrical actuator during swapping.
“In yet another aspect of the present invention, a mobile electric vehicle battery swapping/charging station is disclosed. The battery swapping/charging station consists of a battery/vehicle platform storage rack, rails/rollers for moving battery packs with the battery storage unit, a cooling system for storing battery packs at optimal temperature, a mechanism for removal and addition of battery packs, a monitoring apparatus for communicating with battery packs, battery chargers and the battery sharing network management system. The mobile electric vehicle battery swapping/charging station is also capable of harnessing the energy from the on-board battery packs to provide charge to electric vehicles or vehicle to grid applications.”
There is additional summary information. Please visit full patent to read further.”
The claims supplied by the inventors are:
“1. A battery pack, comprising: a cooling fan; a compressor; a coolant pump; a radiator and a condenser; a cooling plate; a coolant plate heat exchanger adhering to said cooling plate; a high voltage Direct Current (DC) connection; a DC/DC converter for powering electrical components within the battery pack; and a Battery Management System (BMS) embedded within said battery pack, wherein said BMS comprises a wireless communication module capable of monitoring, sensing and control of the battery pack remotely, and wherein said BMS controls the operation of each of said cooling fan, said compressor, said coolant pump, said radiator and said condenser, said cooling plate, said coolant plate heat exchanger, said high voltage DC connection, and said DC/DC converter without a need for external cooling inlet and outlet channels.
“2. The battery pack of claim 1, further comprises a battery latch assembly, and wherein said battery latch assembly receives said battery pack.
“3. The battery pack of claim 2, wherein said battery latch assembly comprising said battery pack is attached to a battery collection frame.
“4. The battery pack of claim 3, wherein said battery collection frame is connected to a vehicle platform of a vehicle.
“5. The battery pack of claim 3, wherein said battery collection frame is capable of attaching and detaching varied configuration of said battery back from said vehicle platform.
“6. The battery pack of claim 3, wherein said battery collection frame comprises a kingpin, wherein said vehicle platform comprises a kingpin receiver, and wherein said kingpin aligns with said kingpin receiver and secures said battery pack to said vehicle platform.
“7. The battery pack of claim 5, wherein said battery collection frame comprises an adjustable rack assembly, and wherein said adjustable rack assembly configures to receive said battery pack in said battery collection frame and attach to said vehicle platform.
“8. The battery pack of claim 5, wherein said battery pack powers a motor capable of producing rotational power to multiple axles and wheels of said vehicle independent of each other.
“9. The battery pack of claim 8, wherein said motor and said battery pack replaces an internal combustion engine in said vehicle.
“10. The battery pack of claim 1, wherein said battery pack communicatively connects to a battery sharing network (BSN) comprising one or more battery swapping stations and electric vehicles or autonomous electric vehicles participating in a network.
“11. The battery pack of claim 10, wherein said one or more battery swapping stations allow swapping of the battery pack either automatically or manually either on-board the vehicle at a swapping station or off-board the vehicle with a mobile battery storage unit at a swapping location.
“12. The battery pack of claim 10, wherein said one or more battery swapping stations allow charging of the battery pack either on-board the vehicle or off-board the vehicle in a battery storage unit at a swapping location.
“13. The battery pack of claim 10, wherein said BSN comprises a battery sharing network management system, wherein said battery sharing network management system monitors, controls, routes and dispatches said battery pack, said electric vehicles or autonomous vehicles within said network.
“14. The battery pack of claim 13, wherein said battery sharing network management system configures to optimize the charge and discharge of the battery pack in the network based on one of: time of use forecast data for the electricity grid, day ahead and real time schedule data of electric or autonomous vehicles within the network, and telemetry data including location, speed, and state of charge from vehicles within the network.
“15. The battery pack of claim 1, wherein said battery pack is interchangeable with a main battery pack of an electric vehicle or adds as a range extender within said electric vehicle.
“16. The battery pack of claim 10, wherein said one or more battery swapping stations configure to move from one location to another based on a real time or forecasted swapping or charging demand.
“17. The battery pack of claim 13, further comprises a bidirectional charger, wherein said bidirectional charger connects to said battery pack, said one or more battery swapping stations and an electricity grid, and wherein said bidirectional charger manages charge distribution and storage of said battery pack, said one or more battery swapping stations and said electricity grid.
“18. The battery pack of claim 1, wherein said BMS monitors and determines a state of said battery pack.
“19. A method of providing a battery pack, the method comprising the steps of: providing a cooling fan, a compressor, a coolant pump, a radiator and a condenser, a cooling plate, a coolant plate heat exchanger adhering to said cooling plate, a high voltage Direct Current (DC) connection, a DC/DC converter powering electrical components within said battery pack; providing a Battery Management System (BMS) embedded within said battery pack; providing a wireless communication module within said BMS for monitoring, sensing and control of said battery pack remotely; and controlling the operation of each of said cooling fan, said compressor, said coolant pump, said radiator and said condenser, said cooling plate, said coolant plate heat exchanger, said high voltage DC connection, and said DC/DC converter using said BMS without a need for external cooling inlet and outlet channels.
“20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: communicatively connecting to a battery sharing network (BSN) comprising one or more battery swapping stations and electric vehicles or autonomous electric vehicles participating in a network; swapping of the battery pack either automatically or manually either on-board the vehicle or off-board the vehicle in a battery storage unit at a swapping location; monitoring, controlling, routing and dispatching said battery packs, said electric vehicles or autonomous vehicles within said network; and accessing information corresponding to monitoring, controlling, routing and dispatching said battery pack, said electric vehicles or autonomous vehicles within said network.”
For more information, see this patent application: Adegbohun, Feyijimi. Universal Battery Pack, Electric Vehicle Powertrain Design And Battery Swapping Network With Battery Health Management. Filed
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