JP2000040536A - Battery warming up device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To warm up a battery effectively by utilizing its internal heat generation. SOLUTION: A controller 10 obtains the temperature of a battery 28 mounted on an electric vehicle 26 from a battery temperature obtaining part 16 and positively charge and discharge the battery 28 by controlling a charge-discharge device 22 if the temperature of the battery 28 is low. The discharged power is fed to a heater 30 arranged at the side of the battery 28 and the battery 28 is also warmed up from the outside by the use of its heat generation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery warming device, and more particularly, to a battery warming device for warming a battery by utilizing internal heat generated in the battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is an appropriate environmental temperature for utilizing the electric power of a battery, and when the temperature of the battery is low, the battery output performance cannot be sufficiently exhibited. For this reason, for example, in an electric vehicle driven by a battery, at the time of cold start (low temperature), the battery output performance is reduced, and there is a concern that sufficient running performance cannot be immediately exhibited.

In this regard, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-262144 discloses a technique in which a battery is heated from the side by an air conditioner or a combustion heater to keep the battery temperature within a predetermined range.

[0004]

However, in such a method, the thermal energy released from the air conditioner or the combustion heater escapes to a portion other than the battery, so that the battery cannot be warmed up efficiently. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a battery warming device capable of efficiently warming up a battery by directly warming the battery from the inside. It is in.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a battery warming device according to the present invention comprises a temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature of a battery, and a temperature detecting means for detecting that the temperature of the battery is lower than a predetermined temperature. And a charging / discharging unit that performs at least one of charging and discharging of the battery.

When the battery is charged or discharged, the battery generates heat internally. Therefore, according to the present invention, the battery can be directly heated from the inside by positively charging or discharging the battery when the battery temperature is low. As a result, the battery can be warmed up more efficiently than, for example, a conventional method of warming up the battery from outside.

In one aspect of the present invention, the charging / discharging means charges the battery if the capacity of the battery is less than a predetermined amount. By doing so, it is possible to limit the charging timing and limit the power taken out from the charger.

In one aspect of the present invention, the charging / discharging means discharges the battery if the capacity of the battery is equal to or more than a predetermined amount. In this way, it is possible to prevent the battery capacity from being extremely reduced by limiting the discharge timing.

In one aspect of the present invention, the charging / discharging means includes a resistor disposed on a side of the battery,
The discharge power of the battery is used for heat generation by the resistor. In this case, the battery can be warmed from the outside using the discharged power, and the battery can be warmed up more efficiently.

A battery warming device according to another aspect of the present invention includes a temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature of a battery;
Connection detection means for detecting whether or not a charger is connected to the battery; and charging the battery when the temperature of the battery is lower than a predetermined temperature and a charger is connected to the battery. And a charging / discharging unit characterized in that a discharging operation is performed. In this way, charging and discharging can be performed when the charger is connected to the battery, and the battery can be warmed up reliably.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a battery warm-up device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a battery 28 is mounted on an electric vehicle 26, and a heater 30 is arranged beside the battery 28. The heater 30 is configured to include a resistor.
And the timing given from the controller 10 converts the charging power of the battery 28 into heat,
8 has the function of warming it from the side.

The charger / discharger 22 is connected to an AC power supply 24 and to the controller 10. The charger / discharger 22 is connected to the electric vehicle 2 via the connector 32.
6 is connected to the heater 30 and the battery 28,
By switching the relay provided inside, the battery 2
8 can be charged or discharged.

On the other hand, the controller 10
, A timer 12, an SOC acquisition unit 14, a battery temperature acquisition unit 16, and a charger / discharger connection signal input unit 18. The timer 12 stores the current time in the main control unit 2.
The supplied current time is used as one of the determination materials for determining whether or not to warm up the battery 28 in the main control unit 20. The SOC acquisition unit 14 sets the SOC
The value of (battery charge state) is calculated by integrating currents input and output from the battery 28.

The battery temperature acquisition section 16 acquires the temperature of the battery from a temperature sensor (not shown) attached to the battery 28 and supplies the battery temperature to the main control section 20. This battery temperature is also used as one of the materials for determining whether or not to warm up the battery 28 in the main control unit 20. The charger / discharger connection signal input unit 18 is connected to the connector 32 and supplies information to the main control unit 20 whether or not the connector 32 is connected to the electric vehicle 26.
The information is also used for determining whether to warm up the battery 28 or not.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the charger / discharger 22. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, in the charger / discharger 22, an AC power supply 24 is connected to a charger 34, where AC power is converted into DC power. A relay 36 and a battery 28 are connected in series to the charger 34. When the relay 36 is connected by a control signal supplied from the controller 10, the battery 28 is charged by the AC power supply 24.

In the charger / discharger 22, a heater 30 and a relay 38 are connected to the battery 28 in parallel. Therefore, when the relay 36 is turned off and the relay 38 is turned on by the control signal supplied from the controller 10, the power of the battery 28 is converted into heat by the heater 30. In the charger / discharger 22 shown in the figure, a current sensor 40 is attached near either the positive or negative terminal of the battery 28 so that a current value flowing through the battery 28 is supplied to the controller 10. . In the controller 10, the SOC acquisition unit 14 calculates the SOC using this current value. Further, the controller 10 uses the detection value of the current sensor 40 to charge and discharge the battery 28 with a constant current.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the battery warming device having the above-described configuration. As shown in the figure, in this battery warming device, first, the controller 10 connects the connector 32 of the charger / discharger 22 to the electric vehicle 26.
It is determined whether or not the connection is made (S101). Then, the controller 10 determines whether or not the battery temperature acquired by the battery temperature acquiring unit 16 is equal to or lower than a predetermined warm-up temperature Ts (S102). If one of the determinations in S101 and S102 is not satisfied, the process returns to S101 again to determine whether the connector 32 of the charger / discharger 22 is connected to the electric vehicle 26 or not.

On the other hand, if it is determined in S102 that the battery temperature is equal to or lower than the predetermined warm-up temperature Ts, then the controller 10 determines whether the SOC is equal to or higher than 100% (S103). If the SOC is 100% or more, the controller 10 controls the charger / discharger 22 to discharge the battery 28 (S104). In this case, the controller 10 sets the relay 36 to the disconnected state and sets the relay 38 to the connected state. This way,
The electric power of the battery 28 is supplied to the heater 30, where it is converted into thermal energy. As a result, the battery 28 is efficiently heated from the outside by the heat radiation from the heater 30. Further, depending on the type of the battery 28, heat is generated internally by discharge, and in such a case, the battery 28 can be warmed up more efficiently.

On the other hand, in S103, the SOC is 100%
If it is determined that the difference is less than the predetermined value, the controller 10 sets the relay 38 to the disconnected state and sets the relay 36 to the connected state (S105). In this case, the electric power output from the charger 34 is supplied to the battery 28 and charging is performed. In this case, the battery 28 generates heat due to its internal resistance, and generates heat of chemical reaction depending on the type of the battery 28. As a result, the battery 28 can be efficiently warmed up.

As described above, according to the battery warming device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the battery 28 is directly charged from the inside by positively charging and discharging when the battery 28 is at a low temperature. Can be warmed. For this reason, the battery 28 can be warmed up with higher efficiency than the conventional method in which warm air or the like is blown from the outside.

The battery warm-up device described above can be variously modified.

For example, the battery 28 may be warmed up in a predetermined time period. As an example of realizing this, there is a method of inserting a decision block shown in FIG. 4 between S101 and S102 in the flowchart shown in FIG.
In this modification, if it is determined in S101 that the connector 32 of the charger / discharger is connected to the electric vehicle 26, the main controller 20 of the controller 10
Using the timekeeping information supplied from the
It is determined whether it is time to perform the warming-up of Step 8 (S101).
a). Then, if the current time is not the time to warm up, the process returns to S101 again to determine whether or not the connector 32 is connected to the electric vehicle 26. On the other hand, if it is determined in S101a that the current time is a time to warm up,
Next, the process proceeds to S102, and it is determined whether the battery temperature is equal to or lower than the predetermined warm-up temperature Ts as described above. Subsequent processing is the same as described above.

In this manner, the battery 28 can be warmed up in a desired time zone. For this reason, for example, the battery 28 can be warmed up in accordance with, for example, a work time, and the electric vehicle 26 can be started appropriately. Note that whether to warm up the battery 28 may be determined based on calendar information such as the day of the week as well as the time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a battery warm-up device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a charger / discharger of the battery warm-up device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the battery warm-up device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a battery warm-up device according to a modification.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 controller, 12 timer, 14 SOC acquisition section, 16 battery temperature acquisition section, 18 charge / discharger connection signal input section, 20 main control section, 22 charge / discharger, 24 AC power supply, 26 electric vehicle, 28 battery, 30 heater, 32 connectors, 34 chargers, 36, 38 relays, 40 current sensors.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature of a battery, and a charging / discharging means for performing at least one of charging and discharging of the battery when the detected temperature of the battery is lower than a predetermined temperature. A battery warm-up device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The battery warming device according to claim 1, wherein the charging / discharging means charges the battery if the capacity of the battery is less than a predetermined amount. 3. The battery warming-up device according to claim 1, wherein the charging / discharging unit discharges the battery if the capacity of the battery is equal to or more than a predetermined amount. apparatus. 4. The battery warm-up device according to claim 1, wherein the charging / discharging unit includes a resistor disposed on a side of the battery, and the charging / discharging unit reduces the discharging power of the battery to the resistance. A battery warming-up device used for heat generation by a heater. 5. A temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature of a battery; a connection detecting means for detecting whether or not a charger is connected to the battery; and a temperature of the battery being lower than a predetermined temperature, and And a charging / discharging means for charging and discharging the battery when a charger is connected to the battery.