Vehicle battery pack health monitoring
Techniques are described for monitoring the degradation of electrochemical cells. A battery monitoring system monitors, for each of one or more cells of a plurality of cells in a battery, an amount of mechanical deformation using one or more measuring devices. The battery monitoring system determines a number of cells of the plurality of one or more monitored cells for which the monitored amount of mechanical deformation exceeds a deformation threshold. The battery monitoring system determines whether the determined number of cells exceeds a threshold number of cells with an amount of mechanical deformation exceeding the deformation threshold. Responsive to determining the determined number of cells exceeds the threshold number of cells, the battery monitoring system sends a notification that the battery is degraded beyond an acceptable limit.
1 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions executable by one or more processors, to implement a process for operating an aircraft including a battery, the process comprising:
monitoring an amount of mechanical deformation of each individual cell of a plurality of cells in the battery, the monitoring of each individual cell of the plurality of cells in the battery being performed using a measuring device;
determining a number of individual cells of the plurality of cells for which the amount of mechanical deformation exceeds a deformation threshold;
determining that the determined number of individual cells exceeds a threshold number of cells; and
responsive to determining that the determined number of individual cells exceeds the threshold number of cells, automatically performing one or more safety actions related to aircraft, the one or more safety actions comprising preventing the aircraft from performing at least one of a take-off or flight maneuver.
2 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein each individual cell of the plurality of cells are monitored using at least one of laser crossbeam detection and an impinging beam.
3 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein each individual cell of the plurality of cells are monitored using at least one of a load cell and an interferometer.
4 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein each individual cell of the plurality of cells are monitored using at least one of a linear variable differential transformer and a camera.
5 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein each individual cell of the plurality of cells comprises a current interrupt device.
6 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more safety actions comprise sending a notification that the battery is degraded beyond an acceptable limit, the notification comprising sending a graphical indication to a user interface.
7 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft.
8 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, and wherein the one or more safety actions comprise sending a graphical indication to perform an emergency landing, to a user interface of the electric VTOL aircraft.
9 . A system, comprising:
a battery including a plurality of cells;
measuring devices corresponding to the plurality of cells and being configured to determine an amount of mechanical deformation of each individual cell of the plurality of cells in the battery; and
a monitoring system configured to determine a number of individual cells of the plurality of cells for which the amount of mechanical deformation exceeds a deformation threshold, determine that the determined number of individual cells exceeds a threshold number of cells, and responsive to determining that the determined number of individual cells exceeds the threshold number of cells, automatically performing one or more safety actions related to an aircraft, the one or more safety actions comprising preventing the aircraft from performing at least one of a take-off or flight maneuver.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the measuring devices comprise at least one of a laser crossbeam detector and an impinging beam.
11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the measuring devices comprise at least one of a load cell and an interferometer.
12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the measuring devices comprise at least one of a linear variable differential transformer and a camera.
13 . The system of claim 9 , wherein each individual cell of the plurality of cells comprises a current interrupt device.
14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more safety actions comprise sending a notification that the plurality of cells are degraded beyond an acceptable limit.
15 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the system comprises an electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, and the one or more safety actions comprise sending a graphical indication to perform an emergency landing to a user interface of the electric VTOL aircraft.
16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the threshold number of individual cells is empirically determined.
17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the threshold number of individual cells are determined with aid of a machine learning model.
18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the threshold number of individual cells are set by an administrator.
19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more safety actions comprises providing a notification to a service network that coordinates operation of the aircraft within a fleet.