System and method for battery management

1. A battery management system comprising:

a plurality of bi-directional charging circuits coupled in parallel, each comprising:

a respective battery coupling node output configured to be coupled to a corresponding battery of a plurality of batteries, and

an input coupled to a common node of the battery management system;

a charge balancing circuit; and

a controller coupled to the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits, the controller configured to:

operate the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits in a charging mode to transfer charge from the common node to the respective battery coupling nodes,

operate the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits in a discharge mode to transfer change from the respective battery coupling nodes to the common node, wherein during the discharge mode the controller controls a respective contributed voltage at the common node to be different from a respective output voltage at the respective battery coupling nodes, independently for each one of the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits, and

operate the charge balancing circuit to adjust the charging and discharging of each of the corresponding plurality of batteries according to a charge level of each of the corresponding plurality of batteries,

wherein each of the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits comprises a bi-directional voltage converter, configured to convert an input voltage into a higher or lower output voltage in either direction, and

wherein each of the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits comprises a series switch, a parallel switch, and a series inductor.

2. The battery management system of claim 1 , wherein the bi-directional voltage converter is a buck-boost converter.

3. The battery management system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to shut off the series switch to protect at least one of the plurality of batteries.

4. The battery management system of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises switching outputs coupled to switching inputs of the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits, and wherein the controller activates the switching inputs of the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits in different phases.

5. The battery management system of claim 1 , wherein:

the controller is configured to independently control an output voltage at the common node during the discharge mode; and

the controller is configured to independently control charging of each of the bi-directional charging circuits during the charging mode.

6. The battery management system of claim 5 , wherein the controller is configured to perform charge balancing of the plurality of batteries.

7. The battery management system of claim 1 , wherein each of the bi-directional charging circuits operate in a quasi-resonant conversion mode.

8. A controller for a battery management system comprising:

a plurality of pulse modulators configured to be coupled to a corresponding plurality of parallel bi-directional switching power supplies coupled between a supply rail and a corresponding plurality of batteries, each of the plurality of pulse modulators having switching outputs configured to operate a corresponding bi-directional switching power supply in a charging mode and in a discharging mode;

a supply rail control circuit configured to control a voltage of the supply rail during the discharging mode, wherein controlling the voltage of the supply rail includes controlling each of the bi-directional switching power supplies to provide a respective contributing supply rail voltage sourced from a respective corresponding battery, wherein the respective contributing supply rail voltage of each switching power supply is different from a voltage available at the corresponding battery for each switching power supply;

a charge balancing circuit configured to adjust the charging and discharging of each of the corresponding plurality of batteries according to a charge level of each of the corresponding plurality of batteries; and

a plurality of battery charging control circuits configured to control a charging voltage or charging current to each of the corresponding plurality of batteries during the charging mode,

wherein each of the plurality of bi-directional switching power supplies comprises a bi-directional voltage converter, configured to convert an input voltage into a higher or lower output voltage in either direction, and

wherein each of the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits comprises a series switch, a parallel switch, and a series inductor.

9. The controller of claim 8 , wherein the charge balancing circuit adjusts a switch-on time of each of the plurality of pulse modulators.

10. The controller of claim 9 , wherein:

during the charging mode, the charge balancing circuit adjusts the switch-on time of a pulse modulator according to a difference between a maximum charge level and a remaining charge level of the corresponding battery; and

during the charging mode, the charge balancing circuit adjusts the switch-on time of the pulse modulator according to the remaining charge level of the corresponding battery.

11. The controller of claim 10 , wherein:

during the charging mode, the charge balancing circuit further adjusts the switch-on time of a pulse modulator according to a sum of a difference between a maximum charge level and a remaining charge level across each of the corresponding batteries; and

during the charging mode, the charge balancing circuit further adjusts the switch-on time of a pulse modulator according to a sum of the remaining charge level across each of the corresponding batteries.

12. The controller of claim 8 , wherein the controller is disposed on an integrated circuit.

13. The controller of claim 8 , further comprising the plurality of parallel bi-directional switching power supplies.

14. The controller of claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of parallel bi-directional switching power supplies comprise at least one switch and at least one inductor.

15. The controller of claim 8 , wherein the controller further comprises switches of the parallel bi-directional switching power supplies.

16. The controller of claim 8 , wherein the controller is disposed within a battery management system of a mobile terminal.

17. The controller for a battery management system of claim 8 , wherein each of the bi-directional voltage converters comprises a bi-directional buck-boost converter.

18. A method of operating a plurality of parallel connected bi-directional power supply circuits that are each coupled to a corresponding battery and to a common power supply node, the method comprising:

operating the plurality of bi-directional power supply circuits in a charge mode, the operating the plurality of bi-directional power supply circuits in the charge mode comprising sequencing switch signals coupled to the bi-directional power supply circuits to transfer charge from the common power supply node to each of the corresponding batteries;

operating the plurality of bi-directional power supply circuits in a discharge mode, operating the plurality of bi-directional power supply circuits in the discharge mode comprising:

sequencing switch signals coupled to the bi-directional power supply circuits to transfer charge from each of the corresponding batteries to the common power supply node, and

controlling a voltage at the common power supply node using feedback, wherein the voltage at the common power supply is controlled to be different from a voltage of each of the corresponding batteries; and

charge balancing each of the corresponding batteries, the charge balancing comprising adjusting the charging and discharging of each of the corresponding batteries according to a charge level of each of the corresponding batteries,

wherein each of the plurality of bi-directional power supply circuits comprises a bi-directional voltage converter, configured to convert an input voltage into a higher or lower output voltage in either direction, and

wherein each of the plurality of bi-directional charging circuits comprises a series switch, a parallel switch, and a series inductor.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein:

operating the plurality of bi-directional power supply circuits in the discharge mode comprises staggering phases of the switch signals of the bi-directional power supplies with respect to each other.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein operating the plurality of bi-directional power supply circuits in the charging mode further comprises independently adjusting a rate of charging of each bi-directional power supply circuit according to a difference between a maximum charge level of each corresponding battery and an actual charge level of each corresponding battery.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein operating the plurality of bi-directional power supply circuits in the discharge mode further comprises independently adjusting a rate of discharge of each bi-directional power supply circuit according to an actual charge level of each corresponding battery.

22. The method of claim 19 , further comprising performing charge balancing among the plurality of bi-directional power supply circuits, performing charge balancing comprising independently adjusting a charge rate and discharge rate of each individual bi-directional power supply circuit according to a ratio of a charge remaining in the corresponding battery to a total charge remaining in all corresponding batteries.

23. The method of claim 18 , wherein each of the bi-directional voltage converters comprises a bi-directional buck-boost converter.