Granted Patent B2

US 9,203,122 · App. 13/630,660 · Granted Dec 1, 2015

Abstract

Claims (41)

1. A system, comprising:

one or more multi-mode fiber optic cables arranged within or on portions of an energy storage device, each fiber optic cable including multiple optical sensors, at least one of the optical sensors configured to sense a parameter of the energy storage device that is different from a parameter of the energy storage device sensed by at least another optical sensor of the multiple optical sensors;

a light source configured to provide light to the one or more fiber optic cables;

a detector configured to detect light reflected by the optical sensors and to generate an electrical signal based on the reflected light; and

a processor coupled to receive the electrical signal, to analyze the electrical signal and to determine state of the energy storage device based on analysis of the electrical signal.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the multiple optical sensors comprises one or more of a sensor configured to sense mechanical strain of a component of the energy storage device, a sensor configured to sense cell wall pressure of the energy storage device, and a sensor configured to sense chemistry inside the energy storage device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple optical sensors comprise at least one sensor configured to sense temperature, at least one sensor configured to sense mechanical strain of an energy storage device component, and at least one sensor configured to sense chemistry inside the energy storage device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the multiple sensors is a reference sensor used to compensate a parameter of the energy storage device sensed by another sensor.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein one of the multiple sensors comprises a strain sensor configured to measure strain of a component of the energy storage device and another sensor of the multiple sensors comprises a temperature sensor configured to measure temperature of the component, wherein an output of the temperature sensor is used to temperature-compensate an output of the strain sensor.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the optical sensors comprise fiber Bragg grating sensors.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the optical sensors comprise Fabry-Perot sensors.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an optical element coupled between the fiber optic cable and the detector, the optical element configured to demultiplex optical signals from the multiple sensors.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the optical element comprises a linear variable filter.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the light source is configured to emit pulses of light separated in time, including a least a first narrow wavelength band light pulse having a first peak wavelength emitted at a first time and a second narrow wavelength band light pulse having a second peak wavelength emitted at a second time;

a first sensor of the multiple sensors is substantially responsive to the first peak wavelength and is substantially unresponsive to the second peak wavelength; and

the second sensor is substantially responsive to the second peak wavelength and is substantially unresponsive to the first peak wavelength.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple sensors include two first sensors configured to sense a first energy storage device parameter and a second sensor configured to sense a second energy storage device parameter wherein and the two first sensors are substantially responsive to a first peak wavelength and are substantially unresponsive to a second peak wavelength and the second sensor is substantially responsive to the second peak wavelength and is substantially unresponsive to the first peak wavelength.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the light source is a broad wavelength band light source.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy storage device comprises a battery disposed within an electric vehicle.

14. A system, comprising:

one or more fiber optic cables arranged within or on portions of an energy storage device, each fiber optic cable including multiple optical sensors, at least one of the optical sensors configured to sense a parameter of the energy storage device that is different from a parameter of the energy storage device sensed by at least another optical sensor of the multiple optical sensors;

a light source configured to provide light to the one or more fiber optic cables;

a detector configured to detect light reflected by the optical sensors and to generate an electrical signal based on the reflected light; and

a processor coupled to receive the electrical signal, to analyze the electrical signal and to determine state of the energy storage device based on analysis of the electrical signal.

15. A method, comprising:

transmitting light into one or more fiber optic cables, the fiber optic cables arranged within or on components of an energy storage device, each fiber optic cable including multiple optical sensors, at least one of the optical sensors configured to sense an internal parameter of the energy storage device that is different from a parameter sensed by at least one other optical sensor of the multiple optical sensors;

detecting light reflected by one or more of the multiple optical sensors and generating an electrical signal in response to detecting the reflected light;

analyzing the electrical signal; and

determining state of the energy storage device based on analysis of the electrical signal.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

demultiplexing the reflected light; and

detecting the demultiplexed light.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein analyzing the electrical signal comprises detecting shifts between a spectrum of light transmitted into the one or more fiber optic cables and a spectrum of the reflected light.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein:

at least one of the fiber optic cables comprises a multi-mode fiber optic cable; and

the spectrum of the reflected light is a multi-modal spectrum.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein:

transmitting the light comprising transmitting light having a first peak wavelength; and

determining the state of the battery comprises determining an average value for the first battery parameter based on a portion of the light having the first peak wavelength that is reflected by two or more of the sensors.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising sensing external parameters of the energy storage device including one or more of battery voltage and current.

Assignments (9)