Isolated battery management systems and methods thereof
View Patent ↗Systems and methods of the invention relate to circuitry that isolates low power circuitry of a battery management system. One or more circuits can be utilized with a battery management system to provide isolation of low power circuitry from at least one of a high voltage, noise interference from a battery, noise interference from a high voltage, sensor signals, control signals, among others. The circuitry further provides high voltage from a grid to be stepped-down to a voltage level usable by circuitry, port(s), and/or a processor.
1. A system, comprising:
a first circuit configured to convert a first voltage of a DC bus to a lower second voltage and isolate the second voltage from the first voltage;
a processor; and
at least one of the following:
a third circuit operatively connected to an output of the first circuit and configured to convert the second voltage to a lower fourth voltage, isolate the fourth voltage from the second voltage, and condition at least a first monitoring signal related to a battery module to form a first conditioned monitoring signal, wherein at least a signal conditioning portion of the third circuit is powered by the fourth voltage; or
a fourth circuit operatively connected to the output of the first circuit and configured to convert the second voltage to a lower fifth voltage, isolate the fifth voltage from the second voltage, and condition at least a second monitoring signal related to the battery module to form a second conditioned monitoring signal, wherein at least a signal conditioning portion of the fourth circuit is powered by the fifth voltage;
wherein the processor is configured to receive at least the first conditioned monitoring signal or the second conditioned monitoring signal.
2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second circuit operatively connected to the output of the first circuit and configured to convert the second voltage to a lower third voltage and isolate the third voltage from the second voltage.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is powered by the third voltage.
4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the third voltage is approximately 3.3 volts or approximately 5 volts.
5. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a port that is powered by the third voltage.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the port is at least one of a fan control, a Controller Area Network box, an Ethernet port, a programming port, a communications port, a debug port, an RS-232 port, or an RS-485 port.
7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an auxiliary port that is configured to supply a sixth voltage to the third circuit and the fourth circuit, wherein the sixth voltage is approximate the same as the second voltage.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first voltage is approximately 600 volts.
9. The system of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the second voltage or the sixth voltage is approximately 24 volts.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the fourth voltage or the fifth voltage is approximately 5 volts.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first monitoring signal is at least one of a positive polarity DC bus voltage signal, a positive polarity battery voltage signal from the battery module, a mid-battery voltage signal from the battery module, a Resistance Temperature Detector signal from the battery module, a battery heater shunt signal, a positive polarity contactor signal, or a negative polarity contactor signal.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second monitoring signal is at least one of a positive polarity DC bus voltage signal, a positive polarity battery voltage signal from the battery module, a mid-battery voltage signal from the battery module, a Resistance Temperature Detector signal from the battery module, a battery heater shunt signal, a positive polarity contactor signal, or a negative polarity contactor signal.
13. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the third circuit is associated with a negative side of the DC bus;
the fourth circuit is associated with a positive side of the DC bus;
the first monitoring signal is a monitored negative current bus signal from the DC bus; and
the second monitoring signal is a monitored positive current bus signal from the DC bus.
14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fourth voltage is approximately 12 volts or approximately 5 volts.
15. A method, comprising:
receiving a DC bus voltage from a power grid;
reducing the DC bus voltage from a first voltage to an isolated second voltage;
reducing the second voltage to at least one of an isolated third voltage or an isolated fourth voltage;
reducing the second voltage to an isolated fifth voltage;
conditioning a monitored battery signal from a battery module to form a conditioned battery signal using the fifth voltage;
communicating the conditioned battery signal to a processor; and
controlling an operation of the battery module with the processor in response to the conditioned battery signal.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
using the third voltage to power the processor; and
using the fourth voltage to power a port.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the port is at least one of a fan control, a Controller Area Network box, an Ethernet port, a programming port, a communications port, a debug port, an RS-232 port, or an RS-485 port.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first voltage is approximately 600 volts, the second voltage is approximately 24 volts, the third voltage is approximately 3.3 volts, the fourth voltage is approximately 5 volts, and the fifth voltage is approximately 5 volts.
19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising isolating a positive DC bus monitored current signal from a negative DC bus monitored current signal.
20. A system, comprising:
a first circuit configured to convert a first voltage of a DC bus to a lower, isolated second voltage;
at least one of the following:
a third circuit operatively connected to an output of the first circuit and configured to convert the second voltage to a lower, isolated fourth voltage and to condition at least a first monitoring signal related to a battery module to form a first conditioned monitoring signal, wherein at least a signal conditioning portion of the third circuit is powered by the fourth voltage; or
a fourth circuit operatively connected to the output of the first circuit and configured to convert the second voltage to a lower, isolated fifth voltage and to condition at least a second monitoring signal related to the battery module to form a second conditioned monitoring signal, wherein at least a signal conditioning portion of the fourth circuit is powered by the fifth voltage; and
means for communicating at least the first conditioned monitoring signal or the second conditioned monitoring signal to a processor of a battery management system.