Systems and methods for voltage regulated battery backup management

1. An information handling system, comprising:

a system load;

a main power supply coupled by a power rail to supply power to the system load;

a backup battery system coupled to the power rail to supply backup power to the system load, the backup battery system comprising:

multiple separate battery cell units, the multiple separate battery cell units being coupled together in series or in parallel to provide the backup power for the battery system, and

a separate processing device coupled to each given one of the battery cell units to control output voltage of the given battery cell unit separately from the output voltage of the other battery cell units while the backup battery system is providing the backup power to the system load;

where each given one of the separate processing devices is coupled by a communication path to exchange one or more battery cell characteristics of its given respective battery cell unit to which it is coupled with each of the other separate processing devices; and where each of the separate processing devices is configured to separately control output voltage of its given respective battery cell unit to which it is coupled based at least in part on the battery cell characteristics of the other battery cell units coupled to the other separate processing devices that is provided by the other separate processing devices across the communication path.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 ,

where the multiple separate battery cell units are coupled together in series and/or in parallel to provide the backup power for the battery system, and

where each separate processing device is a given separate programmable circuit coupled to each given one of the battery cell units and programmed to control output voltage of the given battery cell unit separately from the output voltage of the other battery cell units while the backup battery system is providing the backup power to the system load, the given separate programmable circuit coupled to each given one of the battery cell units being different from the programmable circuit coupled to each of the other battery cell units.

3. The information handling system of claim 2 , where each of the separate programmable circuits of the backup battery system is programmed to:

determine the real time current remaining battery capacity of a given one of the battery cell units separately from the other battery cell units; and

control output voltage of the given battery cell unit separately from the output voltage of the other battery cell units based on the determined real time remaining battery capacity of the given battery cell unit while the backup battery system is providing the backup power to the system load.

4. The information handling system of claim 2 , where the multiple battery cell units are coupled together in series to provide the backup power for the battery system.

5. The information handling system of claim 2 where the information handling system is a blade server system comprising multiple server blades coupled to the power rail to receive power from the main supply power; where the system load comprises power-consuming components of the multiple server blades; where each of the server blades comprises a battery backup unit (BBU) that is coupled in parallel to each of the BBUs of the other server blades to form the backup battery system; where the multiple BBUs of the battery system together provide the backup power to the system load that includes the power-consuming components of the multiple server blades; and where the separate programmable circuit of each of the BBUs comprises an embedded controller (EC) and/or battery management unit (BMU) that is different from the separate programmable circuit of each of the other BBUs.

6. The information handling system of claim 2 , where each of the separate programmable circuits is programmed to control output voltage of a given battery cell unit independently from the other separate programmable circuits that are programmed to control output voltage of the other battery cell units.

7. The information handling system of claim 1 , where the one or more battery cell characteristics comprise at least one of battery cell age or battery cell type.

8. The information handling system of claim 2 , where each given one of the separate programmable circuits of the backup battery system is programmed to:

receive pre-defined voltage regulation parameters from a different programmable circuit and/or non-volatile memory that is coupled to the given separate programmable circuit; and

use the received pre-defined voltage regulation parameters to control at least one of output voltage or output current of the given battery cell unit in a closed-loop manner that is separate from the control of other battery cell units by logic executing on other and different respective programmable circuits.

9. The information handling system of claim 8 , where the given separate programmable circuit coupled to each given one of the battery cell units comprises a given battery management unit (BMU) and where the different programmable circuit comprises an embedded controller (EC); where the pre-defined voltage regulation parameters comprise predefined operating output voltages for the given one of the battery cell units as a function of the current battery capacity and/or state of charge (SOC) of the battery cells of the given battery cell unit; and where each given BMU is programmed to receive the pre-defined voltage regulation parameters from the EC, and to use the received pre-defined voltage regulation parameters to regulate the output voltage of the given battery cell unit in a closed-loop manner in a manner that is separate from the control of other battery cell units by logic executing on other and different respective programmable circuits to achieve the predefined operating output voltages for the given battery cell unit as a function of the current battery capacity and/or SOC of the battery cells of the given battery cell unit.

10. A method of providing backup power to a system load of an information handling system, comprising:

supplying power from a main power supply by a power rail to the system load; and

supplying the backup power from a backup battery system coupled to the power rail to the system load in absence of power from the main power supply, the backup battery system comprising multiple separate battery cell units, the multiple separate battery cell units being coupled together in series or in parallel; and

using a separate processing device coupled to each given one of the battery cell units to control output voltage of the given battery cell unit separately from the output voltage of the other battery cell units while the backup battery system is providing the backup power to the system load;

where the method further comprises using each given one of the separate processing devices to exchange one or more battery cell characteristics of its given respective battery cell unit to which it is coupled with each of the other separate processing devices across a communication path; and using each of the separate processing devices to separately control output voltage of its given respective battery cell unit to which it is coupled based at least in part on the battery cell characteristics of the other battery cell units coupled to the other separate processing devices that is provided by the other separate processing devices across the communication path.

11. The method of claim 10 ,

where the multiple separate battery cell units are coupled together in series and/or in parallel; and

where the method further comprises using a given separate programmable circuit coupled to each given one of the battery cell units to execute logic to control output voltage of the given battery cell unit separately from the output voltage of the other battery cell units while the backup battery system is providing the backup power to the system load, the given separate programmable circuit and its corresponding executing logic that is coupled to each given one of the battery cell units being different from the programmable circuit and corresponding executing logic coupled to each of the other battery cell units.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising using each given one of the separate programmable circuits to execute logic to:

determine the real time current remaining battery capacity of a given one of the battery cell units separately from the other battery cell units; and

control output voltage of the given battery cell unit separately from the output voltage of the other battery cell units based on the determined real time remaining battery capacity of the given one of the battery cell units while the backup battery system is providing the backup power to the system load.

13. The method of claim 11 , where the multiple battery cell units are coupled together in series to provide the backup power for the battery system.

14. The method of claim 11 , where the information handling system is a blade server system comprising multiple server blades coupled to the power rail to receive power from the main supply power; where the system load comprises power-consuming components of the multiple server blades; where each of the server blades comprises a battery backup unit (BBU) that is coupled in parallel to each of the BBUs of the other server blades to form the backup battery system; where the given separate programmable circuit of each of the BBUs comprises an embedded controller (EC) and/or battery management unit (BMU) that is different from the separate programmable circuit of each of the other BBUs; and where the method further comprises using the multiple BBUs of the battery system to together provide the backup power to the system load that includes the power-consuming components of the multiple server blades.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising using each of the given separate programmable circuits to execute logic to control output voltage of a given battery cell unit independently from the other separate programmable circuits that separately execute logic to control output voltage of the other battery cell units.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising using the given separate programmable circuit coupled to each given one of the battery cell units to:

execute logic to receive pre-defined voltage regulation parameters from a different programmable circuit and/or non-volatile memory; and

use the received pre-defined voltage regulation parameters to control at least one of output voltage or output current of the given battery cell unit in a closed-loop manner that is separate from the control of other battery cell units by logic executing on other and different respective programmable circuits.

17. The method of claim 16 , where the given separate programmable circuit coupled to each given one of the battery cell units comprises a given battery management unit (BMU) and where the different programmable circuit comprises an embedded controller (EC); where the pre-defined voltage regulation parameters comprise predefined operating output voltages for the given one of the battery cell units as a function of the current battery capacity and/or state of charge (SOC) of the battery cells of the given battery cell unit; and where the method further comprises using the given BMU coupled to each given one of the battery cell units to execute logic to received the pre-defined voltage regulation parameters from the embedded controller (EC), and using the received pre-defined voltage regulation parameters to regulate the output voltage of the given battery cell unit in a closed-loop manner in a manner that is separate from the control of other battery cell units by logic executing on other and different respective programmable circuits to achieve the predefined operating output voltages for the given battery cell unit as a function of the current battery capacity and/or SOC of the battery cells of the given battery cell unit.

18. The method of claim 10 , where the one or more battery cell characteristics comprise at least one of battery cell age or battery cell type.

19. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

supplying the backup power from the backup battery system coupled to the power rail to the system load in absence of power from the main power supply, and while the backup battery system comprises a first group of multiple separate battery cell units, the multiple separate battery cell units of the first group of battery cell units being coupled together in series or in parallel;

then supplying the backup power from the backup battery system coupled to the power rail to the system load in absence of power from the main power supply, and while the backup battery system comprises a second group of multiple separate battery cell units, the multiple separate battery cell units of the second group of battery cell units being coupled together in series or in parallel, and the second group of battery cell units including at least one battery cell unit having battery cell characteristics that are different from the battery cell units of the first group of multiple separate battery cell units;

using each given one of the separate processing devices to exchange one or more battery cell characteristics of its given respective battery cell unit to which it is coupled with each of the other separate processing devices across a communication path; and

using each of the separate processing devices to separately control output voltage of its given respective battery cell unit to which it is coupled based at least in part on the battery cell characteristics of the other battery cell units coupled to the other separate processing devices that is provided by the other separate processing devices across the communication path such that each of the separate processing devices separately control output voltage of its given respective battery cell unit based on the battery cell characteristics of the battery cell units of the first group of multiple battery cell units in a different manner than each of the separate processing devices separately control output voltage of its given respective battery cell unit based on the battery cell characteristics of the battery cell units of the second group of multiple battery cell units.

20. The method of claim 19 , where the one or more battery cell characteristics comprise at least one of battery cell age or battery cell type.