Charging rate leveling device and power supply system
Provided are a charging rate leveling device and a power supply system including the charging rate leveling device capable of leveling more quickly a charging rate of a plurality of battery cells a battery pack includes. In the power supply system a controlling device includes a two-way DC/DC convertor connected to an auxiliary battery separated from the battery pack, a switch array capable of selectively connecting each of the plurality of auxiliary battery cells the battery pack includes to the two-way DC/DC convertor, so as to charge the battery cell with electric power of the auxiliary battery, and a controller controlling the switch array to connect the lowest voltage battery cell selected among the plurality of battery cells, so as to reduce a difference between charging rates SOC of each of the plurality of battery cells.
1. A charging rate leveling device for leveling charging rate of a plurality of battery cells in a battery pack, the charging rate leveling device comprising:
a battery cell charger connected to an auxiliary battery separated from the battery pack;
a connection selector capable of selectively connecting each of the plurality of battery cells to the battery cell charger, so as to charge the battery cell with electric power of the auxiliary battery;
a connection selector controller controlling the connection selector to connect one battery cell selected from the plurality of battery cells to the battery cell charger so as to reduce a difference in charging rates among the plurality of battery cells; and
an alternator directly connected only to the auxiliary battery to directly charge only the auxiliary battery,
a battery cell detector detecting a highest voltage battery cell and a lowest voltage battery cell, the highest voltage battery cell having a highest voltage between both electrodes and the lowest voltage battery cell having a lowest voltage between both electrodes, among the plurality of battery cells; and
a charging rate detector detecting a charging rate of the highest voltage battery cell and a charging rate of the lowest voltage battery cell,
wherein the battery cell charger is also configured to charge the auxiliary battery with electric power of the battery cell,
the connection selector is also configured to selectively connect each of the plurality of battery cells to the battery cell charger, so as to discharge the battery cell, and
the connection selector controller, when at least one of the charging rate of the highest voltage battery cell and the charging rate of the lowest voltage battery cell falls out of a range of a reference charging rate and a difference value between the charging rates exceeds a difference upper limit value, controls the connection selector to connect the highest voltage battery cell to the auxiliary battery charger so as to charge the auxiliary battery with the highest voltage battery cell until the charging rate of the highest voltage battery cell decreases by a predetermined value, and then controls the connection selector to connect the lowest voltage battery cell to the battery cell charger so as to charge the lowest voltage battery cell with the auxiliary battery until the charging rate of the lowest voltage battery cell increases by a predetermined value.
2. The charging rate leveling device according to claim 1 , wherein the battery cell detector includes one voltage detector, and a voltage detecting connection selector capable of selectively connecting each of the plurality of battery cells to the voltage detector, and wherein
the voltage detecting connection selector is configured to also serve as the connection selector by allowing each of the plurality of battery cells to be selectively connected also to the battery cell charger.
3. A power supply system comprising the battery pack and the charging rate leveling device according to claim 2 .
4. A power supply system comprising the battery pack and the charging rate leveling device according to claim 1 .