US-12627165-B2 - Systems and methods for battery charging using a negotiable power supply

Abstract

Methods and systems for charging a battery utilizing a negotiable power supply in which the power supply and a component of a charge circuit negotiate a level of power are disclosed. A charge circuit may include a controller to communicate with the negotiable power supply to request a power signal comprising a voltage and a maximum current, which may then be provided by the negotiable power supply. A voltage value and/or maximum current value of the negotiated power signal may be provided as parameters to a model of one or more components of a charge signal shaping circuit. The circuit model may utilize the provided power parameters when modeling one or more charge circuit components to generate an accurate model of the charge circuit and used to control a charge circuit to provide power to recharge the battery that limits a power level that may damage the battery during charging.

Inventors

• John Richard HOWLETT, III
• David KESSNER

Assignees

• Iontra Inc

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20221020

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A method of charging an electrochemical device comprising: providing at least one characteristic of a negotiated power signal as an input parameter to a model of a charging circuit; inputting a target charge waveform to the model of the charging circuit to determine an estimated charge waveform generated by the charging circuit, the estimated charge waveform based on the at least one characteristic of the negotiated power signal and the target charge waveform; and controlling, based on the estimated charge waveform, a switching device of the charging circuit.
2. 2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising: communicating with a negotiable power supply to request the negotiated power signal from the negotiable power supply.
3. 3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the negotiable power supply comprises a Universal Serial Bus, Type C (USB-C) connector in electrical communication with a power source.
4. 4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the power source is at least one of a wall outlet, a charge block, or a laptop computer.
5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one characteristic is a voltage value of the negotiated power signal and controlling the switching device comprises generating a pulsed control signal to the switching device based on the voltage value of the negotiated power signal.
6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one characteristic is a maximum current value of the negotiated power signal and controlling the switching device comprises limiting an amount of power through the switching device based on the maximum current value of the negotiated power signal.
7. 7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the charging circuit comprises an inductor and the model of the charging circuit comprises a modeled inductor device.
8. 8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the inductor shapes a charge signal based on a controlled pulse signal at an input of the inductor.
9. 9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the switching device of the charging circuit comprises a transistor coupled to a power supply and control of the transistor provides an adjusted charge waveform.
10. 10 . The method of claim 1 wherein controlling the switching device comprises generating a non-uniform, digital signal as input to the switching device.
11. 11 . The method of claim 1 wherein the target charge waveform comprises a harmonic associated with an operational characteristic of the electrochemical device.
12. 12 . The method of claim 1 wherein the target charge waveform includes a harmonically shaped leading edge wherein the harmonically shaped leading edge corresponds to a harmonic and an impedance effect of the harmonic on a battery when charging.
13. 13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving a battery characteristic feedback information from a battery measurement circuit; and altering, based on the feedback information, a parameter of the model of the charging circuit.
14. 14 . A system for charging an electrochemical device comprising: a negotiable power supply controller in communication with a negotiable power supply; and a controller to: receive, from the negotiable power supply controller, at least one characteristic of a negotiated power signal as an input parameter to a model of a charging circuit; input a target charge waveform to the model of the charging circuit to determine an estimated charge waveform generated by the charging circuit, the estimated charge waveform based on the at least one characteristic of the negotiated power signal and the target charge waveform; and control, based on the estimated charge waveform, a switching device of the charging circuit.
15. 15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the negotiable power supply controller communicates with the negotiable power supply to request the negotiated power signal from the negotiable power supply.
16. 16 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the negotiable power supply comprises a Universal Serial Bus, Type C (USB-C) connector in electrical communication with a power source.
17. 17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the power source is at least one of a wall outlet, a charge block, or a laptop computer.
18. 18 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the at least one characteristic is a maximum current value of the negotiated power signal, the controller controlling the switching device to limit an amount of power through the switching device based on the maximum current value of the negotiated power signal.
19. 19 . The system of claim 14 wherein the switching device of the charging circuit comprises a transistor coupled to a power supply and control of the transistor provides an adjusted charge waveform.
20. 20 . The system of claim 14 wherein the controller further generates a non-uniform, digital signal as input to the switching device.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is related to and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/270,427, filed Oct. 21, 2021, entitled “Systems and Methods for Battery Charging Using a Negotiable Power Supply,” the entire contents of which is fully incorporated by reference herein. This application is also a continuation-in-part and claims priority to U.S. Nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 17/566,535, filed Dec. 30, 2021, entitled “Systems and Methods for Battery Charging Using Circuit Modeling,” which claims benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) from U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/132,250, filed Dec. 30, 2020, entitled “Systems and Methods for Battery Cell Charging Using Circuit Modeling,” both of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to systems and methods for charging of one or more batteries involving a negotiable power supply and the use of a tuned charging signal to charge the one or more batteries. Background and Introduction Many electrically powered devices, such as power tools, vacuums, any number of different portable electronic devices including mobile phones, tablets, watches and the like use rechargeable batteries as a source of operating power. Rechargeable batteries are limited by finite battery capacity and must be recharged upon depletion. Recharging a battery may be inconvenient as the powered device must often be stationary during the time required for recharging the battery. As such, significant effort has been put into developing charging technology that reduces the time needed to recharge the battery. Battery systems also tend to degrade over time based on the charge and discharge cycling of the battery system, the depth of discharge and overcharging, among other possible factors. Thus, like the speed of charging, efforts are made to optimize charging to maximize battery life, not overdischarge the battery or overcharge the battery while using as much of the battery capacity as possible. Often these objectives are at odds, and charging systems are designed to optimize some attributes at the expense of others. In some charging scenarios, pulse charging has been explored. However, it has been discovered that applying a square-wave pulse charge signal to charge a battery may degrade the life of the battery or may introduce inefficiencies in the charging of the battery. For example, the abrupt application of charge current (e.g., the sharp leading edge of a square-wave pulse) to the electrode (typically the anode) of the battery may cause a large initial impedance across the battery terminals resulting in a loss of transfer of power to the battery, lessening the efficiency of the charging process and/or damaging portions of the battery under charge, among other problems. Rapid changes in the charge signal experienced from square pulses to the battery may introduce noise comprised of high-frequency harmonics, such as at the sharp leading edge of the square-wave pulse and during use of conventional reverse pulse schemes. Such high harmonics result in a large impedance at the battery electrodes. This high impedance may result in many inefficiencies and degradation of the battery, including capacity losses, heat generation, and imbalance in electro-kinetic activity throughout the battery, undesirable electro-chemical response at the charge boundary, and degradation to the materials within the battery that may damage the battery and degrade the life of the battery. Further, cold starting a battery with a sharp bonding edge pulse introduces limited faradaic activity as capacitive charging and diffusive processes set in. During this time, proximal lithium will react and be quickly consumed, leaving a period of unwanted side reactions and diffusion-limited conditions which negatively impact the health of the cell and its components. These and other inefficiencies are particularly detrimental during a fast recharging of the battery 104 where relatively higher currents are often involved. It is with these observations in mind, among others, that aspects of the present disclosure were conceived and developed. SUMMARY One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method of charging an electrochemical device. The method may include the operations of providing at least one characteristic of a negotiated power signal as an input parameter to a model of a charging circuit, inputting a target charge waveform to the model of the charging circuit to determine an estimated charge waveform generated by the charging circuit, and controlling, based on the estimated charge waveform, a switching device of the charging circuit. Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system for charging an electrochemical device comprising a negotiable power supply controller in communication with a negotiable power supply and a controller. The