Patents Assigned to Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
  • Publication number: 20120133370
    Abstract: A battery system for vehicle comprises a battery unit that is constituted with a plurality of serially connected cell groups each include a plurality of serially connected battery cells, integrated circuits that are each disposed in correspondence to one of the cell groups of the battery unit and each measure terminal voltages at the battery cells in the corresponding cell group, and a signal transmission path through which one of the integrated circuits is connected to another one of the integrated circuits or to a circuit other than that of the integrated circuits.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2012
    Publication date: May 31, 2012
    Applicants: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd., Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji KUBO, Akihiko KUDO, Mutsumi KIKUCHI, Akihiko EMORI
  • Publication number: 20120094157
    Abstract: An electricity storage device according to the present invention includes a battery module having side plates and cover members assembled to both the sides of a case member of the battery module, so that gas discharge spaces are defined into which gas is emitted from the terminals of battery cells that are stored within the case member. Projecting portions are provided to the side plates respectively, and have through-holes communicating with the gas discharge spaces. The lowermost surfaces of the through-holes of the projecting portions are positioned lower than a axe of any of the battery cells. The projecting portions are connected by a tubular rubber members.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2011
    Publication date: April 19, 2012
    Applicant: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventor: Sadashi Seto
  • Patent number: 8159184
    Abstract: An automotive power supply system comprises a battery module that includes serially connected battery groups each constituted with serially connected battery cells, integrated circuits each disposed in correspondence to one of the battery groups, a control circuit, a transmission path through which the integrated circuits are connected to the control circuit and a relay circuit via which an electrical current is supplied from the battery module. In response to a start signal instructing an operation start and received via the transmission path, each integrated circuit measures terminal voltages at the individual battery cells in the corresponding battery group and executes an abnormality diagnosis. If abnormality diagnosis results provided by the integrated circuits indicate no abnormality, the control circuit closes the relay, enabling supply of electrical current from the battery module and subsequently, the control circuit receives measurement results from the integrated circuits via the transmission path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiko Emori, Youhei Kawahara, Kei Sakabe, Mutsumi Kikuchi, Tatsumi Yamauchi, Akihiko Kudo
  • Patent number: 8158284
    Abstract: A lithium ion secondary battery is capable of improving the energy density and power density and excellent in high rate cycle characteristics applicable to hybrid cars, etc. The lithium ion secondary battery including a positive electrode of a lithium transition metal complex oxide, a negative electrode for absorbing/releasing lithium, and a non-aqueous electrolyte containing a lithium salt, in which the negative electrode has a negative electrode active material using a non-graphitizing carbon (spacing d(002) of 0.360 nm or more by XRD) and a graphitizing carbon (spacing d(002) of 0.339 nm or more and less than 0.360 nm by XRD) surface-modified at a thickness in a range from 10 nm to 100 nm in admixture, comprising the non-graphitizing carbon and the graphitizing carbon at a ratio in the range of 90 to 50 wt % :10 to 50 wt % and, further, graphitizing carbon having a grain size larger than that of the non-graphitizing carbon is used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventor: Naoki Kimura
  • Publication number: 20120082876
    Abstract: An electric storage device includes: a battery block including a chassis with a plurality of storage cells installed therein; a control unit placed on the chassis for monitoring states of the plurality of storage cells based on signals concerning their physical quantities; a plurality of wires arranged on the chassis for directing the signals to the control unit; a confining member fixed on one surface of the chassis, where the control unit is placed, for defining a route along which the plurality of wires are arranged. The confining member includes a first direction restrainer defining the route for bending the wires, withstanding a reaction force accompanying bending of the plurality of wires, and a second direction restrainer withstanding a force exerted by the plurality of wires which are inserted into the route and tend to be lifted up toward a leaving direction from the one surface of the chassis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2011
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takatoshi YAMAMOTO, Masahiro Kaneshige
  • Publication number: 20120062238
    Abstract: A battery controller for controlling an assembled battery configured by connecting battery groups each including battery cells, includes: voltage measuring units that are provided respectively for the battery groups each to measure a voltage of each of the battery cells included in a corresponding battery group; a minimum value detecting unit that detects a minimum value of the battery cells for each of the battery groups based upon the measured voltage of each of the battery cells; a reference value setting unit that sets a reference value used to determine an abnormal voltage drop for each of the battery groups based upon the measured voltage of each of the battery cells; and an abnormality determining unit that makes a determination that an abnormal voltage drop is present, if a difference between the reference value and the minimum value exceeds a predetermined value, for each of the battery groups.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2011
    Publication date: March 15, 2012
    Applicant: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tatsuhiko Kawasaki, Kenji Hara, Toshiyuki Nanto, Hirofumi Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20120057316
    Abstract: An in-vehicle electric storage device includes: a battery block including a metal casing and battery cells; a control unit including a metal cabinet and a circuit board on which an electronic component is mounted, the control unit being on a top side of the battery block and monitoring a physical state of the battery cells; wherein the cabinet includes a case having a bottom plate and an open top surface and a cover closing the open top surface, the case has an internal boss protrudes toward inside of the case from a top side of the bottom plate and an external boss protrudes toward outside the case from a bottom side of the bottom plate, the circuit board is on a top side of the internal boss, and a top side of the casing is provided with a depressed portion in which the external boss is accommodated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2011
    Publication date: March 8, 2012
    Applicant: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Kaneshige, Mitsutoshi Nakane
  • Publication number: 20120052345
    Abstract: A cell controller having excellent productivity is provided. A cell-con 80 has 12 ICs IC-1 to IC-2 mounted on a substrate, and these ICs detect voltages of respective cells constituting a cell pack, perform capacity adjustment on the respective cells, and are mounted two by two on rectangular longer sides of a rectangular continuous straight line L-L? defined on a substrate from the IC-1 on a highest potential side to the IC-12 on a lowest potential side continuously in order of potential differences of the corresponding cell packs. Distances between the rectangular shorter sides of the rectangular continuous straight line L-L? are the same. On the cell-con 80, between the IC-1 to IC-12 having different ground voltages, each of the ICs has signal output terminals connected to signal input terminals of a lower order IC respectively in an electrically non-insulated state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2011
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: HITACHI VEHICLE ENERGY, LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi KAI, Tunemi AIBA, Akihiko KUDO, Yoshinori AOSHIMA, Akihiko EMORI
  • Publication number: 20120043967
    Abstract: A ground fault detection circuit according to the present invention is a ground fault detection circuit that detects the occurrence of a ground fault of a battery that is insulated, and that includes: an AC signal generation section that generates an AC signal; a first capacitive element that couples the AC signal generated by the AC signal generation section to the battery; a voltage division section that voltage divides the AC signal that is coupled to the battery by the first capacitive element; a ground fault detection unit that detects a ground fault of the battery based on an AC component of an input signal; and a second capacitive element that couples the AC signal that has been voltage divided by the voltage division section to the ground fault detection unit as the input signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2010
    Publication date: February 23, 2012
    Applicants: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd., Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hikaru Miura, Akihiko Kudou
  • Publication number: 20120034507
    Abstract: An electricity storage module includes a casing 110 that includes an intake port 114 through which a cooling medium is taken in located at one end of the casing, and an outlet port 115 through which the cooling medium is let out, located at another end of the casing. A plurality of electricity storage elements 140 are arrayed from the intake port 114 toward the outlet port 115 with clearances set between the electricity storage elements, and the clearances present between the electricity storage elements 140 are altered so as to achieve a higher flow velocity for the cooling medium on the outlet port side compared to the flow velocity of the cooling medium on the intake port side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2010
    Publication date: February 9, 2012
    Applicants: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd., HITACHI LTD.
    Inventors: Susumu Harada, Yoshihisa Tsurumi, Takehiro Matsumoto, Hideki Homma
  • Publication number: 20120028099
    Abstract: An electric storage module includes: a cooling plate with a predetermined thickness between a front surface and a rear surface, with the front surface and the rear surface functioning as cooling surfaces by a coolant flowing in the cooling plate; a first battery row made up with a plurality of battery cells, to be cooled by the cooling plate, arrayed along a predetermined direction, with one end surfaces of the battery cells being coupled with the front surface of the cooling plate so as to achieve thermal conduction; and a second battery row made up with a plurality of battery cells, to be cooled by the cooling plate, arrayed along a predetermined direction, with one end surfaces of the battery cells being coupled with the rear surface of the cooling plate so as to achieve thermal conduction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2011
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Applicant: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventor: Sadayuki AOKI
  • Publication number: 20120025769
    Abstract: A battery system for a vehicle is provided with discharge circuits (R1, 129A through 129D, 128A through 128D) that discharge battery cells (BC1 through BC4) via measurement lines of those battery cells (BC1 through BC4).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2010
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Applicants: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd., Hitachi, LTD.
    Inventors: Mutsumi Kikuchi, Akihiko Kudo, Gosuke Shibahara, Yoshinori Aoshima, Kenji Kubo, Yasuo Uemura
  • Patent number: 8103401
    Abstract: A battery system for vehicle comprises a battery unit that is constituted with a plurality of serially connected cell groups each include a plurality of serially connected battery cells, integrated circuits that are each disposed in correspondence to one of the cell groups of the battery unit and each measure terminal voltages at the battery cells in the corresponding cell group, and a signal transmission path through which one of the integrated circuits is connected to another one of the integrated circuits or to a circuit other than that of the integrated circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Kubo, Akihiko Kudo, Mutsumi Kikuchi, Akihiko Emori
  • Publication number: 20120009452
    Abstract: Disclosed is a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery wherein the energy density is improved by increasing the range of depth of discharge to be used. Specifically disclosed is a lithium ion secondary battery 20 wherein an electrode group 6 is contained within a battery case 7. The electrode group 6 is formed by winding a positive electrode plate W1 and a negative electrode plate W3 with a separator W5 interposed therebetween. The positive electrode plate W1 has positive-electrode mixture layers W2 which are formed on both surfaces of an aluminum foil and contain a positive-electrode active material. The positive-electrode active material contains lithium iron phosphate as a principal component. The negative electrode plate W3 has negative-electrode mixture layers W4 which are formed on both surfaces of a rolled copper foil and contain a negative-electrode active material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2010
    Publication date: January 12, 2012
    Applicant: HITACHI VEHICLE ENERGY, LTD.
    Inventor: Atsushi Ueda
  • Publication number: 20110316520
    Abstract: A battery control circuit includes a voltage detection circuit for measuring voltages of electric cells, balancing circuits for balancing the voltages or SOCs of the electric cells, a signal input/output circuit for communicating with the outside, a power supply circuit having two modes: a normal mode and a low consumption mode, and a time management circuit. It receives a signal containing a period of time until the shift of the power supply circuit from the normal mode to the low consumption mode, and stores it in the time management circuit. If a command from the outside has not been sent for a predetermined period of time or when an operation stop command has been sent from the outside, the time management circuit causes the power supply circuit to continuously operate in the normal mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2011
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Applicant: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Youhei Kawahara, Ryouhei Nakao, Akihiko Kudo, Akihiko Emori, Kei Sakabe
  • Patent number: 8080328
    Abstract: The present invention provides a secondary battery module capable of securing safety at a time of abnormal battery operations by using a film-type secondary battery. A module 30 is provided with 8 pieces of single batteries 20 each using a laminate film as its battery container. The 8 pieces of single batteries are disposed in a layer-stacked state. A conducting plate 17 is placed in a manner to face one single battery 20a disposed at one end of the 8 pieces of the single batteries 20. A pushing member 14 is formed between the single battery 20a and conducting plate 17. A conducting plate 18 is disposed on a side of the conducting plate 17 opposite to the pushing member 14. The pushing member 14 has projected portions 14b. The conducting member 17 has through-holes 17a formed so that the projected portions are able to pass through. The conducting plates 17 and 18 are coupled by a coupling portion 21.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mikio Oguma, Takenori Ishizu
  • Patent number: 8076020
    Abstract: The present invention provides to a battery module which is excellent in cooling performance of a battery and is improved in assembling easiness at low cast. A battery module 3 accommodates assembled battery blocks 20 arranged in series in an exterior case formed in an approximately hexahedral shape in parallel, each assembled battery block 20 including six assembled battery units electrically connected in series and each assembled battery unit including four cylindrical unit cells arrange such that their polarities are alternating. An exterior case is formed by connecting a lower lid 22 having a front face, a bottom face, and a back face and an upper lid 41 having a left side face, an upper face, and a right side face. End portions of the left side face, the upper face, and the right side face of the upper lid are drawn at the sides of the front face and the back face of the lower lid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeyuki Goto, Toshiaki Onuki, Tunemi Aiba, Koutarou Ikeda
  • Publication number: 20110298424
    Abstract: A battery control device that controls a battery module in which a plurality of cell groups, in each of which a plurality of cells are connected in series, are connected in series or series-parallel, includes: a plurality of cell controller ICs that control each of the plurality of cell groups; and one or more connectors that are provided for connecting the plurality of cell controller ICs to the battery module; wherein: the plurality of cell controller ICs include first and second cell controller ICs that are provided in sequence, so as to control two or more of the cell groups that are connected in series; and an auxiliary connection member (a pin) is provided for connecting GND terminal side wiring of the first cell controller IC and VCC terminal side wiring of the second cell controller IC together, externally to the battery control device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2011
    Publication date: December 8, 2011
    Applicant: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tatsumi YAMAUCHI, Akihiro MACHIDA, Akihiko KUDO
  • Patent number: 8058842
    Abstract: A cell controller having excellent productivity is provided. A cell-con 80 has 12 ICs IC-1 to IC-12 mounted on a substrate, and these ICs detect voltages of respective cells constituting a cell pack, perform capacity adjustment on the respective cells, and are mounted two by two on rectangular longer sides of a rectangular continuous straight line L-L? defined on a substrate from the IC-1 on a highest potential side to the IC-12 on a lowest potential side continuously in order of potential differences of the corresponding cell packs. Distances between the rectangular shorter sides of the rectangular continuous straight line L-L? are the same. On the cell-con 80, between the IC-1 to IC-12 having different ground voltages, each of the ICs has signal output terminals connected to signal input terminals of a lower order IC respectively in an electrically non-insulated state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Kai, Tunemi Aiba, Akihiko Kudo, Yoshinori Aoshima, Akihiko Emori
  • Patent number: 8053105
    Abstract: The present invention provides a lithium-ion secondary battery which can suppress internal resistance to a small value. The lithium-ion secondary battery includes a winding group obtained by winding a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate via a separator. An end portion of a positive electrode mixture non-application portion 1 projects at an upper portion of the winding group, while an end portion of a negative electrode mixture non-application portion projects at a lower portion of the winding group. Current collecting disks 7 are disposed on both end faces of the winding group so as to face them, respectively, and materials for the current collecting disks are the same materials as those for a positive electrode current collector and a negative electrode current collector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Nakai, Akinori Tada, Kinya Aota