An exciter unit, a battery system including the exciter unit, and a method for determining a battery state of at least one battery cell. The method includes: a. applying a current-exciting signal; b. recording an impedance spectrum of the battery cell; c. determining an evaluation variable on the basis of a measured impedance spectrum. At least one of the amplitude, frequency and relative phase difference of at least one component of the current-exciting signal is modified as a function of the first measured response signal such that a measuring error is minimized, a further measured response signal is determined and evaluated, the value evaluated is used as an evaluation variable, and the battery state variables of the battery cell are determined on the basis of a comparison of at least one diagnostic variable with at least one reference value and/or with at least one further diagnostic variable.

The use of electrical or electronic devices, especially portable devices, often depends on electrochemical battery cells as a power supply, so-called "battery cells" or "batteries". Batteries can be used in electronic devices such as telecommunication devices (for example, cell phones, tablets, and computers), transportation devices (for example, cars, airplanes, and boats), and also in non-portable devices such as storage systems for centralized and distributed power supplies.
Due to external operating conditions of battery cells, such as excessive current during charging and discharging, excessive mechanical forces on the cell housing or on the contacts, overcharging or deep discharging or too high and too low cell voltage, or too high and too low cell temperatures, the electrochemical equilibrium in the battery cell shifts and the battery cell may enter a critical battery state. In addition, the battery cell may also enter critical states due to degradation mechanisms caused by aging. The critical battery state can lead to capacity losses, increased internal resistance, or exothermic processes. These, in turn, can pose hazards not only to the equipment but also to people. Early detection is therefore desirable in order to be able to be able to take countermeasures before these batteries pose a hazard.
The use of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy as a diagnostic method for detecting operating parameters (e.g. state of charge (SOC), capacity, internal resistance (SOH), temperature, and others) or safety parameters (e.g. detection of lithium plating in lithium-based battery cells or gas formation) requires that the method can be used in virtually any operating conditions of a multi-cell battery storage system and also supports continuous monitoring. The state of the art of impedance spectroscopy is exemplified in DE 10 2009 000 337. This method leads to unusable results if it is performed during dynamic operation of the battery with different charging and discharging currents.
The application US/2017/0254859 A1 discloses a device, system, and method for measuring the impedance of a test battery using an auto-ranging mode to adapt the amplitude, and a measurement mode.
The application US/2010/0274510 A1 discloses a method for measuring the frequency response using octave signals.
The publication Zappen et al., 2018, DOI:10.3390/batteries4040064 describes the application of time-resolved impedance spectroscopy for battery characterization.
The publication Kiel et al., 2009, DOI:10.1016/J.ELECTACTA.2008.01.089 describes a method for harmonic analysis of the voltage response for impedance spectroscopy for an excitation current signal comprising of a single fundamental frequency.
It would therefore be desirable to have a diagnostic option available that does not damage the battery cell and does not have the disadvantages of the prior art.
According to the invention, this task is solved by providing a method for determining a battery condition of at least one battery cell comprised of the following steps:
a) application of a current excitation signal to the battery cell;
b) recording a response measurement signal and determining the impedance spectrum of the battery cell or the impedance of the battery cell;
c) determining at least one evaluation quantity based on the measured impedance spectrum or the impedance;                a. so that the current excitation signal consists of at least two periodic signals with mutually different frequencies, that the average value of the current excitation signal is zero over at least one period of the smallest frequency contained, that a first response measurement signal of the battery cell is evaluated        b. or that at least at one frequency at least one diagnostic variable from the impedance is determined and evaluated in such a way that at least one of the parameters amplitude, frequency and relative phase position of at least one component of the current excitation signal is changed as a function of the first response measurement signal to minimize a measurement error, a further response measurement signal is determined and evaluated, that the evaluated value is used as an evaluation variable and that the determination of the battery state variables of the battery cell is carried out on the basis of a comparison of at least one diagnostic variable with at least one reference value and/or with at least one further diagnostic variable.
The term battery state means in particular an operating, safety, or aging state, in particular state of charge (SOC), state of health (SOH), state of function (SOF) or state of safety (SOS) and/or temperature of a battery.
In addition to a single cell, the term battery cell also includes macro-battery cells consisting of multiple individual battery cells connected in parallel or series but encapsulated together and/or having a common power connection.
The response measurement signal is a voltage signal.
The feature, that at least one of the parameters amplitude, frequency, and relative phase position of at least one component of the current excitation signal is changed dependent on the first response measurement signal, involves in particular that the change or the changes occur in dependence on at least one of the evaluation values of the first response measurement signal.
For a spectrum, both continuous and non-continuous values in frequency are considered, in particular a spectrum based on a finite number of values at a finite number of frequencies, wherein the finite number of frequencies is in particular at least 2 and/or less than 100, preferably at least 5 and/or at most 50, wherein the frequencies are in particular linearly, logarithmically, quasi-logarithmically, or quasi-linearly distributed and/or in particular distributed in such a way that the frequencies are selected in such a way that in particular the 2nd and 3rd harmonics of each of the frequencies do not overlap with other selected frequencies. In particular, the frequencies are in a range from 1 Hz to 10 kHz.
At least one evaluation variable is in particular one or more of the following:
Result of a consistency check of recorded impedance spectra by means of the Kramers-Kronig relationship, in the form of a residual between measured impedance spectrum and impedance spectrum calculated from a Kramers-Kronig residual, signal-to-noise, SNR, ratio between response measurement signal and superimposed noise signals amplitude of response measurement signal, harmonic content of the response measurement signal (this is used to assess the linearity of the measurement).
On the basis of these evaluation variables, an adjustment of the current excitation signal is made in particular, in particular only, if at least one or more of a selection of the following adjustment criteria is fulfilled:                the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the response measurement signal for a single and/or several and/or all included frequencies is smaller than a predetermined value in the range from 1 to 25 dB, in particular smaller than a predetermined value in the range from 15 to 25 dB.        the amplitude of the response measurement signal is greater than a predetermined value in the range from 5 to 60 mV, in particular greater than a predetermined value in the range from 5 to 20 mV, the harmonic content is greater than a predetermined value in the range in the range from 0.5 to 8%, in particular greater than a predetermined value in the range from 0.5 to 3%.        the Kramers-Kronig residual is greater than a predetermined value in the range from 0.2 to 3%, in particular greater than a predetermined value in the range from 0.2 to 0.8%. This indicates a violation of the time invariance condition.        [0029] Further, it is convenient to iteratively change only two of the three parameters of amplitude, frequency, and relative phase.
Even if no adjustment is required according to the above adjustment criteria, further optimization of the excitation current signal may be performed. For example, the addition of frequency components and/or signal components with further frequencies, to obtain a more complete impedance spectrum.
A frequency point refers to a single frequency.
The adaptive control for adjusting the current excitation signal adjusts the current excitation signal based on the determined evaluation quantities, in particular as follows:
If the SNR of a frequency point is too low, in particular lower than specified in the predetermined adaptation criterion or multiple criteria, increase excitation amplitude of the signal of this frequency point, in particular by a value in the range of 5 to 30%, if the amplitude of the response measurement signal is not yet too high, and the linearity criteria are met. Otherwise: Either remove the signal component of this frequency point from the excitation signal or apply optimization of the phase positions of the signal components by means of suitable nonlinear optimization methods (for example like downhill simplex optimizers) to obtain a lower crest factor of the current excitation signal.
If the SNR of a frequency point is too high: reduce the excitation amplitude of the signal component of this frequency point, in particular by a value in the range of 5 to 30%.
If the amplitude of the response measurement signal is too high: reduce the amplitudes of the signal components, in particular evenly, or starting with the signal component with the best signal-to-noise ratio, in particular by a value in the range of 5 to 30%, or remove individual signal components.
If the harmonic content is too high: reduce the excitation amplitude of all signals, in particular by a value in the range of 5 to 30% and/or optimize the phase positions of the signal components to obtain a lower crest factor of the current excitation signal. If the Kramers-Kronig residual is too high: remove the signal component of lowest frequency from the current excitation signal. If none of the adjustment criteria are fulfilled: Advantageously, more signal components with other frequencies are added to obtain a more complete impedance spectrum, in particular until the number of signal components is in the range of 10 to 30.
The diagnostic quantity is in particular one of or more of or determined by including one or more of the following quantities:                characteristic quantities of the impedance such as real part, imaginary part, magnitude and phase of a single battery cell and/or the gradient of one or more of these quantities over at least two, in particular a plurality, (excited) frequencies, in which case at least two impedances are to be determined, in particular a plurality.        statistical quantities of the impedance, in particular the mean value and the measures of dispersion for the parameter real part, imaginary part, magnitude and phase of a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel.        A comparison of characteristic values of impedance such as real part, imaginary part, magnitude, and phase of a single battery cell with values from the same time step for a single battery cell or for several serially and/or parallel connected battery cells.        A comparison of characteristic quantities of impedance such as real part, imaginary part, magnitude, and phase of a single battery cell with quantities from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for multiple battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel.        A comparison of characteristic quantities of impedance such as real part, imaginary part, magnitude and phase of a single battery cell with quantities from at least one previous measurement for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel        A comparison of statistical quantities of impedance, in particular mean value, and measures of dispersion for the parameter real part, imaginary part, magnitude, and phase with quantities from the same time step for a single battery cell or for several serially and/or parallel connected battery cells.        A comparison of statistical quantities of impedance, in particular the mean value and measures of dispersion for the parameter real part, imaginary part, magnitude, and phase with quantities from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for several serially and/or parallel connected battery cells.        comparison of statistical quantities of the impedance, in particular the mean value and the measures of dispersion for the parameter real part, imaginary part, magnitude, and phase with quantities from at least one previously performed measurement for a single battery cell or for several serially and/or parallel connected battery cells.        characteristic quantities of the relaxation time spectrum, such as value of global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local and/or global maxima, the frequency of the local and/or global maxima, number of maxima, distribution of maxima in the spectrum, difference of relaxation times with respect to maxima of a distribution function of polarization resistances, the mean value of the maxima, the centroid of the spectrum, the value of the spectrum at a certain frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a certain frequency range, the integral values over several delimited frequency ranges, and the mean value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges.        Statistical quantities of the relaxation time spectrum, in particular mean value and measures of dispersion for the value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, values of the local and/or global maxima, frequency of the local and/or global maxima, number of maxima, distribution of the maxima in the spectrum, difference of the relaxation times with respect to the maxima of a distribution function of polarization resistances, the mean value of the maxima, the centroid of the spectrum, the value of the spectrum at a particular frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a particular frequency range, the integral values over several delimited frequency ranges, and the average value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges;        comparison of characteristic quantities of the relaxation time spectrum such as value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local and/or global maxima, the frequency of the local and/or global maxima, number of maxima, the distribution of maxima in the spectrum, the difference of the relaxation times with respect to the maxima of a distribution function of polarization resistances, the mean value of the maxima, the centroid of the spectrum, the value of the spectrum at a particular frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a particular frequency range, the integral values over a plurality of delimited frequency ranges, and the average value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges with quantities from the same time increment for a single battery cell or for a plurality of series and/or parallel connected battery cells;        comparison of characteristic quantities of the relaxation time spectrum such as value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local and/or the global maxima, the frequency of the local and/or the global maxima, number of maxima, distribution of the maxima in the spectrum, the difference of the relaxation times with respect to the maxima of a distribution function of polarization resistances, the mean value of the maxima, the centroid of the spectrum, the value of the spectrum at a particular frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a particular frequency range, the integral values over a plurality of delimited frequency ranges, and the average value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges with quantities from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel.        A comparison of characteristic quantities of the relaxation time spectrum such as value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local and/or global maxima, the frequency of the local and/or global maxima, number of maxima, distribution of maxima in the spectrum, difference of relaxation times with respect to maxima of a distribution function of polarization resistances, the mean value of the maxima, the centroid of the spectrum, the value of the spectrum at a particular frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a particular frequency range, the integral values over a plurality of delimited frequency ranges, and the average value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges with quantities from at least one previously performed measurement for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel;        A comparison of statistical quantities of the relaxation time spectrum, in particular the mean and measures of dispersion for the parameters, value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local and/or global maxima, the frequency of the local and/or global maxima, number of maxima, distribution of maxima in the spectrum, the difference of the relaxation times with respect to the maxima of the distribution function of the polarization resistances, the average value of the maxima, the centroid of the spectrum, the value of the spectrum at a certain frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a specified frequency range, the integral values over a plurality of delimited frequency ranges, and the average value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges with quantities from the same journal for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel;        comparison of statistical quantities of the relaxation time spectrum, in particular mean value and scattering measures for the parameter, value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local and/or global maxima, the frequency of the local and/or global maxima, number of maxima, distribution of the maxima in the spectrum, difference of the relaxation times with respect to the maxima of the distribution function of the polarization resistances, the mean value of the maxima, the centroid of the spectrum, the value of the spectrum at a determined frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a particular frequency range, the integral values over a plurality of delimited frequency ranges, and the average value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges with quantities from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for a plurality of series and/or parallel connected battery cells;        comparison of statistical quantities of the relaxation time spectrum, in particular mean value and dispersion measures for the parameter, value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local and/or the global maxima, the frequency of the local and/or the global maxima, number of maxima, the distribution of the maxima in the spectrum, the difference of the relaxation times with respect to the maxima of the distribution function of the polarization resistances, the mean value of the maxima, the centroid of the spectrum, the value of the spectrum at a certain frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a specified frequency range, the integral values over a plurality of delimited frequency ranges, and the average value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges with quantities from at least one previously performed measurement for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel.
The term quantity includes, in particular, the characteristic and/or statistical quantities.
The term comparison also includes a comparison of multiple comparisons and/or a comparison with results of one or more comparisons.
Thus, the invention particularly provides that at least one of the individual frequency components of the current excitation signal is adaptively adjusted depending on the characteristics and the operating state of the individual battery cell or the average operating state of a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel, and the measurement error is thus minimized. According to the invention, it is provided in particular that several frequencies are excited simultaneously. Hereby the measurement time can be reduced considerably, so that under most operating conditions, a time invariance can be approximately assumed.
This multi-frequency method is designed in such a way that a continuous measurement of the instantaneous impedance of one or more battery cells is achieved by means of an excitation unit and further downstream units. For this purpose, in particular a predefined shape of the current excitation signal (excitation current shape), which may contain, for example 2 to 100, preferably 5 to 50, for example 20 suitably distributed, for example linearly or preferably logarithmically distributed, frequency components in a range of preferably 1 Hz to 10 kHz, is continuously applied to the battery cell or plurality of battery cells and in particular, is adaptively changed.
The time course of the current excitation signal to be constructed can be realized by means of superposition of any periodic oscillations, for example sinusoidal oscillations, cosine oscillations, rectangular oscillations and/or triangular sequences. This is explained below by way of example using a sine oscillation, although this can also be applied mutatis mutandis to the other oscillation forms, in particular cosine oscillations.
Sinusoidal oscillations and cosinusoidal oscillations are advantageous in order to enable a fast Fourier transformation, in particular a Goertzel transformation, during the evaluation.
In the following, the current excitation signal is exemplary described with N (natural number) superimposed sinusoidal oscillations.
          I    Exc      (   t   )    =     b   *            ∑           k      =      1          N                   a      k          *           sin            (                     2                π                         f         k                        t              +               ϕ        k                   )
Where ak is the amplitude, fk is the frequency and phase, Φk of the k-th component of the excitation signal. The parameter b is an additional scaling factor for the signal consisting of N frequency components. The choice of these parameters depends on the operating condition of the battery system. Typical real excitation units provide a limited total current amplitude, so depending on the choice of the individual parameters a and F of the N components, scaling is advantageous, since they also have an influence on the amplitude of the total signal. The parameter F is preferably chosen so that, as generally preferred, no constructive superposition of the oscillations occurs. The number N is selected in particular depending on which disturbances are present, since the resulting amplitude of the measurement signal per frequency point depends on this. In operating states with few disturbances (e.g. in the resting state of the battery system), for example, several frequency components are excited to obtain a more complete spectrum.
In operating states with many disturbances (e.g., in dynamic operation), for example, fewer frequency components are excited to quickly obtain particularly relevant sections of the impedance spectrum. The choice of frequency points (parameter f) depends in particular on which effects are to be observed in the spectrum. For example, cathode- or anode-side effects are typically observed at different frequencies, as well as effects that influence for example, the Solid Electrolyte Interphase, SEI, of a lithium-ion battery cell. The invention further relates to an excitation unit for carrying out the method, comprising a storage capacitor, a bi-directional power electronic converter, and a filter with means for charging the storage capacitor prior to the start of a measurement, wherein the storage capacitor provides energy for impressing a zero-mean current excitation signal on one or more battery cells by means of the bidirectional power electronic converter, so that energy can be cyclically shifted between storage capacitor and battery. In particular, the unit also comprises of means for controlling the execution of the method and/or a computing unit for calculating the at least one impedance, evaluation quantity, and/or diagnostic quantity and/or for performing the comparison and/or the adaptive control.
A possible embodiment of an excitation unit comprises a storage capacitor, a bi-directional power electronic converter, and a filter. The included storage capacitor must be charged prior to the start of the measurement and provides the necessary energy to generate a zero-mean current excitation signal by means of the bi-directional, power electronic converter to one or more battery cells. Thus, energy is cyclically shifted between the storage capacitor and the battery. Through this, only the losses in the excitation unit have to be compensated. This can be done either by permanently superimposing a small amount of DC current, which causes the excitation signal construction, however, is no longer completely zero-mean. In some circumstances, however, this may be tolerable if the battery is in an operating state that allows this anyway.
Alternatively, the storage capacitor may be cyclically recharged. This embodiment of an excitation unit also offers the advantage that overcharging of the battery is technically excluded.
In applications, for example in electrically powered vehicles, frequently changing operating and environmental conditions are present, such as widely varying temperatures, inhomogeneous states of charge or aging of the battery cells, or electrical disturbances. Therefore, the excitation unit and the characteristics of the excitation current for impedance measurement should be very robust. The robustness can be achieved by adaptive state of the excitation signal. This concerns the included frequencies, relative phase positions, and/or amplitudes of the individual frequency components, and the amplitude scaling of the superimposed overall signal.
By dynamically adjusting the contained frequency components, the influence of frequency ranges in which transient disturbances are present is minimized. This also requires a dynamic adjustment of the relative phase positions of the frequency components to obtain an overall signal with preferably lowest possible crest factor. This reduces the necessary peak power of the excitation circuit, and minimizes the disturbing influence of nonlinearities of the device under test (the battery cell). At the same time, or independently, the amplitude of the individual frequency components is also matched to the device under test and the external conditions. Since the magnitude of the impedance is frequency-dependent, the excitation amplitude is dynamically reduced at frequencies with impedances of larger magnitude, in order to achieve a dynamically specified set point for the SNR of the measurement signal. This reduces both the required excitation power and the influence of nonlinearities. Similarly, the overall amplitude of the excitation signal is scaled in the time domain. These functions are implemented within an excitation control unit that generates the necessary signal for the excitation unit.
Preferably, the obtained response measurement signal (measurement signal) is then sampled by a measurement unit within a sliding evaluation window whose width corresponds to the period of the lowest contained frequency, or an integer multiple thereof. This may be, for example, a simple rectangular window, or it may be more specialized embodiments that perform weighting on the individual sampling values.
A preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that adaptive compensation of charging and discharging currents in the response measurement signal, also called drift correction, which occur due to real battery operation, such as during driving of an electric vehicle, is performed. Adaptive compensation of charge and discharge currents in the response measurement signal, in particular, is performed by comparing the voltage of the response measurement signal at a time t0 and a time t=t0+N·T, where T is the period of the smallest frequency component, and N is an integer.
The second time point is shifted by the period of the smallest frequency component contained, or a multiple thereof, with respect to the first time point. A correction signal can then be generated from the obtained values by means of an interpolation, which is applied to the values of the response measurement signal recorded within the measurement window in order to compensate the voltage change caused in the measurement signal by the superimposed charging or discharging current.
Another preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that instantaneous impedances of one or more frequencies are determined from the current excitation signal and voltage measurement signal within a measurement time window. The sequence of impedances is referred as an impedance spectrum.
A preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized by the fact that the impedance spectrum or the impedance spectra are checked for their quality characteristics by means of a Kramers-Kronig relation and/or further parameters, in particular consistency of at least one of the following parameters: Signal-to-noise ratio amplitude of the response measurement, signal linearity of the impedance spectrum, and time invariance of the response measurement signal.
The impedance values of n battery cells at k frequencies for a time to can be represented in matrix form:
      A   (       t    0      )    =     [                         Z               C        1                      f        1                             …                       Z               C        1                      f        k                                     ⋮                ⋱                ⋮                               Z               C        n                      f        1                             …                       Z               C        n                      f        k                            ]
To determine the battery condition, the recorded impedance spectra are advantageously further processed in the diagnostic unit.
The processing of the recorded impedance, in particular of the impedance spectrum, is carried out in particular by statistical methods and/or by evaluating deterministic variables.
In the determination of the battery condition, in particular of a first battery cell, quantities from the impedance spectrum, for example the real part, the imaginary part, magnitude, and/or phase angle for one or more of the excited frequencies, are used for diagnosis as follows.
For example, the real part of a battery cell C1 at an arbitrary excited frequency, hereinafter referred to as fk, in the time window T Re(ZC1fk(t=T)) is used. In particular, it is assumed that a previous consistency check has evaluated all impedance spectra used for subsequent evaluation as valid.                Step 1: Form the parameter absolute change, kt, of the current value real part of the battery cell C1 to be diagnosed with the value from the previous measurement time window T−1: kt(C1,fk,T)=Re(ZC1fk(t=T)−Re(ZC1fk(t=T−1))        Step 2: Determine a measure of dispersion, for example the standard deviation, σ, of Re(ZC1fk(t=T)) or of kt within the past 10 measurement time windows.        Criterion 1: |kt(C1,fk,T)|>2σ is satisfied, then a first criterion for detecting a battery state change is met.        Step 3: Determine the mean value Mges and a measure of dispersion, for example standard deviation σges of R(Z) at frequency fk of all other N cells except cell C1 in the battery system in time window T and T−1.        Criterion 2: If ZC1fk(t=T)>Mges(t=T)+2σges(t=T−1) or ZC1fk(t=T)<Mges(t=T)+2σges(t=T−1)        outside the band Mges(t=T)±2σges(t=T), a second criterion for detecting a battery state change is met.        Criterion 3: If Re(ZC1fk(t=T))>Mges(t=T−1)+2σges(t=T−1) or Re (ZC1fk(t=T))>Mges(t=T−1)−2σges(t=T−1) was in the last time step within the band Mges(t=T)±2σges(t=T), a third criterion for detecting a battery state change is satisfied.        If at least two of the three criteria are met, a new measurement and subsequent determination of the battery condition shall be made immediately. If at least two criteria are then still fulfilled, a change in the battery state can be assumed to have been detected and, in particular, a warning signal WA ("battery state change detected") can be output.        If,
                     k      t          (                  C       1            ,             f       k            ,             T       +       1                )        -               k      t          (                  C       1            ,             f       k            ,      T          )                   k     t        (               C      1          ,           f      k          ,     T        )       >                           k       t            (                     C        1              ,               f        k              ,       T            )          -                  k       t            (                     C        1              ,               f        k              ,               T        -        1                   )                        k      t          (                  C       1            ,             f       k            ,             T       -       1                )          *   C    >  0                 in particular an accelerating process of increasing real part is present, and a warning signal WB ("critical battery condition") can be output. C is a factor which typically lies between 1 and 1.5.        For an additional increase in confidence, the same procedure can still be carried out in parallel with one or more further excited frequency points f, and a change in the battery state can be assumed to have been detected and/or a warning signal WA or WB can be output only when the criteria are met for a predetermined plurality or for all of the frequency points.
In statistical processing, characteristics of the recorded spectra are calculated over all battery cells at their respective frequencies. This provides a measure of the inhomogeneity of the battery pack as well as the individual battery's contribution to the inhomogeneity.
A preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized by the fact that mean values and/or measures of dispersion are formed from the measured impedances, in the respective measurement time window at different frequencies and for different battery cells.
The mean value is preferably the arithmetic, geometric and/or quadratic mean. The mean can also be median or the central value. The measure of dispersion around the arithmetic mean is preferably the variation, variance, standard deviation, and/or mean absolute deviation.
The measure of dispersion around the median is preferably the quartile distance, the interquartile distance, the mean absolute deviation with respect to the median, and/or the median of the absolute deviations.
The measure of dispersion around the geometric mean is preferably the geometric standard deviation.
The characteristic quantities of the impedance, preferably the real part, imaginary part, magnitude and phase are compared with the quantities from the current time step for at least one single further cell and/or with the quantities of the same cell from another measurement time window and/or among several serially, and/or parallel connected battery cells of the same type. Depending on the measure of dispersion, threshold values can be defined to detect changes in the battery state, for example undesirable electrochemical processes such as electrolyte and SEI decomposition and gas formation in the battery cells.
When exceeding a certain temperature these phenomena induce irreversible changes in the impedance spectrum. If this occurs during operation in individual battery cells of the battery pack, this can be detected by comparison with unaffected battery cells. Alternatively, a spectrum artificially determined from the mean or median of the impedance values can be used for this purpose. For this purpose, the mean or median value is formed over each frequency point of the impedance spectra of two or more battery cells. The sequence of these calculated mean or median impedance values results in an additional impedance spectrum. From this, one or more diagnostic values can be derived which can then be used for comparison.
A statement about the speed of change of the spectrum can be made by differentiation over time using the spectra recorded in previous time steps (trend analysis). If fast changes are recognizable here, these can be used as an additional warning sign. Since spectra must be stored digitally for this purpose, it is advantageous to have a system that thins out the stored spectra over time to save storage space. To detect slower processes, such as cell aging, comparison with spectra determined in the laboratory is possible to draw conclusions about the type of aging phenomena occurring. Again, trend analysis over larger time ranges is useful.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized by the fact that the transmission unit passes the warning signals to a control device, which warns the user and/or initiates counter-measures based on the warning signals. Examples of possible counter-measures include reducing the electrical load on the battery cell, cooling and/or increasing the cooling of the battery cell, or shutting down the battery cell, in particular to prevent the risk of its impairment or destruction.
Another preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized by the fact that the characteristic quantities of the impedance preferably real part, imaginary part, magnitude, and phase are compared with quantities from the current time step for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value, SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the further threshold value, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is passed to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the characteristic quantities of the impedance, preferably real part, imaginary part, magnitude, and phase are compared with quantities from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. This comparison can be done, for example, by simple difference formation or also by differentiation according to time. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value, SA, a change in the battery condition is detected and, in particular, a warning signal WA (battery condition change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the further threshold value, SB, a warning signal WB (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the characteristic quantities of the impedance preferably real part, imaginary part, magnitude, and phase are compared with quantities from at least one previously performed measurement for a single battery cell or for several battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. This comparison can be made, for example, by means of simple difference formation or also by differentiation according to time. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value SA, a change in the battery condition is detected and, in particular, a warning signal WA (battery condition change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the characteristic quantities exceeds the threshold value, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the statistical quantities of the impedance: preferably the mean value and the measure of dispersion for the parameters of the real part, the imaginary part, the magnitude and the phase are compared with quantities from the current time step for a single battery cell or for multiple battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value, SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold value, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the statistical quantities of the impedance: preferably the mean value and the measures of dispersion for the parameters of the real part, the imaginary part, the magnitude and the phase are compared with quantities from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for multiple battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value, SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the statistical quantities of the impedance: the mean value and the measures of dispersion for the parameters of the real part, the imaginary part, the magnitude and the phase are compared with quantities from at least one previously performed measurement for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold value, SA, a change in the battery condition is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold value, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the result of the comparison of the characteristic quantities of impedance, preferably the real part, the imaginary part, the magnitude and the phase, is compared with the result of the comparison from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value, SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the further threshold value, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the result of the comparison of the characteristic quantities of the impedance, preferably the real part, the imaginary part, the magnitude and the phase, is compared with the result of the comparison from previously performed measurements for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value, SA, a change in the battery condition is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the further threshold value, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the result of the comparison of the statistical quantities, preferably the mean value and the scatter measures for the parameters of the real part, the imaginary part, the magnitude and the phase, is compared with the result of the comparison from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold value, SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the result of the comparison of the statistical quantities, preferably the mean value and the scatter measures for the parameters of the real part, the imaginary part, the magnitude and the phase, is compared with the result of the comparison from at least one previously performed measurement for a single battery cell or for several battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold value, SA, a change in the battery state is detected and a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. When the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
In addition to or alternatively, the distribution of the relaxation time constants is determined from the excitation and response measurement signals. The distribution is also referred to as the relaxation time spectrum (RTS) of a battery. The RTS is the calculation of the distribution of relaxation time constants, also called "Distribution of Relaxation Times" (DRT). This enables a frequency-dependent separation of the loss processes of the battery cell due to the property that the Kramers-Kronig relationships are valid, and thus the impedance of a battery cell can be regarded as an infinite network of RC elements with different time constants.
Advantageously, characteristic quantities are determined from the RTS and used for the state diagnosis of the battery cell. Characteristic quantities for the relaxation time spectrum are, for example, the values of the global maximum, the frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local maxima, the frequencies of the local maxima, the number of the local maxima, the distribution of the local maxima in the spectrum, the average value of the maxima, the centroid of the RTS, the value of the RTS at a particular frequency, the value of the integral of the RTS over a particular frequency range, the values of the integrals over several delimited frequency ranges of the RTS, and/or the mean value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges. A diagnosis can then be performed analogously to the presented procedure for impedance spectra.
Advantageously, the relaxation time spectrum (RTS) from the current time step is compared for a single battery cell or for several battery cells connected in series and/or parallel.
Depending on the scattering measures, threshold values can be defined here to detect undesirable electrochemical processes (e.g. electrolyte and SEI decomposition and gas formation in the battery cells) and a change in the battery state can be detected if these values are exceeded. When a certain temperature is exceeded, irreversible changes occur in the relaxation time spectrum due to these phenomena. If this occurs in individual battery cells of the battery pack during operation, this can be detected by comparison with unaffected battery cells and a change in battery state can be detected if pre-determined deviations are exceeded. Alternatively, an artificial relaxation time spectrum consisting of mean or median values as characteristic variables can be used for this purpose.
From the analysis of the relaxation time spectra of a single battery and the comparison of the relaxation time spectra with one or more other batteries in the battery system, the diagnosis of the state of the single battery and/or the overall state of the battery system is performed. Preferably, the diagnostic unit performs the diagnostic method step.
The polarization contributions of n battery cells at k frequencies for a time to can be represented in matrix form:
      B      (       t    0      )    =     [                         Y               C        1                      f        1                             …                       Y               C        1                      f        k                                     ⋮                ⋱                ⋮                               Y               C        n                      f        1                             …                       Y               C        n                      f        k                            ]
For the diagnosis of the operating and safety parameters mentioned at the beginning, further processing of the recorded relaxation time spectra is advantageous to generate diagnostic quantities from them. This is performed by the diagnostic unit. The diagnostic unit processes the recorded spectra in several ways:
Statistical properties of the recorded spectra over all battery cells at the respective frequencies are calculated, such as the median, the mean, or the scatter measures, like the interquartile range or standard deviation. This provides a measure of the inhomogeneity of the battery state of the battery pack.
Another preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized by the fact that the characteristic quantities of the relaxation time spectrum, preferably the value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local maxima, frequency of the local maxima, the number of local maxima, the distribution of the local maxima in the spectrum, the mean value of the maxima, the centroid of the signal, the value of the spectrum at a particular frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a particular frequency range, the integral values over several delimited frequency ranges, the mean value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges with quantities from the current time step for a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value, SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the further threshold, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the characteristic quantities of the relaxation time spectrum: preferably value of the global maximum, the frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local maxima, the frequency of the local maxima, the number of local maxima, the distribution of the local maxima in the spectrum, the mean value of the maxima, the center of gravity of the signal, the value of the spectrum at a certain frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a certain frequency range, the integral values over several delimited frequency ranges, and/or the mean value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges is compared with quantities from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for several battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value, SA, a change in the battery condition is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the further threshold value, SB, a warning signal WB (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the characteristic quantities of the relaxation time spectrum: preferably the value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local maxima, frequency of the local maxima, number of local maxima, distribution of the local maxima in the spectrum, the mean value of the maxima, centroid of the signal, the value of the spectrum at a certain frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a certain frequency range, the integral values over several delimited frequency ranges, and/or the mean value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges with quantities from at least one previously performed measurement, for example in a laboratory environment. This applies to a single battery cell or for a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds a threshold value SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal WA (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. When the difference between the characteristic quantities exceeds the threshold, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transmitted to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the result of the comparison of the statistical quantities of the relaxation time spectrum: preferably the mean and the scatter measures for the value of the global maximum, the frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local maxima, the frequency of the local maxima, the number of local maxima, the distribution of the local maxima in the spectrum, the mean value of the maxima, the centroid of the signal, the value of the spectrum at a determined frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a certain frequency range, the integral values over several delimited frequency ranges, the mean value of the integrals over one or several delimited frequency ranges is compared with quantities from the current time step for a single battery cell or for several battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold value, SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. When the difference between the quantities exceeds threshold, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the result of the comparison of the statistical quantities of the relaxation time spectrum: preferably the mean value and the measure of dispersion for the value of the global maximum, the frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local maxima, the frequency of the local maxima, the number of local maxima, the distribution of the local maxima in the spectrum, the mean value of the maxima, centroid of the signal, the value of the spectrum at a determined frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a certain frequency range, the integral values over several delimited frequency ranges, and/or the mean value of the integrals over one or more delimited frequency ranges is compared with quantities from at least one previous time step for a single battery cell or for several battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold value, SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal, WA, (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold, SB, a warning signal, WB, (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the result of the comparison of the statistical quantities of the relaxation time spectrum: preferably mean value and dispersion measures for the value of the global maximum, frequency of the global maximum, the values of the local maxima, frequency of the local maxima, number of local maxima, distribution of the local maxima in the spectrum, the mean value of the maxima, centroid of the signal, the value of the spectrum at a determined frequency, the value of the integral of the spectrum over a certain frequency range, the integral values over several delimited frequency ranges, the mean value of the integrals over one or several delimited frequency ranges is compared with quantities from at least one previously performed measurement for a single battery cell or for several battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel. If the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold value SA, a change in the battery state is detected and, in particular, a warning signal WA (battery state change detected) is transmitted to the transmission unit. When the difference between the quantities exceeds the threshold SB, a warning signal WB (safety-critical battery condition) is transferred to the transmission unit.
A statement about the speed of change of the relaxation time spectrum can be made by differentiation over time using the spectra recorded in previous time steps (trend analysis). If rapid changes can be seen here, this can be used as an additional warning sign. Since spectra must be stored digitally for this purpose, it is advantageous to have a system that thins out the stored spectra over time to save storage space. To detect slower processes, such as cell aging, comparison with spectra determined in the laboratory is possible to draw conclusions about the type of aging phenomena occurring. Again, a trend analysis over larger time ranges is useful.
Preferably, the invention provides that at least one of the individual frequency components of the current excitation signal is adaptively adjusted depending on the characteristics and the operating state of the individual battery cell or the average operating state of a plurality of battery cells connected in series and/or in parallel to minimize the measurement error. The current excitation signal consists of at least two periodic signals with mutually different frequencies and is applied in such a way that it is mean value-free over at least one period of the smallest frequency contained such that a first response measurement signal of the battery cell is determined and evaluated. And that at least one of the parameters (e.g. amplitude, frequency, and relative phase position) of at least one component of the current excitation signal is changed as a function of the first response measurement signal such that the measurement error is minimized. Lastly, a further response measurement signal is determined and evaluated and in that the evaluated value is used as an evaluation variable.
The invention further relates to an excitation unit for carrying out the method comprising a storage capacitor, a bi-directional power electronic converter and an optional filter with the means for charging the storage capacitor prior to the start of a measurement; wherein the storage capacitor provides an energy to excite a mean value free current excitation signal with the bi-directional power electronic converter into one or more battery cells so that energy can be cyclically shifted between storage capacitor and battery. The invention further relates to a device for carrying out the method comprising a system control unit, an excitation unit, a measurement unit, an evaluation unit, an excitation control unit, a diagnostic unit and, and a transmission unit.
Advantageously, the device is characterized in that the control unit is set up for generating an excitation signal construction with suitable parameters, in particular excitation frequencies, excitation amplitudes, phase positions and an overall amplitude scaling (scaling factor), in that the excitation unit is further equipped for adaptive acquisition of the excitation signal construction, and in particular is arranged to adaptively adjust at least one of the parameters of the excitation signal construction.
The individual components, in particular the system control unit and the excitation unit, can be both individual and combined on a circuit board or combined in a single unit. The individual components may also be implemented as software units.
An advantageous further development of the device is characterized by the measuring unit (a means for recording the impedance spectrum) is set up for simultaneous acquisition and recording of the voltage measurement signal in a previously defined measurement time window from one or more simultaneously excited battery cells.
An expedient further development of the device is characterized in that the system control unit is arranged for generating an excitation signal construction of a characteristic multi-frequency periodic continuous signal defined in an excitation control unit in one or simultaneously several serially and/or parallel connected battery cells.
An advantageous further development of the device is characterized in that it includes an excitation control unit, which is arranged to determine adaptive correction parameters for the amplitudes, frequencies, and relative phase positions for the next measurement time window from the recorded voltage values and to transmit them to a control unit.
A convenient further development of the apparatus; it comprises an excitation unit for applying a current excitation signal; a means for recording an impedance spectrum of the battery cell; a means for determining an evaluation variable based on the measured impedance spectrum, characterized in that the excitation unit is designed in such a way that the current excitation signal consists of at least two periodic signals with mutually different frequencies, in that the current excitation signal can be applied in such a way that it is free of mean values over at least one period of the smallest frequency contained, in that the means for recording the impedance spectrum of the battery cell is designed in such a way in that a first response measurement signal of the battery can be determined and evaluated, and in that at least one of the parameters amplitude, in that the frequency and relative phase position of at least one of the signals can be changed as a function of the first response measurement signal at the aim of minimizing measurement error, in that a further response measurement signal is determined and evaluated, the evaluated value can be used as an evaluation variable, and in that the battery state of the battery cell is determined on the basis of a comparison of the diagnostic variable with a reference value and/or with at least one further diagnostic variable.
Description of preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the drawings.

Method and device for the diagnosis of battery cells


An apparatus for producing containers with a film made of thermoplastic synthetic material, having elements for advancing, along an advancement direction, two facing strips of film made of thermoplastic synthetic material; a thermal bonding station including thermal-bonding half-molds which face said two strips of film on opposite sides thereof along the advancement direction of the two strips of film, the thermal-bonding half-molds being adapted to thermally bond the strips of film to each other at preset regions thereof so as to form thermal bond regions delimiting between the two strips of film, a plurality of pouches that are each open at a longitudinal edge end of the two strips of film; a cooling station arranged downstream of the thermal bonding station along the advancement direction and including cooling half-molds being shaped so as to carry out a film strip cooling which is limited only to the thermal bond regions; a thermoforming station, arranged downstream of the cooling station and including a forming mold enclosing molding cavities that are adapted to accommodate each a pouch with portions of the thermal bond regions delimiting the respective pouch arranged inside the molding cavity, which cavity is further provided with an opening located at the open end of the enclosed pouch; and pressurized-fluid injectors for injecting pressurized fluid through the openings of the molding cavities into the pouches.

The present invention relates to a method for producing containers, such as bottles or the like, with film of thermoplastic synthetic material, and to an apparatus for carrying out such method.
Conventional methods for producing bottle-like containers, starting from a film of thermoplastic synthetic material, generally consist in performing, by means of an appropriate mold, the thermal bonding of two mutually facing strips of film so as to form, between the two strips, pouches that are open at a longitudinal edge of the strips of film.
The two strips thus bonded are preheated at the regions occupied by the pouches and are then inserted in a forming mold composed of two half-molds, facing one another on opposite sides with respect to the strips of film and in which there are molding cavities that are mutually spaced so as to match the distance between the pouches, so that each pouch is located in a molding cavity.
Each molding cavity has, at the open side of the pouches, an opening through which a nozzle is inserted; after closing the mold, said nozzle injects a jet of compressed air in the corresponding pouch, inflating it and causing the regions of the film that delimit the pouch to adhere to the walls of the molding cavity, duplicating their shape.
The substance to be packaged is introduced in the containers thus obtained through the side that has remained open, and the container is then sealed by thermal bonding at the open side.
Containers obtained with this method have considerably lower production costs than containers made of plastics obtained by extrusion and blowing, but they have some drawbacks.
The main drawback is the presence of a ridge that protrudes from the contour of the container and is constituted by the heat-bonded region that joins the two strips of film used to produce the container.
The presence of this protruding ridge prevents the container from assuming an upright position and thus prevents its use for all products which, due to display or utilization requirements, are traditionally packaged in bottles, vials, or in any case containers that have an elongated shape and are meant to be kept upright.
The thermal bonding ridge surrounds the entire container and makes complicated to close it after opening, which is achieved by cutting or tearing the film that constitutes the container. In order to obviate this drawback, containers have been produced with the addition of appropriate closure-supporting inserts for the application of screw closures, but the application of these inserts complicates the production process and increases the production costs of the container.
On the other hand, the thermal bonding ridge prevents the possibility of providing, directly during the molding stage, a threaded neck to allow the application of a closure.
The thermal bonding ridge causes other drawbacks, such as for example discomfort in handling the container and difficulty in packaging and in public display.
The thermal bonding ridge, of these conventional containers does not allow to use the method consisting in covering with a shrink-wrap printed tubular part, in order to achieve excellent presentation to simplify the printing of information or data, avoiding direct printing on the containers.
In order to try to solve at least the problem of the upright arrangement of these containers, it has been suggested to provide, on the bottom of the container, an undercut hollow that is obtained by means of a particular shape of the forming mold and contains the thermal bonding ridge. However, this refinement considerably complicates the execution of the forming mold, and it is not adapted to be used on the lateral surface of the container as well indeed because of problems related to the feasibility of the mold.
Due to the above reasons, the use of containers produced by thermal bonding and thermoforming of a thermoplastic synthetic film has so far been limited to the packaging of samples of products for tests, for advertising, or for the packaging of single-dose products.

Apparatus for producing containers with a film made of thermoplastic synthetic material


System and method for remote measurement of flow through an expansible conduit, particularly a surgically implanted arteriovenous or arterioarterial prosthetic.

The present invention generally relates to a system for measuring fluid flow through a conduit. The present invention relates more specifically to measuring blood flow and most specifically to measuring blood flow through surgically implanted prosthetics.
Surgically implanted synthetic vascular prosthetics are used to replace diseased arteries and veins and to permit hemodialysis. However, the useful lifetime of such prosthetics can be limited by the formation of clots within them or by endothelial hyperplasia. Extensive clotting may constrict blood flow sufficiently to cause other medical incidents, such as loss of limb or dialysis access.
Methods currently exist for monitoring a prosthetic in order to obtain advance warning of constricted blood flow. Most commonly, the patient visits an out-patient facility and ultrasonographic measurements are performed to determine flow or the extent of clotting. It would be preferable, however, if the monitoring could be done in a physician's office or dialysis suite, using a small, affordable electronic instrument. It would also be advantageous if the examination could be done by medical support personnel, such as a nurse or technician, without the need for extensive technical training.

System and method for remote measurement of fluid flow


The present application is directed to a 3D photo creation system and method, wherein the 3D photo creation system including: a stereo image input module configurated to input a stereo image; wherein the stereo image comprises a left eye image and a right eye image; a depth estimation module configurated to estimate a depth information of the stereo image and create a depthmap; a multi-view angle image reconstructing module configurated to create a multi-view angle image according to the depthmap and the stereo image; and an image spaced scanning module configurated to adjust the multi-view angle image and form a mixed image. The system and method outstandingly simplified the process of 3D photo creation and enhanced the quality of 3D photo. The system and method can be widely used in various theme parks, tourists attraction spots and photo galleries and bring about pleasure to more consumers with the 3D photos.

3D photos are commonly created with the application of the lenticular technique. The transparent lens of the lenticular lens is an array of magnifying lenses. Such magnifying lenses array is designed in a way such that when being perceived at slightly different angles, different images are magnified. In order to create a 3D photo, multi-view angle images, such as in 12 or more multi-view angle images, must first be created. Subsequently, the multi-view angle images will be combined into a mixed image. The combination of multi-view angle images is a process of acquiring, from the multi-view angle images, suitable pixels for combining into and forming a new image. The new image comprises the multi-view angle information of the original image. The transparent lens of the lenticular lens is used to reveal the multi-view viewing angles from different viewing angles. Finally, the left and right eyes of the viewer can see different images through observing from the lenticular lens which produces a 3D effect.
Presently, different methods of creating 3D photos exist. In particular, the most common method is to convert 2D image into multi-view angle images using manual operation. Such method requires a processing time of several hours to several days. Normally, the operator is required to create a mask for extracting a subject from the target image. Then, the operator needs to assign a depth information to the mask based on his own judgment. The depth information is an independent grayscale image possessing the same dimensions as the original 2D image. The grayscale image applies the various shades of gray color to indicate the depth of every part of the image. The manually created depth information leads the computer to shift the pixel of the original 2D image for forming a new view angle map. The depthmap can produce a conspicuous 3D visual effect.
Another method is to photo-shoot the subject from multi-view angles. However, such method is not feasible when applying to subject in motion. Such method requires the set up of one or multiple cameras to capture the multi-view angle images. The image capturing device must be positioned with scrutiny so that the view angle of the image outputted would not be overly wide.
The multi-view angle image is used to reconstruct the mixed image. The majority of systems construct the mixed image directly from the data obtained in the multi-view angle images. Since the final image is a sub-sample of each multi-view angle image, the image obtained from such method cannot preserve the quality of the original image.
Based on the above, current 3D photo creation method and system contain deficiencies such as long processing time and poor photo quality.


Communication devices and methods thereof are provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises the communication device receiving information from one of a first carrier which indicates a second carrier carries a point-to-multipoint data, and the communication device determining to receive the point-to-multipoint data according to the received information.

Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates generally to data transmission with multiple carriers, and, more particularly to communication devices capable of providing multimedia broadcast/multicast services (MBMS) and unicast services with multiple carriers and methods thereof.
Description of the Related Art
In many communication systems, receivers may receive unicast, broadcast, or multicast data transmissions. For example, Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS) is a service in which base stations transmit information of general interest on a commonly used channel, so that mobile devices that subscribe to the services can access the MBMS channel to obtain the service of interest, such as daily news or baseball game scores.
A Long Term Evolution (LTE) system is an evolved next-generation wireless communication system proposed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The LTE system provides high-speed low-latency packet-based communications at a data rate of up to 100 Mbps. The LTE system includes an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) having a plurality of evolved Node-Bs (eNBs), which communicate wirelessly with a plurality of user equipment (UEs) though uplink and downlink radio channels. The eNB may control a cell or a plurality of cells. An cell only broadcasting the MBMS is referred to as an MBMS only cell, a carrier originating from the MBMS only cell is referred to as an MBMS only component carrier.
A legacy UE compliant with older versions and including 3GPP release 9 only acquires data services from a single carrier; thus, the legacy UE cannot receive other types of data services upon camping onto the MBMS only component carrier. Whereas a UE compliant with versions after 3GPP release 9 supports multiple component carriers, capable of receiving data services from other component carriers when obtaining the MBMS from the MBMS only component carrier. Thus, communication devices capable of acquiring the MBMS according to the MBMS supportability of base stations and methods thereof are in need.

Communication devices for providing multimedia broadcast/multicast services


Systems and methods associated with media hub devices are provided that passively monitor user devices and transmit targeted media through in-channel transmissions that use the same channel used to monitor the user devices, or shifted channel transmissions that are different than the channel used to monitor the user devices. For example, a media hub device may passively monitor customer devices by scanning a wireless communication channel and obtaining device identification information transmitted by a user device that communicates the device identification information via the wireless communication channel. A media hub device may link the user device with a particular user or may anonymously monitor user behavior, through the monitored user device, without explicit knowledge of the identity of the user. Targeted media may be provided to the user device either in-channel using the same channel used to passively monitor the user device or a shifted channel using a different channel.

Identifying consumer behavior both online (e.g., while a user is interacting with a network) and offline (e.g., the user's in-store behavior) can be difficult due to the challenges associated with linking a user device that the user uses to access a network (e.g., the Internet) and a customer identifier (e.g., a frequent shopper card or other identifier) that the user may use in-store. For these and other reasons, it may be difficult to reach the user while the user is in-store. These and other problems exist with systems that monitor user behavior, whether online or offline.

Media hub devices with passive monitoring of user devices and targeted media transmission through in-channel transmission or shifted channel transmission


A method and apparatus for expanding the circuitry of a circuit board, such as a computer motherboard. The apparatus can include a riser card: removably coupled to the circuit board and having a plurality of expansion slots for receiving expansion devices. The riser card can include a connector for receiving a second riser card having further expansion slots for removably receiving additional expansion devices. Accordingly, a single riser card can be connected to a circuit board that is installed in a chassis that can accept no more than one riser card, and a pair of such riser cards can be stacked, one upon the other, on a circuit board that is installed in a chassis that can accommodate stacked riser cards.

The present invention relates to riser card assemblies for electronic devices, such as computers, and methods for their installation.
Conventional computers typically include a chassis that encloses circuit components, such as processors, memory chips, peripheral interface devices and other circuit elements. The core circuit components, such as the processor and the memory chips, are often mounted on a single printed circuit board, such as a motherboard. It is often desirable to provide the computer with expansion ports or slots for attaching additional printed circuit cards (xe2x80x9cexpansion cardsxe2x80x9d) having additional circuit elements. In this manner, a user or manufacturer can add additional capabilities and/or functions to the computer without significantly altering the existing computer structure. In one conventional arrangement, the expansion slots are provided on the motherboard. One drawback with this approach is that the expansion slots take up valuable space on the motherboard. One approach to addressing this drawback is to attach an intermediate riser card to a single slot of the motherboard and attach a plurality of expansion cards to the riser card. Accordingly, a plurality of expansion cards can be coupled to the motherboard via the riser card in an arrangement that occupies only a single slot on the motherboard.
Conventional computer chassis and motherboards come in a variety of shapes and sizes. For example, some xe2x80x9cfull-formxe2x80x9d conventional desktop computer chassis and tower chassis are dimensioned such that a single riser card, attached to the motherboard, can have six or seven expansion slots to accommodate expansion cards. A new type of xe2x80x9clow-profilexe2x80x9d chassis takes up less space than the conventional full-form chassis, but the low-profile has a limited height that cannot accommodate a riser card having six or more expansion slots. For example, in one low-profile configuration with an NLX motherboard that slides into the chassis, a riser card is attached directly to a low-profile chassis and the motherboard is coupled to one slot of the riser card. The low-profile riser card can include up to three additional expansion slots that each accommodate one expansion card. One drawback with this arrangement is that a different riser card may be required for low-profile and fill-form chassis, and still a different riser card may be required for ATX or NLX motherboards. Accordingly, computer manufacturers and suppliers may be required to provide and maintain an inventory of several types of riser cards, which can be expensive and inefficient.
The present invention is directed to riser cards for expanding the circuitry of a device such as a computer. In one aspect of the invention, the riser card can include a generally flat support member having a first connector for coupling to a circuit board (such as a motherboard) of a computer, a second connector for coupling to another riser card, a plurality of expansion ports for coupling to expansion devices, and coupling circuitry coupled to the first connector and the expansion ports. In a further aspect of the invention, like riser cards can be stacked one upon the other to increase the number of expansion ports coupled to the circuit board. Alternatively, the stacked riser cards can be different. For example, the lower riser card can include a connector for coupling to the circuit board and can include pass-through circuitry for coupling to the upper riser card. The upper riser card can include a connector for connecting to the lower riser card and need not include pass-through circuitry.
The riser card connectors can include one or more of several different types. For example, where the circuit board is a motherboard, the riser card can include a connector that is removably received by a corresponding connector of a motherboard. In one embodiment, the motherboard can be attached to a computer chassis and the riser card can be removably coupled to the motherboard. In another embodiment, the riser card can be attached to the chassis and the motherboard can be removably coupled to the riser card. The connectors can include edge connectors that face toward or perpendicular to the motherboard or alternatively, the connectors can be coupled to a ribbon cable extending between the riser cards.
The present invention is also directed to methods for expanding the circuitry of a circuit board by coupling one or more riser cards to the circuit board. In one aspect of the invention, the method can include removably coupling a first riser card to a connector of the circuit board, removably coupling a second riser card to the first riser card, and removably connecting at least one selected circuit device to one of the first and second riser cards. The method can further include passing electrical signals directly from the second riser card to the circuit board via the first riser card.
In another aspect of the invention, the same type of riser card can be used for several different types of computers. For example, the method can include coupling a first riser card to a site of a first circuit board of a first type of computer where the site is configured to accommodate at most a single riser card. The method can further include coupling a second riser card of the same type as the first riser card to a site of a second circuit board of a second type of computer. The method can still further include coupling, to the second riser card a third riser card such that each of thee riser cards has an expansion port accessible for connecting to a selected device.

Riser card assembly and method for its installation


The invention encompasses a semi-automatic and/or automatic computer-aided technique for designing comprehensive DNA diagnostic tests for mutations in disease genes through searching for optimized conditions for PCR amplification and for optimal melting behavior in denaturing gradient gels and for optimal distribution in two-dimensional electrophoresis display of the mutational target fragments.

As is well-known, a strand of DNA is comprised of four different nucleotides, as determined by their bases: Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine, respectively designated A, T, C, G. For each strand of DNA, there is a homologous strand in which A pairs with T, and C pairs with G. A specific sequence of bases which codes for a protein is referred to as a gene, and that gene is segmented into regions which are responsible for protein compositions (exons) and regions which do not contribute to protein composition (introns). An exon can vary in length from about 30 basepairs to thousands of basepairs (bp). For purposes of the present invention, however, primary concern resides with the coding regions of the gene(exons), though the test procedures of the invention can be easily appropriately modified, where desired, to screen for carcinogenic mutations in the introns, also, and for other purposes as well.
DNA diagnostic testing of genes with mutational defects is important for ascertaining information with regard to individual susceptibility to particular diseases, classification of the disease in a therapeutically relevant sub-group, the carriership (and potential transfer) or prenatal presence of birth defects, and other important purposes. The gold standard in DNA diagnostic testing for the presence of mutations is DNA sequencing, which involves the complete decoding of the gene. This, however, is time-consuming and inefficient. Time-consuming because despite numerous ongoing attempts to simplify and greatly accelerate the process, all currently used routine sequencing systems are still based on the principle originally developed by Sanger and colleagues (as described, for example, in Molecular Pathology, Heim and Silverman, 1990, pages 7-10), and only partially automated. They are inefficient because, instead of simply determining differences between entire DNA fragments, every DNA fragment must be completely decoded before any differences from normal (mutations) are revealed. The fact that the exact location of a discase-causing mutation can be different from one individual to the next, moreover, precludes the possibility of only testing for frequently occurring known mutations. Indeed, the many different mutations that may convert a healthy gene into a diseased gene makes it necessary in each case to inspect the entire gene at all possible positions for mutations (termed gene scanning) rather than for only a few frequently occurring ones (mutation screening). Mutation screening methods are relatively simple and cost-efficient. Outside DNA sequencing, potential gene scanning systems are scarce and their cost-efficiency is questionable.
Recently, a method was disclosed by one of the applicants of the present patent application for comparative scanning of 100-600 basepairs (bp) gene fragrnents by multiplex PCR amplification followed by two-dimensional electrophoretic separation in polyacrylamide gels on the basis of both size and basepair sequence; "Multiplex Co-amplification of 24 Retinoblastoma Gene Exons After Pre-amplification By Long-Distance PCR," Jan Vijg and Daizong Li, Nucleric Acids Research, 1996, Vol. 24, No. 1, p. 538-9. "Two-Dimensional DNA Typing", Jan Vijg, Molecular Biotechnology, pages 275, on, Vol. 4, 1995; and in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/471,249, filed Jun. 6, 1995 for Method Of And Apparatus For Diagnostic DNA Testing now U.S. Pat. No. 5,814,49, issued Sep. 29, 1998. The latter can be accomplished by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). This multiplexing technique for analyzing predetermined gene exons derived from DNA, involves adding primer pairs surrounding successive groups of the gene exons followed by effecting long-distance PCR amplifications thereof in a common tube or vessel (multiplex long-PCR) to achieve relatively long resulting amplicons; adding further primer pairs surrounding each of the gene exons or parts thereof, and then effecting multiplex PCR amplifications thereof in the common tube or vessel with relatively short resulting amplicons; and electrophoretically separating the gene fragments. By size separation, mutations representing deletions or insertions varying from several to many basepairs can be detected. In DGGE, point mutations, such as basepair substitutions are also detectable. This is due to the tendency of double-stranded DNA fragments to melt at a point in the gradient where the temperature equals the melting temperature of the lowest-meiting domain of the fragment.
In the process of PCR amplification, the mutational target fragments (e.g., gene exons) are surrounded by primers, i.e., short (about 20 base pairs) single-stranded DNA fragments. Primers are chosen in such a way that they are complementary (bind to) positions at the left and right boundaries or ends of the target fragments. By using appropriate enzymes that extend each primer inwards, towards each other, the mutational target can be copied. This can be repeated a great number of times in a so-called thermocycler--a machine that first heats up the DNA sample, thereby separating the single strands followed by cooling down, which results in annealing of the primers to their target sequences, and the subsequent enzymatic extensions of the primers by polymerase enzymes. The net result is an amplification of the fragment in between the primers of typically one million times. This provides enough target DNA to detect the fragment by using a DNA-binding dye, after electrophoretic separation, without the use of radioactive tracers; the rest of the DNA being now a relatively small amount and invisible.
The positioning of the primers is critical because, for such short sequences, there is ample opportunity to bind elsewhere in the complex DNA molecules that form the starting material of the test. This would lead to the copying of other fragments than the ones of interest. Positioning of primers is even more critical in denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, where each fragment must have an optimal melting temperature in order to allow all possible mutations to be detected. It is common practice to couple one of the two primers surrounding a gene target fragment to a GC-rich clamp sequence of about 30 basespairs long. This clamp is very stable and functions as the highest melting domain; that is, the part of the DNA molecule that keeps the fragment together. This is important because once a fragment migrates off the gel it can no longer be detected. In PCR-DGGE it is just as important, furthermore, that the target fragment consists of one single domain (flat throughout the gene fragment) that has a lower stability than the GC-clamp. In that case, it will melt earlier than the clamp, resulting in a structure that is partially double-stranded (the clamp) and partially single-stranded (the target fragment): a so-called branched structure. Such a fragment will be greatly retarded in the gel. Typically, the exact position where such a fragment melts (and thus halts its migration) is completely dependent on its sequence. With a fragment of, say, 500 basepairs, one single basepair difference will lead to a migrational difference that can be employed by detecting mutations in such fragments as a migrational difference with a control (wildtype) fragment. Hence, in contrast to DNA sequencing, DGGE does allow comparative scanning of whole fragments for mutational differences without the need to completely decode each molecule.
To carry out DGGE in two dimensions (2-D) rather than in one, increases the efficiency of the system as well as its reliability. Indeed, in a 2-D gel, many more fragments can be analyzed simultaneously than by a 1-D separation. It is more reliable because every fragment can be defined by both its melting temperature and its size. A disadvantage, however, resides in its increased complexity, requiring extreme attention to the design of the test. Since the design of a DGGE test itself is not trivial (primers must be chosen in a way that the amplified fragments represent a single domain, as before discussed), the 2-D principle adds a dimension in complexity as well as in resolution. A typical design of PCR primers, moreover, must take into consideration many other variables inherent to the PCR process, such as primer annealing temperatures.
As disclosed in the above-cited Vijg papers and the said patent application, the two-step PCR process enables many different exons to be amplified simultaneously in the same reaction. In this method, first, groups of target fragments (e.g., groups of exons) are amplified as large 5-40 kb amplicons, for example, by long-distance PCR (an improved form of PCR in which more efficient polymerase enzymes are employed that generate longer fragments). Second, with these amplicons as templates, large numbers of individual target sequences can now be amplified simultaneously in the same reaction vessel under a single set of experimental conditions. Normally it is very difficult to find one set of reaction conditions under which multiple fragments specified by multiple primer pairs are amplified simultaneously (i.e., multiplex PCR). Probably because the pre-amplification by long-distance PCR increases the amount of target sequences relative to the rest of the complex genomic DNA, flexibility with respect to the subsequent PCR amplification of the target sequences is much greater than normal, which permits extensive multiplexing; i.e., co-amplification of different target fragments in the same reaction.
This method of extensive multiplexing greatly economized the process of template preparation in genetic testing over earlier techniques for inspecting for mutations after PCR amplifying the many distributed exons of the often very large disease genes. As an example, it is now possible, to generate a collection of as many as 25 fragments corresponding to 26 exons of the tumor suppresser gene RBl in one single two-step PCR reaction. After the two-step multiplex PCR amplification, a single 2-dimensional electrophoretic separation, as the third step, is sufficient to resolve all these fragments and detect all possible mutations as variations in fragment spot position. With this system, a genetic testing method has become available that is both highly accurate (in detecting all possible mutations) and cost-efficient.
The only remaining drawback involves the absence of a rapid design of an optimal test for one or more individual genes involved in a particular disease. The human genome, indeed, contains an estimated number of 100,000 different genes, many of which might ultimately prove to be involved in one or more diseases. To design a set of PCR primers for many different genes and/or gene combinations that fulfill criteria for optimal (multiplex) PCR, optimal denaturing gradient electrophoretic separation and 2-D distribution is not trivial. As shown in later-described FIG. 1, the computer-assisted test design of the invention must provide, for an optimal 2-D genetic test for one or multiple genes with predicted primer and GC-clamp respective positions and lengths for meeting optimal melting criteria, PCR criteria and 2-D spot distribution criteria.
The present invention is directed to solving this problem and, through a computer-assisted procedure, to semi-automatically and/or automatically design multiplex PCR/2-D electrophorctic tests for one or more genes.

Method of computer aided automated diagnostic DNA test design, and apparatus therefor