US 20170093156A1
31
cu») United States
2) Patent Application Publication co) Pub. No.: US 2017/0093156 Al
Ozbek et al. (43) Pub. Date: Mar. 30, 2017
(34) SCALABLE AND FLEXIBLE CELL
ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM
Publication Classification
6h mc.
ee ence 021 00 (200601)
Applicant: Testu Motors, Ine, Palo Allo, CA (US) nat aeet gons.an
Inventors: Mehmet Ozbek, San Francisco, CA (82). US. Ch .
(US) Braden Pheyect See cre 1024 00 (2013.01), HORM 744
Francis, CA(US), Andrew David (201301)
aglino, San Francisco, CA (US)
(73) Assignee: Testa Motors Inc, Palo Alt, cA(uS) 7) ABSTRACT
Appl. Now 1/280.422 An energy storage system includes: a grid te unit compris-
ing at leat one DCIAC converter, and multiple pods Con-
Filed: ‘Sep. 29, 2016 ‘nected to the grid tie unit, each pod including: a number of
cell: and power electronics ont, wherein the cells are
Heating relative to the system and are galvanically isolated
(60) Provisional pplication No, 62/235.$09, fled on Sep. thereffom. The multiple pods may'be organized into packs,
30, 2015, with a pack including @ thermal management system,
Related U.S. Application Data
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Mar. 30, 2017 Sheet 1 of 6
Patent Application Publication
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Mar. 30, 2017 Sheet 2 of 6
Patent Application Publication
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FIG. 5US 2017/0093156 AI
Mar. 30, 2017 Sheet 6 of 6
Patent Application Publication
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NOB UALUS 2017/0093156 Al
SCALABLE AND FLEXIBLE CELL-BASED
ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
APPLICATION
10001] The present US. Utility Patent Application claims
Priority pursuant to 35 US.C. §119(¢) to U.S. Provisional
Application No. 621235,509, entiled “SCALABLE AND
FLEXIBLE CELL-BASED ENERGY STORAGE SYS-
TEM”, fled Sep. 30, 2015, which is hereby incorporated
herein by reference in its entirety and made pad of the
present US. Utility Patent Application for all purposes.
BACKGROUND
10002] Various approaches for energy storage have been
tried Some batteries that are designed for lage seal enerpy
storage have smaller cells aranged in series an parallel. For
‘example, some cells are arranged in parallel, and then tat
‘init is arranged in parallel with another similar unit and so
‘on. This can require the system to have a disconnect and.
ise, and to apply some management strategy that occurs at
the high level. These systems can be configured so that they
fare paralleled at an electrical interface, which can make
them complicated to parallel
10003] One problem with such approaches can be that
‘when batteries are paralleled, one must match their voltae
‘characteristics precisely because they in parallel electrically.
‘This can significantly limit scaabilty of the system. For
‘example, one may need to use very similar chemistry, oF
similar éells, or come up with panicularized balancing
tmtegies, to manage the diflewent cells within their rings
‘of operating characteristics. Also, with regard to the indi
vidual cells, the system is ina sense limited by its weakest
Tink, That i if one cell malfunetions this typically renders
the whole array of batteries out of service,
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
10003} FIGS, 1A and 1B show an example of an energy
sorage system,
[0005] FIG. 2 shows an example of one ofthe packs from
FIG. L
[0006] FIG. 3 shows an example of an industrial eneray
Storage system,
[0007] "FIG. 4 shows an example of a residential energy
Storage system,
10008) "FIG. 5 shows an example of an energy storage
system in an implementation together with solar panels
[0009] “FIG. 6 shows an example of & high-power and
high-volge energy storage system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0010] This document describes examples of systems and
Techniques for providing an energy storage system tht is
scalable anywhere feom a limited installation on a small site
(exe fora residence ora small business) toa massively lange
system ata major site (such as fora large company or city)
‘One approach involves taking a relatively smaller block of
cells, providing power electronics converter for it, and
galvaniealy isolating the block. This ean provide a building
block that one ean parallel as many times as necessary,
because the battery has been provided with « power elec-
tronics interface. One advantage of this approach is that
“different types of cells can be used on the sume field. For
Mar. 30, 2017,
‘example, ina feld that includes batteries witha cumulative
capacity of one GWh or more, the system cam allow use of
ferent cell types, different apes of cells, diferent cell
vollages anor uilferent physical lypes of cells. The com-
mon power eletronies interface provides a DC system for
the cells so that they can be considered part of a DC
microgrid, This in tun ean allow the cells t0 all bo falnre
independent, so that any particular ell can fil and it will not
fake out the whole system. This can eliminate or reduce
{ailure propagation, provide scalability and abilty to paral-
Ielize, as well as provide system ignorance to cell make,
energy (ype, and cell age. In short, one can provide an
fenergy storage system with the advantage that it does not
include a high-voltage battery.
[0011] Examples herein describe cells as being a basic
building block of the energy slorage system, In various
‘implementations, any suitable form of electrolytic cell ean
be used. For example, this includes, but isnot limited to
lithium-ion cells having a generally cylindrical form factor,
[0012] FIGS, 1 and 18 show an example of an energy
storage system 100. This ean be considered an “industrial
system implemented at site, as opposed to, say, a different
syste that is instead intended primarily for residential use.
However, implementations—whether large oF small—can
be used in a variety of contexts for many dillerent purposes.
Referring to both FIGS. 1A and 1B, the energy storage
system 100 includes a power grid tie 102 that converts
high-voltage DC from storage modules to AC. In some
implementations, the grid tie 102 delivers AC (eg. through
4 480V, 3:phase connection) ta transformer 104, such as
{or transformation to medium volta, which ean then be
conveyed 0 remote joation through a grid (aot explicitly
shown). For this reason, the grid tie 102 can be refered to
asa “arid te” in the systom, Instead of, or in addition to, the
{nmsformer 104, one or more other components can be use
For example, at the site level a contactor ean be placed
between the grid and the grid tie, For example, whea
‘multiple such systems are parallelized at single site, they
can all share a connection tothe grid. In this example, the
arid tc has a capacity of about 250 KW, but higher or lower
effet ean be used in other implementations
[0013] One or more packs 106 are included in the system
Andre connected to the grid te 102 by a DC bus 108. The
bus leads current from he packs 106 othe rid te 102 when