Tesla Files Patent For Multi-Channel And Bi-Directional Battery Management System In Europe

May 18, 2020

By Ma. Claribelle Deveza

Featured Image Credit: Megan Gale Adams/Twitter

Tesla filed its Multi-Channel and Bi-Directional Battery Management System patent for the European region recently under code EP3646044. Initially, the patent had been filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2019 as WO2019006204. The patent has since been filed in specific regions, including China, Japan, and most recently, Europe.

The Abstract for the patent filed for Europe states the following:

“Embodiments of the present invention include a battery management system that provide a plurality of channels that allow communication between host and clients. This communication may operate in bi-directional modes such that commands from the host and responses from the clients are transmitted clockwise or counter-clockwise around a daisy-chain loop. This architecture provides both a high level of redundancy across multiple channels as well as transmission directions around the loop. The use of multiple channels provides a separation in signal paths akin to the provision of completely separate physical wires, preventing malfunction of spurious operation of devices using one channel from interfering with the normal operation of devices using the other channel. In addition, the signaling architecture allows a host to dynamically transmit commands and receive responses between specific client(s) and host or broadcast communication across all clients.”

Based on the Abstract of EP3646044, Tesla’s recent patent filing appears to be similar if not identical to its WO2019006204 filing. Both discuss a battery management system (BMS) that uses a daisy-chain loop for multi-channel communications between circuits within a battery system. There is two-way communication between the host of the system and its various clients to ensure that every part of the system is functional. Tesla described how its battery management system works in figures, seen below.

Credit: Tesla

The BMS patent filing in Europe could be for various reasons, including its ongoing construction on Giga Berlin in Germany. The Europe-based factory is expected to manufacture battery cells for the 500,000+ vehicles that will be produced in the Berlin plant. Some have speculated that Tesla may also produce battery storage systems in the facility, considering the expansive size of the Gigafactory Berlin complex.

Tesla’s BMS patent could already be implemented across all its products, including its Energy department. Before the virus caused multiple lockdowns all over the world, Tesla Energy was ready to hit the ground running this year after taking a back seat to the company’s automotive sector during the Model 3 ramp in Fremont, CA.

Elon Musk forecasted that Solar Roof V3 could ramp internationally by the end of the year. Tesla Energy’s battery storage systems seemed to be gaining some more traction in the commercial sector as well. For instance, Tesla Megapack installation was approved for an energy storage facility in Moss Landing in February.

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