US 11,884,174 B2
Optical communication system for management of vehicle batteries
Neil T. Moloney, Oak Park, MI (US); and Shohei Nomura, Ann Arbor, MI (US)
Assigned to TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC., Plano, TX (US)
Filed by TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC., Plano, TX (US)
Filed on Sep. 10, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/471,434.
Prior Publication US 2023/0079247 A1, Mar. 16, 2023
Int. Cl. H02J 7/00 (2006.01); B60L 53/30 (2019.01); B60L 58/10 (2019.01); H04B 10/112 (2013.01)
CPC B60L 53/305 (2019.02) [B60L 58/10 (2019.02); H04B 10/1127 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle comprising:
a battery management system comprising:
an energy storage device configured to power the vehicle, the energy storage device comprising:
a battery module;
at least one battery module sensor associated with the battery module;
a battery module processor associated with the battery module; and
a battery module optical transceiver associated with the battery module;
a control unit configured to control the energy storage device; and
a control unit optical transceiver associated with the control unit and configured for bidirectional free-space optical communication with the battery module optical transceiver via a free-space optical communication link,
wherein the battery module processor is configured to receive sensor readings from the at least one battery module sensor and transmit information about the sensor readings to the control unit via the free-space optical communication link, and
wherein the control unit is configured to, based on the information about the sensor readings, send commands to the battery module processor via the free-space optical communication link.