US 11,929,740 B2
Relay control apparatus
Hak-Soon Kim, Daejeon (KR)
Assigned to LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD., Seoul (KR)
Appl. No. 17/608,669
Filed by LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD., Seoul (KR)
PCT Filed Dec. 30, 2020, PCT No. PCT/KR2020/019449
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 3, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/137640, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 8, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 10-2020-0000993 (KR), filed on Jan. 3, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0231679 A1, Jul. 21, 2022
Int. Cl. H02H 3/00 (2006.01); H02J 7/00 (2006.01); H03K 17/082 (2006.01)
CPC H03K 17/082 (2013.01) [H02J 7/00308 (2020.01); H02J 7/0031 (2013.01); H02J 7/0047 (2013.01); H02J 7/0063 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
7. A relay control apparatus, comprising:
a relay disposed on a main path between a battery cell and a pack terminal and configured to electrically connect or disconnect the main path according to an operation state of the relay; and
a comparator configured to receive a comparison voltage from the main path and output a result signal to the relay based on a difference between a reference voltage and the comparison voltage;
a voltage source configured to apply the reference voltage to the comparator;
a variable resistor configured to be disposed between the voltage source and the comparator; and
a controller configured to adjust a magnitude of the reference voltage applied to the comparator to correspond to the withstanding voltage of the relay by adjusting a resistance of the variable resistor,
wherein the relay is further configured to receive the result signal and control the operation state of the relay to a turn-on state or a turn-off state according to a magnitude of the received result signal, and
wherein the controller is configured to determine a degree of degradation of the relay and adjust a magnitude of the variable resistor based on the determined degree of degradation.