阅读说明：本技术 加热电池包的方法、装置、电路以及电池包 (Method, device and circuit for heating battery pack and battery pack ) 是由 薛志强 王帅 陆晓安 周巍 于 2021-07-02 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种加热电池包的方法、装置、电路以及电池包,所述加热电池包的方法,包括：获取加热指令；将所述加热指令发送至直流转换功率电源DC/DC；所述直流转换功率电源DC/DC根据所述加热指令将电池包加热至预设温度。本发明的技术方案,通过电池包内两个或多个大模组或模块之间的充、放电过程,依靠电芯中产生的电化学热,欧姆热等,使电池包自身热量聚集,温度升高,解决了电池包在低温情况下的正常充、放电,车辆正常充电和行驶的问题。(The invention discloses a method, a device and a circuit for heating a battery pack and the battery pack, wherein the method for heating the battery pack comprises the following steps: acquiring a heating instruction; sending the heating instruction to a direct current conversion power supply DC/DC; and the DC/DC conversion power supply DC/DC heats the battery pack to a preset temperature according to the heating instruction. According to the technical scheme, through the charging and discharging processes between two or more large modules or modules in the battery pack, the heat of the battery pack is gathered and the temperature is increased by means of electrochemical heat, ohmic heat and the like generated in the battery cell, and the problems of normal charging and discharging of the battery pack under the low-temperature condition and normal charging and driving of a vehicle are solved.)

1. A method of heating a battery pack, comprising:

acquiring a heating instruction;

sending the heating instruction to a direct current conversion power supply DC/DC;

and the DC/DC conversion power supply DC/DC heats the battery pack to a preset temperature according to the heating instruction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining heating instructions comprises:

acquiring running information of a battery pack or an instruction of a vehicle control system through an electric control system in the battery pack;

and generating the heating instruction according to the operation information of the battery pack or an instruction of a vehicle control system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein prior to said sending said heating instructions to a direct current converted power supply DC/DC:

and controlling the contactor to be disconnected.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the DC-converted power supply DC/DC heating the battery pack to a preset temperature according to the heating instruction comprises:

boosting a first module to be heated through the DC/DC conversion power supply, so that the voltage of the first module to be heated is higher than that of a second module to be heated; charging the second module to be heated through the first module to be heated, and heating the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated to a first temperature;

boosting a second module to be heated through the DC/DC conversion power supply to enable the voltage of the second module to be heated to be higher than that of the first module to be heated; charging the first module to be heated through the second module to be heated, and heating the temperatures of the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated from a first temperature to a second temperature;

if the second temperature is lower than the preset temperature, repeating the steps; otherwise, stopping heating;

the battery pack comprises at least two modules, the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated are any two of the modules, and the first module to be heated is connected with the second module to be heated.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

adjusting the voltage difference of the first module and the second module to a preset voltage difference;

the first module is the first module to be heated up reaching the preset temperature, and the second module is the second module to be heated up reaching the preset temperature.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein adjusting the voltage difference between the first module and the second module to a predetermined voltage difference comprises:

communicating a first module with the second module via the DC-converted power supply DC/DC;

controlling the first module to charge the second module until the voltage difference between the first module and the second module is a preset voltage difference;

wherein the voltage of the first module is higher than the voltage of the second module.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that the first module to be warmed is connected in series with the second module to be warmed.

8. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the first module to be warmed is connected in parallel with the second module to be warmed.

9. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the number of said modules is greater than 2, and a plurality of said modules are connected in series or in parallel.

10. An apparatus for heating a battery pack, comprising:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring a heating instruction;

the sending module is used for sending the heating instruction to a direct current conversion power supply DC/DC;

and the heating module is used for heating the battery pack to a preset temperature by the DC/DC conversion power supply according to the heating instruction.

11. A circuit for heating a battery pack, comprising:

at least two modules;

a plurality of contactors disposed between and connected with the modules;

at least one DC-converted power source DC/DC connected in parallel across the modules.

12. A battery pack comprising the circuit for heating a battery pack according to claim 9.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of electric automobiles, and particularly relates to a method, a device and a circuit for heating a battery pack and the battery pack.

Background

At present, because the power battery pack of the new energy automobile is limited by the current battery cell technology, the charging and discharging performance is greatly influenced in a low-temperature environment, particularly under the zero-temperature condition, and the performance is seriously attenuated by more than half.

In order to solve the problem, the battery pack can be normally charged and discharged under the condition of low temperature, and the vehicle can be normally charged and used for driving, various external devices are basically adopted in the current industry to provide heat to heat an internal module of the battery pack and a battery core in a conduction mode, for example, direct or indirect technologies and modes such as a heating resistance wire, a PTC (positive temperature coefficient) thermosensitive material, a heat pump and the like are adopted.

However, in all of the above methods, an external power supply is basically required, electric energy is converted into heat energy, and then the heat energy is conducted to the battery core and the module in the battery pack through various heat conduction assemblies, and the general heat conduction assemblies include heat conduction films, heat conduction glue, liquid pipelines, pumps, valves and other media, liquid cooling plates, fluids and the like, so that the temperature of the battery core and the module in the battery pack is raised to a normal working temperature, and therefore, various additional devices and components are more, the process is complex, the conduction loss is large, the heating efficiency is low, and various safety problems such as high-voltage insulation and the like need to be considered.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to solving, at least to some extent, one of the technical problems in the related art. To this end, an object of the present invention is to provide a method, an apparatus, a circuit, and a battery pack for heating a battery pack, which can increase the temperature of the battery pack by generating heat by itself.

In order to solve the above technical problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

a method of heating a battery pack, comprising:

acquiring a heating instruction;

sending the heating instruction to a direct current conversion power supply DC/DC;

and the DC/DC conversion power supply DC/DC heats the battery pack to a preset temperature according to the heating instruction.

Optionally, the obtaining the heating instruction includes:

acquiring running information of a battery pack or an instruction of a vehicle control system through an electric control system in the battery pack;

and generating the heating instruction according to the operation information of the battery pack or an instruction of a vehicle control system.

Optionally, before sending the heating instruction to the DC-converted power supply DC/DC:

and controlling the contactor to be disconnected.

Optionally, the heating the battery pack to the preset temperature by the DC/DC conversion power supply according to the heating instruction includes:

boosting a first module to be heated through the DC/DC conversion power supply, so that the voltage of the first module to be heated is higher than that of a second module to be heated; charging the second module to be heated through the first module to be heated, and heating the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated to a first temperature;

boosting a second module to be heated through the DC/DC conversion power supply to enable the voltage of the second module to be heated to be higher than that of the first module to be heated; charging the first module to be heated through the second module to be heated, and heating the temperatures of the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated from a first temperature to a second temperature;

if the second temperature is lower than the preset temperature, repeating the steps; otherwise, stopping heating;

the battery pack comprises at least two modules, the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated are any two of the modules, and the first module to be heated is connected with the second module to be heated.

Optionally, the method further includes:

adjusting the voltage difference of the first module and the second module to a preset voltage difference;

the first module is the first module to be heated up reaching the preset temperature, and the second module is the second module to be heated up reaching the preset temperature.

Optionally, the adjusting the voltage difference between the first module and the second module to a preset voltage difference includes:

communicating a first module with the second module via the DC-converted power supply DC/DC;

controlling the first module to charge the second module until the voltage difference between the first module and the second module is a preset voltage difference;

wherein the voltage of the first module is higher than the voltage of the second module.

Optionally, the first module to be heated is connected in series with the second module to be heated.

Optionally, the first module to be heated is connected in parallel with the second module to be heated.

Optionally, the number of the modules is greater than 2, and the modules are connected in series or in parallel.

An embodiment of the present invention also provides a device for heating a battery pack, including:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring a heating instruction;

the sending module is used for sending the heating instruction to a direct current conversion power supply DC/DC;

and the heating module is used for heating the battery pack to a preset temperature by the DC/DC conversion power supply according to the heating instruction.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a circuit for heating a battery pack, including:

at least two modules;

a plurality of contactors disposed between and connected with the modules;

at least one DC-converted power source DC/DC connected in parallel across the modules.

Embodiments of the present invention also provide a battery pack including a circuit for heating the battery pack as described above.

The embodiment of the invention has the following technical effects:

according to the technical scheme, through the charging and discharging processes between two or more large modules or modules in the battery pack, the heat of the battery pack is gathered and the temperature is raised by means of electrochemical heat, ohmic heat and the like generated in the battery cell, the charging and discharging performance of the battery pack is ensured to be normal, a vehicle can normally work, and the problems of normal charging and discharging of the battery pack under the low-temperature condition and normal charging and driving of the vehicle are solved.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a method for heating a battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a circuit of a heating battery pack with two modules connected in series according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a circuit for heating a battery pack with two parallel modules according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a circuit of a heating battery pack in which a plurality of modules are connected in series according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a circuit for heating a battery pack in which a plurality of modules are connected in parallel according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a work flow of a battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are illustrative and intended to be illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.

As shown in fig. 1, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method of heating a battery pack, including:

step S1, acquiring a heating instruction;

specifically, a key door of the whole vehicle is opened to enter a working state, and an electric control system in the battery pack enters a standby state; the electric control system in the battery pack determines whether the vehicle enters a normal power-on state or a self-heating state according to the vehicle requirement, the environment temperature, the battery pack electric quantity, the battery core temperature and other information, and generates a heating instruction by the internal electric control system.

Step S2: sending the heating instruction to a direct current conversion power supply DC/DC;

specifically, the DC/DC is a direct current conversion power supply, bidirectional boosting electric energy transmission can be realized, the voltage ranges on two sides are large, and self-adaptive adjustment and control can be realized.

For example: at the moment, the system voltage on one side of the DC/DC is 150VDC, the system voltage on the other side of the DC/DC is 100VDC, the voltage on one side of the system voltage of 100VDC can be increased to 200VDC through the DC/DC, and therefore the electric energy on the low-voltage 100V side can be input to the side of 150VDC, and therefore free circulation of the electric energy on the two sides of the DC/DC is achieved, namely mutual charging and discharging processes are achieved.

Step S3: and the DC/DC conversion power supply DC/DC heats the battery pack to a preset temperature according to the heating instruction.

Specifically, the preset temperature can be set according to the temperature of the environment, the battery cell and the specific situation of the whole vehicle system.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the temperature of the battery pack is raised through heat generated in the charging and discharging processes of the modules in the battery pack or between the modules, firstly, only energy is transmitted mutually, and not consumed in a large amount, secondly, heat generated by electrochemical reaction generated in the charging and discharging processes of the battery cell, ohmic heat and the like are basically absorbed by the battery pack, the loss is very small, the utilization rate is high, the temperature of the battery pack is directly improved, the efficiency is higher than that of a conduction mode, the temperature can be rapidly raised through extremely small charging and discharging power current at low temperature, the service life of the battery cell cannot be influenced due to low-temperature high-power output and input, and the problems of normal charging and discharging of the battery pack under the low-temperature condition and normal charging and driving of a vehicle are solved.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, in step S1, the obtaining a heating instruction includes:

step S11: acquiring running information of a battery pack or an instruction of a vehicle control system through an electric control system in the battery pack;

specifically, the instructions of the vehicle control system include: the whole vehicle system sends a driving or charging instruction, and the whole vehicle system does not send an advance preheating instruction in the remote environment and other environments.

The operation information of the battery pack includes: the current cell temperature, the current electric quantity and the like can support normal charging and discharging of the battery pack; and other factors that affect the operation of the battery pack.

Step S12: and generating the heating instruction according to the operation information of the battery pack or an instruction of a vehicle control system.

Specifically, if the condition in step S11 is satisfied, the battery pack may be normally powered on, and if any one of the conditions in step S11 is not satisfied, the heating instruction is generated.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, step S2, before sending the heating command to the DC-DC conversion power source DC/DC:

and controlling the contactor to be disconnected.

Specifically, when any condition in step S11 is not satisfied, the battery pack enters a self-heating state, the electronic control system in the battery pack sends a control signal to ensure that all the contactors are in an off state, sends a heating instruction (enable) to the DC/DC, and determines and ensures that the DC/DC enters a working state under the condition that all the contactors are in the off state.

Wherein, the contactor comprises S0, S00, S1, S2, S3, charge + and charge-: the switching devices are high-voltage components for controlling the on-off of the high-voltage loop, and are generally high-voltage contactors.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, in step S3, the step of heating the battery pack to the preset temperature by the DC/DC conversion power supply DC/DC according to the heating instruction includes:

in step S31, boosting the first module to be heated by the DC-DC conversion power supply DC/DC, so that the voltage of the first module to be heated is higher than the voltage of the second module to be heated; charging the second module to be heated through the first module to be heated, and heating the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated to a first temperature;

specifically, the first module to be heated is located on any one side of the DC/DC, the first module to be heated discharges while the second module to be heated, which is located on the other side of the DC/DC, is charged, and in the charging and discharging processes, heat such as chemical reaction, ohmic heat and the like is absorbed by the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated, so that the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated are heated.

And when the charging time T is reached, controlling the DC/DC to stop boosting the first module to be heated.

In step S32, step up a second module to be heated by the DC-DC conversion power supply DC/DC, so that the voltage of the second module to be heated is higher than the voltage of the first module to be heated; charging the first module to be heated through the second module to be heated, and heating the temperatures of the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated from a first temperature to a second temperature;

in step S33, if the second temperature is lower than the preset temperature, repeating the above steps, and alternately boosting the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated by DC/DC; otherwise, stopping heating;

the battery pack comprises at least two modules, the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated are any two of the modules, and the first module to be heated is connected with the second module to be heated.

The embodiment of the invention has the advantages of low energy consumption, high efficiency, low cost, simple process, few auxiliary devices, small occupied space inside the battery pack and higher safety, thereby improving the environmental adaptability and driving range of the whole battery pack and promoting the popularization and development of the electric automobile.

An optional embodiment of the present invention, further comprising:

in step S4, adjusting the voltage difference between the first module and the second module to a predetermined voltage difference;

the first module is the first module to be heated up reaching the preset temperature, and the second module is the second module to be heated up reaching the preset temperature.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, in step S4, the adjusting the voltage difference between the first module and the second module to a predetermined voltage difference includes:

in step S41, communicating the first module with the second module via the DC-DC converted power supply DC/DC;

in step S42, the first module is controlled to charge the second module until the voltage difference between the first module and the second module is a preset voltage difference;

wherein the voltage of the first module is higher than the voltage of the second module.

Specifically, the preset voltage difference is generally less than 10mV, and the value of the preset voltage difference is set according to the conditions of the battery cell and the system.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated are connected in series.

Specifically, this embodiment of the present invention is implemented as follows:

as shown in fig. 2, B1 and B2 are connected in series, the battery pack enters a self-heating state, the electronic control system in the battery pack sends a control signal to ensure that all contactors are in an open state, a heating instruction (enable) is sent to DC/DC, it is determined and ensured that all contactors are in an open state, DC/DC enters an operating state, VB1 is greater than VB2 by increasing voltage of B1 (any side of DC/DC), so that B1 discharges while B2 charges, after T time, VB2 is greater than VB1 by increasing voltage of B2, so that B2 discharges while B1 charges, so that the above steps are alternately repeated until temperatures of B1 and B2 reach preset temperatures, then voltage differences of B1 and B2 are adaptively adjusted by DC/DC to reach preset voltage differences, during voltage difference adjustment, DC/DC does not boost, and is only a conducting circuit, and finally, the charging and discharging requirements of the battery pack are met.

Wherein, B1 and B2: the battery module is a large battery module formed by a plurality of battery cores and modules in a series-parallel connection mode;

and (4) Fuse: this is a fuse or fuse, which is used to perform short-circuit protection of the electrical circuit.

The electric equipment comprises: motors, compressors, etc. including various functions;

a charging device: the system comprises vehicle-mounted charging equipment, ground charging equipment, wireless charging equipment and the like;

rs: the power resistor is used for pre-charging various parallel capacitors in the electric equipment so as to ensure the normal work of the system.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the first module to be heated and the second module to be heated are connected in parallel.

Specifically, this embodiment of the present invention is implemented as follows:

as shown in fig. 3, B1 and B2 are connected in parallel, the battery pack enters a self-heating state, the electronic control system in the battery pack sends a control signal to ensure that all contactors are in an off state, a heating instruction (enable) is sent to DC/DC, it is determined and ensured that all contactors are in an off state, DC/DC enters an operating state, VB1 is greater than VB2 by raising voltage of B1 (on any side of DC/DC), so that B1 discharges while B2 charges, after T time, VB2 is greater than VB1 by raising voltage of B2, so that B2 discharges while B1 charges, and so that the above steps are alternately repeated until temperatures of B1 and B2 meet requirements, then voltage differences of B1 and B2 are adaptively adjusted by DC/DC to reach preset voltage differences, and during voltage difference adjustment, DC/DC does not raise voltage, but only is a conducting circuit, and finally, the charging and discharging requirements of the battery pack are met.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the number of the modules is greater than 2, and a plurality of the modules are connected in series or in parallel.

Specifically, this embodiment of the present invention is implemented as follows:

as shown in fig. 4, B1, B2 … … Bn-1, Bn are connected in series (n is a positive integer greater than 2), the battery pack enters a self-heating state, the electronic control system in the battery pack sends out a control signal to ensure that all contactors are in an off state, a heating instruction (enable) is sent out to DC/DC, and when it is judged and ensured that all contactors are in an off state, DC/DC enters a working state, and by increasing the voltage of B1 (any side of DC/DC), VB1 is greater than VB2, so that B1 is discharged, and B2 is charged at the same time, after T time, by increasing the voltage of B2, VB2 is greater than VB1, so that B2 is discharged, and B1 is charged, so that the alternating reciprocating motion is performed until the temperatures of B1 and B2 meet the requirements, then the voltage difference between B1 and B2 is adaptively adjusted through DC/DC, so that the voltage difference reaches a preset voltage difference, and in the process of adjusting, the DC/DC is not boosted, is only a conducting circuit and finally meets the charging and discharging requirements of the battery pack.

As shown in fig. 5, B1, B2 … … Bn-1, Bn are connected in parallel, the battery pack enters a self-heating state, the electronic control system in the battery pack sends out a control signal to ensure that all contactors are in an open state, sends out a heating command (enable) to DC/DC, judges and ensures that all contactors are in an open state, and the DC/DC enters a working state, and by increasing the voltage of B1 (at any side of the DC/DC), VB1 is greater than VB2, so that B1 is discharged, and B2 is charged at the same time, after T time, by increasing the voltage of B2, VB2 is greater than VB1, so that B2 is discharged, and B1 is charged, and the above steps are alternately repeated until the temperatures of B1 and B2 meet the requirements, and then by adaptively adjusting the voltage differences of B1 and B2 through DC/DC, the voltage difference is adjusted to reach a preset voltage difference, and during the voltage difference adjustment, DC/DC is not boosted, only the circuit is conducted, and finally the charging and discharging requirements of the battery pack are met.

In the embodiment of the invention, if the internal electric control system detects that a certain module does not reach the preset temperature after the heating is finished, the module is continuously heated until the temperatures of all the modules reach the preset temperature, and then the heating is stopped.

An embodiment of the present invention also provides a device for heating a battery pack, including:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring a heating instruction;

the sending module is used for sending the heating instruction to a direct current conversion power supply DC/DC;

and the heating module is used for heating the battery pack to a preset temperature by the DC/DC conversion power supply according to the heating instruction.

As shown in fig. 2 to 6, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a circuit for heating a battery pack, including:

at least two modules;

a plurality of contactors disposed between and connected with the modules;

at least one DC-converted power source DC/DC connected in parallel across the modules.

Specifically, the method comprises the following steps:

1) after heating is finished, the vehicle can return to a standby state or enter a power-on state according to the state or instruction information of the whole vehicle;

2) when the conditions are met, the battery pack enters a power-on state, and an electric control system in the battery pack sends out a control signal; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

when the modules are connected in series, S0 and S3 are closed firstly, S2 is closed after T0 time, the electric control system starts to judge whether the pre-charging is finished or not, S1 is closed after the pre-charging is finished, and S2 is opened after T1 time, so that the high-voltage electrifying process is finished;

when the modules are connected in parallel, S0, S00 and S3 are firstly closed, S2 is closed after T0 time (T0 time is used for ensuring that components such as a contactor are closed so as to ensure safe operation of a circuit), the internal electric control system starts to judge whether pre-charging is finished or not, S1 is closed after the pre-charging is finished, and S2 is opened after T1 time, so that a high-voltage electrifying process is finished;

the method comprises the steps that the requirement of the whole vehicle needs to be judged, whether a charging instruction exists or not needs to be judged, if yes, charge + and charge-are closed, so that a charging high-voltage loop is connected, and the charging high-voltage loop is ready to enter a charging working state; if no charging instruction exists, directly entering a discharging working state;

3) when the battery pack finishes charging or the whole vehicle sends out information such as a charging and discharging stopping instruction, the internal electric control performs power-off operation, disconnects all contactors and enters a standby state.

As shown in fig. 6, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a battery pack including the circuit for heating the battery pack as described above.

Specifically, standby: the key door of the whole vehicle is opened, the battery pack is connected to a low-voltage power supply, an electric control system in the battery pack is in a working state, and the battery pack can be subjected to next operation such as high-voltage electrification at any time by monitoring various data of the battery pack in real time to ensure that the system is normal, various parameters are normal and no fault alarm exists, and interacting with a control system of the whole vehicle;

electrifying: the high-voltage circuit is connected with the external charging and discharging circuit through controlling various switching devices in the battery pack, namely the high-voltage circuit is in a path, and the high-voltage circuit can work after the electric equipment and the charging equipment are enabled;

self-heating: the battery pack is self-heated and the temperature is increased by switching on, switching off or enabling related components under special environments such as low temperature and the like;

powering off: the switching-off of the external charging and discharging loop is realized by controlling various switching devices in the battery pack, namely, the high-voltage circuit is in an open circuit, the charging and discharging operation of the battery pack cannot be carried out, and the battery pack enters a standby state.

In addition, other structures and functions of the structure of the embodiment of the present invention are known to those skilled in the art, and are not described herein for reducing redundancy.

It should be noted that the logic and/or steps represented in the flowcharts or otherwise described herein, such as an ordered listing of executable instructions that can be considered to implement logical functions, can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions.

It should be understood that portions of the present invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. In the above embodiments, the various steps or methods may be implemented in software or firmware stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. For example, if implemented in hardware, as in another embodiment, any one or combination of the following techniques, which are known in the art, may be used: a discrete logic circuit having a logic gate circuit for implementing a logic function on a data signal, an application specific integrated circuit having an appropriate combinational logic gate circuit, a Programmable Gate Array (PGA), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or the like.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "central," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," "circumferential," and the like are used in the orientations and positional relationships indicated in the drawings for convenience in describing the invention and to simplify the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the referenced devices or elements must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and are therefore not to be considered limiting of the invention.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly and can, for example, be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally formed; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be directly connected or indirectly connected through intervening media, or they may be connected internally or in any other suitable relationship, unless expressly stated otherwise. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may be directly contacting the first and second features or indirectly contacting the first and second features through an intermediate. Also, a first feature "on," "over," and "above" a second feature may be directly or diagonally above the second feature, or may simply indicate that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature may be directly under or obliquely under the first feature, or may simply mean that the first feature is at a lesser elevation than the second feature.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and that variations, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to the above embodiments by those of ordinary skill in the art within the scope of the present invention.