Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20080211457 | Energy Storage Unit - An energy storage unit has several storage elements ( | 09-04-2008 |
20080231231 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BALANCING STATE OF CHARGE OF SERIES CONNECTED CELLS - A system and method for charging an undercharged cell of a bank of series connected cells utilizes a charging circuit. The charging circuit includes an inductor that receives current from the entire bank of cells and then provides current to the undercharged cell. Pulse width modulation is utilized to turn the switches on and off to regulate the current that flows to the inductor and thus is provided to the undercharged cell. | 09-25-2008 |
20080252257 | Multiplexer and Switch-Based Electrochemical Cell Monitor and Management System and Method - A system for monitoring a plurality of battery cells using the switch and multiplexing circuits with the plurality of monitored signal indicating the battery voltage levels for each cell by switching the measured voltage of each cell and using switching of the monitored cell voltage to selectively measure each selected signal ( | 10-16-2008 |
20090015199 | Power Storage System - A power storage system capable of surely carrying out activation, operation, and stopping that are crucial and necessary in the use of the power storage system and appropriately addressing various kinds of abnormalities is provided. The power storage system regulates DC power from a DC power supply into prescribed voltage and current using a DC-DC converter unit for storage in a power storage unit. The power storage system includes a primary side current detecting unit, a primary side voltage detecting unit, a primary side switch unit, and a primary side filter unit on the DC power supply side (primary side) of the DC-DC converter, and a secondary side filter unit, a secondary side switch unit, a secondary side voltage detecting unit, and a secondary side current detecting unit on the power storage unit side (secondary side) of the DC-DC converter, and the on/off states of at least the primary side switch unit, the DC-DC converter unit, and the secondary side switch unit are controlled by a system control unit provided with an externally applied operation command and signals obtained from elements such as the primary side current detecting unit and the primary side voltage detecting unit. | 01-15-2009 |
20090027006 | Device for Improving the Charging or Discharging Process of a Battery - A device for balancing a plurality of at least two batteries or cells of a multicell battery comprises a multicell battery and a battery management system with a balancing circuit. Thereby all individual battery cells are connected to the battery monitoring system, wherein the battery monitoring system measures single cell voltage as well as the battery temperature and the current. The battery monitoring system is able to discern the lowest cell voltage and to discern a number of cells having a voltage higher than a determined maximum allowable voltage, which will be balanced until the charge imbalance decreases to an acceptable amount. The battery management system is active during charging and discharging of the multicell battery and the thresholds vary with the state of the battery. | 01-29-2009 |
20090039831 | Electrically powered vehicle - A first power storage unit is a battery assembly, and is divided into battery blocks of n (n is a natural number) in number each formed of several electric cells connected together in series. When a state allowing charging with an external power supply is attained, the ECU executes an operation of resetting an SOC of a first power storage unit. The ECU controls a corresponding converter to discharge the first power storage unit with a constant current, and sets reset values for battery blocks of n in number based on battery voltages and battery temperatures exhibited when any one of the battery voltages of the n battery blocks becomes lower than a reset voltage. The ECU resets the SOCs of the battery blocks of the first power storage unit to the respective reset values thus set. | 02-12-2009 |
20090066291 | DISTRIBUTED ENERGY STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM - A Distributed Energy Storage Control System (DESCS) comprised of one or a plurality of identical BMS (Battery Management System) battery unit ( | 03-12-2009 |
20090085516 | Automotive Power Supply System - An automotive power supply system comprises a battery module that includes serially connected battery groups each constituted with serially connected battery cells, integrated circuits each disposed in correspondence to one of the battery groups, a control circuit, a transmission path through which the integrated circuits are connected to the control circuit and a relay circuit via which an electrical current is supplied from the battery module. In response to a start signal instructing an operation start and received via the transmission path, each integrated circuit measures terminal voltages at the individual battery cells in the corresponding battery group and executes an abnormality diagnosis. If abnormality diagnosis results provided by the integrated circuits indicate no abnormality, the control circuit closes the relay, enabling supply of electrical current from the battery module and subsequently, the control circuit receives measurement results from the integrated circuits via the transmission path. | 04-02-2009 |
20090091293 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BALANCING CELLS IN A BATTERY PACK WITH SELECTIVE BYPASS PATHS - A system and method for cell balancing with smart low-voltage control circuit. The cell balancing system comprises a plurality of battery cells, an external bypass path for each cell, an internal bypass path for each cell, an input terminal receiving an enable signal for each cell, an input terminal receiving a selection signal, and a cell balancing unit for generating a configuration signal to conduct the external bypass path or internal bypass path. The enable signal is configured to enable a bypass current of each cell, and the selection signal is configured to select the external bypass path or internal bypass path. The cell balancing unit is employed to receive signals from input terminals, and generate a configuration signal to control the conductance of external bypass paths or internal bypass paths. | 04-09-2009 |
20090096419 | BOTTOM BASED BALANCING IN LITHIUM ION SYSTEM - A method comprises discharging each of a plurality of cells of a battery pack, stopping the discharging of a selected cell of the plurality of cells when the selected cell reaches a predetermined capacity, and charging the plurality of cells after the discharging has stopped for all of the plurality of cells. | 04-16-2009 |
20090102421 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING SERIALLY-CONNECTED BATTERIES - An apparatus is provided that includes a plurality of serially-connected bypass circuits, a measurement/control element and a plurality of safety circuits. The bypass circuits are electrically connectable in parallel with a plurality of serially-connected batteries, each bypass circuit being connectable in parallel with a respective battery. The measurement/control element is electrically connected to the bypass circuits, and electrically connectable to the batteries; and the safety circuits are electrically connected to the measurement/control element, and electrically connectable between the measurement/control element and the batteries. The measurement/control element is configured to measure voltages across the respective batteries and, based on the voltages, selectively operate the bypass circuits to divert electrical current to or from the batteries through the respective bypass circuits. And each safety circuit is configured to limit current flow to the measurement/control element. | 04-23-2009 |
20090102422 | DISCHARGE CONTROLLER - There is provided a discharge controller for a multiple cell battery that has a plurality of storage cells connected in series with each other. A discharge path from the storage cell is connected a load. The discharge controller includes: cell voltage detection units for detecting respective cell voltages of the storage cells; a switch group comprising a plurality of switches each connected between the storage cells; and a control unit for performing ON/OFF control on the respective switches individually in response to detection results detected by the cell voltage detection units so as to form the discharge path from the storage cell to the load. | 04-23-2009 |
20090134841 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR POWER MANAGEMENT - A method for managing power of a power source and a system is disclosed. The method includes determining ( | 05-28-2009 |
20090140694 | SEQUENCING SWITCHED SINGLE CAPACITOR FOR AUTOMATIC EQUALIZATION OF BATTERIES CONNECTED IN SERIES - Techniques for sequencing switched single capacitor for automatic equalization of batteries connected in series are described herein. In one embodiment, a battery equalizer includes a single capacitor, at least two switching circuits to be coupled to each of at least two batteries coupled in series. The battery equalizer further includes at least two driver circuits corresponding the at least two switching circuits and a controller. The controller is programmed to control the driver circuits in order to drive the switching circuits to sequentially couple the single capacitor to one of the batteries coupled in series during charging and/or discharging of the batteries. Only one of the switching circuits is turned on at a given time such that only one of the batteries is coupled to the single capacitor at the given time. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. | 06-04-2009 |
20090167242 | Discharge Control System - A discharge control system of an electric storage pack controls a discharge line connected from a plurality of electric rechargeable cells to a rotary inductive load or a load driving feeding circuit. The electric rechargeable cells are provided in series within the electric storage pack. The discharge control system includes cell voltage detection units which detects respective cell voltages of the plurality of electric rechargeable cells, a switch group including a plurality of switches connected between the plurality of electric rechargeable cells, and a control unit which controls individually the switches of the switch group in accordance with results of detections by the cell voltage detection units when a difference between a highest cell voltage and a lowest cell voltage in the electric rechargeable cells of the electric storage pack is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value and forms a discharge line from at least any one of the plurality of electric rechargeable cells to the rotary inductive load or the load driving feeding circuit. | 07-02-2009 |
20090206793 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REBALANCING A BATTERY DURING VEHICLE OPERATION - A system and method for rebalancing a battery in a vehicle during vehicle operation, the battery including a plurality of modules, is provided. The method may include determining when an automatic rebalance mode start condition is satisfied, modifying a target state of charge for the battery at least in part in response to the start condition being satisfied such that the target state of charge is raised from a standard operating value to a rebalance value, operating the vehicle with the target state of charge at the rebalance value, determining when an automatic rebalance mode end condition or an interrupt condition is satisfied, and modifying the target state of charge in response to the automatic rebalance mode end condition or the interrupt condition being satisfied such that the target state of charge is lowered from the rebalance value to the standard operating value. | 08-20-2009 |
20090243543 | CHARGE AND DISCHARGE CONTROL CIRCUIT AND BATTERY DEVICE - Provided is a charge and discharge control circuit capable of further preventing poor charge of a battery, and a battery device. Cell balance periods are detected before charge of respective batteries is stopped even when an overcharge detection voltage of a certain charge and discharge control circuit becomes lower than a cell balance period detection voltage thereof due to process variations occurring in mass production of the charge and discharge control circuits. That is, the charge of the respective batteries is stopped after cell balance control. Therefore, the respective batteries can be further prevented from being poorly charged. | 10-01-2009 |
20090261782 | ELECTRICITY STORAGE DEVICE - An electric storage device is disclosed, this device can balance voltages across each one of energy storage devices with each other in a short time even if the voltages disperse in a wide range, and also it can reduce needless power consumption. This device includes the energy storage devices and an equalizing voltage circuit coupled in parallel with the energy storage devices. The equalizing voltage circuit includes a balancing resistor, a balancing switch coupled between respective energy storage devices and respective balancing resistors, a discharging resistor coupled in parallel with the respective energy storage devices and having a smaller resistance value than the balancing resistor, and a discharging switch coupled between the respective energy storage devices and the respective discharging resistors. All the balancing switches and all the discharging switches are turned on during the charge to the energy storage devices, and after the voltages across the respective energy storage devices can be balanced with each other, all the discharging switches alone are turned off. | 10-22-2009 |
20090267566 | Car power source apparatus - The car power source apparatus is provided with a series battery array | 10-29-2009 |
20090278496 | SERIES-CONNECTED RECHARGEABLE CELLS, SERIES-CONNECTED RECHARGEABLE CELL DEVICE, VOLTAGE-BALANCE CORRECTING CIRCUIT FOR SERIES-CONNECTED CELLS - [Object] There is provided series-connected rechargeable cells in which a large number of cells are series-connected and that makes it possible to improve performance on operations such as assembly or exchange and to perform speedy and smooth voltage-balance correcting for all cells. | 11-12-2009 |
20090284224 | BATTERY APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING PLURAL BATTERIES AND CONTROL METHOD OF PLURAL BATTERIES - Lower order control devices control plural battery cells configuring plural battery modules. An input terminal of the low order control device in the highest potential, an output terminal of the low order control device in the lowest potential, and a high order control device are connected by isolating units, photocouplers. Diodes which prevent a discharge current of the battery cells in the battery modules are disposed between the output terminal of the low order control device and the battery cells in the battery module on the low potential side. Terminals related to input/output of a signal are electrically connected without isolating among the plural low order control devices. | 11-19-2009 |
20090289598 | Battery pack system - A battery pack system is disclosed. The battery pack system includes a battery pack having batteries arranged in a plurality of parallel groups that are connected in series. Each parallel group includes a plurality of the batteries connected in parallel. The electronics are configured to drop the current at which the battery pack is operating from a first current level to a second current level one or more times. The second current level is lower than the first current level. The electronics can drop the current from the first current level to the second current level during the charge and/or discharge of the battery pack. In some instances, the electronics intermittently drop the current from the first current level to the second current level during the charge and/or discharge of the battery pack. | 11-26-2009 |
20090302803 | CHARGE EQUALIZATION APPARATUS AND METHOD - The present invention relates, in general, to a battery voltage equalization apparatus and method, and, more particularly, to a charge equalization apparatus and method, which decrease the withstand voltages of semiconductor switching elements while maintaining charge equalization performance, thus making it easy to implement the secondary windings of transformers while reducing the costs of the charge equalization apparatus. The charge equalization apparatus includes N first transformers (T | 12-10-2009 |
20090309545 | Voltage Detecting Device Of Assembled Battery And Assembled Battery System Comprising Same - In the voltage detecting device according to the present invention, voltage detecting lines respectively extend from a plurality of voltage input terminals, a plurality of capacitative elements are respectively interposed on coupling lines each coupling two adjacent voltage detecting lines to each other, and the voltage detecting lines are connected to a voltage detecting unit. At least all the voltage detecting lines respectively disposed on the positive electrode side of the cells are each connected to ground via one or more disconnection detection resistors. The voltage detecting unit detects a disconnection on a wire between each of a plurality of voltage detecting points of the assembled battery and a plurality of voltage input terminals based on voltage inputted from each voltage detecting line. | 12-17-2009 |
20100007308 | CHARGE EQUALIZATION APPARATUS - The present invention relates to a charge equalization apparatus, which can enable the primary windings and the secondary windings of transformers to be easily manufactured, can control the flow of charges into batteries depending on the charged states of series-connected batteries, and can prevent overcurrent from flowing into batteries that are currently being charged. | 01-14-2010 |
20100019724 | BATTERY SYSTEM USING SECONDARY BATTERY - A battery system in which module batteries, each of which includes cell batteries connected in series, are connected to one another. Each of the module batteries includes: a cell voltage detection/inter-cell balancing circuit that detects a cell voltage of each of the cell batteries to then create a cell voltage signal, and balances energies among the cell batteries based on the created cell voltage signal; and an inter-module balancing circuit that balances energies among the module batteries based on a module voltage obtained by summing up the cell voltages of the cell batteries. | 01-28-2010 |
20100019725 | SET BATTERY CONTROL METHOD AND SET BATTERY CONTROL CIRCUIT AS WELL AS CHARGING CIRCUIT AND BATTERY PACK HAVING THE SET BATTERY CONTROL CIRCUIT - A set battery control circuit includes: a voltage detection portion that detects a terminal voltage across each secondary battery in a set battery formed by connecting a plurality of secondary batteries in series; a discharge portion that discharges the plurality of secondary batteries; and an imbalance reduction processing portion that performs imbalance reduction processing at set timing preset as timing at which terminal voltages across the plurality of secondary batteries become voltages at or below a cut-off voltage of discharge preset as a voltage at which discharge is to end in such a manner that a secondary battery having a terminal voltage higher than a lowest voltage, which is a lowest terminal voltage among the terminal voltages across the plurality of secondary batteries detected by the voltage detection portion, is discharged by means of the discharge portion so that a difference among the terminal voltages across the respective secondary batteries is lessened. | 01-28-2010 |
20100026241 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR BALANCING OF BATTERY CELL'S CHARGE CAPACITY - An apparatus for balancing charge capacity of battery cell includes a voltage sensing/discharging circuit having a battery with cell group, a switching unit for selectively connecting both terminals of each battery cell to conductive lines, capacitor connected to the conductive lines, a voltage amplifying unit connected to both terminals of capacitor via a first switch, and a discharge resistance connected to both terminals of capacitor via a second switch; and a voltage balancing unit for controlling the switching unit in ON state of first switch to connect both terminals of each battery cell to the conductive lines and then sense voltage of each battery cell through the voltage amplifying unit, and controlling the switching unit in OFF state of first switch to charge voltage of balancing-requiring cell to the capacitor and then turning on the second switch to discharge charged voltage of capacitor through the discharge resistance. | 02-04-2010 |
20100033129 | BATTERY CHARGING SYSTEM WITH TRICKLE CHARGING/DISCHARGING CONTROL - A circuit for charging and/or discharging a battery includes a switch coupled to a battery in series, and a driving transistor coupled to the switch and operable for sensing a voltage of the battery. The driving transistor is turned on if the voltage of the battery is less than a predetermined threshold. A driving current flowing through the driving transistor determines an on-resistance of the switch. | 02-11-2010 |
20100045235 | Asymmetric Battery Pulsation System - A battery pulsation system including a battery string including a plurality of cells, the battery string defining a positive end and a negative end, a first pulsation device connected to a first cell of the battery string to supply a first pulsation energy thereto, the first cell includes a first positive terminal and a first negative terminal and is generally adjacent to the positive end of the battery string, wherein the first pulsation device applies a greater portion of the first pulsation energy to the first negative terminal than the first positive terminal, and a second pulsation device connected to a second cell of the battery string to supply a second pulsation energy thereto, the second cell includes a second positive terminal and a second negative terminal and is generally adjacent to the negative end of the battery string, wherein the second pulsation device applies a greater portion of the second pulsation energy to the second positive terminal than the second negative terminal. | 02-25-2010 |
20100045236 | DISCHARGE CONTROLLER - A discharge controller includes secondary battery, a switch section for opening/closing a discharge path from the secondary battery to a load, a voltage detector for detecting a terminal voltage of the secondary battery, and a cut-off voltage control section for controlling the switch section to be opened when the terminal voltage as detected by the voltage detector is not more than a predetermined cut-off voltage of discharge V | 02-25-2010 |
20100052615 | BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A method and apparatus are disclosed for a Battery Management System (BMS) for the controlling of the charging and discharging of a plurality of batteries ( | 03-04-2010 |
20100085009 | CELL BALANCING APPARATUS AND METHOD - Disclosed is a cell balancing apparatus and method using a voltage variation pattern of a battery cell, which measures voltage of each cell, estimates OCV or SOC of each cell using a voltage variation pattern of each cell including a present voltage and a past voltage, and eliminates a deviation in OCV or SOC between the cells through comparison of the estimated OCV or SOC of each cell. In estimating the OCV of each cell, an output voltage error due to IR drop is corrected. Thus, SOC of each cell may be accurately estimated. And, an accurate estimation of SOC may render substantial elimination for a SOC deviation of each cell. Furthermore, SOC estimating using an output voltage leads to an active cell balancing even during charge and discharge of battery, thereby minimizing an SOC deviation of each cell. | 04-08-2010 |
20100090648 | BATTERY WITH SERIAL CELL MODULES, AND VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE SAME - The application relates to a battery including a pack of modules, each containing rechargeable cells in series, the battery including means for measuring the voltage and/or the temperature of at least one module. According to the application, the battery includes:
| 04-15-2010 |
20100090649 | ENGINE STORAGE DEVICE, PARTICULARLY FOR AN AUTOMOBILE - The invention relates to an energy storage device, particularly for an automobile, that comprises: an assembly ( | 04-15-2010 |
20100109607 | Battery Array Voltage Equalization Device - The present invention provides a battery array voltage equalization device comprising: a sampling unit which samples the battery voltage signals of the battery array according to a sampling control signal; an analog-to-digital converting unit which converts the sampled voltage signals into a digital voltage signal; a control unit which generates the sampling control signal and a driving signal based on the digital voltage signal; an equalization unit which equalizes the voltage signals of the battery array based on the driving signal; a filter unit which is connected to the equalization unit and the battery array. The present invention applies the filter unit to filter out the ripple signal generated during equalization. | 05-06-2010 |
20100117599 | Battery system configured to survive failure of one or more batteries - The battery system includes a battery pack having a plurality of power sources arranged in parallel groups that are connected in series. Each parallel group includes a plurality of power sources connected in parallel. Each power source includes a battery. The system also includes electronics configured to repeatedly charge the battery pack according to a charging protocol. The charging protocol is configured such that the voltage of any one battery in the battery pack does not exceed its maximum operational voltage after failure of a battery in the battery pack. | 05-13-2010 |
20100123433 | VOLTAGE EQUALIZATION APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR BATTERY SYSTEM - The present invention provides a voltage equalization apparatus and method for a battery system. The apparatus includes: a mutual inductor or a transformer, which includes a primary winding, a magnetic core and multiple secondary windings; a first switch, connected in series with the primary winding, wherein the first switch and the primary winding are connected in parallel with the battery system; a plurality of second switches, respectively connected in series with the secondary windings, wherein the second switches and the secondary windings are connected in parallel with the cells; and a voltage equalization control circuit, configured to: test voltage of each cell in the battery system and control turning off and turning on of the first switch and second switches. | 05-20-2010 |
20100123434 | BATTERY PACK AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - A battery pack includes: a secondary battery formed by connecting a plurality of battery cells in series; a control section measuring a voltage at each of the battery cells and controlling each part according to the measurement result; a charge/discharge control circuit temporarily inhibiting charging and discharging of the secondary battery under control of the control section; an interruption circuit interrupting charge and discharge currents of the secondary battery under control of the control section to inhibit charging and discharging of the secondary battery permanently; a discharge circuit discharging a predetermined battery cell among the battery cells under control of the control section; a capacity measuring section measuring the amount of electricity discharged from the battery cell; and a storage section storing total discharge amount information indicating a total amount of discharged electricity and a charge/discharge inhibition record indicating a count of temporary charge/discharge inhibitions imposed on the secondary battery. | 05-20-2010 |
20100127662 | Control method of battery-system for improving safety - Disclosed herein are a method of controlling the operation of battery modules in a battery system, which includes two or more battery modules or battery module assemblies, wherein the battery system further includes energy consuming loads for consuming charged energy, and the method includes, when a specific battery module or a specific battery module assembly is abnormally operated, connecting the abnormally operated battery module or the abnormally operated battery module assembly to the corresponding energy consuming load to forcibly discharge the charged energy, and a battery system that is capable of performing the battery system control method. | 05-27-2010 |
20100134069 | BATTERY SYSTEM WITH PRACTICAL VOLTAGE DETECTION - The battery system has a battery | 06-03-2010 |
20100134070 | BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND BATTERY MANAGEMENT METHOD - A battery management system and a driving method thereof, to set a discharge completion voltage using the cell voltages of cells of a battery, and to balance the cell voltages according to the set discharge completion voltage. | 06-03-2010 |
20100148726 | CHARGE EQUALIZATION APPARATUS - The present invention relates to a charge equalization apparatus, in which series-connected batteries are divided into modules having certain sizes, and intra-module charge equalization and inter-module charge equalization are simultaneously performed, thus improving charge equalization performance and reducing the circuit size. | 06-17-2010 |
20100176763 | Battery balancing apparatus and operating method thereof - The invention provides a battery balancing apparatus. The battery balancing apparatus is applied to a battery module of a laptop computer. The battery module comprises a plurality of batteries and a plurality of switch units coupled in series. The battery balancing apparatus comprises a first multiplexer, a second multiplexer, a switch module and a controlling module. The first multiplexer is coupled to the anode of each of the batteries; the second multiplexer is coupled to the cathode of each of the batteries. The switch module is coupled to the switch units. When a cycle counting parameter meets a default condition, the controlling module controls the first multiplexer, the second multiplexer and the switch module to be in a specific mode to form a specific current path among the batteries. | 07-15-2010 |
20100176764 | BATTERY PACK AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - A battery pack for an electrically powered tool includes: one or plural secondary batteries connected in series and/or in parallel; a current detection resistor in a current path through which a charge/discharge current flows into each secondary battery; an N-channel charge control FET and an N-channel discharge control FET in the current path so as to control the charge/discharge current; and a controller detecting the charge/discharge current flowing in the current detection resistor and controlling the charge and discharge control FETs based on the detection result. A threshold value indicating an overcurrent detection current with respect to the charge/discharge current is set in advance, and the controller compares the charge/discharge current detected by the current detection resistor with the threshold value, and when the detected charge/discharge current is the threshold value or more, determines that an overcurrent state is detected and turns off the charge and discharge control FETs. | 07-15-2010 |
20100188044 | CHARGE/DISCHARGE PROTECTION CIRCUIT, BATTERY PACK INCLUDING CHARGE/DISCHARGE PROTECTION CIRCUIT, AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE THEREOF - A charge/discharge protection circuit for protecting a plurality of serially connected secondary batteries from overcharge, overdischarge, and current overflow by detecting overcharge, overdischarge, and current overflow and switching on/off a discharge controlling FET or a charge controlling FET according to the detection results is disclosed including an overcharge protecting circuit configured to prioritize the detection results corresponding to overcharge and switch off the charge controlling FET in a case where a charger is connected to the charge/discharge protection circuit. | 07-29-2010 |
20100188045 | Systems And Methods For Selective Cell And/Or Stack Control In A Flowing Electrolyte Battery - The invention provides in various embodiments methods and systems relating to controlling energy storage units in flowing electrolyte batteries. | 07-29-2010 |
20100188046 | BATTERY CELL MONITORING AND BALANCING CIRCUIT - A monitoring circuit for accurately monitoring a voltage level from each of a plurality of battery cells of a battery pack includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) and a processor. The ADC is configured to accept an analog voltage signal from each of the plurality of battery cells and convert each analog voltage signal to a digital signal representative of an accurate voltage level of each battery cell. The processor receives such signals and provides a safety alert signal based on at least one of the signals. The ADC resolution may be adjustable. A balancing circuit provides a balancing signal if at least two of the digital signals indicate a voltage difference between two cells is greater than a battery cell balance threshold. An electronic device including such monitoring and balancing circuits is also provided. Various methods are also provided. | 07-29-2010 |
20100188047 | BATTERY CELL MONITORING AND BALANCING CIRCUIT - A monitoring circuit for accurately monitoring a voltage level from each of a plurality of battery cells of a battery pack includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) and a processor. The ADC is configured to accept an analog voltage signal from each of the plurality of battery cells and convert each analog voltage signal to a digital signal representative of an accurate voltage level of each battery cell. The processor receives such signals and provides a safety alert signal based on at least one of the signals. The ADC resolution may be adjustable. A balancing circuit provides a balancing signal if at least two of the digital signals indicate a voltage difference between two cells is greater than a battery cell balance threshold. An electronic device including such monitoring and balancing circuits is also provided. Various methods are also provided. | 07-29-2010 |
20100194341 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR IMPROVED BATTERY CONDITION LEARN CYCLE - Embodiments of the invention include a device and method for improved battery learn cycles for battery backup units within data storage devices. The backup unit includes a first battery pack, a corresponding charge capacity gauge, one or more second battery packs, a corresponding charge capacity gauge, and a controller switch configured to select only one battery pack for a learn cycle at any given time. The charge capacity gauges are such that, at the end of the learn cycle discharge phase, the depth of discharge of the learn cycle battery pack is such that the charge capacity of the learn cycle battery pack combined with the full charge capacity of the remaining battery packs is sufficient for the device cached data to be off-loaded to a physical data storage device, and the data storage device does not have to switch from a write-back cache mode to a write-through cache mode. | 08-05-2010 |
20100194342 | POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM AND CELL ASSEMBLY CONTROL METHOD - The power supply system of this invention includes a cell assembly in which a first assembled battery, formed from a plurality of first cells connected in series, and a second assembled battery, formed from a plurality of second cells connected in series, are connected in parallel, and a generator. An average charging voltage V | 08-05-2010 |
20100194343 | BATTERY STATE MONITORING CIRCUIT AND BATTERY DEVICE - Provided are a battery state monitoring circuit and a battery device which are capable of inhibiting discharge without enabling an overdischarge cell balance function when an overcurrent detection circuit detects a discharge overcurrent, without the need for an additional terminal of the battery state monitoring circuit. A detection signal of the overcurrent detection circuit is input to each of a communication terminal for overdischarge signal and a communication terminal for overcharge signal included in the battery state monitoring circuit provided on a side of the overcurrent detection circuit. An overdischarge cell balance circuit outputs a cell balance signal when an overdischarge detection signal indicates an overdischarge non-detected state, an overdischarge signal indicates an overdischarge detected state, and an overcharge signal indicates an overcharge non-detected state. | 08-05-2010 |
20100207577 | ASSEMBLED BATTERY AND BATTERY SYSTEM - An assembled battery according to the present invention has an aqueous secondary battery and non-aqueous secondary batteries having an individual battery capacity smaller than that of the aqueous secondary battery. The non-aqueous secondary batteries and the aqueous secondary battery are connected in series such that the polarities thereof are reversed, and charging and discharging are carried out based on the polarities of the non-aqueous secondary batteries. | 08-19-2010 |
20100207578 | Automatic Charge Equalization Method and Apparatus for Series Connected Battery String - The present invention relates to an automatic charge equalization apparatus and method having an automatic PWM generating means for a series-connected battery string. The automatic charge equalization method and apparatus for a series-connected battery string according to the present invention can improve charge equalization by accomplishing charge equalization operation after comparing the potential of the corresponding battery cell with the average potential of the plurality of battery cells including the corresponding battery cell upon charging or discharging the corresponding battery cell. | 08-19-2010 |
20100225276 | POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM - The power supply system of this invention includes a cell assembly in which a first assembled battery, made up of a plurality of first cells connected in series, and a second assembled battery, made up of a plurality of second cells connected in series, are connected in parallel, and a generator that charges the cell assembly. The cell assembly is configured such that an average charging voltage V | 09-09-2010 |
20100231166 | Battery Management System with Integration of Voltage Sensor and Charge Equalizer - A battery management system according to the present invention comprises a battery module consisted of a plurality of batteries connected in series; a switch module connected in parallel to the battery module; a voltage sensor measuring a voltage of each battery composing the battery module; a charge equalizer causing each battery composing the battery module to be charged, discharged or charged/discharged; and a microprocessor controlling the switch module to determine whether to charge or discharge each battery composing the battery module according to the voltage values measured by the voltage sensor and; wherein the voltage sensor and the charge equalizer are connected in parallel to each battery composing the battery module by the switch module. | 09-16-2010 |
20100237828 | BATTERY PACK, AND BATTERY SYSTEM - An object of the present invention is to provide a battery pack and a battery system capable of reducing unnecessary power loss upon reducing the variation in the state of charge that has occurred between a plurality of secondary batteries in an assembled battery in which the secondary batteries are connected in series-parallel. The battery pack and the battery system include a switching element Q | 09-23-2010 |
20100237829 | ASSEMBLED BATTERY SYSTEM AND ASSEMBLED BATTERY PROTECTION DEVICE - An assembled battery system includes an assembled battery including a plurality of electric cell blocks connected in series, the electric cell blocks each including at least one nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery provided with a negative electrode current collector formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, a voltage measuring unit configured to measure a plurality of voltages of the electric cell blocks, a controller which controls charge/discharge of the assembled battery in accordance with the measured voltages, and bypass circuits connected in parallel to the electric cell blocks, the bypass circuits each bypassing a current that flows from a negative electrode of one of the electric cell blocks to a positive electrode of the one of electric cell blocks when the measured voltage of the one of electric cell blocks is a negative value not greater than a threshold value. | 09-23-2010 |
20100237830 | System and Method for Balancing Charge Within a Battery Pack - A system for balancing charge within a battery pack with a plurality of cells connected in series, including a capacitor; a processor configured to select a combination of donor cells and receiver cells from the plurality of cells in one of the following two modes: (1) a first mode where the number of donor cells is equal to the number of receiver cells, and (2) a second mode where the number of donor cells is greater than the number of receiver cells; and a plurality of switches that electrically connect the capacitor to the donor cells to charge the capacitor, and that electrically connected the capacitor to the receiver cells to discharge the capacitor. The transfer of charge between cells in the plurality of cells through the capacitor balances the charge within the battery pack. | 09-23-2010 |
20100244769 | BATTERY PACK - A battery pack for an electric device is disclosed which includes: a group of battery cells interconnected in series; discharge control circuitry for converting DC voltage of the group into AC voltage; an AC-output terminal through which an output of the discharge control circuitry is supplied to the device; charge control circuitry for converting AC voltage of a commercial power source into DC voltage, to thereby charge the group; and a charging terminal through which electric power of the source is supplied into the group, wherein the AC-output terminal is connectable with a power-input connector of the device, and the charging terminal is connectable with a charging connector of the source, the pack further comprising a detector for detecting insertion of the power-input connector into the AC-output terminal, wherein the discharge control circuitry initiates a discharge control sequence for the group, if the insertion is detected, and does not initiate the discharge control sequence, in response to non-detection of the insertion. | 09-30-2010 |
20100253284 | POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD OF ASSEMBLED BATTERY - A power supply system comprises: an assembled battery in which a plurality of cells are connected in series and which supplies power from a series circuit of the cells to a device; a power generator that parallely supplies generated power to the assembled battery and the device connected in parallel; a plurality of forced discharge units that cause the plurality of cells to forcibly discharge individually; a cell state detector that detects a state of each cell; and a controller which, when the cell state detector detects that at least one of the plurality of cells is in a first state showing that the cell is not fully charged, causes the cell detected to be in the first state to discharge by means of the forced discharge units until the cell state detector detects that the cell enters a second state having a lower state of charge than the first state. | 10-07-2010 |
20100253285 | BATTERY PACK AND CHARGING METHOD - A battery pack includes one or a plurality of secondary batteries that are connected with each other; a positive pole terminal and a negative pole terminal to which external equipment is connected; a variable resistance portion which is connected between a positive pole of the secondary battery and the positive pole terminal or between a negative pole of the secondary battery and the negative pole terminal and resistance values of which are changed; a battery voltage measuring portion for measuring the voltage of the secondary battery; and a controlling portion for controlling the resistance value of the variable resistance portion based on the measurement result of the battery voltage measuring portion. | 10-07-2010 |
20100253286 | POWER MANAGEMENT CIRCUIT FOR RECHARGEABLE BATTERY STACK - A charge-balancing system includes N circuits and a control module, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Each of the N circuits includes first and second switches connected in series and an inductance having a first end connected between the first and second switches. The control module outputs control signals to control the first and second switches. A second end of the inductance of a first one of the N circuits is connected between two cells of a first pair of 2N series-connected cells of a battery stack. The first and second switches of the first one of the N circuits are connected in parallel to the first pair of 2N series-connected cells. | 10-07-2010 |
20100253287 | APPARATUS FOR BALANCING OF BATTERY PACK HAVING FUNCTION OF PREVENTION OF OVER-DISCHARGE - An apparatus balances a charging voltage of each battery cell of a battery pack. The apparatus includes a discharge resistor installed on a conductive line connected to both ends of a battery cell in parallel; a balance signal relay unit for relaying a charging voltage of the battery cell according to a balance control signal; and a discharge switching unit for receiving the relayed charging voltage of the battery cell as a driving voltage and connecting the battery cell to the discharge resistor to discharge the battery cell if the driving voltage is over an effective voltage level. This apparatus prevents overcharging of a battery cell, caused by a failure of a control processor, while balancing a charging voltage of battery cells. Also, the control processor may be protected against an electric impact by electrical insulation from a discharge circuit. Accordingly, the safety of the battery pack is improved. | 10-07-2010 |
20100253288 | LITHIUM POLYMER BATTERY POWERED INTRAVENOUS FLUID WARMER - A lithium polymer (LiPo) battery pack having LiPo battery cells is provided which includes battery protection circuitry, charging circuitry, cell balancing circuitry, and control and communication circuitry. The batteries can be charged while in use by an internal charger. Battery charging and discharging are accomplished in a controlled and protected manner to avoid overcharging and overdischarging conditions. The novel battery pack has built-in safeguards against dangerous LiPo battery conditions and is implemented in a small, portable unit which contains the battery cells, control and protection circuitry, internal charger and display gauge. The battery pack is useful for powering an intravenous fluid warmer or other medical or electrical devices and equipment. | 10-07-2010 |
20100270972 | RECHARGEABLE BATTERY ASSEMBLY AND POWER SYSTEM USING SAME - A rechargeable battery, battery set or battery pack having a circuit or a plurality of circuits for providing self-discharging thereof electrically connected in parallel are used to form rechargeable battery assemblies and electric power supply systems for use in electric and hybrid vehicles and the like. | 10-28-2010 |
20100277124 | RECHARGEABLE BATTERY ASSEMBLY AND POWER SYSTEM USING SAME - A rechargeable battery, battery set or battery pack having a circuit or a plurality of circuits for providing self-discharging thereof electrically connected in parallel are used to form rechargeable battery assemblies and electric power supply systems for use in electric and hybrid vehicles and the like. | 11-04-2010 |
20100283427 | POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM - A power supply system has at least one forced discharge section, which includes at least one aqueous solution secondary battery and at least one nonaqueous solution secondary battery having a smaller unit battery capacity as compared with the aqueous solution secondary battery and makes each nonaqueous secondary battery forcibly discharge electricity. The power supply system also has a control section, which measures the voltage of the nonaqueous solution secondary battery individually and makes each nonaqueous solution secondary battery forcibly discharge electricity by using the forced discharge section until the forced discharge end voltage is reached when the voltage of the nonaqueous solution secondary battery reaches a forced discharge start voltage Va. | 11-11-2010 |
20100283428 | RECHARGEABLE BATTERY ASSEMBLY AND POWER SYSTEM USING SAME - A rechargeable battery, battery set or battery pack having a circuit or a plurality of circuits for providing self-discharging thereof electrically connected in parallel are used to form rechargeable battery assemblies and electric power supply systems for use in electric and hybrid vehicles and the like. | 11-11-2010 |
20100289453 | VEHICLE POWER SYSTEM - A vehicle power system may include a plurality of series connected power storage units configured to supply power to move a vehicle, and at least one flyback switch mode converter having a plurality of primary windings and a single secondary winding. Each of the primary windings may be configured to be selectively electrically connected with a respective one of a set of the power storage units. The secondary winding may be electrically connected with a different set of the power storage units. | 11-18-2010 |
20100295509 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CELL BALANCING AND CHARGING - An apparatus for charging a plurality of series connected battery cells, includes a first and second input terminals for providing a charging voltage to the plurality of series connected battery cell. A transformer includes a primary side associated with the charging voltage and a secondary side includes a plurality of portions. Each of the plurality of portions is connected across at least one of the plurality of series connected battery cell. A switch in series between each of the plurality of portions of the secondary side and the at least one of the plurality of series connected battery cells increases an impedance between the portion of the secondary side and the associated one of the plurality of series connected battery cells in a first state and decreases the impedance between the portion of the secondary side and the associated one of the plurality of series connected battery cells in a second state. | 11-25-2010 |
20100295510 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CELL BALANCING AND CHARGING - An apparatus for charging a plurality of series connected battery cells includes first and second input terminals for providing a charging voltage to the plurality of series connected battery cells. A transformer includes a primary side associated with the charging voltage and a secondary side including a plurality of portions. Each of the plurality of portions connected across at least two of the plurality of series connected battery cells. A first switch in series between each of the plurality of portions of the secondary side and a first battery cell of the at least two of the plurality of series connected battery cells provides a charging current to the first battery cell during a first portion of a cycle of a current in the primary side of the transformer. A second switch in series between each of the plurality of portions of the secondary side and a second battery cell of the at least two of the plurality of series connected battery cells provides a charging current to the to the second battery cell during a second portion of the cycle of the current in the primary side of the transformer. | 11-25-2010 |
20100301807 | Modular battery system having battery monitoring and data collection capability - Disclosed herein is a modular battery system having at least one subsystem comprising a plurality of battery modules connected in series or parallel, wherein each subsystem preferably having a first endplate and a second endplate. The battery modules may be bound between the first and second endplates. A plurality of band members couple the first and second endplates to each other and bind the battery module between the endplates. Further, a data collection panel is in electrical communication with each of the battery modules and the data collection panel transmits status information of the modules to a master control module, which converts the electrical into a data transmission through a controller area network (CAN) bus. Status information may include module temperature, module pressure and module voltage, essentially any measurable parameter that may be conducted via an electrical signal. Depending on the needs of a given application, the battery modules may be connected in series or parallel. | 12-02-2010 |
20100320969 | Battery pack - A battery pack is provided with a plurality of battery modules; a pack main body that removably receives the plurality of battery modules; a movable member that prohibits the plurality of battery modules from being attached to and removed from the pack main body at a first position; at least one sensor that detects whether the movable member is located at the first position or not; and a controller that performs at least one predetermined processing based on detection by the at least one sensor. | 12-23-2010 |
20100327808 | CONTROL UNIT - A control unit includes a control device that outputs a first command signal to an equalizing unit, which has a discharge circuit for solving a dispersion of cell voltage in respective cells of a battery and a switch unit for connecting the discharge circuit to at least one of the cells, and a command signal outputting circuit that outputs a second command signal to the equalizing unit so that a connection between the discharge circuit and the at least one of the cells is forcibly disconnected, when an abnormal operation of the control device, disabling an output of the first command signal, is detected. When the equalizing unit receives the first command signal, the discharge circuit is connected to the at least one of the cells by the switch unit to discharge the at least one of the cells. | 12-30-2010 |
20100327809 | CHARGING APPARATUS AND QUALITY JUDGING APPARATUS FOR PACKED BATTERY - A charging apparatus and a quality judging apparatus for a packed battery should be configured to prevent reduction of charging/discharging performance at the time of charging the packed battery, to improve reliability of the packed battery, and to secure safety of the packed battery. | 12-30-2010 |
20110006734 | Charge State Equalizing Device And Assembled Battery System Provided With Same - A device that equalizes state of charge of each of a plurality of cells connected in series which form an assembled battery includes a control circuit and a discharge circuit for discharging each cell. The control circuit includes a unit that derives, for each cell to be discharged having a state of charge evaluation value different from an equalization target value, a discharge time or discharge end value with which the state of charge of a cell to be discharged becomes equal to that of a cell not to be discharged, and a unit that starts the discharge by the discharge circuit | 01-13-2011 |
20110012560 | BATTERY PACK - A battery pack is disclosed, including: a battery cell group of serially interconnected battery cells; discharge control circuitry for the battery cell group; and a discharge output terminal through which a discharge output of the battery cell group is supplied to an externally coupled electric device. The battery cell group cooperates with an input/output terminal electrically connected with the battery cell group to constitute one of battery modules which are serially connected with one another to constitute a battery module group. The battery pack further includes: a first detector detecting at least one of a voltage, a temperature and a current; and a first selector configured to select one of an enabling mode for the input/output terminal and a disabling mode. The discharge control circuitry transmits to the first selector a first signal indicating that output of a voltage to the discharge output terminal is disabled, when the discharge control circuitry attempts to disable the output of a voltage to the discharge output terminal, based on a detection result of the first detector. The first selector, based on the first signal received from the discharge control circuitry, enters the disabling mode. | 01-20-2011 |
20110025271 | STATE MONITORING APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLED BATTERY - The state monitoring apparatus includes a high-voltage side monitoring section having monitoring units assigned to respective unit batteries and a low-voltage side monitoring section having a control device. The monitoring units measures the voltages of the unit batteries upon reception of a voltage measurement command transmitted from the control device, and determines whether or not the measured voltages are within a predetermined range. This determination is transmitted to the control device. If this determination is negative, the control device limits a charge/discharge current of the assembled battery, and then causes the monitoring units to transmit the measured voltages. | 02-03-2011 |
20110037432 | BATTERY STATE MONITORING CIRCUIT AND BATTERY DEVICE - Provided are a battery state monitoring circuit and a battery device which can be readily adapted to variation in number of batteries, and has low withstand voltage and a simple circuit configuration. The battery state monitoring circuit includes: a first voltage monitoring terminal; a second voltage monitoring terminal; a first transmitting terminal; a second transmitting terminal; a first receiving terminal; a second receiving terminal; a control terminal; an overcharge detector circuit for detecting whether a battery is in an overcharged state or not based on a voltage between the first voltage monitoring terminal and the second voltage monitoring terminal and outputting an overcharge detection signal indicating the detection result; and an overcharge information communication circuit for transmitting an overcharge signal indicative of an overcharged state to an external from the first transmitting terminal when at least one of an overcharge signal indicating whether another battery is in the overcharged state or not, which has been received through the first receiving terminal, and the overcharge detection signal, is indicative of the overcharged state. | 02-17-2011 |
20110037433 | CELL BALANCING CIRCUIT AND SECONDARY BATTERY WITH CELL BALANCING CIRCUIT - A cell balancing circuit with a self-balancing function and a secondary battery with the cell balancing circuit, the cell balancing circuit includes a balancing unit provided for every two adjacent unit cells among the unit cells. The balancing unit includes a discharge unit and a voltage-dividing unit. The discharge unit sets a discharge path to discharge only the unit cell with the higher voltage among the two adjacent unit cells. The voltage-dividing unit uses the voltages of the two adjacent unit cells to provide an enable signal to the discharge unit. | 02-17-2011 |
20110050172 | CHARGE/DISCHARGE CONTROL CIRCUIT AND CHARGING TYPE POWER SUPPLY DEVICE - Provided are a charge/discharge control circuit and a charging type power supply device which include an intermediate terminal disconnection detection circuit having low current consumption. In the charge/discharge control circuit, a constant current circuit serving as an intermediate terminal disconnection detection circuit is provided to a terminal to which secondary batteries are connected, and includes a depletion type metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor and a resistor connected between a gate terminal and a source terminal of the depletion type MOS transistor. | 03-03-2011 |
20110057617 | HIGH-EFFICIENCY BATTERY EQUALIZATION FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING - A non-contiguous group of cells in a battery of cells is selected for charging or discharging the battery. | 03-10-2011 |
20110062917 | BATTERY VOLTAGE EQUALIZER CIRCUIT AND METHOD FOR USING THE SAME - A battery voltage equalizer circuit for equalizing battery voltages among a plurality of battery cells in a serial connection is disclosed. The battery voltage equalizer circuit includes a battery voltage equalizer unit having a plurality of equalizer parts, wherein each equalizer part, coupled to a positive terminal and a negative terminal of a corresponding battery cell, is conducted with an equalization current upon a receipt of an equalization signal, and a battery voltage detector unit, coupled to the positive and negative terminals of the plurality of battery cells, generates the equalization signal so as to conduct the battery voltage equalizer unit as long as a voltage of any one of the battery cells reaches an equalization voltage. | 03-17-2011 |
20110068745 | Battery cell protection and conditioning circuit and system - A type of protection and cell conditioning circuit is proposed that partly uses the typically existing hardware present in traditional cell-protection circuits and that can achieve an optimum state of charge for the individual cell independently from the actions of the external battery charger. For minimum cost, the proposed circuit and system can solve the battery-cell-balancing problem, while optimizing the performance of the battery pack and while simultaneously enhancing the safety of the battery pack. Multiple battery cells can be communicatively combined to form large batteries. Information from and commands to each of the individual battery cells can be relayed through a low-power serial bus in order to form “intelligent” and optimally managed battery systems. | 03-24-2011 |
20110068746 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTELLIGENT BATTERY CHARGE EQUALIZATION AND MONITORING - An intelligent battery charge equalization and monitoring system may assist in the management of battery string health by detecting individual batteries within a string that may need servicing. The system may detect a battery within a string that is charged to a higher voltage than other batteries within the string and discharge the overcharged battery until the battery's charge is equalized with the other batteries in the string. The system may use metrics related to how often individual batteries within a string of batteries must be equalized and utilize these metrics to perform maintenance actions. | 03-24-2011 |
20110074355 | BATTERY UNIT BALANCING SYSTEM - A battery unit balancing system comprises a discharging circuit and means for connecting the discharging circuit to a battery unit. The discharging circuit is configured such that it is automatically activated, when a voltage of the battery unit exceeds a predetermined threshold, to draw a constant discharging current from the battery unit until the voltage of the battery unit falls below the predetermined threshold. | 03-31-2011 |
20110084663 | Batteries, Battery Systems, Battery Submodules, Battery Operational Methods, Battery System Operational Methods, Battery Charging Methods, And Battery System Charging Methods - Batteries, battery systems, battery submodules, battery operational methods, battery system operational methods, battery charging methods, and battery system charging methods are described. According to one aspect, a battery includes a first battery terminal, a second battery terminal, and a plurality of submodules individually comprising a first submodule terminal, a second submodule terminal, a plurality of rechargeable cells electrically coupled between the first and second submodule terminals, and switching circuitry configured to electrically couple one of the first and second battery terminals with one of the first and second submodule terminals of one of the submodules during an engaged mode of operation of the one of the submodules and to electrically isolate the one of the first and second battery terminals from the one of the first and second submodule terminals of the one of the submodules during a disengaged mode of operation of the one of the submodules. | 04-14-2011 |
20110089899 | Lithium-ion auto startup storage battery with a supercapacitor function - A lithium-ion auto startup storage battery with a supercapacitor function, includes a power supply, composed of a plurality of lithium batteries connected with each other in series; a supercapacitor connected with the power supply in parallel; an over charge-discharge protection device connected with the power supply in parallel; and a double-loop charge-protection system connected with the supercapacitor in parallel, which includes an inner loop circuit and an outer loop circuit, so that a constant current charger achieves firstly a constant current and then a constant voltage when the lithium-ion battery is charged. The present invention further includes a digital control voltage feedback multilevel current device to resolve an equilibrium problem of connecting large-capacity lithium-ion batteries in series. The present invention further includes a bidirectional current automatic converter to make a standard two-wire battery charge and discharge system of automobile achieve a three-wire system function of lithium-ion battery. | 04-21-2011 |
20110089900 | BATTERY PACK - A battery pack includes electric cells connected in series or in parallel between first and second lines, each of the electric cells having a battery cell, a control circuit which performs authentication processing, a communication block which is connected to the control circuit and superimposes a series binary data string on a battery output of the battery cell, and a switching element controlled by the control circuit. The control circuit generates its address. The control circuit of each electric cell transmits the series binary data string including the address to a main body via the communication block and the first and second lines for authentication on each electric cell. The switching element is turned on when the authentication is successful, and charging or discharging is performed. The switching element is turned off when the authentication is unsuccessful, and charging or discharging is banned. | 04-21-2011 |
20110089901 | BALANCING OF BATTERY PACK SYSTEM MODULES - A system for balancing a plurality of battery pack system modules connected in series comprising: a plurality of battery pack system modules, wherein a high charge module of the plurality of battery pack system modules has a charge greater than a that of other modules. At least one zener diode connected in series with a current limiting resistor is connected in parallel to the plurality of battery pack system modules. A power source is in communication with a disconnect circuit of at least one of the battery pack system modules. The disconnect circuit is actuated when the battery pack system module reaches a predetermined state of charge. The zener diode enables current from the power source to bypass charged battery pack system modules to charge other battery pack system modules. | 04-21-2011 |
20110095725 | Batteries, Battery Systems, Battery Submodules, Battery Operational Methods, Battery System Operational Methods, Battery Charging Methods, and Battery System Charging Methods - Batteries, battery systems, battery submodules, battery operational methods, battery system operational methods, battery charging methods, and battery system charging methods are described. According to one aspect, a battery includes a first battery terminal, a second battery terminal, and a plurality of submodules individually comprising a first submodule terminal, a second submodule terminal, a plurality of rechargeable cells electrically coupled between the first and second submodule terminals, and switching circuitry configured to electrically couple one of the first and second battery terminals with one of the first and second submodule terminals of one of the submodules during an engaged mode of operation of the one of the submodules and to electrically isolate the one of the first and second battery terminals from the one of the first and second submodule terminals of the one of the submodules during a disengaged mode of operation of the one of the submodules. | 04-28-2011 |
20110101918 | BATTERY STATE MONITORING CIRCUIT AND BATTERY DEVICE - Provided are a battery state monitoring circuit capable of detecting disconnection of a battery from a power supply terminal or a ground terminal, and a battery device including the battery state monitoring circuit. The battery state monitoring circuit includes voltage detection circuits provided between the power supply terminal and an intermediate terminal and between the intermediate terminal and another intermediate terminal. For example, if a battery ( | 05-05-2011 |
20110101919 | LITHIUM ION BATTERY PACK - A lithium iron phosphate battery pack is disclosed. The battery pack includes a plurality of battery cells, arranged as groups of cells, a controller circuit, and a plurality of intercell tabs coupling the groups of battery cells to the controller circuit. The controller circuit includes a voltage sensor for monitoring the voltage across each of the groups of cells. If one of the groups has a voltage that is lower or higher than a respective lower or upper threshold voltage, the controller circuit will shut off the charge/discharge cycling of all the groups of cells. In doing so, the controller circuit protects the entire battery pack during charge/discharge cycling. | 05-05-2011 |
20110115435 | CHARGE CONTROL DEVICE AND VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE SAME - A charge control device ( | 05-19-2011 |
20110121784 | BATTERY PACK - A battery pack is disclosed that includes a plurality of battery cells and a plurality of temperature sensors. Each of the temperature sensors is for sensing a temperature of a corresponding one or more of the battery cells to generate a temperature signal, and the temperature sensors are divided into groups of temperature sensors. A plurality of A/D converters is provided, and each of the A/D converters is coupled to a corresponding one of the groups of temperature sensors to convert the temperature signal into a digital signal. An identification signal module is coupled to the A/D converters for applying different identification signals to the plurality of A/D converters, respectively. A controller is coupled to the A/D converters for receiving the identification signals and the temperature signal, and for identifying a temperature of each of the battery cells through the identification signals. | 05-26-2011 |
20110121785 | IMBALANCE REDUCTION CIRCUIT, POWER SUPPLY DEVICE, AND IMBALANCE REDUCTION METHOD - An imbalance reduction circuit is configured to include: a temperature-related information acquisition unit for acquiring temperature-related information related to the temperature of a plurality of electric accumulators; a discharge unit for executing an equalization process for discharging the plurality of electric accumulators until terminal voltages of the respective electric accumulators become substantially equal to one another; and an equalization controller for prohibiting the discharge unit from executing the equalization process, when the temperature-related information acquired by the temperature-related information acquisition unit satisfies a low temperature condition that is set as a condition where the discharge performance of the plurality of electric accumulators deteriorates. | 05-26-2011 |
20110127962 | EQUALIZATION DEVICE, BATTERY SYSTEM AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE INCLUDING THE SAME, EQUALIZATION PROCESSING PROGRAM, AND EQUALIZATION PROCESSING METHOD - An SOC of each battery cell is periodically detected, and an SOCmin and an SOCmax are determined. Battery cells having the SOCs larger than SOCmin+α are selectively discharged. After an elapse of a preset equalization processing time period, discharge of all the battery cells is stopped. The equalization processing time period is set based on a rate of change in the SOC of the battery cell subjected to discharge and a rate of change in the SOC of the battery cell not subjected to discharge such that a magnitude relationship between the SOC of the battery cell having the SOCmin and the SOC of another battery cell is not reversed. | 06-02-2011 |
20110127963 | EQUALIZATION DEVICE, EQUALIZATION PROCESSING PROGRAM, BATTERY SYSTEM, ELECTRIC VEHICLE AND EQUALIZATION PROCESSING METHOD - A battery ECU acquires open circuit voltages of a plurality of battery cells that are divided into a plurality of groups A, B, C using a plurality of detecting units, and calculates SOCs of the battery cells based on the open circuit voltages. Then, the battery ECU selects the group to which the battery cell having the largest SOC among the SOCs of the plurality of battery cells belongs, and selects the battery cell to be discharged in the selected group. A series circuit composed of a resistor and a switching element is connected in parallel with each battery cell. The battery ECU turns on the switching element corresponding to the selected battery cell. At this time, the battery cell is connected to the resistor, thus being discharged. | 06-02-2011 |
20110127964 | POWER STORAGE SYSTEM - An object is to reliably conduct cell balancing operation while suppressing deterioration of batteries and maintaining operating efficiency. When the cell balance control by the cell balancing circuit | 06-02-2011 |
20110140665 | POWER SUPPLY DEVICE CAPABLE OF FORCEDLY DISCHARGING BATTERY CELL - A power supply device is provided that includes a battery pack | 06-16-2011 |
20110156649 | BATTERY BALANCING METHOD - A battery balancing method for a battery pack is disclosed, wherein the battery pack includes a plurality of rechargeable battery cells. The method categorizes the plurality of battery cells into a first subgroup and a second subgroup. Each battery cell in the first subgroup has an over voltage count number that records the times of the battery cells reaching an over voltage protection point. A minimum voltage of the battery cells in the second subgroup is detected. Then the voltage of each battery cell in the first subgroup is decreased to a buck voltage lower than the minimum voltage of the second subgroup. While any one cell in the first group reaches the over voltage protection point again during the charging procedure, the over voltage count numbers for the particular battery cells already reached the over voltage protection point are accumulated and then the charging procedure is terminated. | 06-30-2011 |
20110156650 | BATTERY PACK AND LINE OPEN DETECTING METHOD THEREOF - A battery pack and a method of operating the battery pack are disclosed. The battery pack includes a plurality of battery cells and is configured to open a terminal of the battery if an open circuit is detected in a line connecting battery cells. | 06-30-2011 |
20110169453 | CHARGING APPARATUS AND CHARGING METHOD - The present invention aims to reliably prevent overcharge by carrying out charging in just proportion during charging periods. | 07-14-2011 |
20110169454 | CHARGING APPARATUS AND CHARGING METHOD - The present invention aims to suppress waste of charging power during charging and improve charging efficiency. | 07-14-2011 |
20110169455 | MULTIPLE SERIES/MULTIPLE PARALLEL BATTERY PACK - Provided is a multiple series/multiple parallel battery pack which is capable of operating at a proper timing, and which, even if lead wires for voltage measurement extending from secondary batteries are short-circuited, gives no damage to the secondary batteries or lead wires. Thus, the multiple series/multiple parallel battery pack according to the present invention comprises a plurality of units which are connected in series and a control circuit for performing control by means of a charge stop signal and a discharge stop signal output from each of the units. Each of the units is provided with a plurality of secondary batteries | 07-14-2011 |
20110181245 | UNITIZED CHARGING AND DISCHARGING BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND PROGRAMMABLE BATTERY MANAGEMENT MODULE THEREOF - The present invention discloses a unitized charging and discharging battery management system and a programmable battery management module thereof The unitized charging and discharging battery management system includes a smart battery module and a programmable battery management module, which has a universal loop and a control unit. The smart battery module has at least two smart batteries which are electrically connected by a plurality of switches and circuits of the universal loop to form a charging/discharging loop in series/parallel. The control unit monitors the charging and discharging status of the smart batteries to turn on or off the switches accordingly, so as to manage the smart batteries, thereby enhancing the overall power efficacy of the smart battery module. Besides, the service life of the smart battery module is also prolonged due to the simultaneous charging and discharging capability. | 07-28-2011 |
20110181246 | BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND DRIVING METHOD THEREOF - A battery management system and a driving method thereof are provided for detecting a short battery cell. The battery management system includes a main control unit (MCU) and a cell balancing unit. The MCU transmits a battery cell control signal for controlling charge and discharge of the battery cells. The cell balancing unit balances the battery cells according to the battery cell control signal. The MCU includes a cell balancing discharge amount measurement unit and a controller. The cell balancing discharge amount measurement unit measures a cell balancing discharge amount of each of the battery cells. The controller compares a difference value between a maximum value among the cell balancing discharge amounts of the battery cells and each of the cell balancing discharge amounts to determine a short battery cell. | 07-28-2011 |
20110181247 | Secondary battery - A secondary battery includes a plurality of battery cells and measures voltages of the battery cells. The secondary battery includes a capacitive device, a relay and an A/D converter. The capacitive device is connected to the battery cells to sequentially store the voltages of the battery cells. The relay is between the battery cells and the capacitive device, and sequentially connects the battery cells to the capacitive device. The A/D converter is connected to the capacitive device to receive and convert the voltages of the battery cells. | 07-28-2011 |
20110181248 | BATTERY MANAGEMENT APPARATUS - A battery management apparatus for a motor vehicle battery, wherein the battery includes a plurality of series-connected battery cells, wherein the apparatus includes a device for determining a cell voltage for each battery cell in the battery, wherein the apparatus compares the determined cell voltages of the battery cells with one another and processes them such that, if the cell voltage of at least one battery cell is greater than a first limit value and, furthermore, if the cell voltage of at least one battery cell differs from the cell voltage of the or each other battery cell by more than a defined second limit value, the apparatus uses the lowest cell voltage of the battery cells as the reference voltage, and it discharges the or each other battery cell with a higher cell voltage in order to balance the voltage between the battery cells at the reference voltage. | 07-28-2011 |
20110187327 | CHARGE EQUALIZATION APPARATUS - The present invention relates to a charge equalization apparatus, which allows the primary and secondary windings of a transformer to be easily fabricated, can control the flow of charge to batteries depending on the charged states of series-connected batteries, and can prevent overcurrent from flowing into a battery currently being charged. | 08-04-2011 |
20110193526 | BATTERY PACK - An analog switch and a battery pack using the same are provided. The analog switch can compensate for temperature dependence of voltages measured from a battery cell before applying the measured voltages to an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. In an embodiment of the analog switch, a first diode is coupled in a backward direction from a flying capacitor, which is coupled to the A/D converter, to correspond to a second diode packaged therewith as a single set. The first diode is positioned in a battery cell voltage input path to store battery cell voltage values in the flying capacitor, while the second diode suppresses a temperature-related difference caused by the first diode to voltages measured from the battery cell. | 08-11-2011 |
20110210701 | BATTERY SYSTEM - A battery system, which allows adjustment of balance of the voltages among the chargeable batteries while preventing electric loss, includes a plurality of battery modules connected in series, each battery module including a plurality of battery cells in a manner chargeable and dischargeable through positive and negative electrode terminals. The battery system includes a charging/discharging control unit connected between both electrodes of the plurality of battery modules connected in series to simultaneously charge the plurality of battery modules. The battery system also includes a voltage detector for detecting a voltage of each of the battery modules. Charge discharged from the battery module whose voltage is higher than the voltages of the other battery modules is boosted to a predetermined voltage to be simultaneously supplied to the plurality of battery modules. | 09-01-2011 |
20110221394 | SECONDARY CELL CONTROL SYSTEM - A secondary cell control system includes a plurality of cells; a charging circuit section and a discharging circuit section. The charging circuit section charges cells selected from among said plurality of cells, and the discharging circuit section discharges cells selected from among said plurality of cells. | 09-15-2011 |
20110234163 | DRY CELL BATTERY DISCHARGING SYSTEM - Used dry cell batteries having a terminal voltage less than a working voltage of a previously applied device but higher than an exhaustion voltage below which the dry cell batteries stop discharging can be used in a present provided discharging system. The used dry cell batteries are connected in series. The discharging system also includes a discharging unit, a measuring unit, a judging unit, and an indicating unit. The discharging unit discharges the used dry cell batteries. The measuring unit measures the terminal voltage of each dry cell battery. The judging unit judges if the terminal voltage of each dry cell battery is less than a preset voltage below which the dry cell battery is deemed to be exhausted. The indicating unit indicates which dry cell battery has the terminal voltage less than the preset value for replacement. | 09-29-2011 |
20110234164 | POWER SUPPLY DEVICE CAPABLE OF EQUALIZING ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF BATTERIES - A transformer | 09-29-2011 |
20110248675 | BATTERY VOLTAGE BALANCE APPARATUS AND BATTERY CHARGE APPARATUS - In the related art, the measurement error due to the internal resistance of the battery is not considered in the battery balance method, such that the battery balance is not accurate, or the battery balance process is frequently started and stopped. In exemplary embodiments of the invention, detecting battery voltage and balancing battery voltage are performed in different time, such that the difference of charge current/discharge current among the batteries due to the battery voltage balance process do not affect the battery voltage detecting. | 10-13-2011 |
20110248676 | BATTERY PACK - An improved battery pack is disclosed. The battery pack includes: a plurality of battery cells; a protection circuit module for controlling charging and discharging of the plurality of battery cells; and a plurality of connection members for applying voltages output from the plurality of battery cells to the protection circuit module, at least one of the connection members having a damping resistive component. | 10-13-2011 |
20110248677 | BATTERY VOLTAGE MONITORING DEVICE - A battery voltage monitoring device for efficiently equalizing cell voltages of a plurality of battery cells connected in series through a direct charge transfer between mutually distant battery cells. The device includes a charge-transfer circuit configured to perform a direct charge transfer from a first battery cell to a second battery cell that is fifth or higher adjacent to the first battery cell. This can eliminate charge-transfer losses that would occur during sequential charge transfers between adjacent battery cells, which leads to an efficient charge transfer between mutually distant battery cells. | 10-13-2011 |
20110254508 | BATTERY PACK AND BATTERY PACK SYSTEM - A battery pack usable as a power source of an electric device, is disclosed, in which battery modules are in series; each battery module is configured to include battery cells in series; a discharge controller controls discharge power which is supplied from the battery modules to the electric device; a modulator modulates a voltage of each module between a high voltage and a low voltage which is higher than zero and lower than the high voltage; the high voltage and the low voltage are set to allow a load device of the electric device to operate by the high voltage, and to allow the load device not to operate by the low voltage; and the discharge controller operates by the battery modules, irrespective of whether each module outputs the high voltage or the low voltage. | 10-20-2011 |
20110260687 | Control system for assembled battery - The present invention is a control system for an assembled battery that controls an assembled battery comprising a plurality of cells, including: a bypass circuit connected in parallel to each cell of the cells, and comprising a switching element and a resistor connected in series; and a control circuit that controls a bypass current flowing in the bypass circuit by opening and closing the switching element, in order to discharge the cell; wherein the bypass circuit is set so that a current of a same magnitude as a self-discharge current in a predetermined overcharged states of the cell flow in the bypass circuit. | 10-27-2011 |
20110273140 | ENERGY STORAGE ASSEMBLY AND METHOD FOR OPERATING SUCH AN ASSEMBLY - The invention relates to an energy storage assembly, comprising a plurality of cells connected in series, wherein the series connection of cells is connected to a power output of the energy storage assembly and a control unit, wherein at least a part of the cells connected in series is connected to the power output and the control unit by way of potential-free controlled converter and control units connected in parallel, such that during the charging, discharging and recharging processes each of the cells is operated according to the individual performance characteristics of said cell by means of selective current drains by the converter and control units and a total current flowing at the power output of the energy storage assembly is formed by a base current flowing through the series connection of the cells and by additional currents, which are drained from the individual cells depending on the capacity of the cells. The invention allows for the interconnection of different cell types to form an energy storage assembly and for uniform charging or discharging thereof, thus facilitating optimal use of the energy stored and extending the total usage period. | 11-10-2011 |
20110285352 | Charge Equalization Apparatus for Series-Connected Battery String Using Regulated Voltage Source - An automatic charge equalization apparatus using a regulated voltage source according to the present invention comprises a battery module having a plurality of batteries connected in series; a battery string having M (natural number of M≧2) battery modules connected in series: a regulated voltage source which is provided for each battery module and outputs and maintains an average voltage of the battery string; a bidirectional switch block which is provided for each battery module between the battery module and the regulated voltage source to connect each battery to an output of the regulated voltage source by forming a parallel current moving path to each battery composing the battery module; and a microprocessor controlling the bidirectional switch block, wherein each battery composing the battery module shares the regulated voltage source by the bidirectional switch block and the microprocessor controls the bidirectional switch block to successively connect the batteries composing the battery module with the regulated voltage source. | 11-24-2011 |
20110291619 | BATTERY POWER SOURCE DEVICE, AND BATTERY POWER SOURCE SYSTEM - A battery power source device includes a battery block configured by parallel-connecting a plurality of series-circuits each constituted of a secondary battery, and a cut-off element which is operable to be in a cut-off state where a charging and discharging path of the secondary battery is cut off; a current limit value setting section which sets a current limit value representing an upper allowable limit of an entire current value as a current value of a current flowing through the battery block; and an available battery number detecting section which detects the number of cut-off elements which are not in the cut-off state, out of the plurality of cut-off elements included in the battery block, as the available battery number. In this arrangement, the current limit value setting section sets the current limit value so that the current limit value is decreased, as the available battery number detected by the available battery number detecting section is reduced. | 12-01-2011 |
20110298424 | Battery Control Device and Electricity Storage Device - A battery control device that controls a battery module in which a plurality of cell groups, in each of which a plurality of cells are connected in series, are connected in series or series-parallel, includes: a plurality of cell controller ICs that control each of the plurality of cell groups; and one or more connectors that are provided for connecting the plurality of cell controller ICs to the battery module; wherein: the plurality of cell controller ICs include first and second cell controller ICs that are provided in sequence, so as to control two or more of the cell groups that are connected in series; and an auxiliary connection member (a pin) is provided for connecting GND terminal side wiring of the first cell controller IC and VCC terminal side wiring of the second cell controller IC together, externally to the battery control device. | 12-08-2011 |
20110298425 | BATTERY CELL MONITORING AND BALANCING CIRCUIT - A monitoring circuit for accurately monitoring a voltage level from each of a plurality of battery cells of a battery pack includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) and a processor. The ADC is configured to accept an analog voltage signal from each of the plurality of battery cells and convert each analog voltage signal to a digital signal representative of an accurate voltage level of each battery cell. The processor receives such signals and provides a safety alert signal based on at least one of the signals. The ADC resolution may be adjustable. A balancing circuit provides a balancing signal if at least two of the digital signals indicate a voltage difference between two cells is greater than a battery cell balance threshold. An electronic device including such monitoring and balancing circuits is also provided. Various methods are also provided. | 12-08-2011 |
20110309795 | System and Method for Balancing Voltage of Individual Battery Cells Within a Battery Pack - Systems and methods for actively balancing battery cells are disclosed. In one example, a charge is supplied to different battery cells at different times during a battery discharge cycle. The method may reduce instantaneous current draw within a battery pack. | 12-22-2011 |
20110309796 | System and Method for Managing Charge Within a Battery Pack - Systems and methods for a managing charge within a battery pack are disclosed. In one example, flyback transformers manage charge in a second current path. The system and method can improve battery efficiency and performance at least during some conditions. | 12-22-2011 |
20110309797 | Management Unit And Method For Managing Electric Energy Stored In A Battery Comprising A Number Of Series-Connected Cells - A management unit and method for managing electric energy stored in a battery composed of a number of series-connected cells, the management unit having: a main equalizing circuit, which forms the primary of an electric transformer and has a constant alternating-current generator powered by the battery and which feeds alternating current of constant intensity through the main equalizing circuit; and, for each cell of the battery, a secondary equalizing circuit, which forms the secondary of the electric transformer, is connected parallel to the cell, has a one-way electronic device which imposes electric current flow to the cell in one direction only, and is connected to a drive device that can be activated to zero the voltage applied to the cell by the secondary equalizing circuit. | 12-22-2011 |
20110316483 | BATTERY PACK WITH BALANCING MANAGEMENT - A battery management system for a battery pack includes a plurality of battery modules and a plurality of first balancing units coupled to the plurality of battery modules. The battery management system also includes a plurality of second balancing units coupled to the plurality of battery modules, wherein a first balancing unit of the plurality of first balancing units and a second balancing unit of the plurality of second balancing units are coupled to each respective battery module. Lastly, the battery management system includes a plurality of controllers coupled to the plurality of battery modules, wherein each controller is coupled to a respective battery module. A first controller of the plurality of controllers is operable to control a first balancing unit of a first battery module to adjust a voltage output of the first battery module when the first controller determines the voltage output of the first battery module is greater than a combined voltage output of the first battery module and a second battery module. The first controller of the plurality of controllers is further operable to control a second balancing unit of the first battery module to adjust the combined voltage output of the first battery module and the second battery module when the first controller determines the combined voltage output of the first battery module and the second battery module is greater than the voltage output of the first battery module. | 12-29-2011 |
20120001594 | Method and Circuitry to Recover Energy from Discharge Signals of a Charging Operation of a Battery/Cell - The present inventions, in certain aspects, are directed to techniques and/or circuitry to charge a battery the method comprises (i) charging the battery via a charging sequence, wherein charging the battery includes: (a) applying a plurality of charge signals, and (b) applying one or more discharge signals wherein, in response thereto, the battery outputs electrical energy. In certain embodiments, the electrical energy output by the battery in response to the discharge signals is stored (for example, in a capacitor and/or second battery). The present inventions are also directed to, among other things, an apparatus to charge a battery comprising charging circuitry including: (i) a current source to generate a plurality of charge signals, and (ii) a current sink to generate one or more discharge signals, wherein, in response thereto, the battery outputs electrical energy. The apparatus may also include control circuitry, a storage device (for example, in a capacitor and/or second battery), to store the energy output by the battery in response to the one or more discharge signals, and/or an ambient environmental device to adjust the ambient environment or conditions of the battery using the energy output by the battery in response to the one or more discharge signals. | 01-05-2012 |
20120001595 | CHARGING DEVICE - A charging device supplies charge current to a battery group having plural secondary batteries connected in series to perform charging. In the charging device, a discharge route circuit for discharging charge current to be supplied to the secondary battery when the battery voltage of the secondary battery exceeds a predetermined voltage while charging is provided to every secondary battery. Also provided is a cut-off circuit for cutting off the discharge route circuit from each secondary battery after charging is completed. Discharge at a discharge route circuit is suppressed and energy efficiency is increased. | 01-05-2012 |
20120007558 | Battery Cell Equalizer System - A method of operating a battery system includes a plurality of battery cells coupled in series. The plurality of cells includes at least three battery cells coupled in series. The method includes determining a cell with the greatest charge excess of the plurality of battery cells. The method further includes determining a cell with the greatest charge deficit of the plurality of battery cells. The method further includes discharging the cell with the greatest charge excess to charge, with a voltage converter, the cell with the greatest charge deficit. | 01-12-2012 |
20120025769 | Battery System for Vehicle - A battery system for a vehicle is provided with discharge circuits (R | 02-02-2012 |
20120025770 | SECONDARY BATTERY PACK - A secondary battery pack of the present invention includes a secondary battery block | 02-02-2012 |
20120032641 | BATTERY PACK AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - A battery pack and a method of controlling the same is disclosed. The battery pack determines a cell deviation after the battery pack is fully charged or over-discharged, and thus the battery pack can reduce the cell deviation by performing cell balancing. | 02-09-2012 |
20120056586 | SECONDARY BATTERY PACK - A secondary battery pack is described that is rechargeable and has a large capacity. The secondary pack has multiple battery units and at least one controller. Each battery unit of the battery pack includes a cell unit and a cell balancing system. In one embodiment, the cell balancing system has at least three detachable connections for connecting the cell balancing system to the cell unit, the controller or to other cell balancing units. The connections allow the cell balancing systems to be detached from the battery units and reused. | 03-08-2012 |
20120056587 | POWER SUPPLY DEVICE AND BATTERY PACK - A temperature detection portion | 03-08-2012 |
20120068665 | System and Method for Balancing a State of Charge of Series Connected Cells - A method of balancing a state of charge (SOC) of a plurality of cells connected in series, including identifying an undercharged cell from the plurality of cells to charge, electrically connecting a positive side of the undercharged cell to a positive bus, electrically connecting a negative side of the undercharged cell to a negative bus, electrically connecting an inductor to a voltage source during a first time period; electrically disconnecting the inductor from the voltage source in response to an elapse of the first time period, and maintaining the disconnection of the inductor from the plurality of cells for a second time period corresponding generally to the time for the inductor to discharge energy to the undercharged cell. | 03-22-2012 |
20120074906 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR BALANCING CHARGE CAPACITY OF BATTERY CELL - An apparatus for balancing charge capacity of battery cell includes a voltage sensing/discharging circuit having a battery with cell group, a switching unit for selectively connecting both terminals of each battery cell to conductive lines, capacitor connected to the conductive lines, a voltage amplifying unit connected to both terminals of capacitor via a first switch, and a discharge resistance connected to both terminals of capacitor via a second switch; and a voltage balancing unit for controlling the switching unit in ON state of first switch to connect both terminals of each battery cell to the conductive lines and then sense voltage of each battery cell through the voltage amplifying unit, and controlling the switching unit in OFF state of first switch to charge voltage of balancing-requiring cell to the capacitor and then turning on the second switch to discharge charged voltage of capacitor through the discharge resistance | 03-29-2012 |
20120074907 | Charge Equalization Between Series-Connected Battery Cells - In one embodiment, a circuit comprising a first set of one or more semiconductor switches coupled to a first node and a first terminal of an energy store configured to store energy, and a second set of one or more semiconductor switches coupled to a second node and a second terminal of the energy store, each of the first and second sets of semiconductor switches being configured to couple to a terminal of a battery cell. | 03-29-2012 |
20120086400 | Module Bypass Switch for Balancing Battery Pack System Modules - A battery pack system module may include a module bypass switch for allowing charge current to bypass the battery pack system module. A charge switch and a discharge switch may be coupled with the module bypass switch. When other battery pack system modules are coupled in series with the module, balancing between modules may be achieved by allowing charge current to bypass the unbalanced modules and charge other modules. For example, when an unbalanced module is at a higher level of charge than other modules, a charge switch and a discharge switch in the unbalanced module de-activate and a module bypass switch activates to allow charge current to rapidly bring other modules into balance. The discharge switch and the charge switch allow the charging current to bypass the unbalanced module creating little or no additional heat dissipation. | 04-12-2012 |
20120086401 | CELL BALANCING CIRCUIT FOR USE IN A MULTI-CELL BATTERY SYSTEM - An apparatus for balancing a multi-cell battery pack has a plurality of switchable loads. Each of the plurality of switchable loads are associated with one of a plurality of cells of a multi-cell battery. The plurality of switchable loads discharge an associated cell in a first mode and diverts part of a charging current away from the associated cell in a second mode responsive to a drive signal. A plurality of current mode driver circuits applies the drive signal to each of the plurality of switched loads. | 04-12-2012 |
20120086402 | FAULT-TOLERANT POWER SUPPLY - In some embodiments, a power supply system includes two power modules each configured to be electrically coupled to a set of battery cells. The set of battery cells produces a first voltage when in a first operational state, and a second voltage when in a second operational state. The second voltage is less than the first voltage. The first power module is configured to provide a third voltage to a load device that is substantially equal to the first voltage, when the set of battery cells is in the first operational state. The second power module is configured to provide a fourth voltage to the load device that is substantially equal to the first voltage, when the set of battery cells is in the second operational state. | 04-12-2012 |
20120086403 | END-OF-DISCHARGE VOLTAGE CORRECTION DEVICE AND END-OF-DISCHARGE VOLTAGE CORRECTION METHOD - An end-of-discharge voltage correction section subtracts, from an end-of-discharge open voltage, the product I×RO of a discharge current I of a block and an ohmic resistance RO of the block and the product ITD×RP of a discharge current ITD obtained by performing a time delay process on the discharge current and a polarization resistance RP of the block. Then, a resulting value is set as an end-of-discharge voltage VL. The ohmic resistance RO is increased as an equivalent cycle count CY increases, and is increased as a healthy parallel number NPH decreases. An increment ΔCY of the equivalent cycle count CY in each charge/discharge cycle becomes greater as a discharge depth DD increases. The healthy parallel number NPH is derived by multiplying a healthy parallel number NPHR of a reference block by the ratio of a capacity CPR of the reference block to a capacity CPS of a target block. | 04-12-2012 |
20120091963 | BATTERY FAULT TOLERANT ARCHITECTURE FOR CELL FAILURE MODES PARALLEL BYPASS CIRCUIT - A by-pass circuit for a battery system that disconnects parallel connected cells or modules from a battery circuit or controls the current through the parallel connected cells or modules. If a cell has failed or is potentially failing in the system, then the by-pass circuit can disconnect the cell or module from other cells or modules electrically coupled in parallel. If a cell or module has a lower capability than another cell or module, then the by-pass circuit can control the current to the cell or module to maximize the performance of the system and prevent the system from creating a walk-home condition. | 04-19-2012 |
20120119705 | Control Circuit and Method for Controlling a Plurality of Battery Cells - A method for controlling a plurality of battery cells with a control circuit coupled to the plurality of battery cells, includes: supplying the control circuit with electrical energy from the coupled battery cells; determining a number of battery cells coupled to the control circuit; and automatically adapting a power consumption drawn from the battery cells in response to the number of coupled battery cells. | 05-17-2012 |
20120126751 | Device and Method of Battery Discharge - A battery pack includes a plurality of cells. A discharge circuit is electrically connected to the plurality of cells. A computer processor is electrically connected to the discharge circuit and to an input device. The computer processor operates the discharge circuit to selectively connect a first and a second discharge load of the discharge circuit to the plurality of cells. A method of discharging a battery for safe disposal includes connecting a first discharge load in parallel to a first cell. A first voltage across the first cell is monitored. A second discharge load is connected in parallel to a second cell. A second voltage is monitored across the second cell. A processor compares the first voltage and the second voltage to a predetermined cell voltage threshold. The first discharge load and the second discharge load are disconnected from the first cell and the second cell when the first and second voltages fall below the predetermined cell voltage threshold. | 05-24-2012 |
20120133330 | CELL BALANCE CONTROL DEVICE - What is provided is a cell balance control device including: a bypass circuit including a direct circuit with a bypass resistance and a switching element, the bypass circuit being connected in parallel to each of a plurality of cells included in a battery; a cell voltage detection unit detecting a cell voltage of each of the plurality of cells; a temperature detection unit detecting a temperature of a substrate on which the bypass circuit is mounted; and a control unit controlling and computing a duty ratio of the switching element based on a value detected by the temperature detection unit and a cell voltage of a discharge-needed cell obtained by the cell voltage detection unit. | 05-31-2012 |
20120139491 | Balancing Voltage for a Multi-Cell Battery System - A method for balancing voltage for a multi-cell battery system, in which the battery system includes at least two parallel groups of cells connected in series and in which the parallel group of cells includes at least one battery cell, includes: charging the battery system by keeping the voltage of all parallel groups of cells less than or equal to a second threshold voltage value, while at least the voltage of one group of parallel cells is less than or equal to a first threshold voltage; and while at least the voltage of one group of parallel cells is less than or equal to a second threshold voltage; and while the charging current is above a predefined minimal current. The method further includes measuring the voltage of each parallel group of cells while electrical loads are shut off and dissipating energy in each of the parallel group of cells of the amount that is represented by the voltage difference between the individual parallel group of cells and the parallel group of cells with the lowest voltage. | 06-07-2012 |
20120139492 | ENERGY STORAGE APPARATUS - Improved energy storage apparatus that is compact and less expensive is disclosed. High-voltage lines are no longer required, and heat energy can be simply dissipated from each storage module in the apparatus. A switchable inductive balancing element is electrically connected in parallel with each storage cell in each storage module, through which energy or electrical charge can be shifted among the individual storage cells in each storage module using suitably designed magnetic circuits. A power resistor and a module switch are electrically connected in parallel with the series circuit formed by the storage cells in of each storage module and the switchable inductive cell balancing elements in each module are magnetically coupled to a single switchable inductive module balancing element in the module, or each is magnetically coupled to a switchable inductive balancing element of a respective transformer. | 06-07-2012 |
20120139493 | CELL BALANCE DEVICE AND BATTERY SYSTEM - Provided are a cell balance device with high cell balance performance and high cell balance speed and requiring no high voltage process, and a battery system including the cell balance devices. The cell balance device includes: three terminals to be connected to secondary batteries; one terminal to be connected to a voltage hold device; three switches provided between the three terminals and the one terminal; and a receiving terminal and a transmitting terminal for a synchronization signal. Alternatively, the cell balance device includes: four terminals to be connected to secondary batteries; two terminals to be connected to a voltage hold device; six switches provided between the four terminals and the two terminals; and a receiving terminal and a transmitting terminal for a synchronization signal. The battery system includes: a plurality of secondary batteries; a plurality of voltage hold devices; a plurality of cell balance devices; and a clock generation circuit. | 06-07-2012 |
20120153899 | Multiple battery charger with automatic charge current adjustment - Systems and methods using the same to achieve a multiple battery charger with automatic charge current adjustment have been disclosed. The invention maintains equilibrium of charge levels during charge and discharge between all of the multiple batteries. For each battery a charger block comprising a unidirectional means and a current source for charging is assigned. The on-resistance of each charger block is automatically splitting the charge current available to the various batteries thus maintaining an equilibrium of charge levels of the batteries, i.e. supporting the battery with the lowest charge level with the highest charge current until equilibrium is reached. | 06-21-2012 |
20120161707 | BALANCING METHOD AND BALANCING SYSTEM OF BATTERY PACK - A balancing method and balancing system of a battery pack is disclosed. The method includes and the system is capable of determining whether a voltage change of the battery pack is greater than a threshold during a charging or discharging period, and balancing the battery cells based on the voltage change being greater than a threshold. | 06-28-2012 |
20120161708 | Cell Control Device and Electricity Storage Device Incorporating the Same - A cell control device according to the present invention includes: a discharge circuit that discharges each unit cell selected by the first switches among a plurality of unit cells connected in series; a charging circuit that charges each unit cell selected by the second switches among the unit cells connected in series, and; a voltage detection unit that detects a voltage of each unit cell via voltage detection lines respectively connected to positive and negative electrodes of the unit cells; an oscillator that irradiates high frequency electromagnetic radiation upon the voltage detection lines; and a charging control unit that controls switching of the first switches, thereby performing discharge of the each unit cell, and a charging control unit that controls switching of the second switches, thereby performing charging of the unit cells, based on voltages of the unit cells that are detected by the voltage detection unit. | 06-28-2012 |
20120161709 | SECONDARY-BATTERY CONTROL APPARATUS - In an apparatus for controlling a secondary battery comprised of a plurality of cells connected in series, the apparatus includes a monitor configured to monitor an output voltage of each of the plurality of cells, and determine whether the output voltage of one of the plurality of cells reaches a preset full charge voltage. The apparatus includes a voltage equalizer configured to, when it is determined that the output voltage of one of the plurality of cells reaches the preset full charge voltage, perform a voltage equalizing task to match, with an output voltage of one specified cell in all the cells, the voltages of the remaining cells except for the one specified cell to equalize the output voltages of all the plurality of cells. The output voltage of the specified one cell is the lowest in the output voltages of all the cells. | 06-28-2012 |
20120161710 | Device for Balancing an Energy Accumulator - A device for balancing an energy accumulator, especially an energy accumulator in an on-board power supply system of a motor vehicle, is provided. The energy accumulator is formed by a cell assembly of a serial connection of a plurality of cell groups, respective balancing circuits being connected to voltage connections of respective cell groups and comprising a discharge resistor. The discharge resistor of a respective balancing circuit has a temperature-dependent resistance characteristic, and the discharge resistors of at least some of the balancing circuits are thermally intercoupled. | 06-28-2012 |
20120187909 | RECHARGEABLE BATTERY SYSTEMS AND RECHARGEABLE BATTERY SYSTEM OPERATIONAL METHODS - Rechargeable battery systems and rechargeable battery system operational methods are described. According to one aspect, a rechargeable battery system includes a plurality of rechargeable battery cells coupled between a plurality of terminals and shunting circuitry configured to shunt charging electrical energy around respective ones of the rechargeable battery cells during charging of the rechargeable battery cells from substantially discharged states of charge of the rechargeable battery cells to substantially charged states of charge of the rechargeable battery cells. | 07-26-2012 |
20120194135 | BATTERY VOLTAGE MONITORING APPARATUS - The battery voltage monitoring apparatus has a structure in which, for each adjacent two of battery cells, the positive electrode of the battery cell on the higher voltage side and the negative electrode of the battery cell on the lower voltage side are commonly connected to a corresponding one of common terminals provided in an RC filter circuit. The common terminal is branched into a first branch connected to one end of a first resistor and a second branch connected to one end of a second resistor, the first resistor being connected to a corresponding one of positive side detection terminals at the other end thereof, the second resistor being connected to a corresponding one of negative side detection terminals at the other end thereof. A capacitor is connected across a corresponding one of pairs of the positive side and negative side detection terminals. | 08-02-2012 |
20120194136 | BATTERY PACK - An electrical combination including a driver drill capable of producing an average current draw of approximately 20-amps, a circular saw capable of producing an average current draw of approximately 20-amps, and a power tool battery pack operable to supply power to the driver drill and to the circular saw, the battery pack including a plurality of battery cells, the plurality of battery cells each having a lithium-based chemistry. | 08-02-2012 |
20120200261 | System for Storing Electric Energy - A system for storing electrical energy is specified, comprising a plurality of storage cells having an operating voltage, wherein an electrical load and a switching element in series with the load are arranged parallel to the storage cell. The switching element being closed upon reaching or exceeding a threshold voltage. The system further comprises a control device, which is configured to influence the threshold voltage in response to a temperature. | 08-09-2012 |
20120242289 | METHOD FOR PRECISE POWER PREDICTION FOR BATTERY PACKS - A method for ascertaining the maximum power obtainable from a traction storage-battery system that includes a plurality of storage-battery elements connected in series. The method provides for: determining at least one power indicator for each storage-battery element, as well as ascertaining a quantity of the smallest power indicators of all determined power indicators of all storage-battery elements. The quantity includes the smallest power indicator or a subgroup of the smallest power indicators of all power indicators of the storage-battery elements. A power-output limit for the quantity is provided, starting from the power indicators of the quantity. The maximum power obtainable from the traction storage-battery system is extrapolated based on the power-output limit, the maximum power obtainable from the traction storage-battery system being linked by the extrapolation and because of the series connection, to a power output of the at least one storage-battery element for which the quantity of the smallest power indicators was ascertained. The power output lies by a predefined amount below the power-output limit. Finally, the maximum obtainable power is output in the form of a value. An apparatus for implementing the method is also described. | 09-27-2012 |
20120242290 | BATTERY POWER SUPPLY DEVICE AND BATTERY POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM - The battery power source apparatus includes a battery block formed by parallel-connecting series circuits each formed of a rechargeable battery and an interrupting device, a parallel circuit formed by parallel-connecting series circuits respectively formed of the interrupting devices and first resistors having respective one ends connected to connection points between the rechargeable batteries and the interrupting devices of the series circuits, and respective other ends connected to each other, a second resistor having one end connected to a connection point of the respective other ends, a power source unit applying voltage to a series circuit of the parallel circuit and the second resistor, a voltage divider ratio calculating unit calculating a voltage divider ratio between the parallel circuit and the second resistor, and a judging unit determining presence or absence of an activated interrupting device of the plurality of interrupting devices based on the voltage divider ratio. | 09-27-2012 |
20120249075 | SECONDARY BATTERY VOLTAGE DETECTING SYSTEM - A secondary battery voltage detecting system includes: a battery group in which lithium ion secondary batteries are connected in series; a charging and discharging switch that is connected between the battery group and an output terminal and performs charging and discharging; abnormality detectors that divide the batteries of the battery group into blocks and that detect battery voltages; a CPU that performs arithmetic processing of respective detection signals of protection elements including the abnormality detectors; first voltage level converters that make voltage references of the detection signals uniform between the protection elements and the CPU; and second voltage level converters connected between the abnormality detectors and the first voltage level converters. The CPU outputs, at a time interval set in advance, a signal for causing the second voltage level converters to operate and electrically isolates or connects paths between the detectors and the first voltage level converters. | 10-04-2012 |
20120256592 | BATTERY CELL STATE OF CHARGE BALANCING - Methods and systems for balancing a state of charge of cell units of a battery pack of a vehicle are provided. Voltage sensors each measure a first value of state of charge of respective cell units at a first time, and a second value of state of charge of the respective cell units at a second time that is subsequent to the first time. A current sensor measures a current of the battery pack. A controller is coupled to the voltage sensors and the current sensor. The controller balances the state of charge around a predetermined calibrated value using the first values of state of charge, the second values of state of charge, and the current. | 10-11-2012 |
20120256593 | Cell charge management system - A series array of electrochemical cells is charged by first applying a first charging current to the series array, thereby applying the first charging current to each of the cells in the series array. When one of the cells reaches a predefined maximum voltage, the series charging current is ceased. A second charging current is then selectively applied to various of the cells in the series array, topping up each of the cells in the series array. Priority is given to the weakest cell in the array. If there is an idle time for the battery load before the array is connected to a load, then charge is transferred from fully charged cells to weaker cells, thereby reducing charge imbalance among the cells. The array is connected to a load and power is drawn from the series array. | 10-11-2012 |
20120274283 | BATTERY CELL-BALANCING METHOD AND APPARATUS - In one embodiment, an energy storage cell arrangement is provided. The arrangement includes a plurality of battery cells coupled in series and a plurality of first circuits coupled to respective subsets of the plurality of cells. Each first circuit is configured to transfer energy between cells of the respective subset of cells for balancing stored energy of the respective subset of cells. A second circuit is coupled to the subsets of the plurality of cells. The second circuit includes a plurality of switchable resistive paths, each resistive path switchably coupled in parallel with a respective one of the subsets of the plurality of cells for balancing stored energy between the subsets of the plurality of cells. | 11-01-2012 |
20120274284 | System and Method for Controlling Voltage of Individual Battery Cells Within a Battery Pack - Systems and methods for detecting and managing a plurality of cells within a battery pack supplying power to propel a vehicle are disclosed. One example method comprises, monitoring voltage of a plurality of battery cells of a battery pack, activating a power supply when a voltage of at least one battery cell of the plurality of battery cells exceeds a threshold, and draining a portion of charge from the at least one battery cell. | 11-01-2012 |
20120286733 | BATTERY SYSTEM AND BATTERY EQUALIZER - A battery equalizer for equalizing electrical energy of a first battery unit and a second battery unit includes a first diode, a first switch, a second diode, a second switch, a capacitor and an inductor. The components are electrically connected to be able to form different circuit loops to equalize the electrical energy of the two battery units. | 11-15-2012 |
20120286734 | Battery Apparatus for Controlling Plural Batteries and Control Method of Plural Batteries - Lower order control devices control plural battery cells configuring plural battery modules. An input terminal of the low order control device in the highest potential, an output terminal of the low order control device in the lowest potential, and a high order control device are connected by isolating units, photocouplers. Diodes which prevent a discharge current of the battery cells in the battery modules are disposed between the output terminal of the low order control device and the battery cells in the battery module on the low potential side. Terminals related to input/output of a signal are electrically connected without isolating among the plural low order control devices. | 11-15-2012 |
20120293129 | Active Battery Cell Balancing Methods with Variable Duration Discharge - A method and a system for balancing cells of a vehicle battery includes discharging charge from a highest charged cell for a discharge time period dependent on a charge difference between the highest charged cell and a lowest charged cell at a given time. The cells may be charged with the discharge charge during a charge time period. | 11-22-2012 |
20120299549 | BATTERY PACK - A battery pack is disclosed. In one embodiment, the battery pack includes a battery module including a plurality of battery units. It further includes a battery management unit including a plurality of charge terminals and a plurality of discharge terminals electrically connected to terminals of the plurality of battery units, and controlling charging/discharging of the battery module. It further includes a control unit including a plurality of discharge control terminals electrically connected to the plurality of discharge terminals, a discharge control switch installed between each of the plurality of discharge control terminals, and a charge recognizing unit, and controlling the operation of the discharge control switch according to the level of voltage detected by the charge recognizing unit. | 11-29-2012 |
20120306448 | CHARGE BALANCING TOPOLOGY - A rechargeable battery assembly provides load balancing for individual battery cells making up a battery assembly. The battery assembly includes a plurality of series-connected battery cell assemblies. Each battery cell assembly includes a battery cell and a charge bypass load connected in parallel with the battery cell. A cell supervisory circuits (CSCs) and battery interface unit (BUI) interface between the battery cell assembly and a battery charge/discharge circuit to provide load balancing by comparing the voltages monitored with respect to each battery cell assembly to an end of charge voltage (EOCV) threshold and in response to the monitored voltage equaling the EOCV threshold issues a charge bypass command to the CSC to activate the charge bypass load. | 12-06-2012 |
20120306449 | POWER SUPPLY APPARATUS, CHARGING METHOD, RECHARGEABLE BATTERY CELL UNIT, AND CHARGING APPARATUS - A power supply apparatus supplies a power supply voltage to a charge monitor that monitors charge states of rechargeable battery cells. The apparatus includes: a first capacitative element that supplies a power supply voltage to the charge monitor; a second capacitative element that is charged from the rechargeable battery cell and charges the first capacitative element; a switch group including a first switch that connects the first and second capacitative elements, and a second switch that connects the rechargeable battery cell and the second capacitative element; and a controller that controls the switch group. The controller repeats charging the second capacitative element by the rechargeable battery cell by connecting the rechargeable cell and the second capacitative element by the first switch, and charging the first capacitative element by the second capacitative element by connecting the first and second capacitative elements by the second switch. | 12-06-2012 |
20120313583 | CHARGE EQUALIZATION APPARATUS AND METHOD - The present invention relates, in general, to a battery voltage equalization apparatus and method, and, more particularly, to a charge equalization apparatus and method, which decrease the withstand voltages of semiconductor switching elements while maintaining charge equalization performance, thus making it easy to implement the secondary windings of transformers while reducing the costs of the charge equalization apparatus. The charge equalization apparatus includes N first transformers (T | 12-13-2012 |
20120319653 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RECHARGEABLE BATTERY - A rechargeable battery has a plurality of cell strings each having a plurality of rechargeable electrochemical cells connected in series, and a plurality of charge regulators each connected in series with one of the cell strings. Each charge regulator is adapted to limit a charge voltage or current applied to the cell string based on a determined top-of-charge voltage for each cell string. In an embodiment, the rechargeable battery has a monitoring system to sense an operating parameter of the cell string and determine the top-of-charge voltage, and each of the charge regulators includes a charge voltage controller in communication with the monitoring system. In another embodiment, the rechargeable battery has discharge regulators each connected in series with one of the cell strings, and adapted to limit a discharge voltage or current from a given cell string based upon at least one monitored parameter of the cell string. | 12-20-2012 |
20120319654 | INDIVIDUAL CELL VOLTAGE DETECTION CIRCUIT FOR CHARGE AND DISCHARGE CONTROL IN A BATTERY PACK - A battery management system for a battery pack comprises a battery module and a controller. The controller comprises a voltage detection and control circuit, wherein the controller comprises a voltage to current converter. A cell voltage is converted to current and produces a voltage detected at an input to one or more logic devices. The level of voltage detected is dependent upon the current output of the voltage to current converter and a threshold current. The output of the one or more logic devices is received by a controller, and the controller is operable to control the charging and discharging of the battery cell based on the logic device output. | 12-20-2012 |
20130002201 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF INTEGRATED BATTERY CHARGING AND BALANCING - A system and method is provided that allows the cells making up a battery pack to be kept at equal energy storage levels through the use of active re-distribution of the energy in each cell through a bi-directional transformer coupling means that will allow balancing to occur during charging, discharging, bulk charging, parallel charging or idle states. | 01-03-2013 |
20130009600 | ELECTRIC ENERGY STORAGE APPARATUS, VOLTAGE EQUALIZATION MODULE AND VOLTAGE EQUALIZATION METHOD - Disclosed herein are an electric energy storage apparatus, a voltage equalization module thereof, and a voltage equalization method. There is provided an electric energy storage apparatus, including: a plurality of electric energy storage cells connected in series; voltage sensing units sensing voltage charged in each of the electric energy storage cells, respectively; first bypass discharge units connected to each of the electric energy storage cells in parallel, respectively, and bypassing and discharging electric energy charged; second bypass discharge units additionally connected to each of the electric energy storage cells in parallel, respectively, and bypassing and additionally discharging electric energy; and a control unit receiving voltage information from the voltage sensing units, determining whether controlling or not and controlling operations of each of the first and second bypass discharge units so as to equalize charged voltage values of the electric energy storage cells. | 01-10-2013 |
20130009601 | BALANCING ELECTRICAL VOLTAGES OF ELECTRICAL ACCUMULATOR UNITS - A method for balancing the electrical voltages of at least two electrical accumulator units that are connected in series provides that a coil is charged by a first accumulator unit and a second accumulator unit is charged with the energy of the charged coil. Optionally, only the second accumulator unit is charged. In addition, a corresponding electrical accumulator is provided. | 01-10-2013 |
20130015817 | CHARGE AND DISCHARGE BALANCING CIRCUIT FOR STORAGE BATTERY SETAANM WANG; LianAACI TaipeiAACO TWAAGP WANG; Lian Taipei TWAANM HSIEH; Tar LiAACI Yangmei CityAACO TWAAGP HSIEH; Tar Li Yangmei City TW - A charge and discharge balancing circuit for a storage battery set, the set comprising n storage batteries connected in series, the circuit comprising: a switch set constituted of n switches, each switch having a first and a second switching nodes and a common node, the second switching node of a previous switch and the first switching node of a next switch being electrically connected, and the first switching node and the second switching node of each switch being connected in parallel to both terminals of the storage battery in order; an electricity storage component set constituted of n−1 electricity storage components connected in series, both terminals of each electricity storage component being connected in parallel to the common nodes of two switches in order; and a pulse generator for controlling the switching of the common node of each switch between the first and the second switching node at a frequency. | 01-17-2013 |
20130020999 | High Voltage Battery Composed of Anode Limited Electrochemical Cells - An electrochemical storage device including a plurality of electrochemical cells connected electrically in series. Each cell includes an anode electrode, a cathode electrode and an aqueous electrolyte. The charge storage capacity of the anode electrode is less than the charge storage capacity of the cathode. | 01-24-2013 |
20130021000 | CHARGE AND DISCHARGE CONTROL APPARATUS - A charge and discharge control apparatus equalizes the voltages of rechargeable battery cells by using a charger or a capacitor charged by an external power source, by using a first cell balancing unit which charges the rechargeable battery cells until their voltage values become equal to the maximum voltage value of the rechargeable battery cells, and an inductor for charging or discharging adjacent rechargeable battery cells from among the rechargeable battery cells, and by using a second cell balancing unit which sequentially equalizes the voltages of the adjacent rechargeable battery cells. | 01-24-2013 |
20130026992 | RECHARGEABLE BATTERY DEVICE, AND POWER SUPPLYING SYSTEM INCORPORATING THE SAME - A power supplying system includes multiple rechargeable battery devices each including a first switch module, a series connection of a battery unit which includes multiple rechargeable batteries connected in series with each other and a second switch module connected in parallel to the first switch module, and a control module for controlling operations of the first and second switch modules. For each rechargeable battery device, the first and second switch modules are normally operated in an OFF-state and an ON-state, respectively, and the control module enables the first and second switch modules to switch respectively from the OFF-state and the ON-state to an ON-state and an OFF-state upon detecting that a voltage of any one of the rechargeable batteries of the battery unit is not within a predetermined voltage range during charging or discharging of the battery unit. | 01-31-2013 |
20130038289 | BATTERY-CELL CONVERTER SYSTEMS - A battery-cell converter (BCC) management system is disclosed. The BCC system comprises one or more battery-cell converter units that are configured to provide regulated main power output from the outputs of DC/DC converters inside the battery-cell converter units. Each battery-cell converter unit comprises an electrical energy storage cell bank, one or more DC/DC converters, one or more electrical connection devices and a monitor and control module coupled to other components of the battery-cell converter unit. Multiple battery-cell converter units can be stacked in series to increase output voltage. In another embodiment, multiple battery-cell converter units can be connected in parallel to increase output current. Accordingly, the BCC management system disclosed improves battery pack usage efficiencies, increase battery pack useable time per charge, extend battery pack life-time as well as lower battery pack manufacturing cost. | 02-14-2013 |
20130043840 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PERFORMING CELL BALANCING IN A VEHICLE USING CELL CAPACITIES - Systems and methods to perform cell balancing on a vehicle battery pack. Cell balancing regulates which cells are discharged during use of the battery pack. Individual cell capacities may be used to determine for how long individual cells are discharged. | 02-21-2013 |
20130043841 | CIRCUIT AND METHOD OF MEASURING VOLTAGE OF THE BATTERY - The present invention provides a circuit and a method of measuring battery voltage. During the charging, the method adopts cycles of charging, stopping charging, discharging, stopping discharging, and measuring voltages. Within each cycle, between the discharging and the measuring voltage, multiple times of pulse discharging are conducted. After each pulse discharging, the battery voltage is immediately measured until the voltage returns to a stable voltage. Then, the next pulse discharging is conducted. By comparing the stable voltages obtained from successive pulse discharging, whether the virtual voltage is removed and whether the real voltage has been obtained is confirmed. Then the real voltage is further used to determine if the battery is fully charged. | 02-21-2013 |
20130049691 | CELL BALANCE DEVICE AND BATTERY SYSTEM - Provided are a cell balance device for protecting a switch circuit from an overcurrent flow. The cell balance device includes: a plurality of electric accumulator connection terminals each connected to one of a node and two terminals of electric accumulators connected in series; a voltage hold device connection terminal connected to a voltage hold device; a plurality of first switch circuits provided between the plurality of electric accumulator connection terminals and the voltage hold device; a control circuit for controlling ON/OFF of the plurality of first switch circuits based on a synchronization signal; and an overcurrent detection circuit for detecting an overcurrent flowing through each of the plurality of first switch circuits. | 02-28-2013 |
20130057218 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING CHARGE OF ASSEMBLED BATTERY - An assembled-battery charge control device controls charge of an assembled battery including a plurality of secondary batteries connected in series. The assembled-battery charge control device includes a discharge circuit that includes a series circuit of a resistor and a switching element, the series circuit being connected in parallel with each battery of the assembled battery, and the discharge circuit allowing the battery corresponding to the switching element to discharge by turning on the switching element. The assembled-battery charge control device also includes voltage detection unit that detects a voltage at each battery of the assembled battery and a control unit that determines the battery that needs suppression of the charge based on the voltage at each battery detected by the voltage detection unit, and turns on the switching element corresponding to the battery. | 03-07-2013 |
20130057219 | POWER SUPPLY APPARATUS FOR VEHICLE AND VEHICLE PROVIDED WITH SAME - A power supply apparatus comprises a drive battery unit connecting a plurality of batteries in series, a voltage detection circuit, and an equalization circuit for equalizing the batteries of the drive battery unit by discharging the batteries. The equalization circuit has discharge circuits, each of which includes a discharge switch and a discharge resistor connected in series, and also as connects the discharge circuit to the battery via voltage detection lines. The voltage detection circuit has a correction circuit for detecting a correction voltage for a voltage drop in the voltage detection line by switching the discharge switch on with the discharge circuit connected to the battery. In the power supply apparatus, the voltage detection circuit detects the voltage of the battery by correcting the detected voltage of the battery being detected using the correction voltage detected by the correction circuit with the discharge switch in an ON state. | 03-07-2013 |
20130063089 | ELECTRIC STORAGE DEVICE MANAGEMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD OF EQUALIZING CAPACITIES OF ELECTRIC STORAGE DEVICES - An electric storage device management apparatus is provided for monitoring an electric storage device assembly charged and discharged by a charger/discharger. The electric storage assembly includes a plurality of electric storage devices connected in series. The electric storage device management apparatus includes a voltmeter, a discharging circuit, and a controller. The voltmeter is configured to measure voltages of the electric storage devices respectively. The discharging circuit is configured to discharge the electric storage devices individually. The controller is configured to: determine whether a voltage of each electric storage device has reached a reference voltage during charging or discharging of the electric storage device assembly; and control the discharging circuit to discharge each electric storage device if the voltage of the electric storage device has reached the reference voltage. | 03-14-2013 |
20130069596 | VEHICLE BATTERY-PACK EQUALIZATION SYSTEM AND VEHICLE BATTERY-PACK EQUALIZATION METHOD - Provided is a vehicle battery-pack equalization system ( | 03-21-2013 |
20130069597 | SEMICONDUCTOR CIRCUIT, BATTERY MONITORING SYSTEM, AND CONTROL METHOD - A semiconductor circuit is provided. The semiconductor circuit includes: a drive component that includes first switching elements connected to discharge switching elements and resistive elements; and a drawing component. The first switching elements interconnect, in accordance with a drive time of the discharge switching elements, drive current sources that supply charge to control signal lines and the control signal lines. The drawing component draws charge with draw current sources in accordance with a draw time in which the drawing component draws the charge supplied from the drive component. | 03-21-2013 |
20130076309 | STACKABLE BI-DIRECTIONAL MULTICELL BATTERY BALANCER - A battery balancing system includes at least one sub-stack, each sub-stack comprising a plurality of cells connected in series. The system also includes a balancing module for each sub-stack comprising an independent bidirectional balancer for each cell in the sub-stack. The system includes a daisy chained stackable serial port. The balancing system senses a state of charge (SOC) of each cell in each sub-stack. The average SOC of the sub-stack is determined. For a weak cell, additional charge is provided from its respective sub-stack during the discharging of the battery. For a strong cell, additional charge is removed and provided to its respective sub-stack during discharging of the battery. Any number of sub-stacks can be stacked in series while maintaining the same serial control, allowing a theoretically unlimited number of cells to be supported from a single communication port without the need for additional digital isolators. | 03-28-2013 |
20130076310 | BALANCING SYSTEM FOR POWER BATTERY AND CORRESPONDING LOAD BALANCING METHOD - A charge-balancing system for a power battery includes series accumulator stages, each having accumulator, and flyback converter. The converter has a transformer with a primary configured to be connected to terminals of an accumulator stage of the power battery, and a secondary configured to connect to an auxiliary battery. Each accumulator stage has a switch connected to the primary and to a negative terminal of the accumulator stage. The system also has a monitoring device for monitoring voltage across terminals of the accumulator stages, and a control device for controlling the converter by receiving voltage information from the monitoring device. When an accumulator stage's voltage exceeds that of other accumulator stages, the controller closes the associated switch and transfersg energy from the accumulator stage to the auxiliary battery so as to balance charge of said accumulator stages. | 03-28-2013 |
20130082658 | BATTERY PACK FOR ELECTRIC POWER TOOL - A battery pack for an electric power tool includes a control device that determines the necessity of a balancing control to reduce difference in voltages of cells of a battery based upon voltages of the respective cells measured by a voltage measuring device. The control device controls a subject cell, which is subject to the balancing control to discharge via the discharging device when the balancing control is determined to be necessary. A voltage measuring device measures the voltages of the respective cells when a battery charger detecting device detects the connection of the battery charger in a state where the battery has not been connected to the battery charger for a predetermined specified period of time or more and power feeding to the electric power tool has not been performed for the specified period of time or more. | 04-04-2013 |
20130088201 | BATTERY PACK AND BATTERY PACK CONTROLLER - A battery pack includes a plurality of battery units mutually connected in parallel, each including a cell group in which one or two or more secondary cells are connected in series, and a first current control element that is connected in series with this cell group, a first control means that controls the charging/discharging current for each battery unit by controlling the operation of the first current control element included in each of the battery unit; a voltage measurement means that measures the voltage of the cell group or cells included in each of the battery unit, and a diagnosis means that diagnoses a deterioration level or a fault of each battery unit on the basis of the voltage of the cell group or cells measured by the voltage measurement means. | 04-11-2013 |
20130093395 | Capacitor-based active balancing for batteries and other power supplies - A system includes multiple power supplies connected in series and an active balancing circuit. The active balancing circuit includes an LC resonance circuit and multiple switches configured to selectively couple different ones of the power supplies to the LC resonance circuit. The LC resonance circuit includes a capacitor, an inductor, and an additional switch. The capacitor is configured to store energy to be transferred between two or more of the power supplies. The additional switch is configured to selectively create a resonance between the capacitor and the inductor in order to reverse a discharge current direction through the capacitor. | 04-18-2013 |
20130093396 | POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A power management system capable of outputting AC voltages includes a plurality of power units, at least a first diode, a first polarity switch unit and a control unit. The power units are electrically connected to form a power unit string. Each power unit includes a battery module and a first switch device connected in serial. One end of the first diode is connected to one of the power units, and the other end thereof is connected to a first common node to form a discharge path. The first polarity switch unit is electrically connected to the first common node and the power unit string, and outputs a first operating voltage. The control unit is electrically connected to the first switch device and the first polarity switch unit to turn on/off the first switch device and control the output polarity of the first polarity switch unit. | 04-18-2013 |
20130099746 | OPTIMIZED BI-DIRECTIONAL BALANCING METHOD AND SYSTEM - A battery balancing method and system which includes a plurality of cells connected in series, a balancer for each cell, a monitor configured to determine a state of charge (SOC) of each cell, and a microprocessor. The microprocessor iteratively calculates a SOC error for each cell, based on a theoretical balancing of the Min Q cell and the Max Q cell, until the SOC error is less than or equal to a first threshold; and iteratively re-calculates SOC error based on a net charge or discharge time for each balancer until the SOC error is less than or equal to a second threshold; and when the SOC error is less than or equal to the second threshold, instructs each balancer to physically balance each respective cell based on the respective calculated net charge or discharge time when the second threshold is met. | 04-25-2013 |
20130099747 | CHARGE/DISCHARGE SYSTEM FOR BATTERY PACK - A charge/discharge system is provided to shuttle electric energy in a battery pack made up of battery cells connected in series. The charge/discharge system includes an electric energy storage, a switch, and a charge/discharge controller. The charge/discharge controller selectively places the switch in a charging mode to charge electric energy from one or a selected number of ones of the battery cells to one or a selected number of other ones of the battery cells to minimize a variation in state of charge among the battery cells. | 04-25-2013 |
20130099748 | BATTERY MONITORING APPARATUS - A battery monitoring apparatus for monitoring a battery condition of an assembled battery. In the apparatus, a monitoring unit is powered by the assembled battery and transitions from a normal mode, in which power supply from the assembled battery to the monitoring unit is maintained, to a dark-current mode, in which the power supply is partially interrupted, in response to a mode-switching instruction signal from a control unit. Upon reception of a mode confirmation signal from the control unit during the normal mode, the monitoring unit transmits a response signal to the control unit. The control unit transmits the mode-switching instruction signal to the monitoring unit, and thereafter transmits the mode confirmation signal to the monitoring unit. Upon reception of the response signal to the mode confirmation signal from the monitoring unit, the control unit determines that the dark-current mode of the monitoring unit is malfunctioning. | 04-25-2013 |
20130106355 | BATTERY PACK AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME | 05-02-2013 |
20130106356 | BATTERY CONTROL CIRCUIT AND BATTERY DEVICE | 05-02-2013 |
20130113428 | MULTI-SERIES BATTERY CONTROL SYSTEM - A multi-series battery control system comprises a plurality of unit battery cell of which unit consists of multiple battery cells connected in series; a plurality of control IC comprising a control circuit for controlling the unit battery cell; a main controller that sends and receives signal to/from the control ICs via an insulation; means for sending an abnormality signal, which represents the existence or the absence of abnormality of the control ICs or the battery cells, to the main controller from the control ICs, responding to the first signal outputted from the main controller via the insulation; and means for searching contents of the abnormality in the control ICs or the battery cells and sending the abnormality contents signal based on the search, to the main controller from the control ICs, responding to the second signal outputted from the main controller via the insulation. | 05-09-2013 |
20130119936 | MULTI-SERIES BATTERY CONTROL SYSTEM - A multi-series battery control system comprises a plurality of unit battery cell of which unit consists of multiple battery cells connected in series; a plurality of control IC comprising a control circuit for controlling the unit battery cell; a main controller that sends and receives signal to/from the control ICs via an insulation; means for sending an abnormality signal, which represents the existence or the absence of abnormality of the control ICs or the battery cells, to the main controller from the control ICs, responding to the first signal outputted from the main controller via the insulation; and means for searching contents of the abnormality in the control ICs or the battery cells and sending the abnormality contents signal based on the search, to the main controller from the control ICs, responding to the second signal outputted from the main controller via the insulation. | 05-16-2013 |
20130134942 | CHARGE/DISCHARGE CONTROL CIRCUIT AND BATTERY DEVICE - Provided are a charge/discharge control circuit having a self-test function, which can dispense with a complicated test device, and a battery device. The battery device includes the charge/discharge control circuits each including a pull-up/pull-down circuit provided at a terminal to which a secondary battery is to be connected. When a self-test start signal is input so as to enter a self-test state, a self-test control circuit controls the pull-up/pull-down circuit, to thereby perform a test on a voltage detection circuit provided at the terminal to which the secondary battery is to be connected. When the self-test is finished, a self-test start signal is output to a next-stage charge/discharge control circuit, to thereby perform a test sequentially on the voltage detection circuits of the cascade-connected charge/discharge control circuits. | 05-30-2013 |
20130134943 | METHOD FOR BALANCING THE VOLTAGES OF ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS CONNECTED IN SEVERAL PARALLEL BRANCHES - A method for balancing a battery (C) comprising a plurality of branches (Ba, Bb, . . . , Bn) in parallel, each branch comprising at least two electrochemical cells in series (E | 05-30-2013 |
20130141048 | BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - In one aspect of the invention, a battery management system includes a plurality of battery units, a voltage sensing module for detecting a voltage of each battery unit, an active balancing module for reducing a total voltage of the battery units and transmitting the reduced total voltage to a given battery unit needed to be charged, a controller electrically connected with the voltage sensing module and the active balancing module, and signal buses electrically connected with the voltage sensing module and the active balancing module. The signal buses are controlled by the controller to selectively electrically connect with the positive pole and the negative pole of one of the battery units. The controller is adapted for obtaining voltage signals from the voltage sensing module, determining the given battery unit according to the obtained voltage signals, and controlling power provided by the active balancing module for charging the given battery unit. | 06-06-2013 |
20130147434 | Method for Balancing States of Charge of a Battery having a Plurality of Battery Cells as well as a Corresponding Battery Management System and a Battery - A method for balancing states of charge of battery cells of a battery includes determining the individual cell capacities of the cells. A k-th cell having the smallest cell capacity, the individual states of charge, the depth of discharge, a target depth of discharge, and a target state of charge are determined. The deviation of the state of charge of a cell from the target state of charge (ΔSOC | 06-13-2013 |
20130154567 | Balancing Discharge in Parallel Battery Configurations - An apparatus balances a discharge in parallel battery configuration by having a battery pack (a) with a first battery system and a second battery system in parallel configuration, and a pulse width modulation device and (b) being interconnectable to a load. Each of the first and second battery systems has, in series and in order, a first voltage sensor, a resistor, a second voltage sensor, a string of battery cells, and a switching device. The first and second voltage sensor, in each battery system, measures an electrical current, used to calculate the voltage drop across each resistor. The voltage drop values for each battery system determine whether the pulse width modulation device alters or maintains the pulse width modulation applied to each battery system's switching device. By maintaining or altering the pulse width modulation applied to each switching device, the apparatus effectively balances the electrical current discharge from each battery system. | 06-20-2013 |
20130162213 | VOLTAGE EQUALIZER FOR BATTERY PACK - A voltage equalizer for a battery pack includes equalization switches provided corresponding to respective battery blocks that construct the battery pack, an equalization controlling unit, and an equalization diagnostic unit. The equalization diagnostic unit obtains an equalization control signal outputted from the equalization controlling unit, and an equalization detection signal detected at connection points of the equalization switches. Then, the equalization diagnostic unit compares the equalization control signal and the equalization detection signal, and diagnoses whether or not equalization processing in each of the battery blocks is executed in conformity based on a result of the comparison. For example, the equalization diagnostic unit determines that the equalization processing is conformity when the equalization control signal and the equalization detection signal coincide with each other, and that the equalization processing is nonconformity when both of the signals do not coincide with each other. | 06-27-2013 |
20130169231 | ELECTRIC STORAGE UNIT GROUP, CHARGER, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, ELECTRIC VEHICLE, METHOD FOR CHARGING ELECTRIC STORAGE UNIT GROUP, METHOD FOR DISCHARGING ELECTRIC STORAGE UNIT GROUP, METHOD FOR SUPPLYING AND RECEIVING POWER, AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING CHARGING/DISCHARGING ROUTE IN ELECTRIC STORAGE UNIT GROUP - The present invention relates to an electric storage unit group, a charger, an electronic device, an electric vehicle, a method for charging the electric storage unit, a method for discharging the electric storage unit group, a method for supplying and receiving power, and a method for determining a charging/discharging route in the electric storage unit group, which can provide a method for charging the electric storage unit group in which a plurality of electric storage units are connected in a desired form. | 07-04-2013 |
20130187608 | RECHARGEABLE BATTERY MODULE AND BATTERY CHARGING METHOD - A rechargeable battery module including a plurality of battery cells connected in series, a charging transistor, a balancing circuit and a control chip. The charging transistor is operative to convey a charging current to charge the battery cells. Based on voltage levels of the battery cells, the control chip disables the charging transistor and controls the balancing circuit to perform a first stage battery balance process. After finishing the first stage battery balance process, the control chip enables the charging transistor to charge the battery cells again. After being switched to a constant voltage charging mode, the control chip controls the balancing circuit based on the voltage levels of the battery cells to perform a second stage battery balance process. | 07-25-2013 |
20130187609 | RECHARGEABLE BATTERY MODULE AND BATTERY CHARGING METHOD - An embodiment of the invention provides a rechargeable battery module including a battery bank having serial connected battery units, a charging transistor providing a charging current to the battery bank, a balancing circuit for detecting and balancing voltage values of battery units and battery bank and a control chip. When a first voltage value of a first battery unit reaches a charge-off voltage, the control chip estimates a first unbalanced voltage difference between the first voltage and the minimal voltage among battery units. The control chip disables the charging transistor and estimates a second unbalanced voltage difference between voltages of the first battery unit and the battery unit having a minimal voltage. The control chip enables the balancing circuit to balance the first battery unit. When the voltage of the first battery is dropped by a calibration target, the charging transistor is enabled. | 07-25-2013 |
20130187610 | CHARGING/DISCHARGING MONITORING DEVICE AND BATTERY PACK - A charging/discharging monitoring device of a battery pack, includes: a plurality of monitoring integrated circuits; a plurality of wiring boards on which the plurality of monitoring integrated circuits are mounted, respectively; and a plurality of signal transmission paths for, via corresponded respective capacitors, connecting between the plurality of wiring boards. The charging/discharging monitoring device is configured with a two-wire transmission path for connecting between terminals of an upstream-side monitoring integrated circuit of daisy chain connection and a downstream-side monitoring integrated circuit thereof, and a wire length of a wiring part which connects between the respective capacitors and terminals of the corresponding monitoring integrated circuits on the wiring boards is a length in which resonance is not caused by the electromagnetic wave noises in an electromagnetic wave noise environment under which the wiring boards are arranged. | 07-25-2013 |
20130187611 | CELL VOLTAGE EQUALIZER FOR MULTI-CELL BATTERY PACK - Cell voltage equalizer includes voltage detection ICs configured to measure output voltages from cells, respectively; discharge circuits ( | 07-25-2013 |
20130187612 | BALANCE CHARGING CIRCUIT FOR SERIES-CONNECTED STORAGE CELLS AND BALANCE CHARGING METHOD FOR SERIES-CONNECTED STORAGE CELLS - A coil is electrically connected to one of storage cells to charge it, and after that, the coil is electrically connected to the other one thereof to charge it. In a first charging period, a path of a charging current flowing into a reference voltage through the coil is formed, in a second charging period, a path of a charging current flowing into a second cell from the coil is formed, in a third charging period, a path of a charging current flowing into the reference voltage through the coil is formed, and in a forth charging period, one end of the coil is electrically conducted with one end of the first cell and another end of the coil is electrically conducted with another end of the first cell to form a path of a charging current flowing into the first cell from the coil. | 07-25-2013 |
20130193925 | COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND STORAGE BATTERY SYSTEM - A communication system includes: an assembled battery including a plurality of series connected battery packs having at least one storage battery cell; a battery management section adapted to manage the battery packs; and an optical line connected in daisy chain for use in communication between the battery management section and each of the battery packs. | 08-01-2013 |
20130200850 | Circuit and Method for Cell Balancing - A balancing circuit for balancing multiple cells in a battery. The cell balancing circuit includes a first shunt path connected in parallel to a first cell, a controller coupled to the first shunt path, a timer and a storage unit. The controller balances the cells and detects balance conditions of each cell. The timer measures pre-balance times and balance times for each cell. The storage unit stores the pre-balance times and balance times. The controller pre-balances the first cell by enabling the first shunt path for a first pre-balance time and balances the first cell by enabling the first shunt path for a first balance time if an unbalance condition of the first cell is detected by the controller, and updates the first pre-balance time for each balancing cycle based on the first pre-balance time and the first balance time from a previous balancing cycle. | 08-08-2013 |
20130207610 | BALANCING CELLS IN A BATTERY PACK - A cell balancing system includes comparators coupled to battery cells. The K | 08-15-2013 |
20130214739 | CHARGE TYPE BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF - In a charge type battery management system and a method thereof, a monitoring unit is used to monitor a plurality of battery units, and if there is a change of electric potential, current and temperature of the battery units, a control unit controls a plurality of separate energy storage units, so that when the battery pack is charged, the overall electric energy of the system is used to increase the current and charge at least one of the battery units with a relatively low potential in order to equalize the overall electric potential of the battery pack, so as to enhance the energy conversion efficiency. | 08-22-2013 |
20130214740 | MULTI-SERIES BATTERY CONTROL SYSTEM - A multi-series battery control system comprises a plurality of unit battery cell of which unit consists of multiple battery cells connected in series; a plurality of control IC comprising a control circuit for controlling the unit battery cell; a main controller that sends and receives signal to/from the control ICs via an insulation; means for sending an abnormality signal, which represents the existence or the absence of abnormality of the control ICs or the battery cells, to the main controller from the control ICs, responding to the first signal outputted from the main controller via the insulation; and means for searching contents of the abnormality in the control ICs or the battery cells and sending the abnormality contents signal based on the search, to the main controller from the control ICs, responding to the second signal outputted from the main controller via the insulation. | 08-22-2013 |
20130221925 | POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A power management system includes: a first power source that includes a first storage cell; a second power source that includes a second storage cell; a power load that is driven with first power output by the first power source and second power output by the second power source; and an integrated control device that controls the first power and the second power such that a first cell temperature of the first storage cell is substantially the same as a second cell temperature of the second storage cell. | 08-29-2013 |
20130241491 | BALANCED BATTERY PACK SYSTEM BASED ON TWO-WAY ENERGY TRANSFER - The invention relates to the technical field of cell balancing system, in particular to a balanced battery pack system based on two-way energy transfer, which comprises battery modules, battery management units, a BMS (Battery Management System) master-control unit and a high-voltage two-way DC/DC circuit module, wherein the battery modules are connected with an internal power bus and an internal CAN (Controller Area Network) bus through the battery management units. The balanced battery pack system based on two-way energy transfer utilizes the high-voltage two-way DC/DC circuit module and the public internal power bus and performs centralized control on the number of balanced channels in the whole battery pack through the BSM master-control unit to realize energy transfer, thus achieving the balancing between various single cells in the whole battery pack and between the battery modules. | 09-19-2013 |
20130249490 | ESTIMATED CHARGING AMOUNT CALCULATOR OF RECHARGEABLE BATTERY - A charge/discharge current Iij where an absolute value of a difference of an estimated value (estimated cell voltage Vije(n)) of a terminal voltage of a battery cell and a detected value (cell voltage Vij(n)) that becomes equal to or less than a prescribed value ΔVth is searched by Newton's method. The charge/discharge current Iij searched in this way is equalized in all the battery cells. A charging rate SOCij(n) of the battery cell is calculated by an integration calculation of a calculated average value Ia (n). | 09-26-2013 |
20130257377 | BATTERY STATE-OF-CHARGE ESTIMATION - A battery pack management system adjusts the relative state-of-charge of respective battery blocks in a battery pack to equalize (i.e., align, balance or otherwise make similar) the peak battery block voltages (i.e., maximum or “upper peak” battery block voltages when the battery pack is being charged and/or minimum or “lower peak” battery block voltages when the battery is being discharged). Upon detecting an anomalous battery block that exhibits outlier upper and lower peak voltages, the battery pack management system adjusts the relative state of charge of respective battery blocks to center their respective upper and lower peak voltages between operating limits, thus maximizing the operating margin of the battery pack as a whole. | 10-03-2013 |
20130271082 | POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM USING AN ASSEMBLED BATTERY - In a power supply system provided with an assembled battery supervisory device which supervises an assembled battery composed of storage elements connected in series with one another, the system using the assembled battery is obtained which makes it possible to supply electric power to the assembled battery supervisory device, with a simple arrangement. The arrangement is such that electric power for the assembled battery supervisory device is obtained from a part of storage elements constituting the assembled battery. The cell balancer is driven based on the average consumption electric current of the assembled battery supervisory device so as to suppress a deviation in the amount of charge between those storage elements which supply electric power to the assembled battery supervisory device, and those storage elements which do not supply electric power to the assembled battery supervisory device, resulting from the average consumption electric current of the assembled battery supervisory device. | 10-17-2013 |
20130278218 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BALANCING CELLS WITH VARIABLE BYPASS CURRENT - A circuit for balancing battery cells includes a plurality of resistors configured in parallel with the battery cells, and a plurality of switches configured in series with the resistors. A control circuit causes the switches to balance the battery cells based on detected voltage of the battery cells and based on past operation of the cells. | 10-24-2013 |
20130293196 | Method for Starting Up a Battery System Having a DC Voltage Intermediate Circuit - The disclosure presents a method for starting up a battery system having a battery and a DC voltage intermediate circuit which is connected to the battery. The battery has a plurality of battery modules which are connected in series and which comprise a first battery module having a first number of battery cells and at least a second battery module having a larger second number of battery cells. At the beginning of the method, all of the battery modules are deactivated, and therefore the output voltage of the battery is zero. During the course of the method, the output voltage of the battery is increased by successive second battery modules being activated. In the process, the first battery module is activated in each case between the activation of two second battery modules and is deactivated again when the further second battery module is activated. | 11-07-2013 |
20130293197 | BATTERY PACK - A cordless power tool system is provided which is driven by using a battery pack as a power source, and which has work performance equivalent to an AC power tool is driven by using a commercial power source as a power source. The cordless power tool system is configured to include: a battery pack in which DC voltage of battery modules is converted into AC voltage, to thereby output the AC voltage having a level which is comparable to that of the commercial power source; a cordless power tool which is driven by using the battery pack as a power source; an electrical cord adapter which allows power supply from the commercial power source to the battery pack for charging the battery pack; and an electrical cord adapter which allows power supply from the commercial power source to the cordless power tool for driving the cordless power tool. | 11-07-2013 |
20130293198 | BATTERY ASSEMBLY CONTROL SYSTEM - The battery assembly control system comprises a master controller, a power converter management unit, and power converters. Five battery units are connected in parallel to the charging and discharging main bus of one of the power converters. A switch board, including a plurality of second protection resistors, a plurality of switches, and a first protection resistor, is provided between each of the battery units and the charging and discharging main bus. The second protection resistors have a positive temperature coefficient and have a function of reducing the voltage difference among the four battery pack columns connected in parallel to the sub-bus of each of the battery units. The first protection resistor has a function of preventing excess current. | 11-07-2013 |
20130300371 | CELL BALANCE CONFIGURATION FOR PIN COUNT REDUCTION - Embodiments of an electronic circuit for monitoring a battery stack enable cell balancing while conserving pin-count of the circuit package. The illustrative electronic circuit comprises a battery monitoring integrated circuit configured for monitoring a plurality of cells in the battery stack. The battery monitoring integrated circuit is arranged to share a common node pin between two adjacent battery cells in the battery stack for the purpose of cell balancing. | 11-14-2013 |
20130307480 | SELF-DISCHARGE FOR HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY PACKS - A system and method for providing energy management and maintenance of a high energy battery pack through use self-discharge features and processes. A battery pack is configured with self-discharger enabled-components that selectively discharge energy from the battery pack without the battery pack providing operational power. | 11-21-2013 |
20130328529 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BALANCING MULTI-CELL BATTERY SYSTEMS - A battery balancing system including two battery modules connected in series, wherein each module is coupled to a balancing circuit. The balancing circuit is selectively operable between two modes: a dissipative mode, wherein the balancing circuit is connected in parallel to the respective battery module and dissipates energy from the battery module as light; and a latent mode, wherein the balancing circuit is disconnected from the battery module. A method of balancing a battery, including: charging a module of the battery, the module including at least one electrochemical cell; monitoring a system parameter indicative of the module charge; determining that a dissipation condition has been met based on the system parameter; and connecting a balancing circuit to the module upon determination of the dissipation condition being met, wherein the balancing circuit dissipates energy from the battery module as light. | 12-12-2013 |
20130342167 | HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Level voltage levels/states of charge are maintained among a plurality of high voltage DC electrical storage devices/traction battery packs that are arrayed in series to support operation of a hybrid electric vehicle drive train. Each high voltage DC electrical storage device supports a high voltage power bus, to which at least one controllable load is connected, and at least a first lower voltage level electrical distribution system. The rate of power transfer from the high voltage DC electrical storage devices to the at least first lower voltage electrical distribution system is controlled by DC-DC converters. | 12-26-2013 |
20130342168 | ELECTRICAL STORAGE DEVICE - An electrical storage device includes a plurality of power-generating elements, a case, and a valve. The power-generating elements perform charge and discharge and are connected electrically in series. A plurality of housing sections each accommodate one of the plurality of power-generating elements and are disposed along a predetermined direction. A communication path switches from a closed state to an opened state depending on the internal pressure of the housing section. When the communication path is in the opened state, gas can be moved between two of the housing sections adjacent to each other in the predetermined direction. The valve is provided for a particular housing section and releases gas produced within the case to the outside of the case. The empty space other than the power-generating element is present in each of the housing sections, and the empty space in the particular housing section is the largest. | 12-26-2013 |
20140021923 | ELECTRICAL STORAGE SYSTEM, AND CONTROL METHOD FOR ELECTRICAL STORAGE SYSTEM - An electrical storage system including electrical storage devices, relays and a controller, and a control method therefor are provided. When the electrical storage devices are discharged, the controller isolates the completely discharged electrical storage element from a current path with a corresponding bypass circuit, and isolates the completely discharged electrical storage device from the current path with the corresponding relay. When the electrical storage devices are charged, the completely charged electrical storage element is isolated from the current path with the corresponding bypass circuit, and the completely charged electrical storage device is isolated from the current path with the corresponding relay. When the electrical storage devices are charged after being discharged, the full charge capacities of each electrical storage element and each electrical storage device are calculated by accumulating a current value until being isolated from the current path. | 01-23-2014 |
20140021924 | ASSEMBLED CELL CONTROL SYSTEM AND POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM COMPRISING SAME - An assembled battery control system is provided with an assembled battery composed of a plurality of rechargeable battery packs connected in series, and a control unit for controlling the assembled battery. Each battery pack has a discharge unit. The control unit confirms the open-circuit voltage of each battery pack in the assembled battery after the assembled battery has been fully charged, determines a target voltage on the basis of the open-circuit voltage confirmation results for each battery pack in the assembled battery, causes the discharge unit to discharge each battery pack in the assembled battery that has an open-circuit voltage greater than the target voltage until the open-circuit voltage of each of said battery packs reaches the target voltage, fully charges the assembled battery again, discharges the assembled battery until a first predetermined level has been reached, and learns the capacity of each battery pack in the assembled battery. | 01-23-2014 |
20140028259 | BALANCING OF BATTERY PACK SYSTEM MODULES - A system for balancing a plurality of battery pack system modules connected in series may include in each battery pack system module a controller configured to detect that the first system module has reached a first state of charge; activate the first charge switch to physically disconnect and to prevent further charging of the first system module after detecting the first state of charge; discharge the plurality of cells after activating the first charge switch to balance the first system module with a second system module coupled to the first system module; de-activate the first charge switch after discharging the plurality of battery cells; and charge the plurality of cells after de-activating the first charge switch. | 01-30-2014 |
20140035531 | Charge balancing system for batteries - A charge balancing system for a power battery includes a number of modules connected in series, each having two accumulator stages, each having an accumulator and isolated parallel converters connected to associated accumulator stages and to a low-voltage power system for supplying auxiliaries of an automobile. The converters have first unidirectional converters, each connected across terminals of a module and to the supply system, and second unidirectional converters each connected to the supply system and across the terminals of the accumulator stages, and a control unit for the first and second unidirectional converters. The control unit is configured for controlling a first converter to bring the modules to a similar charge level, for controlling a energy transfer from the battery to the supply system via the first converters, and for controlling a second converter to bring the associated accumulator stages of a module to a similar charge level. | 02-06-2014 |
20140042972 | CELL BALANCING CIRCUIT AND BATTERY PACK HAVING THE SAME - A cell balancing circuit includes a plurality of battery cells coupled in series, balancing switches, each balancing switch being coupled in parallel to a respective battery cell, balancing resistors, each balancing resistor being coupled in series to the respective battery cell, a balancing controller that individually controls the balancing switches such that the battery cells are discharged through the balancing resistors, and positive temperature coefficient (PTC) elements, each PTC element being positioned adjacent to a respective balancing resistor and electrically coupled to the respective balancing switch coupled in series to the respective balancing resistor | 02-13-2014 |
20140042973 | ELECTRIC STORAGE DEVICE - An electric storage device includes an assembled battery including a plurality of electric cells connected in series; an assembled battery control unit that estimates internal resistances of the plurality of electric cells, or a magnitude relationship of the internal resistances of the plurality of electric cells; an assembled battery control unit that calculates such a discharge quantity that an SOC after the electric cells have been discharged becomes lower as the internal resistance of the electric cells, which is estimated by the assembled battery control unit, is larger, or as the magnitude relationship of the internal resistances of the electric cells is estimated to be larger by the assembled battery control unit, for each of the electric cells; and electric cell control units that discharge each of the plurality of electric cells on the basis of the discharge quantity calculated by the assembled battery control unit. | 02-13-2014 |
20140055094 | BATTERY SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - The first battery is configured to be charged and discharged with a larger current than the second battery. The second battery has a higher storage capacity than the first battery. When the voltage of the second battery is lower than the voltage of the first battery, the controller allows charging of the second battery through the second relay while prohibiting charging of the first battery through the first relay until the voltage of the second battery reaches the voltage of the first battery. | 02-27-2014 |
20140062408 | POWER SOURCE DEVICE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING ASSEMBLED BATTERY - A power source device includes an assembled battery having a plurality of secondary battery cells connected in series, and a plurality of discharge circuits connected in parallel with the secondary battery cells, respectively. A charge control circuit performs constant current charging to the assembled battery, and when voltages of one or a plurality of the secondary battery cells out of the plurality of secondary battery cells have reached a prescribed first voltage, drives the discharge circuits connected to the secondary battery cells whose voltage have reached the first voltage to discharge, and performs constant voltage charging to the relevant assemble battery. | 03-06-2014 |
20140084868 | BALANCING METHOD AND BATTERY SYSTEM - According to an example embodiment, a battery system includes: a plurality of modules, each including a plurality of cells connected to each other in series and a cell balancing circuit performing a balancing operation between the plurality of the cells based on voltages of the plurality of the cells; and a module balancing circuit performing a balancing operation between the modules based on voltages of the modules. | 03-27-2014 |
20140084869 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING BATTERY - Disclosed is an apparatus and methods for charging and discharging a battery, the apparatus including at least one tray provided in a charge/discharge structure, or detached from the charge/discharge structure, for charging and discharging, a plurality of battery cells included in the at least one tray, and a power control system to supply power to the plurality of battery cells connected in series through a power line, wherein the power control system controls a current flowing through the plurality of battery cells connected in series. | 03-27-2014 |
20140084870 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BALANCING CHARGE WITHIN A BATTERY PACK - A system for balancing charge within a battery pack with a plurality of cells connected in series, including a capacitor; a processor configured to select a combination of donor cells and receiver cells from the plurality of cells in one of the following two modes: (1) a first mode where the number of donor cells is equal to the number of receiver cells, and (2) a second mode where the number of donor cells is greater than the number of receiver cells; and a plurality of switches that electrically connect the capacitor to the donor cells to charge the capacitor, and that electrically connected the capacitor to the receiver cells to discharge the capacitor. The transfer of charge between cells in the plurality of cells through the capacitor balances the charge within the battery pack. | 03-27-2014 |
20140097797 | ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM - An energy storage system is disclosed. The energy storage system may include a power control module coupled to a plurality of energy modules each including a plurality of batteries. The plurality of batteries may be placed in a plurality of containers and arranged in a plurality of parallel strings. | 04-10-2014 |
20140103877 | BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A battery management system that monitors and controls the charging and discharging a battery pack in the most versatile way at the block level with virtually no parasitic or dissipative loss is disclosed. The system has capability of using blocks of cells using different chemistry in the same battery pack. Such versatility makes it very useful for usage with erratic grid conditions, solar, wind and other natural energy sources for charging the battery. | 04-17-2014 |
20140111160 | ELECTRICAL STORAGE SYSTEM - An electrical storage system includes: serially connected electrical storage blocks each including at least one electrical storage element; a voltage detection circuit connected to each electrical storage block via voltage detection lines; a protection circuit including an overvoltage protection element connected in parallel with each electrical storage block via the voltage detection lines and a first resistor connected in series with the overvoltage protection element; a discharge circuit connected in parallel with each overvoltage protection element via the voltage detection lines and in series with the first resistor, the discharge circuit including a second resistor having a larger resistance value than the first resistor; and a controller detecting an abnormality in the overvoltage protection elements by, while the electrical storage elements are not connected to the load, comparing a voltage of a discharging first electrical storage block with a voltage of a non-discharging second electrical storage block. | 04-24-2014 |
20140117935 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR BALANCING BATTERY CELLS - A device and method for balancing cells of a battery of an electric automobile, the device including: a primary winding arranged in series with a primary switch; and, for each cell, a circuit including, in series, a secondary winding that forms a transformer together with the primary winding, a secondary switch, a coil, and a diode mounted in parallel with the coil and the cell; and a controller controlling the primary switch and each secondary switch. | 05-01-2014 |
20140125284 | DISTRIBUTED BATTERY POWER ELECTRONICS ARCHITECTURE AND CONTROL - A battery pack having a plurality of battery pack modules, wherein each battery pack module includes a battery cell and a power converter. The power converters of the plurality of battery pack modules are connected in series to form a string of N battery pack modules such that the voltage across the N battery pack modules defines the output voltage of the battery pack. A controller regulates the output voltage of each battery cell or module power converter and the output voltage of the battery pack by independently controlling each battery cell module in accordance with variables such as state-of-charge (SOC), state-of-health (SOH) and temperature, capacity, and temperature of each individual battery cell module. The power converter may be used to measure impedance of the battery pack by adding a sinusoidal perturbation signal to a reference voltage of the cell battery pack module. | 05-08-2014 |
20140132217 | ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM - An energy storage system that includes a battery module including a plurality of battery cells, a battery management module connected to the battery cells through a plurality of first wires, detecting voltages of the battery cells and performing first cell balancing operations of the battery cells, and an external balancing module connected to the battery cells through a plurality of second wires, discharging the battery cells to a predetermined voltage and performing second cell balancing operations of the battery cells. | 05-15-2014 |
20140132218 | SYSTEM OF BATTERIES OF ACCUMULATORS WITH SIMPLIFIED SUPERVISION - A system of batteries of accumulators includes electrochemical accumulators in series, a power connection connecting either a load or recharging power supply across the accumulators, a control device connected to the accumulators by the power connection, measuring circuits, each of which is attached to a respective accumulator and configured to measure voltage across its terminals, and communication circuits, each of which is attached to an accumulator and configured to induce a voltage drop across its terminals when the measured voltage crosses a threshold. The control device identifies this drop in voltage. | 05-15-2014 |
20140139185 | RECHARGEABLE BATTERY MODULE - A rechargeable battery module includes: a first battery unit including a plurality of first rechargeable batteries having a first electrode terminal that is electrically connected to a first electrode and a second electrode terminal that is electrically connected to a second electrode; a second battery unit that includes at least one second rechargeable battery having a first electrode terminal that is electrically connected to a first electrode and a second electrode terminal that is electrically connected to a second electrode and that is coupled in series to the first battery unit; and a control unit that controls charge and discharge of the first battery unit and the second battery unit. A short circuit member is provided that is electrically connected to the second electrode terminal of the second rechargeable battery and that is electrically connected to the first module terminal by deformation to cause a short circuit. | 05-22-2014 |
20140145678 | APPARATUS FOR MANAGING BATTERY, AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM - A battery management system is disclosed. The system includes a controller configured to determine whether to balance battery cells or trays based at least in part on a parameter of each of the battery cells or trays and a factor representing a degree of use of each of the battery cells or trays. The controller also balances the battery cells or trays based on whether the battery cells are to be balanced. | 05-29-2014 |
20140152259 | RESPONSE TO DETECTION OF AN OVERCHARGE EVENT IN A SERIES CONNECTED BATTERY ELEMENT - A system and method for identifying and responding to exceptional charge events of series-connected energy storage elements. | 06-05-2014 |
20140152260 | RESPONSE TO DETECTION OF AN OVERDISCHARGE EVENT IN A SERIES CONNECTED BATTERY ELEMENT - A system and method for identifying and responding to exceptional charge events of series-connected energy storage elements. | 06-05-2014 |
20140152261 | BATTERY SYSTEM MONITORING APPARATUS - A battery system monitoring apparatus that monitors a battery system is provided having a cell group having a plurality of unit cells connected in series, including: a first control device that controls the cell group; and a plurality of voltage detection lines that connect positive electrodes and negative electrodes of the unit cells to the first control device, for measuring inter-terminal voltages of the unit cells. The first control device includes a balancing switch connected between the voltage detection line connected to the positive electrode of each unit cell and the voltage detection line connected to the negative electrode thereof for conducting balancing discharge of the unit cell, for each of the unit cells. A first resistor is disposed in series with each of the voltage detection lines, a first capacitor is connected between the voltage detection line, and a GND which is a lowest-level potential of the cell group. | 06-05-2014 |
20140152262 | POWER SUPPLY APPARATUS AND POWER SUPPLY METHOD - A power supply apparatus is provided that has a plurality of secondary batteries connected in series, outputs a composite voltage of all of the secondary batteries, and outputs an output of a part of the secondary batteries as a partial voltage. The power supply apparatus includes a detecting unit that detects states of the secondary batteries, a changing unit that changes an order of series connection of the plurality of secondary batteries based on a detection result of the detecting unit in such a manner that the partial voltage is outputted from a secondary battery that is in a relatively good state. | 06-05-2014 |
20140167698 | BATTERY BLOCK, AND POWER SOURCE SYSTEM - A battery block for use in a power source system including battery blocks is provided with: a secondary battery; a communication circuit which outputs voltage information outside, the voltage information relating to a terminal voltage Vt of the secondary battery; a communication circuit which acquires the voltage information output from another battery block as other voltage information; and a discharge controller which discharges the secondary battery in a host battery block when a host voltage, which is the terminal voltage Vt of the secondary battery in the host battery block, is higher than a terminal voltage indicated by the other voltage information. | 06-19-2014 |
20140191725 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR EQUILIBRATING ELECTRIC ACCUMULATOR BATTERIES - A method and a device for equilibrating an accumulator battery including a battery including accumulators connected together in series and in which a charging current charges the accumulators, the accumulators exhibiting a maximum charge state. The accumulators are charged during a charging to increase the charge of the accumulators up to their maximum charge state. The charging includes in order: a) feeding the accumulators in series with the charge current at a charging value until one of the accumulators of the battery reaches the maximum charge state; b) meanwhile the one of the accumulators is coupled to terminals of a corresponding resistor, while the charge current is simultaneously reduced; and, then c) returning to a). | 07-10-2014 |
20140197795 | System for Balancing, by Magnetic Coupling, an Association in Series of Elements for Generating or Storing Electrical Energy - The invention relates to a system for balancing an association in series of elements for generating and/or storing electrical energy, characterised in that it comprises: a plurality of full bridge inverters (OPC | 07-17-2014 |
20140210414 | STORAGE BATTERY SYSTEM - The storage battery system includes a storage battery comprising a plurality of battery modules; a plurality of voltage monitoring circuits for monitoring a voltage of the battery module; and a control device that controls charging and discharging of the storage battery on the basis of monitoring information that is obtained by carrying out communication with the voltage monitoring circuits, wherein the control device comprises a determination unit that calculates an estimated output voltage of the storage battery by using the monitoring information that is obtained from any one of the voltage monitoring circuits before occurrence of a communication failure in a case where the communication failure with any one of the voltage monitoring circuits occurs, and compares the estimated output voltage and an output voltage of the storage battery after occurrence of the communication failure to determine an abnormal site of the communication failure. | 07-31-2014 |
20140210415 | EQUALIZATION CIRCUIT, POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM, AND VEHICLE - An equalization circuit includes: discharge sections which are provided correspondingly to secondary batteries respectively, and discharge the corresponding secondary batteries to convert energy resulting from the discharge into heat; a temperature detector which detects a temperature under the converted heat; and an equalization controller which selects a discharge section as a selection discharge section, the selection discharge section corresponding to a secondary battery of the secondary batteries to be discharged, the equalization controller causing the selection discharge section to discharge the corresponding secondary battery, and equalizing electric quantities accumulated in the secondary batteries, wherein if the secondary battery is discharged by the selection discharge section and if the temperature detected by the temperature detector is higher than a predetermined reference temperature, the equalization controller reduces a discharge current to a value lower than a value when the temperature is lower than the reference temperature. | 07-31-2014 |
20140217982 | ELECTRIC STORAGE CELL CONTROL CIRCUIT - To satisfactorily carry out balancing even when balancing control is suspended. It is selected according to a condition which of battery cell information (old state information) by the last balancing stored in a storage device and battery cell information (new state information) acquired during a start of this time is used, and the balancing control is performed. | 08-07-2014 |
20140232344 | CIRCUIT AND METHOD FOR VOLTAGE EQUALIZATION IN LARGE BATTERIES - A battery equalization circuit is provided, comprising: a positive battery node connected to a positive terminal of a monitored battery cell contained in a battery circuit that includes a plurality of other battery cells connected in series with the monitored battery cell; a negative battery node connected to a negative terminal of the monitored battery cell; a secondary transformer coil configured to receive a square wave, the secondary transformer coil having an upper transformer node and a lower transformer node; an upper switch connected between the positive battery node and the upper transformer node; a lower switch connected between the negative battery node and the lower transformer control node; and a control circuit configured to control operation of the upper and lower switches based on a measured cell voltage between the positive battery node and the negative battery node, and a total battery voltage of the battery circuit. | 08-21-2014 |
20140232345 | SWITCH CIRCUIT, SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, AND BATTERY DEVICE - There is provided a semiconductor device capable of preventing the passage of current that is unexpected in a circuit operation even in the case of reverse connection, thus ensuring higher safety. The semiconductor device has a switch circuit which includes: a first transistor; a second transistor having a drain thereof connected to a drain of the first transistor, a source and a back gate thereof connected to a back gate of the first transistor, and a gate thereof connected to a source of the first transistor; and a third transistor having a drain thereof connected to the source of the first transistor, a source and a back gate thereof connected to the back gate of the first transistor, and a gate thereof connected to the drain of the first transistor. | 08-21-2014 |
20140232346 | ACTIVE CELL AND MODULE BALANCING FOR BATTERIES OR OTHER POWER SUPPLIES - A system configured to actively balance power among power cells such as batteries. The system includes a power module of series-coupled power cells, each exhibiting different charge levels during charging and discharging. A power module includes active cell balancing circuitry configured to substantially balance the charges of the power cells at least during charging. In one embodiment, the active cell balancing circuitry includes: (a) current source circuitry configured to supply extra charging current to a selected power cell; and (b) current source control circuitry configured to control the current source circuitry to supply extra charging current to the power cell with the lowest state of charge. In another embodiment, the system includes multiple power modules, each having multiple power cells coupled in series, and each having an active cell balancing circuit configured to substantially balance the charges of the power cells in an associated one of the power modules. | 08-21-2014 |
20140239897 | VOLTAGE MEASURING APPARATUS AND BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME - Disclosed are a voltage measuring apparatus and a battery management system including the same. The voltage measuring apparatus is connected to a plurality of battery cells connected to each other in series to measure respective voltage of the battery cells. The voltage measuring apparatus includes a first node coupled to one of an positive electrode and a negative electrode of one of a plurality of battery cells as a voltage measuring target, amplifies a voltage difference between the first node and the second node to generate an error voltage, converts the error voltage into a digital signal, and compensates for a polarity of the digital signal. | 08-28-2014 |
20140239898 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING A POWER SUPPLY DEVICE WITH AID OF FULL-FEATURED MODULARIZED FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS - A method and apparatus for controlling a power supply device is provided, where the apparatus includes at least one portion of the power supply device. The apparatus includes at least one battery module, each of which is a battery module of a set of battery modules connected in series within the power supply device, where each battery module of the set of battery modules includes at least one battery cell, at least one processing circuit, and at least one balancing circuit, which is electrically connected to the battery cell and the processing circuit. The processing circuit controls operations of the aforementioned each battery module of the set of battery modules. In addition, under control of the processing circuit, the balancing circuit performs balancing of the battery cell. Additionally, the balancing circuit provides the processing circuit with a bias voltage, and the processing circuit obtains electric power from the balancing circuit. | 08-28-2014 |
20140239899 | BATTERY SYSTEM BALANCING CONTROL METHOD FOR PERFORMING BALANCING CONTROL WITH AID OF REFERENCE VOLTAGE INFORMATION AND BATTERY SYSTEM THEREOF - A battery system balancing control method for performing balancing control with aid of reference voltage information and battery system are provided. The battery system balancing control method includes: after a specific reference resistor of a plurality of reference resistors is installed into a specific battery module of a set of battery modules connected in series within a power supply device and the reference resistors are electrically connected in series, converting a total voltage of the set of battery modules into the reference voltage information, wherein each battery module of the set of battery modules includes at least one battery cell, and the reference voltage information includes a plurality of sets of reference voltage levels respectively corresponding to the reference resistors; and performing balancing control of the specific battery module according to a set of reference voltage levels corresponding to the specific reference resistor within the sets of reference voltage levels. | 08-28-2014 |
20140239900 | LEAD STORAGE BATTERY SYSTEM - This invention reduces degradation of respective lead storage batteries making up a lead storage battery bank and extends the longevity of the lead storage batteries. A lead storage battery system includes an individual battery state measurement unit | 08-28-2014 |
20140247013 | VOLTAGE DETECTION APPARATUS FOR BATTERY-PACK - In a voltage detection apparatus for a battery pack, a pair of electric paths are respectively connected to a pair of ends of a unit battery defined as one of battery cells configuring a respective cell group or one of serial connections of the battery cells. A voltage detecting unit detects voltage across terminals of the unit battery via the electric paths. An electrically conductive member connects: a positive terminal of one of two adjacent cell groups and a negative terminal of the other of the two adjacent cell groups. A bypass connects one of the electric paths connected to one of both ends of the conductive member; and the other of the pair connected to the other of the both ends. A bypassing unit disposed in the bypass allows current to flow in the bypass when voltage across both terminals of the conductive member has exceeded a specified voltage. | 09-04-2014 |
20140266050 | BALANCE RESISTOR AND LOW PASS FILTER - A battery cell balancing and measuring apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a plurality of terminals having a portion of the terminals grouped as terminal pairs, each terminal of the plurality of terminals operable to couple to a node in a battery stack. Each terminal pair having a capacitor and a switch coupled in parallel with each other, the capacitor and the switch coupled across respective terminal pair. The apparatus includes a plurality of resistors, each resistor of the plurality of resistors coupled to a terminal of the plurality of terminals. Each resistor of the plurality of resistors provides a discharge path for a respective battery cell coupled to a terminal pair via the switch and wherein each resistor of the plurality of resistors provides a low pass filter path for the respective battery cell via the capacitor. | 09-18-2014 |
20140266051 | BATTERY SYSTEM - An ECU outputs, when it determines that there is a battery cell which needs charging, address information to a battery monitor AFE | 09-18-2014 |
20140285152 | Method for Reducing the Total Charge Loss of Batteries - A method for reducing a total loss of charge of battery cells by balancing states of charge includes checking boundary conditions as to whether a vehicle is in the park mode, whether a previous balancing step occurred in the past by at least a defined time period, whether a temperature of a balancing unit lies below an adjustable temperature limit and whether states of charge of all battery cells exceed a minimum state of charge. Additionally, the method includes determining a need for balancing such that a check is made as to whether a maximum difference of all states of charge of all battery cells is greater than an adjustable limit state of charge. Also the method includes, balancing by the balancing units if the first two steps of the method are affirmed. The balancing resistances are connected to respective battery cells for a predetermined time. | 09-25-2014 |
20140300325 | LITHIUM-ION BATTERY PACK AND METHOD OF CHARGE/DISCHARGE EQUALIZING - A lithium-ion battery includes two or more series-connected lithium-ion cells, a balancing lithium-ion cell, controllable switches with the same number as the lithium-ion cells, a drive module for the controllable switches, a voltage detection module for detecting a voltage at two ends of the lithium-ion cells, and a controller. The balancing lithium-ion cell is connected in parallel to the lithium-ion cells. The controllable switches control the turn on/off of the connection in parallel between the balancing lithium-ion cell and each of the lithium-ion cells independently. The drive module for the controllable switches and the voltage detection module are connected to the controller. A battery pack including the lithium-ion battery and a method for real-time charge/discharge equalizing of the lithium-ion battery are also provided. | 10-09-2014 |
20140306662 | VOLTAGE COMPENSATED ACTIVE CELL BALANCING - A monitoring device includes an input terminal configured to receive an input signal from a battery system management (BSM); an output terminal configured to output cell parameters used to determine an open cell voltage associated with one of a plurality of cells within the battery stack connected to the monitoring circuit based on the input signal received from the BSM; a processor; and a memory storing executable instructions for causing the processor to: measure a cell voltage associated with the one of the plurality of cells within the battery stack; measure a voltage drop associated with a measured balancing current; calculate the open cell voltage by adjusting the measured cell voltage based on the measured voltage drop; and balance the battery stack based on the calculated open cell voltage, wherein balancing and calculating the open cell voltage are performed concurrently. | 10-16-2014 |
20140312844 | DEVICE FOR BALANCING THE CHARGE OF THE ELEMENTS OF AN ELECTRICAL POWER BATTERY - A charge-balancing device for balancing charge of an electrical power-storage device that has several series-connected electrical storage elements two DC/DC converters with current limitation, each having an input for receiving a set value of output voltage from the converter, an input to be connected to the terminals of a respective storage element, and an output to be connected to an electric network having a voltage regulated at a level below a voltage at the terminals of the power-storage device, and a control module. The control module is configured to determine respective residual charges of the electrical storage elements connected to the inputs and to apply a higher set value of voltage to the converter connected to an electrical storage elements that has a highest residual charge. | 10-23-2014 |
20140327400 | BATTERY SYSTEM MONITORING APPARATUS AND ELECTRIC STORAGE DEVICE INCLUDING THE SAME - A battery system monitoring apparatus for monitoring a cell group having a plurality of battery cells, and includes a cell controller IC which monitors and controls the states of the plurality of battery cells. A battery controller controls the cell controller IC and a plurality of voltage detection lines measure the voltage across the terminals of the battery cell. The voltage detection lines connect positive and negative electrodes of the battery cell, respectively, to a plurality of voltage input terminals of the cell controller IC. A power line connects the positive electrode of the battery cell having the highest potential among the plurality of battery cells to a power supply terminal of the cell controller IC and a ground line which connects the negative electrode of the battery cell having the lowest potential among the plurality of battery cells to a ground terminal of the cell controller IC. | 11-06-2014 |
20140354232 | ACCUMULATOR BATTERY PROTECTED AGAINST INTERNAL SHORT CIRCUITS - An accumulator battery, comprising at least: first and second stages electrically connected in series, each stage including at least first to third accumulators electrically connected in parallel. There are at least first and second current limiters via which the first to third accumulators of said first stage are connected in parallel and via which the first to third accumulators of said second stage are connected in parallel. | 12-04-2014 |
20140361746 | CHARGE/DISCHARGE CONTROL CIRCUIT AND BATTERY DEVICE - The present invention provides a charge/discharge control circuit and a battery device capable of detecting an intermediate terminal disconnection without causing the balance between battery voltages to collapse and shortening the service life of the battery device. A charge/discharge control circuit which controls charging/discharging of a plurality of secondary batteries connected in series is equipped with intermediate terminal disconnection detecting circuits each of which is provided between a positive electrode terminal and a negative electrode terminal of each secondary battery and detects an intermediate terminal disconnection of each intermediate terminal by intermittently equal detection currents. | 12-11-2014 |
20150022155 | BATTERY CELL VOLTAGE EQUALIZATION CIRCUIT - A battery cell voltage equalization circuit | 01-22-2015 |
20150035489 | CHARGING AND DISCHARGING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE - A charging and discharging system is disclosed. The charging and discharging system includes a first cell assembly and a second cell assembly. The first battery cell assembly includes a first cell, a first connecting piece, and a second connecting piece. The second cell assembly includes a second cell, a third connecting piece, and a fourth connecting piece. The first connecting piece and the second connecting piece connect the first cell to a circuit board. The third connecting piece and the fourth connecting piece connect the second cell to the circuit board. A length of the third connecting piece and the fourth connecting piece is greater than a total length of the first connecting piece and the second connecting piece. A resistivity of the third connecting piece and the fourth connecting piece is smaller than a length of the first connecting piece and the second connecting piece. | 02-05-2015 |
20150035490 | BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A battery system has a battery module including a number M of series-connected batteries. The battery system is further provided with a number N (102-05-2015 | |
20150042282 | ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM - In an electric power supply system, a plurality of batteries ( | 02-12-2015 |
20150048794 | BATTERY CHARGE BALANCING DEVICE AND BATTERY CHARGE BALANCING SYSTEM - Disclosed is a battery charge balancing device which includes: a charge-measuring unit that measures charge of a plurality of batteries storing power through a plurality of power converters connected with a plurality of input power sources; a mode-conversion parameter calculating unit that calculates mode conversion parameters for determining mode conversion such that the power converters operate in a power conversion mode for converting power or in a balancing mode for balancing charge between the batteries; and a control unit that controls power transmission path of the power converters by switching a plurality of switches connected between the power converters and the batteries in accordance with the calculated mode conversion parameters. | 02-19-2015 |
20150069973 | BATTERY CONTROL SYSTEM, BATTERY PACK, ELECTRONIC DEVICE - A measurement unit ( | 03-12-2015 |
20150123617 | Virtual Cell for Battery Thermal Management - A system, method, and apparatus for virtual cells for battery thermal management are disclosed. The disclosed method involves sensing, with at least one temperature sensor, a temperature of at least one battery cell in a battery pack. The method further involves sensing, with at least one current sensor, at least one current within the battery pack. Also, the method involves determining, with a battery thermal management system (BTMS) controller, if the temperature of any of the battery cells in the battery pack exceeds a temperature limit (T | 05-07-2015 |
20150123618 | BALANCING VOLTAGES BETWEEN BATTERY BANKS - A system that balances voltages between battery banks. The system includes battery banks, including a first bank and a second bank, and a first capacitor. The system also includes a first set of switching devices which selectively couple first and second terminals of the first capacitor to first and second terminals of the first bank, and to first and second terminals of the second bank. The system includes a clocking circuit which generates clock signals with substantially non-overlapping first and second clock phases. This clocking circuit is configured so that during the first phase the first and second terminals of the first capacitor are coupled to the first and second terminals of the first bank, respectively, and during the second phase the first and second terminals of the first capacitor are coupled to the first and second terminals of the second bank, respectively. | 05-07-2015 |
20150137763 | ELECTRICAL STORAGE SYSTEM AND EQUALIZING METHOD - An electrical storage system includes electrical storage elements connected in series with each other and being charged or discharged; discharge circuits respectively connected in parallel with the electrical storage elements and discharging the corresponding electrical storage elements; and a controller controlling operations of the discharge circuits. The controller calculates a first SOC difference using a full charge capacity of each electrical storage element. The first SOC difference is a difference in SOC between the electrical storage elements and arises due to a difference in full charge capacity between the electrical storage elements. The controller calculates a second SOC difference that is a difference in SOC between the electrical storage elements at the moment the second SOC difference is calculated. When the second SOC difference is larger than the first SOC difference, the controller brings the second SOC difference close to the first SOC difference through a discharge with the discharge circuits. | 05-21-2015 |
20150137764 | ATTENUATION CIRCUIT FOR AN ENERGY STORAGE DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ATTENUATING OSCILLATIONS OF THE OUTPUT CURRENT OF AN ENERGY STORAGE DEVICE - The invention relates to an attenuation circuit for an energy storage device having one or more energy storage modules which are connected in series in one or more energy supply lines and have at least one energy storage cell and a coupling device which has a multiplicity of coupling elements and is designed to selectively switch or bridge the energy storage cell in the respective energy supply line. The attenuation circuit comprises a current detection device which is designed to detect an output current of the energy supply lines or of the energy storage device and to generate an output current signal dependent on the output current, a control circuit which is coupled to the current detection device and is designed to control the output current signal to a desired current signal and to output a corresponding current control signal, and a pulse width modulation device which is coupled to the control circuit and is designed to control the coupling device of at least one of the energy storage modules in a clocked manner on the basis of the current control signal. | 05-21-2015 |
20150303718 | ADJUSTING DEVICE, BATTERY PACK DEVICE, AND ADJUSTING METHOD - An adjusting device that adjusts voltage differences among a plurality of storage batteries that are connected in series is provided with: charging means that charges said storage batteries; each switching means that corresponds to each of said plurality of storage batteries, that connects a corresponding storage battery to said charging means in parallel when turned ON, and that releases the connection between the corresponding storage battery and said charging means when turned OFF; detection means that detects each voltage of said plurality of storage batteries; and control means that turns ON, from among a plurality of said switching means, the control-object switching means that corresponds to the charge-object storage battery, which has the lowest voltage that is detected by said detection means, from among said plurality of storage batteries, and moreover, that turns OFF switching means other than said control-object switching means. | 10-22-2015 |
20150318721 | VOLTAGE BALANCE CONTROL DEVICE - A voltage balance control device ( | 11-05-2015 |
20150340883 | CELL CONTROLLER AND BATTERY-MONITORING DEVICE - A cell controller in a battery-monitoring device that monitors an assembled battery having a single cell group or a plurality of cell groups, each made up with a plurality of battery cells connected in series, includes: a startup terminal to which a first discharge resistor is connected and a startup voltage is applied; and a cell-balancing unit that executes cell balancing operation in order to adjust charge levels of the plurality of battery cells during a time period through which the startup voltage remains equal to or greater than a predetermined voltage, wherein: the startup voltage is applied for a predetermined length of time by a first timer unit that includes a passive element capable of accumulating electric energy and capable of discharging electric energy to the startup terminal. | 11-26-2015 |
20150340886 | BATTERY CELL BALANCING CIRCUIT USING LC SERIAL RESONANCE - The present invention relates to a technology capable of improving the use time of a battery cell by generally or individually controlling charge or discharge with respect to a multi-battery cell by using LC serial resonance in a module with a multi-battery cell structure. To this end, the present invention includes a battery module including a plurality of serially connected battery cells, a serial resonant circuit including serially connected inductor and capacitor and performing a serial resonant function, and first to third switch units that set an electric energy collection path and an electric energy supply path between the battery module and the serial resonant circuit. | 11-26-2015 |
20150357842 | CHARGE BALANCING IN AN ELECTRIC BATTERY - A system comprises an electric battery having at least four elementary cells in series and at least two balancing modules each having first and second nodes connected by at least three cells of the battery, and a third node connected to an intermediate point of the series-association of the at least three cells, in which at least one of the first and second nodes of each module is not common to a first or second node of another module. | 12-10-2015 |
20150357843 | STORAGE BATTERY EQUALIZATION DEVICE CAPABLE OF CHARGING BATTERY PACK INCLUDING STORAGE BATTERY MODULES HAVING DIFFERENT OUTPUT VOLTAGES IN SHORT TIME - A storage battery equalization device is provided with: a battery pack including a plurality of storage battery modules; a plurality of equalization circuits corresponding to the respective storage battery modules, each including a DC/AC mutual converter circuit, a variable capacitor, and a transformer; external wirings interconnecting secondary windings of the transformers; voltage monitors each being connected across both electrodes of a corresponding storage battery module; and an equalization control unit. The equalization control unit determines equalization groups, each including one or more storage battery modules for discharging and one or more storage battery modules for charging, sets one of electrostatic capacitance values to the variable capacitors for each equalization group, the electrostatic capacitances corresponding to resonance frequencies of the equalization circuits, and controls a frequency of an alternating current outputted from the DC/AC mutual converter circuit of each equalization circuit, to be the resonance frequency of the equalization circuit. | 12-10-2015 |
20150380959 | Serial Multi-Battery Charger with Independent Simultaneous Charge and Discharge - A serial battery charger has a battery matrix with switches that are configured by a microcontroller that reads voltages between batteries to determine if each battery is fully-charged, charging, or absent. A switch configuration allows charging and discharging currents to flow simultaneously, and allows discharging current but blocks charging current from fully-charged batteries to prevent over-charging. The charging current flows through all charging batteries in series while the discharging current flows from all fully-charged and charging batteries in series. Blocking and bypass switches route the charging current to all charging batteries in series, but bypass all fully-charged and absent batteries. The blocking and bypass switches route the discharging current serially through all fully-charged and charging batteries in the battery matrix while avoiding absent batteries. The switches are controlled by the switch configuration from the microcontroller. Larger battery matrixes have row and column lines that are connected by connecting switches. | 12-31-2015 |
20160001673 | METHOD FOR BALANCING THE VOLTAGE OF BATTERY CEL - A method is provided for balancing the voltage of multiple series-connected electrochemical cells of an electrical storage system of a hybrid electric vehicle. The method includes discharging the electrical storage system by operating at least one large electrical machine of the vehicle at vehicle standstill until the state of charge of the electrical storage system or the cell having the lowest state of charge has reached a predetermined level, and subsequently balancing the voltage of the cells. | 01-07-2016 |
20160013669 | METHOD FOR EQUALIZING CAPACITIES OF ELECTRIC STORAGE DEVICES AND SYSTEM THEREOF | 01-14-2016 |
20160028256 | BALANCE CORRECTION APPARATUS AND ELECTRIC STORAGE SYSTEM - It is preferable to measure a voltage difference between two electric storage cells with a higher precision while suppressing costs of a balance correction circuit. A balance correction apparatus comprises a first balance correction section which equalizes voltages of two electric storage cells among a plurality of electric storage cells connected in series, a second balance correction section which equalizes voltages of two electric storage cells among the plurality of electric storage cells and a control section which controls operations of the first balance correction section and the second balance correction section. The control section generates a first control signal which controls operations of the first balance correction section and a second control signal which controls operations of the second balance correction section based on a measurement result of each voltage of the plurality of electric storage cells. | 01-28-2016 |
20160036252 | Short-Circuit Protection Device - A short-circuit protection device for limiting a battery current of a battery strand having at least one battery cell and for guiding an output current to a consumer network via a first network terminal and a second network terminal connected to the short-circuit protection device, the short-circuit protection device compring: a first switching element configured to interrupt the battery current to limit the output current; at least one current detection means; a comparison arrangement configured to compare the output current with a predefined target value; at least one inductor arranged series with the switching element; an inductor current regulation arrangement configured to actuate the switching element; and a first bridge device configured to bridge at least one battery cell of the battery strand and limit the predefined target value to a predefined maximum value of a short-circuit current. | 02-04-2016 |
20160043578 | CHARGE AND DISCHARGE DEVICE, CHARGE AND DISCHARGE CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM - A charge and discharge device ( | 02-11-2016 |
20160049809 | STORAGE BATTERY AND OPERATION METHOD OF STORAGE BATTERY - A storage battery includes an electricity storage unit ( | 02-18-2016 |
20160049810 | BATTERY CELL CHARGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method for cell charging and cell charge redistribution for a plurality of series connected rechargeable electrical energy storage cells where the objective of charging and redistribution of charge for individual cells is based on the optimization criteria of equalization of remaining coulombmetric capacity for all cells. | 02-18-2016 |
20160064968 | Discharge Balancing Device, Discharge Balancing Method, and Power Supply System - A discharge balancing device, for balancing a plurality of electric energy storage units connected in series in a discharge stage, comprising a plurality of bypass units, respectively connected to the plurality of electric energy storage units in parallel, configured to drain bypass currents from the plurality of electric energy storage units according to control signals; an energy condition measurement circuit, coupled to the plurality of the electric energy storage units, configured to measure energy conditions of the plurality of electric energy storage units; and a balancing control unit, coupled to the energy condition measurement circuit and the plurality of bypass units, configured to generate each of the control signals according to the energy conditions measured by the energy condition measurement circuit, so as to control each of the plurality of bypass units whether to drain a bypass current from a corresponding electric energy storage unit. | 03-03-2016 |
20160064969 | Battery Management Circuit - A battery management circuit maintains voltage balance during charging and discharging of a multi-cell, series connected battery stack. The circuit allows the entire energy content of the battery stack to be drained, as opposed to just monitoring the cells and turning off the discharge when the first cell voltage drops below a predetermined threshold. The circuit also provides high efficiency voltage balancing during charging of the battery stack conserving energy and keeping the temperature of the battery pack to a minimum. | 03-03-2016 |
20160072315 | CONTROL METHOD FOR DISCONNECTING SWITCHES INTEGRATED IN SERIES-CONNECTED BATTERIES - Systems and methods of providing integrated battery protection for a plurality of series-connected batteries, in which a plurality of controllable switches are used to disconnect or otherwise isolate the respective batteries, substantially simultaneously, from an external circuit in response to certain fault or non-fault battery conditions. When the plurality of controllable switches are synchronously transitioned from a closed or “ON” state to an opened or “OFF” state, the voltages of the respective batteries become distributed among the controllable switches, allowing for the use of switches having a reduced voltage rating as well as a reduced cost. By connecting a balancing resistor across each of a plurality of series-connected battery/switch pairs, a more even distribution of the voltages of the respective batteries among the controllable switches can be achieved, providing the system with more predictable operation. | 03-10-2016 |
20160079779 | Batteries, Battery Systems, Battery Submodules, Battery Operational Methods, Battery System Operational Methods, Battery Charging Methods, and Battery System Charging Methods - Batteries, battery systems, battery submodules, battery operational methods, battery system operational methods, battery charging methods, and battery system charging methods are described. According to one aspect, a battery includes a first battery terminal, a second battery terminal, and a plurality of submodules individually comprising a first submodule terminal, a second submodule terminal, a plurality of rechargeable cells electrically coupled between the first and second submodule-terminals, and switching circuitry configured to electrically couple one of the first and second battery terminals with one of the first and second submodule terminals of one of the submodules during an engaged mode of operation of the one of the submodules and to electrically isolate the one of the first and second battery terminals from the one of the first and second submodule terminals of the one of the submodules during a disengaged mode of operation of the one of the submodules. | 03-17-2016 |
20160099586 | ELECTRIC STORAGE DEVICE MANAGEMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD OF EQUALIZING CAPACITIES OF ELECTRIC STORAGE DEVICES - A method for equalizing states of electric storage devices, which are connected in series, of an electric storage device assembly, includes preparing discharging time period data including discharging time periods associated with sequential numbers, determining whether a voltage of each electric storage device has reached a reference voltage during charging or discharging of the electric storage device assembly, and discharging the electric storage devices, using a discharging circuit, for respective discharging time periods associated with the sequential numbers, the sequential numbers being assigned to the electric storage devices according to a sequence of the electric storage devices determined based on time points at which the voltages of the electric storage devices have reached the reference voltage. | 04-07-2016 |
20160111899 | ALTERNATING CURRENT LINKED POWER CONVERTING APPARATUS - Disclosed herein is an alternating current linked power converting apparatus, including: a direct current power unit including a plurality of cells, which provide a direct current (DC) voltage and are connected in series, wherein the direct current power unit has both ends connected to an inverter which converts the direct current voltage to an alternating current (AC) voltage; a cell balancing charger/discharger connected to the plurality of cells and balancing the direct current voltage or an amount of charging between the plurality of cells; and a ripple removing capacitor that is positioned between the cell balancing charger/discharger and the inverter and that includes a first terminal and a second terminal that are respectively connected to a first output terminal and a second output terminal of the cell balancing charger/discharger so as to remove ripples of the direct current voltage. | 04-21-2016 |
20160164318 | BATTERY MONITORING UNIT - A battery monitoring unit includes a control IC, a CPU, and a load circuit. In the inside of the battery monitoring unit, the control IC and the CPU each of which is a control circuit are connected to a unit internal ground that is common thereto. The load circuit is connected to a power ground different from the unit internal ground. In the inside of the battery monitoring unit, the power ground and the unit internal ground are connected with each other via a diode. The unit internal ground and the power ground are connected to an external ground that is common thereto via an electric wire extending from a first ground terminal and an electric wire extending from a second ground terminal, respectively. | 06-09-2016 |
20160172875 | METHOD OF BALANCING RACK VOLTAGES OF BATTERY PACK INCLUDING RACKS | 06-16-2016 |
20160181836 | STORAGE BATTERY DEVICE | 06-23-2016 |
20160190828 | POWER STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD FOR A POWER STORAGE APPARATUS - [Object] To enable charging/discharging amounts of secondary batteries connected in series to be accurately obtained without increasing the costs. | 06-30-2016 |
20160190846 | MULTILEVEL CONVERTER - A multilevel converter has a central device for controlling operations and a plurality of series-connected sub modules that each has a first switch, a second switch, and a capacitor. At least two of the sub modules form a multi module, wherein, in charging phases and in discharging phases of the multi module, one of the switches of each sub module is switched off and the other switch of each sub module is switched on. The multi module has a control device that is connected to the central device and undertakes control of the sub modules of the multi module on the basis of control signals from the central device. The control device is configured such that it monitors the capacitor voltages of the sub modules and, in the event of an imbalance in the capacitor voltages, brings about balancing. | 06-30-2016 |
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20190148955 | POWER SUPPLY DEVICE AND POWER SUPPLY METHOD | 05-16-2019 |
20220140622 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AN AC BATTERY - A method and system for AC battery operation. In one embodiment, the method comprises determining, at a battery management unit (BMU) coupled to an AC battery comprising a power converter and a battery that is rechargeable, a bias control voltage that indicates a state of a charge process of the AC battery; and coupling, by a bias control module of the BMU, the bias control voltage to the power converting for communicating the state of the charge process to and from the BMU and the power converter. | 05-05-2022 |