Abstract: An inverter according to the invention includes an open circuit instructing device (ECU, Steps S5 to S8). The open circuit instructing device is for opening a switching circuit based on resistor inter-terminal voltage Vrb and resistor current Irb.

Abstract: A rechargeable battery reducing internal resistance and equalizing the distribution of current flow in an electrode plate assembly. A plurality of battery jars are connected to one another through partition walls. A power generation element including an electrode plate assembly, in which a cathode plate and an anode plate are stacked together with a separator arranged in between, and collector plates joined to opposite ends of the electrode plate assembly are accommodated in each battery jar. The collector plates on opposite sides of the partition wall formed between two adjacent battery jars are connected to each other. Connection holes are formed in the partition wall at a plurality of locations. Connection projections, which project from the collector plates, are fitted into the connection holes and welded. The connection projections have distal ends that are in contact with each other.

Abstract: A fan structure is provided, which includes: a fan case having an inlet and an outlet; a bladed wheel provided inside the fan case; a motor for rotating the bladed wheel; a circuit substrate for controlling the motor; and a scroll housing formed between the fan case and the bladed wheel. Rotation of the bladed wheel causes a fluid to enter the scroll housing from the inlet and to exit from the outlet. The circuit substrate and the motor are arranged inside the fan case. The fan structure further includes a waterproof member for dividing the motor and the circuit substrate from the scroll housing, and a cylindrical seal for sealing a hole formed in the waterproof member through which an output shaft of the motor extends. The fan structure is compact and prevents adhesion of salt, water, or dust to the built-in circuit substrate.

Abstract: A method and a charger for auxiliarily charging a secondary battery to a desired SOC with high accuracy. A charger for a secondary battery includes a charge termination condition storing unit which stores a relationship between open circuit voltages OCV of a plurality of secondary batteries and an amount of change of terminal voltage ?V until a desired state of charge SOC is reached, which is previously created. A target terminal voltage Vmap at the time of the auxiliary charge is calculated by adding the amount of change of terminal voltage ?V corresponding to the open circuit voltage OCV of a secondary battery to be auxiliarily charged to the open circuit voltage OCV which is measured. A terminal voltage Vb of the secondary battery at the time of auxiliary charge and the target terminal voltage Vmap are compared to each other by a comparison unit, and when the target terminal voltage Vmap is reached, auxiliary charge is terminated.

Abstract: A device which judges a change of a capacity balance between a cathode and an anode of a secondary battery in a non-destructive manner is provided. The secondary battery has one of the capacities of the cathode and the anode greater than the other capacity. A battery ECU calculates an internal resistance (DCIR) of the secondary battery based on a current and a voltage of the secondary battery. When the calculated internal resistance (DCIR) is higher than the initial state in a low SOC region or a high SOC region, the battery ECU judges that the capacity balance between the cathode and the anode of the secondary battery has changed.

Abstract: A two-dimensional map for calculating an SOC of a secondary battery is corrected. A battery ECU obtains a voltage index of a secondary battery. The voltage index is, for example, a no-load voltage of the secondary battery. When an amount of change of the calculated no-load voltage from an initial state falls outside a predefined range, the battery ECU corrects the two-dimensional map of initial state which is stored in advance in a storage unit using data obtained by statistically processing a plurality of two-dimensional maps obtained from a plurality of vehicles.

Abstract: An apparatus for estimating a state of charge (SOC) of a secondary battery. A control section of a battery controller (ECU) computes a total amount of electric discharge of a secondary battery and compares the total amount of electric discharge with a predetermined threshold value. The threshold value is set so as to fall within a range of; for instance, 400 Ah to 1600 Ah. When the total amount of electric discharge is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value, an open-circuit-voltage (OCV)-SOC map is replaced with a map achieved in a state where a memory effect is saturated. When the total amount of electric discharge is smaller than the predetermined threshold value, a correction is made to the map so as to achieve a map that is a mixture consisting of the OCV-SOC map achieved in an initial state and the OCV-SOC map achieved in the saturated state at a predetermined ratio. The SOC is estimated by use of the corrected map.

Abstract: A system for cooling a battery mounted on a vehicle using air within a vehicle, independently of the travelling state of the vehicle. The air within a vehicle compartment is guided to a battery mounted on a vehicle to cool the battery. A controller determines a basic fan speed v of the cooling fan based on a battery temperature and an ambient temperature. Further, the controller calculates an increment ?v of the fan speed in accordance with the vehicle speed and the degree of window opening and determines a final fan speed V according to V=v+?v, to drive the cooling fan. By controlling the fan speed to increase, it is possible to cool the battery even when the base pressure of the inlet-side static pressure of the cooling fan becomes negative pressure compared to when the windows are closed.

Abstract: A battery pack capable of sufficiently exhibiting performance of each secondary battery constituting the battery pack and its producing method are provided. The battery pack producing method of the invention comprises an obtaining process for obtaining a charge amount voltage curve C during charging and a charge amount voltage curve D during discharging, a selecting process for selecting more than one of the used secondary batteries close to each other in curves C and D from a group of the used secondary batteries whose curves C and D have been obtained, and an assembling process for combining the selected used secondary batteries to constitute the battery pack.

Abstract: A sealed-type secondary battery is disclosed. A battery module of a sealed-type secondary battery is formed by heating and fusing a top lid member and an integrated battery container. The integrated battery container is formed with a polymer alloy including a polyphenylene ether resin and a polyolefin resin, and the top lid member or a lateral lid member is formed with a polypropylene-based resin. A nucleating agent is added to the polypropylene-based resin of the top lid member or the lateral lid member, to improve mechanical strength, and the molecular weight is increased to reduce a melt flow rate MFR to approximately the same degree as the polymer alloy.

Abstract: Error in an electromotive force Ve of a secondary battery calculated on the basis of a polarized voltage Vp is reduced.

Abstract: A battery pack comprises a plurality of battery modules and a holding spacer which holds the battery module. A plurality of projections are provided on the holding spacer. The projections contact the battery module to hold the battery module and form a flow path for a coolant. A heat generating structure is embedded in the holding spacer or inserted into a hollow section of the holding spacer. In a cold climate, electricity is applied to the heat generating structure, to heat the battery module.

Abstract: The present invention provides a battery prevented from causing a short circuit between a positive and negative electrode plates and a method of manufacturing the battery. This battery comprises an electrode plate assembly having a plurality of positive electrode plates and a plurality of negative electrode plates which are alternately laminated with separators interposed one by one between them. Each of the positive electrode plates and the negative electrode plates is configured to be curved to the same side in a lamination direction.

Abstract: A resistance welding quality determination method comprises: a step of detecting a voltage value applied to a welding electrode of a resistance welding machine; a step of detecting a current value supplied to the welding electrode; a step of calculating a welding resistance value based on the voltage value and the current value; a step of correcting the welding resistance value based on a change amount of a contact resistance value between the work and the welding electrode during welding of a work; and a step of determining welding quality of the work based on a corrected welding resistance value obtained by correcting the welding resistance value.

Abstract: An apparatus estimates charge/discharge electricity amount without being affected by current measurement error. Under specific selection conditions, a no-load voltage calculation part uses pairs of data consisting of current data I(n) and voltage data V(n) corresponding to the current data to calculate a no-load voltage Vsep as the voltage intercept at a current of zero in a straight-line approximation obtained by statistical processing such as regression analysis using a least squares method. If specific current conditions exist for a certain amount of time, an open circuit voltage calculation part calculates the terminal voltage of the secondary battery as the open circuit voltage Voc.

Abstract: In a charging/discharging control system for controlling an allowable power level of a secondary battery at the time of charging/discharging operations, excessive discharging or recharging of the secondary battery is prevented, and excessive suppression of the charging/discharging of the secondary battery is prevented. A vehicle ECU controls charging/discharging of the secondary battery in accordance with a predetermined allowable power level. A battery ECU detects an actual loading power level of a secondary battery; calculates a differential power level between the detected actual loading power level and an allowable power level; measures the number of times the calculated differential power level has become equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold value; and downwardly revises the allowable power level when the count has become equal to or greater than a predetermined upper-limit level.

Abstract: An apparatus for performing thermowelding of, e.g., a battery module or the like. The surface of a heater of a thermowelding apparatus is subjected to surface treatment through coating of Teflon, fluoroplastics, or the like. Moreover, both side surfaces of the heater are folded. Surface treatment of the heater obviates thermowelding involving interposition of a Teflon tape, thereby improving a working efficiency. Folding both side surfaces of the heater prevents occurrence of warpage, which would otherwise arise during heating, whereby durability of the heater is also enhanced.

Abstract: An abnormal voltage detector apparatus is provided for an assembled battery including a plurality of battery blocks connected in series to each other. In the abnormal voltage detector apparatus, a detecting part detects whether or not each of the battery blocks is in a voltage abnormality state by comparing either one of a voltage of each battery block and each battery measuring voltage, that is a voltage lowered from the voltage of each battery block, with a predetermined reference voltage, generates each of abnormality detecting signals containing information about a detected result, calculates a time ratio of a time interval, for which the assembled battery is in a voltage abnormality state, to a predetermined time interval, based on the abnormality detecting signals, and detects a voltage abnormality of the assembled battery based on a calculated time ratio.

Abstract: Based on a plurality of valid data sets from a data set selection portion, an internal-resistance-during-charging calculation portion calculates the value Rc of internal resistance during charging from the slope of a voltage-current linear approximation during charging, and an internal-resistance-during-charging-and-discharging calculation portion calculates the value Rcd of internal resistance during charging and discharging from the slope of a voltage-current linear approximation during charging and discharging. A judgment portion compares the absolute value ?R of the difference between Rcd and Rc that has been calculated by a difference computation portion with a first predetermined value ?RT1, and when ?R??RT1 is satisfied, the judgment portion outputs Rcd or Rc, whichever is smaller, as the value of internal resistance of a secondary battery.

Abstract: Provided are a battery pack manufacturing method, which can prevent a drawback that some of used secondary batteries constituting a battery pack prematurely come to the end and which can suppress the enlargement of the temporary voltage difference between the used secondary battery at a charging/discharging time (especially in a low-temperature circumstance), and a battery pack. The battery pack manufacturing method comprises an acquiring step (Step S1) of acquiring the individual internal resistances of the secondary batteries already used, a selection step (Step S2) of selecting a plurality of the used secondary batteries having the internal resistances close to each other from a group of the used secondary batteries whose internal resistances have been acquired, and an assembling step (Step S3) of combining the used secondary batteries selected, to constitute the battery pack.