Patents Examined by John T Trischler
  • Patent number: 11764586
    Abstract: Controllers are provided for providing ports corresponding to Dual Role Powers (DRPs), which may be both the feed side and the receive side, in accordance with the USB Type-C and/or USB Power Delivery standards. The controller includes a control interface for controlling a power management unit for controlling charging and discharging of the secondary battery, a signal transmission module for exchanging a signal with a connection destination via a communication line in the USB cable, and a sequence execution unit. If the power supply from the secondary battery becomes over discharged while the power stored in the secondary battery as the power supply side is being supplied to the connection destination, the sequence execution unit stops the substantial execution of the sequence as the power receiving side unless a predetermined condition is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Norio Kayama
  • Patent number: 11750012
    Abstract: A charging method for charging a battery, including the following steps: obtaining a lithium deposition potential of the anode; obtaining a first charging current In at different states of charge (SOC) during an nth charge and discharge cycle based on the lithium deposition potential of the anode, the n is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and during an mth charge and discharge cycle, charging the battery with a second charging current Im, m is an integer greater than n, and Im=k1×In, 0.5?k1?1. The present application also provides an electronic device and a storage medium. The above-mentioned charging method, electronic device and storage medium can quickly charge the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: Ningde Amperex Technology Limited
    Inventors: Shan Zhu, Ting Guan, Fei Wu
  • Patent number: 11735930
    Abstract: An energy hub apparatus includes a first communicator for receiving state of charge (SOC) information and state of health (SOH) information from a plurality of battery management systems (BMSs), each BMS monitors and controls an energy storage system (ESS) rack, a controller for determining at least one to perform discharging or charging using at least one of load output information, SOC information, and SOH information received from an external device among the plurality of ESS racks, and an energy storage for receiving power from the at least one ESS rack and transmitting the power to an external load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.
    Inventors: Yean Sik Choi, Seong Yeol Yang
  • Patent number: 11735781
    Abstract: A charge and discharge control device that controls charging and discharging of a battery module in which a plurality of cell blocks, each including one or more unit cells, are connected in parallel to one another. A controller of the charge and discharge control device controls a current flowing through each of the cell blocks based on at least one of a current load of each of the cell blocks or a parameter relating to the current load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Nobukatsu Sugiyama, Yumi Fujita, Tomokazu Morita, Ena Ishii
  • Patent number: 11715960
    Abstract: A dual-battery charging and discharging method is described to be used for a dual-screen terminal. The method includes: obtaining a state identifier of the first display screen and a state identifier of the second display screen; determining whether the dual-screen terminal is in a charging state; in response to determining that the dual-screen terminal is in a charging state, controlling the first battery and the second battery to be charged according to the state identifier of the first display screen and the state identifier of the second display screen; and in response to determining that the dual-screen terminal is not in a charging state, controlling whether the first battery and the second battery supply power to the dual-screen terminal according to the state identifier of the first display screen and the state identifier of the second display screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: ZTE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jing Gao, Bin Liu, Ankang Guo
  • Patent number: 11710978
    Abstract: A charger for impulsed charging of a battery includes first and second charging contacts configured to receive a battery to be charged, a DC power input having first and second terminals, and an inductor having first and second ends. The first end is selectively conductively connectable to the first terminal and the second charging contact. The second end is selectively conductively connectable to the first charging contact and the second terminal. A switch is between the second end and the second terminal such that with the switch in a first configuration, the inductor is connected across the DC power input to enable magnetic energization of the inductor, and in a second configuration, the inductor is disconnected from the DC power input and connected across the charging contacts to enable magnetic energy in the inductor to discharge to the battery. The switch is alternated between configurations during charging of the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: MAGNETIC ENERGY CHARGING, INC.
    Inventors: Alan Kacperski, Geoffrey S. Miller
  • Patent number: 11708005
    Abstract: A battery control system includes a plurality of battery cells that are separately controllable as units of individual cells or groups of cells. Each controllable unit may be switchably activated or deactivated in the overall battery circuit, and one or more conditions of each controllable unit may be individually measured. Various techniques are disclosed for operating the battery control system to optimize or improve system performance and longevity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: Exro Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Tung Nguyen, Eric Hustedt
  • Patent number: 11699913
    Abstract: An apparatus including a monitoring unit including a voltage detection circuit which detects a voltage of the plurality of battery cells, a balancing unit including a first common resistor element and a switching module, the first common resistor element connected between a first common node and a second common node, and a control unit operably coupled to the monitoring unit and the switching module, the control unit determining a balancing target including at least one of the plurality of battery cells based on the voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells, controlling the switching module to form a current channel between the first common resistor element and the balancing target and determining a maximum number of battery cells that can be included in the balancing target based on resistance of the first common resistor element and the voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.
    Inventor: Ho-Byung Yoon
  • Patent number: 11697355
    Abstract: A vehicle includes an electrified propulsion system powered by a traction battery over an electrical distribution system (EDS) and a controller programmed to monitor at least one of a current flow and a temperature at a plurality of locations throughout the EDS. The controller is also programmed to implement at least one mitigation action over a predetermined time window in response to detecting a filtered current value exceeding a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Shehan Haputhanthri, Seth Anthony Bryan, Joseph Gerald Supina, Shunsuke Okubo
  • Patent number: 11695165
    Abstract: A battery system includes: first and second battery modules connected between first and second system terminals in parallel; and a controller controlling the first and second battery modules. The first battery module includes a first battery and a first main switch, and a first balancing switch and a first balancing resistor, which are connected to the first main switch in parallel. The second battery module includes a second battery and a second main switch, and a second balancing switch and a second balancing resistor, which are connected to the second main switch in parallel. The controller is configured to detect a first battery voltage and a second battery voltage, and when an absolute value of a difference between the first and second battery voltages is greater than a first reference value, to open the first and second main switches and to close the first and second balancing switches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Samsung SDI Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Byeongjo Kim
  • Patent number: 11689031
    Abstract: A balancing apparatus, a battery management system and a battery pack including the battery management system are described. The balancing apparatus includes a voltage regulator to generate a first high level voltage from a voltage of an auxiliary battery, a power switch electrically connected to a high voltage node of a battery group, a DC-DC converter to generate a second high level voltage from a voltage applied to a voltage input terminal, a balancing unit including a plurality of balancing circuits connected in parallel to a plurality of battery cells of the battery group; and a control unit to hold the first high level voltage applied to the control terminal of the power switch in response to the second high level voltage being applied to the power terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.
    Inventor: Yeo-Bong Yoon
  • Patent number: 11670952
    Abstract: Techniques for controlling charging of a battery of a vehicle comprise receiving, from a positive (B+) voltage sensor, a B+ voltage signal indicative of a voltage at a B+ terminal of an alternator of the vehicle, receiving, from an intelligent battery sensor (IBS), an IBS voltage signal indicative of a voltage at a positive terminal of the battery, applying high pass and low pass filters to the B+ voltage signal and the IBS voltage signals, respectively, estimating a voltage of the battery using both the filtered B+ voltage signal and the filtered IBS voltage signal, adjusting a target voltage for the battery based on the estimated battery voltage, and controlling charging of the battery using the adjusted target voltage to mitigate overcharging and undercharging of the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: FCA US LLC
    Inventor: Paul Yih
  • Patent number: 11626742
    Abstract: A battery control device that controls a battery assembly includes a first determining unit that determines whether a voltage difference between minimum and maximum values of OCVs of battery cells constituting the battery assembly and having an SOC-OCV characteristic curve including a flat region is equal to or larger than a predetermined voltage value, a second determining unit that determines whether the OCV of each battery cell is lower than a lower-limit voltage of the flat region, or is equal to or higher than the lower-limit voltage and lower than an upper-limit voltage, or is higher than the upper-limit voltage, a controller that executes control selected from SOC raising control, SOC lowering control, and SOC keeping control of the battery cells, based on determination results of the first and second determining units, and a processor that homogenizes the SOCs of the battery cells controlled by the controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takayuki Akaishi, Yuhki Shiozumi
  • Patent number: 11616395
    Abstract: A mobile terminal is provided with a housing, a circuit board included in the housing and having a thickness direction normal to a plane of the circuit board, a battery pack included in the housing, and a non-contact charging module included in the housing. The non-contact charging module includes a charging coil formed of a wound conducting wire; a communication coil arranged adjacent to the charging coil; and a magnetic sheet on which the charging coil and the communication coil are arranged. The magnetic sheet has four edges that collectively define a rectangular profile of the magnetic sheet, and at most three pairs of adjacent edges respectively meet to form at most three corners. At least a portion of the non-contact charging module overlaps with the circuit board as viewed in the thickness direction of the circuit board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignee: Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC
    Inventors: Yoshio Koyanagi, Koichi Yamamoto, Takanori Hirobe, Hiroyuki Uejima, Kenichiro Tabata, Shuichiro Yamaguchi, Munenori Fujimura, Akio Hidaka, Takumi Naruse
  • Patent number: 11605964
    Abstract: A system for charging an electric vehicle is presented. A system includes a charging connector. A charging connector includes a housing configured to mate with an electric vehicle port of an electric vehicle. A charging connector includes at least a conductor configured to conduct a current. A charging connector includes a switching mechanism in electromechanical communication with the at least a conductor. A charging connector includes a sensing device configured to measure charging data of an electric vehicle. A system includes a computing device in electronic communication with the charging connector. A computing device is configured to determine charging parameters of an electric vehicle as a function of received charging data. A computing device is configured to communicate charging parameters to a charging connector. A charging connector is configured to deliver power to an electric vehicle as a function of charging parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventor: John Charles Palombini
  • Patent number: 11594883
    Abstract: Fluctuations in the battery life of a plurality of storage batteries are reduced. A DC power supplying system includes power conditioners that supply generated power of power generators to a DC bus, converters that perform voltage conversion on a bus voltage and supply load power to load appliances, bidirectional converters that execute charging operations that charge storage batteries and discharging operations that discharge the storage batteries, and an energy management system that causes the converters to execute a charging operation when the generated power exceeds the load power and to execute a discharging operation when the generated power is below the load power. During a charging operation, the energy management system applies a first voltage-current characteristic that linearly increases the charging current in keeping with an increase in the bus voltage to each bidirectional DC/DC converter with a slope in keeping with the SOC of a storage battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shingo Suzuki, Katsuo Naoi, Takuma Mitsunaga
  • Patent number: 11569668
    Abstract: A system for dynamically balancing power in a battery pack during charging and discharging includes a battery pack, a control unit, and a load unit. The battery pack includes one or more modules. Each module includes one or more bricks. Each brick includes one or more blocks connected either in a series configuration or in a parallel configuration. Each block includes one or more cells. The control unit is connected with the battery pack across each of the blocks for processing power from each of the blocks irrespective of a power mismatch between the blocks. The control unit dynamically balances the power in the battery pack by controlling a differential current from a block with higher state of charge (SOC) to a block of lower SOC, using one or more converters and thereby maximizing available energy of the battery pack during charging and discharging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: IGRENENERGI, INC.
    Inventors: Sunit Tyagi, Jitendra Apte, Hemanshu Bhatt, Anupam Hudait, Ranjith Nandakumar, Pooja Sharma, Dipti Kapadia, Rashmi Naroji, Bhavin Shah, Deepthi Keshavan
  • Patent number: 11567549
    Abstract: A battery cell monitoring circuit comprises an input pin; a reset command detection circuit comprising an integrator circuit coupled to the input pin; a counter circuit coupled to an output terminal of the integrator circuit; and a one-shot circuit coupled to an output terminal of the counter circuit; a logic gate coupled to an output terminal of the one-shot circuit; and a reset circuit coupled to the logic gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Vishnu Vardhan Ravinuthula, Wan Laan Jackie Hui, Indranil Gangopadhyay, Quanqing Hu, Madhu Dundaiah
  • Patent number: 11565598
    Abstract: A charging system for an autonomous rover includes a charging interface with contacts that interface with the autonomous rover, a rover power source for the autonomous rover, and circuitry operated by the autonomous rover for controlling charging of the rover power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Symbotic LLC
    Inventors: Rick K. Dorval, Predrag Puskarevic, John Matthews
  • Patent number: 11545841
    Abstract: An apparatus for communication and balancing in a battery system includes a battery pack connected to a management network. The management network is configured to communicate with a master controller via a communication bus. The apparatus is configured to operate in a communication mode and a balancing mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Joris Lemahieu, Andre Saillart, Peter H. J. M. Cox, Pierre Lebas