Patents Examined by Yalkew Fantu
  • Patent number: 11565602
    Abstract: A charging system for autonomous transport vehicles including at least one charging contact disposed on each pick floor level of a storage and retrieval system, each of the at least one charging contact being located at a transfer station, at least one power supply configured to supply power to the at least one charging contact, and a controller in communication with the transfer station and being configured to communicate information relating to a transfer of items between the transfer station and a predetermined one of the autonomous transport vehicles and to apply power from the power supply to the at least one charging contact for charging the predetermined autonomous transport vehicle corresponding to the transfer and located at the transfer station, wherein the controller is configured to supply power to the charging contacts simultaneously with the predetermined autonomous transport vehicle exchanging items related to the transfer at the transfer station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: SYMBOLIC LLC
    Inventors: Robert Sullivan, Dmitry Vasilyev
  • Patent number: 11569669
    Abstract: A device for connecting a first network comprising a first energy storage element and a second network comprising a second energy storage element includes switching circuitry and pre-charging circuitry. The switching circuitry is configured to electrically couple the first network and the second network. The switching circuitry comprises a first switching element configured to bi-directionally allow current between the first network and a center point node when operating in a closed state. The switching circuitry further comprises a second switching element configured to bi-directionally allow current between the second network and the center point node when operating in a closed state. The pre-charging circuitry is configured to limit current to the center point node when a first voltage at the first energy storage element equalizes with a second voltage at the second energy storage element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Andreas Miller, Radovan Vuletic
  • Patent number: 11557913
    Abstract: The three-phase synchronous rectifier for battery charger on board vehicle comprises: three rectification units provided with respective inputs connected to respective phases of a permanent magnet generator and with respective outputs connected to a battery of a vehicle; wherein the rectification units are configured to receive at input respective phase currents of the generator and to supply at output rectified currents; and wherein each of the rectification units comprises a current sensor connected to a respective phase of the generator and a respective output circuit connected to the battery and operatively connected to said current sensor; the current sensor being configured to receive at input a respective phase current and the output circuit being configured to be piloted by means of the current sensor to generate the rectified currents; wherein the current sensor comprises at least one toroidal element made of a magnetic material crossed by a lead which conveys the phase current and at least one Hall
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: Ducati Energia S.p.a.
    Inventors: Gianni Regazzi, Pierluigi Calabri
  • Patent number: 11552495
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and devices for temperature-dependent charging of supercapacitor energy storage units of asset tracking devices are provided. An example method for temperature-dependent charging involves obtaining a temperature reading measured at an asset tracking device, the asset tracking device located at an asset to monitor travel of the asset, determining a target voltage for a supercapacitor energy storage unit of the asset tracking device based on the temperature reading to balance utilization of a capacity of the supercapacitor energy storage unit against temperature-dependent deterioration of the supercapacitor energy storage unit, and controlling a charging interface of the asset tracking device to charge the supercapacitor energy storage unit to the target voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Geotab Inc.
    Inventors: James Patrick Howell, Thomas Arthur Walli, Irene Wong, Neil Charles Cawse
  • Patent number: 11552484
    Abstract: Systems/methods for operating a solar charger system. The system comprises: preventing, by a first circuit, damage to the solar charger system when a reverse polarity connection exists between a solar panel and the solar charger system; preventing, by a second circuit, damage to the solar charger system when a reverse polarity connection exists between the battery and the solar charger system; preventing, by a third circuit, damage to the battery when a temperature of a surrounding environment exceeds a pre-defined value while the battery is being charged by the solar charger system; and preventing, by a fourth circuit, back-feed from the battery without any voltage drop or loss while the battery is being charged by the solar charger system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Deltran Operations USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Shread, Edward Brumley
  • Patent number: 11545703
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a charging method and a terminal. The method includes: automatically learning, by the terminal, historical data by using a machine learning algorithm, to establish a habit model of a user, and matching a current time with the usage habit model of the user to determine a current charging intention of the user, so as to determine a charging mode according to the charging intention. By means of the technical solutions, a charging requirement of a user can be effectively identified, and on-demand charging can be implemented. This improves user experience while avoiding a battery life decrease caused by frequent fast charging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dawei Huo, Jie Ding, Pinghua Wang, Hui Li, Jinbo Ma
  • Patent number: 11545845
    Abstract: A battery charger and a method of charging a battery pack. The battery charger may generally include a housing defining an opening, a tray defining a receptacle operable to receive a battery pack, the tray being movable through the opening between an open position, in which the receptacle is accessible, and a closed position, in which the receptacle is closed, and a locking member movable relative to the housing between an unlocked position, in which the tray is movable between the open position and the closed position, and a locked position, in which the tray is retained in the closed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation
    Inventors: Benjamin Gall, Jason R. Crowe, Josh Adams
  • Patent number: 11534901
    Abstract: A battery connector, an electrical combination and methods. The electrical combination may include a battery connector including a housing with a support portion for a battery pack, and a circuit supported by the housing, the circuit including a universal serial bus (USB) input terminal connectable to a USB cable for receiving power, a charging terminal connectable to a pack terminal of the battery pack, and a battery charging portion operable to receive power from the USB input terminal and to output a charging current to the charging terminal to charge the battery pack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew R. Polakowski, Gareth Mueckl, Justin D. Dorman, Patrick S. Lueck, Douglas G. Schwartz
  • Patent number: 11527784
    Abstract: Provided is an energy storage system including: an external power input unit receiving uninterrupted external power; a battery storing electric power; a power adjustment device adjusting the uninterrupted external power and the power of the battery, the battery including a battery module with one or more battery cells; a battery management system; a main switch disposed on a power path between the battery module and the battery management system and a path between the battery module and the power adjustment device; and a wake-up relay receiving a wake-up signal from the power adjustment device and transmitting the wake-up signal to the battery management system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.
    Inventor: Doe Gyun Kim
  • Patent number: 11527903
    Abstract: A charging control method and apparatus, and a device to-be-charged are provided. The method is applicable to the device to-be-charged. The device to-be-charged includes a battery which includes multiple cells. In charging of the device to-be-charged, K stages of constant-current charging is applied to the battery, where K is a positive integer greater than or equal to one. In each of the K stages, a preset current corresponding to the stage is applied to the battery for constant-current charging until a voltage of the battery reaches a preset voltage corresponding to the stage. In each of the K stages, a charging voltage applied to the battery and a voltage across each of the multiple cells are detected. When the charging voltage and/or a voltage across any of the multiple cells is higher than the preset voltage corresponding to the stage, proceed to a next constant-current charging stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.
    Inventor: Wei Chen
  • Patent number: 11515712
    Abstract: A battery module including a plurality of battery sub packs and an electronic device including the battery module is provided. The battery module comprises a battery pack including a plurality of battery sub packs, a power delivery circuit connectable to the plurality of battery sub packs, a plurality of switches connected between the plurality of battery sub packs and the power delivery circuit, and at least one processor configured to control the plurality of switches to transmit power stored in a first battery sub pack to the power delivery circuit during a first time interval and transmit power stored in the power delivery circuit to a second battery sub pack during a second time interval. Other various embodiments are also provided herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kyungmin Lee, Daehyun Kim, Kiyoung Kim, Jaehyuck Shin, Youngho Ryu
  • Patent number: 11498453
    Abstract: The invention provides an equalizing device for a vehicle soft-packed battery and an equalizing method for the soft-packed battery. According to the equalizing method for the vehicle soft-packed battery, a battery to be equalized is connected to a parallel equalization circuit by using an equalizing device for a vehicle soft-packed battery, battery cells to be equalized are sequentially equalized by adopting a first-in first-out sequence, and the SOC of each cell equalized is maintained within a preset range; and the number of the cells entering the equalizing device for the vehicle soft-packed battery is N, and the equalizing time of the battery cells is T. The equalizing device for the vehicle soft-packed battery comprises a holder clamping type or a copper sheet compressing type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF SHANGHAI FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Yuejiu Zheng, Wei Yi, Hang Wu, Long Zhou
  • Patent number: 11495979
    Abstract: A charging output protection circuit and a charging output protection method. The charging output protection circuit includes a battery pack, a charger, a hardware control unit, and a software control unit, the hardware control unit including a detecting circuit for detecting whether a voltage of the battery pack is normal, a first triode connected to the detecting circuit, and a first a relay, the first triode is configured to control the first relay to be switched off or on based on the detection result of the detecting circuit; the software control unit includes a single chip microcomputer, a communication circuit for communicating between the single chip microcomputer and the battery pack, a second triode and a second relay connected to the single chip microcomputer, and the second triode is used for controlling the second relay to be switched off or on based on the instruction of the single chip microcomputer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: Globe (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yong Zhang, Yanqiang Zhu
  • Patent number: 11495985
    Abstract: A charging circuit and a method with an inductor, an input to receive an input voltage, an output, and a switching means is presented. The switching means performs cycles where each cycle includes, switching the circuit such that the inductor enters into an energy charging state in which the inductor stores energy provided by the input voltage. When energy stored in the inductor reaches an energy threshold, the switching circuit operates such that the inductor enters into an energy discharging state in which the inductor provides energy to the output. The energy threshold is based on a predefined maximum energy storage current value and the time between cycles is based on a duration of the energy discharging state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor B.V.
    Inventor: Marinus Wilhelmus Kruiskamp
  • Patent number: 11489342
    Abstract: A charging method includes obtaining, by a charging device, a working status of a sensitive component in a terminal device, where the sensitive component interferes with a process in which the charging device charges the terminal device at a sensitive frequency, and the sensitive frequency is within a range of a charging frequency band of the charging device, determining, by the charging device, a safe charging parameter when the working status is an enabled state, where the safe charging parameter includes at least one of a safe charging frequency, a safe charging current, or a safe charging voltage, and charging, by the charging device, the terminal device using the safe charging parameter, where the sensitive component operates in a normal state when the wireless charging device charges the terminal device using the safe charging parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chuangwei Li, Ke Ai, Tongjie Li, Jianzhong Zou
  • Patent number: 11489353
    Abstract: A storage and charging station for storing and charging a plurality of mobile electronic devices communicable with a remote electronic device. The station comprises a storage assembly and an electrical system coupled to the storage assembly. The storage assembly comprises a frame and a plurality of storage bays supported by the frame. The plurality of storage bays is to receive the plurality of mobile electronic devices. The electrical system comprises a power component, a communication component, a logic component, a memory component, and a plurality of ports electrically coupled to the power component and the communication component. When a first mobile electronic device connects with a first port, the power component powers the first mobile electronic device via the first port, and the station communicates with the remote electronic device via the first port and the first mobile electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Inventors: Nathan R. Roberts, Morgan Lowery, Austin Borkowski
  • Patent number: 11482871
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention relate to an electronic device and a charging control method therefor. The electronic device may comprise: a connection terminal for performing wired communication with an external electronic device; and at least one processor functionally connected to the connection terminal, wherein the at least one processor detects connection of a charging device through the connection terminal, receives state information of at least one adjacent terminal located next to a power terminal of the connection terminal, and controls charging power to be supplied thereto through the charging device, on the basis of the received state information of the adjacent terminal. In addition, various other embodiments are possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Young-Jin Park, Sung-Ha Park, Joon-Yung Park, Jung-Oh Sung, Dong-Rak Shin, Jae-Hyun Ahn, Sung-Eun Lee, Wooin Choi, Insun Choi, Jongik Won
  • Patent number: 11476694
    Abstract: An electronic device is provided that includes a battery, a power management module, and a processor electrically connected to the power management module. The power management module includes a charging circuit including a plurality of switches, a capacitor, and an inductor. The power management module receives power from an external power supply device, identifies an electrical connection between the charging circuit and the external power supply device, operates in a first mode to charge the battery when a type of the external power supply device is a first type, and operates in a second mode to charge the battery when the type of the external power supply device is a second type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Inventors: Hangseok Choi, Kisun Lee
  • Patent number: 11476695
    Abstract: An electronic device, according to an embodiment, may include a battery; a memory storing a parameter related to the battery; and a controller operably coupled to the battery and the memory, wherein the controller is configured to: determine a voltage between a positive pole and a negative pole of the battery in response to detecting a current input for charging the battery; adjust the parameter, based at least partially on the determined voltage and a preset voltage range in response to the identification of the voltage; and input the current to the battery, based on a preset voltage corresponding to the adjusted parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kiyeong Jeong, Hyoseok Na
  • Patent number: 11474154
    Abstract: A characteristic, such as State Of Health (SOH) or State Of Charge (SOC), is estimated for an Energy Storage System (ESS) by supplying a pre-determined signal to the ESS, measuring a response signal output by the ESS, and obtaining an impedance spectrum of the ESS. In one example, the ESS is one of several electrochemical battery packs of an electric vehicle. The pre-determined signal is a current signal generated by a switching power converter that transfers charge from the battery pack to other battery packs or transfers charge from the other battery packs onto the battery pack. The pre-determined signal is generated without disrupting any load supplied by the battery packs. The battery pack outputs a voltage signal in response to receiving the pre-determined current signal. A processor obtains an impedance spectrum using the current and voltage signals, and thereby obtains an SOH and SOC estimate of the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Motiv Power Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: James Michael Castelaz