Abstract: An apparatus for charging electric vehicles is provided. The apparatus includes a housing, a sleeve extending from the housing, a first nozzle assembly designed to move inside the sleeve and to engage a charging port of an electric vehicle, and a second nozzle assembly designed to move inside the sleeve independently of the first nozzle assembly. The second nozzle assembly has a recess for receiving a locking pawl of the charging port. The second nozzle assembly is designed to be fully inserted into the charging port before the first nozzle assembly is fully inserted into the charging port. The recess receives the locking pawl after the ground pin engages the inlet ground pin. The first nozzle assembly is designed to be fully inserted into the charging port after the locking pawl is secured inside the recess of the second nozzle assembly.

Abstract: A battery system comprises a battery pack, an equalization unit, and a battery ECU. The battery pack includes a plurality of blocks connected in series. The equalization unit performs equalization control to equalize the plurality of blocks in voltage. The battery ECU obtains a determined equalization time, and controls the equalization unit to end the equalization control when the equalization time has elapsed since the equalization control was started.

Abstract: A pluggable state-of-charge (SOC) indicator and methods of use are disclosed. The pluggable SOC indicator includes at least one voltage input jack for connecting to a battery, at least one instance of control electronics, and at least one SOC indicator, such as a 5-bar liquid crystal display (LCD). Embodiments of the pluggable SOC indicator include, but are not limited to, a pluggable single-connector SOC indicator, a pluggable dual-connector SOC indicator, a pluggable tri-connector SOC indicator, and a pluggable quad-connector SOC indicator. Further, the control electronics are programmable for any input voltage range and/or battery discharge characteristics.

Abstract: A charging system which charges a power storage device mounted on a moving object, includes: an electric power conversion device that converts electric power supplied from a commercial power supply; a kinetic energy storage device that stores kinetic energy; and a rotary electric machine that is electrically connected to the electric power conversion device and is mechanically connected to the kinetic energy storage device.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and articles for a portable power case are disclosed. The portable power case is comprised of at least one battery and at least one PCB. The portable power case is operable to supply power to a transceiver. The portable power case is operable to be charged using a DC power source (e.g., solar panel, wind turbine, water turbine). A plurality of portable power cases, DC power sources, and transceivers are operable to form a mesh network.

Abstract: A charging control apparatus of an embodiment includes a history acquiring section that acquires history information indicating a usage situation and a charging situation of a battery; a pattern determining section that determines a charging period pattern that most closely resembles a charging habit of a user based on the history information; a display control section that controls a display section to display a charging end SOC, charging start SOC, and tolerable lower limit SOC corresponding to the determined charging period pattern in the display section; and a charging control section that, if a setting is changed in a manner to lower the charging end SOC according to a manipulation by the user, controls the battery to be charged based on the charging end SOC resulting from the change.

Abstract: A battery and a corresponding battery charger, wherein the battery charger can identify a type of the connected battery to ensure that an appropriate charging current is supplied.

Abstract: Disclosed is a charging case, comprising a control module, a charging case battery and a voltage conversion module; the charging case battery is connected with the voltage conversion module; the voltage conversion module is configured for converting a direct current output by the charging case battery into a charging voltage and outputting the charging voltage to a charging management chip of a to-be-charged device so as to charge a battery of the to-be-charged device through the charging management chip; the control module is configured to regulate the charging voltage output by the voltage conversion module according to a voltage of the battery of the to-be-charged device during charging of the battery of the to-be-charged device.

Abstract: A method of estimating a maximum power limit of a battery cell at a specified prediction time using an improved RC equivalent circuit battery model and based on the battery cell's state of charge (SOC), temperature, and state of health (SOH). The method includes determining the battery cell's peak and continuous current limits, predicting a peak voltage after the specified prediction time based on the peak current limit, determining buffer values for the predicted peak voltage and the temperature of various battery components, setting a maximum current limit based on the buffer values, predicting a maximum voltage after the specified prediction time based on the maximum current limit, and determining a maximum power limit based on the predicted maximum voltage and the maximum current limit.

Abstract: The presently disclosed subject matter aims to provide a wearable electronic device charging unit configured to be fastened onto a wearable electronic device strap attached to a wearable electronic device case, the wearable electronic device charging unit comprising: a power source; and, at least one attaching element coupled to the power source configured to attach the power source onto the wearable electronic device strap; wherein the power source is configured to be in an electrical communication with a rechargeable battery located within the wearable electronic device case so as to recharge the rechargeable battery without interfering with the operation of one or more power-consuming components located on the wearable electronic device case.

Abstract: Various disclosed embodiments include illustrative control units, systems, and methods. In an illustrative embodiment, a control unit includes a processor and computer-readable media that stores computer-executable instructions. The instructions cause the processor to establish a reserve level for a battery of a first device. The reserve level provides sufficient electrical power to enable the device to achieve a function. The instructions further cause the processor to enable the battery to function as a power supply configured to provide electrical power for a second device external to the first device responsive to a power level of the battery exceeding the reserve level and to disable use of the battery as the power supply for the second device responsive to the power level of the battery being below the reserve level.

Abstract: A charging control method includes: obtaining a battery electric quantity of the terminal device and current state information of the terminal device; determining a target charging strategy according to the battery electric quantity and/or the current state information; and controlling the terminal device to be charged according to the target charging strategy.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a decentralized active equalization method for a cascaded lithium-ion battery pack. The method includes: connecting each battery cell in the cascaded lithium-ion battery pack to a direct current (DC) bus through an equalizer respectively, where each equalizer includes an independent controller, a sampling circuit, a power supply circuit, a drive circuit, and a main circuit; connecting an input terminal of the main circuit to a corresponding battery cell, and connecting an output terminal of the main circuit to the DC bus. The present disclosure solves the technical problem that an existing cascaded lithium-ion battery pack equalization method cannot achieve equalization when a centralized controller failure or a communication failure occurs, improves the reliability of the equalization method, can make the equalizer work at high efficiency by configuring parameters of C, K, and R, and speeds up the equalization or improves the equalization accuracy.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for converting power using a multi-output switched-mode power supply (SMPS) coupled to a multi-cell-in-series battery, such as charging a two-cell-in-series (2S) battery using a dual-output three-level buck converter coupled thereto, or using a multi-input SMPS circuit receiving power from a multi-cell-in-series battery. One example power supply circuit generally includes a switched-mode power supply circuit having an input node and an output node, a battery comprising multiple cells connected in series, a charge pump circuit having a first terminal and a second terminal, the second terminal of the charge pump circuit being coupled to the battery, a first switch coupled between the output node of the switched-mode power supply circuit and the first terminal of the charge pump circuit, and a second switch coupled between the output node of the switched-mode power supply circuit and the second terminal of the charge pump circuit.

Abstract: A system for charging a battery for a vehicle using a motor driving system that operates a motor having a plurality of windings is disclose. The system includes a first inverter having a plurality of first switching elements, a DC terminal connected to the battery, and an AC terminal connected to one terminal of the plurality of windings, a second inverter having a plurality of second switching elements, a DC terminal selectively short-circuited/opened with the DC terminal of the first inverter, and an AC terminal connected to the other terminal of the plurality of windings, and a controller configured to control an electric connection state between the DC terminals of the first inverter and the second inverter and an open/short-circuited state of the first switching elements and the second switching elements.

Abstract: The presently disclosed embodiments generally relate to systems, devices, and methods for sensing and charging of electronic devices using coils. In some embodiments, the presently disclosed system can include a pad, a charging foot, and a backpack. The pad can include one or more nested coils therein that can sense one or more corresponding receiver coils of an unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that landed thereon. The nested coils of the pad can provide charging energy to the UAV independent of the location along the pad in which the UAV landed, and no precise alignment between the receiver coils and the charging coils is required. The charging foot can be attached to one or more legs of the UAV, and can include a receiver coil and circuitry to regulate energy received by the coil to a charging voltage level that can be provided to the battery.

Abstract: A charge and discharge control device includes a controller configured to: predict, for each of vehicles included in a vehicle group, a remaining capacity of a storage battery mounted on each of the vehicles within a future predetermined period using a behavior prediction model that predicts behavior of each of the vehicle; optimize, for each vehicle, an instruction value of a charge and discharge power amount of the storage battery within the predetermined period such that an accumulation value of the charge and discharge power amounts follows a demand value for the vehicle group while minimizing a degradation amount of the storage battery using the predicted remaining capacities of the storage batteries and a battery degradation prediction model that predicts the degradation amount of the storage battery from the remaining capacity; and control a charging and discharging operation of the storage battery according to the optimized instruction value.

Abstract: A method, and associated batteries and battery charging units, that involve inducing electric and/or magnetic fields (field-induced current) across an electrode of a electrochemical cell, such as an anode of a battery. The field and current across the electrode may be referred to herein as a transverse current as this current is typically transverse to the ionic charge current that may be applied when charging a battery. The field and current may be induced from connecting AC energy, e.g., AC current, across the electrode or at a discrete point or points of the electrode. The induced field and current may suppress dendrite growth, experienced in conventional batteries without AC energy, among other advantages.

Abstract: Power distribution system architectures are described that can safely and effectively support the power needs of automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) systems and state-of-the-art autonomous systems and devices. In some implementations, a power distribution system may include: vehicle power sources that produce an output voltage to operate one or more devices in the vehicle, and power bridge devices that electrically couple an vehicle power source to the multiple banks of battery bridge devices and to power distribution units (PDUs). Various electrical loads in the vehicle can be electrically coupled to the battery bridge devices and to the PDUs.

Abstract: A charging system includes an AC power source, a plurality of rectifier circuits, a plurality of positive electrode side current cutoff circuits, and a control device. The plurality of rectifier circuits are connected between the AC power source and each of a plurality of battery modules. Each rectifier circuit supplies DC power obtained by rectifying AC power supplied from the AC power source to each battery module. The plurality of positive electrode side current cutoff circuits are connected between each of the plurality of battery modules and each of the plurality of rectifier circuits. Each positive electrode side current cutoff circuit automatically switches between conduction and cutoff of a current between each battery module and each rectifier circuit according to AC power input to each rectifier circuit.