Patents Examined by Carmen Lyles-Irving
  • Patent number: 9172091
    Abstract: Provided are a core-shell type anode active material for lithium secondary batteries including a carbonaceous material core; and a shell formed outside the carbonaceous material core, the shell including a PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) medium. The core-shell type anode active material for lithium secondary batteries has the shell including the PTC medium, and thus has the improved conductivity and high output density, exhibiting excellent electrical characteristics. And, a lithium secondary battery manufactured using the anode active material has excellent safety, in particular safety against overcharge and external short circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2015
    Assignee: Kokam Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ji-Jun Hong, Sung-Tae Ko, Yoon-Jeong Heo
  • Patent number: 9166218
    Abstract: A battery system includes a battery including an anode, a cathode, and a liquid electrolyte; and a conduit communicating to the battery an electrolyte liquid having an electrolyte salt density lower than an electrolyte salt density of the liquid electrolyte. The electrolyte may be non-aqueous. The electrolyte may be volatile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Mohan Karulkar, James A. Adams, Andrew Robert Drews
  • Patent number: 9159964
    Abstract: A solid-state, mismatched battery comprises a first battery cell having a first internal resistance, and a second battery cell having a second internal resistance, the second internal resistance being a predefined resistance that is less than the first internal resistance. One or more of electrical connectors electrically couple the first and second battery cells. A casing encloses the first and second battery cells. A pair of terminals is electrically coupled to the first and second battery cells to output electrical power to an external load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2015
    Assignee: FRONT EDGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Tung-Hsiu Shih, Kai Wei Nieh, Victor Krasnov
  • Patent number: 9153809
    Abstract: A secondary battery includes an electrode assembly includes first and second electrode non-coating portions exposed from respective sides of an electrode assembly, first and second collecting plates in contact with and fixed to the respective first and second electrode non-coating portions, a retainer including first and second fixing slits that accommodate the first and second collecting plates connected to the electrode assembly, respectively, and a case that accommodates the retainer accommodating the electrode assembly and the first collecting plate. The retainer includes a first side part including the first fixing slit, a second side part facing the first side part and including the second fixing slit, and a bottom part connecting the first and second side parts to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2015
    Assignees: SAMSUNG SDI CO., LTD., ROBERT BOSCH GmbH
    Inventors: Dukjung Kim, Joongheon Kim, In Kim
  • Patent number: 9147901
    Abstract: A fuel cell system (1) with a fuel cell unit (2) including at least one fuel cell (3), as well as an anode gas feed (11) including a reformer (12). A reduced deposit of hydrocarbons on an anode (5) of the fuel cell (3), especially in case of a cold start of the fuel cell system (1), is achieved when the anode gas feed (11) has a reduction device (14), which is arranged between the reformer (12) and the anode (5).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: Eberspächer Climate Control Systems GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Karsten Reiners, Christian Weiss, Andreas Kaupert
  • Patent number: 9136536
    Abstract: Cohesive carbon assemblies are prepared by obtaining a functionalized carbon starting material in the form of powder, particles, flakes, loose agglomerates, aqueous wet cake, or aqueous slurry, dispersing the carbon in water by mechanical agitation and/or refluxing, and substantially removing the water, typically by evaporation, whereby the cohesive assembly of carbon is formed. The method is suitable for preparing free-standing, monolithic assemblies of carbon nanotubes in the form of films, wafers, discs, fiber, or wire, having high carbon packing density and low electrical resistivity. The method is also suitable for preparing substrates coated with an adherent cohesive carbon assembly. The assemblies have various potential applications, such as electrodes or current collectors in electrochemical capacitors, fuel cells, and batteries, or as transparent conductors, conductive inks, pastes, and coatings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: Yazaki Corporation
    Inventors: Leonid Grigorian, Sean Imtiaz Brahim
  • Patent number: 9128162
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that estimates a state of charge for a battery. During operation, while the battery is relaxing toward a fully rested state, the system determines if a modified state of charge of the battery is substantially consistent with a predetermined decay pattern. If so, the system estimates the state of charge of the battery as a value of the modified state of charge determined at the time when the consistency is observed. Otherwise, the system continues monitoring the modified state of charge of the battery. In one embodiment, the predetermined decay pattern is a single exponential decay. After estimating the state of charge of the battery, the system may determine an uncertainty of the estimated state of charge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas C. Greening, Jeffrey G. Koller, Nils E. Mattisson, P. Jeffrey Ungar
  • Patent number: 9123962
    Abstract: A flow battery includes an electrode operable to be wet by a solution having a reversible redox couple reactant. In one embodiment, the electrode can have plurality of micro and macro pores, wherein the macro pores have a size at least one order of magnitude greater than a size of the micro pores. In another embodiment, the electrode includes a plurality of layers, wherein one of the plurality of layers has a plurality of macro pores, and wherein another one of the plurality of layers has a plurality of micro pores. In another embodiment, the electrode has a thickness less than approximately 2 mm. In still another embodiment, the electrode has a porous carbon layer, wherein the layer is formed of a plurality of particles bound together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Rachid Zaffou, Michael L. Perry, Arun Pandy, Sergei F. Burlatsky, Vadim Atrazhev
  • Patent number: 9123978
    Abstract: A method includes coupling two conducting rods between terminals of a battery cell of a battery having several branches coupled in parallel, each branch having several battery cells coupled in series. A force tending to squeeze the rods against each other is applied, with the rods being held apart from each other using an insulating block. At least one operating state signal of the cell is monitored, and the insulating block is removed based on the monitoring, allowing the rods to come into electrical contact and short-circuit the battery cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics SA
    Inventor: Jochen Langheim
  • Patent number: 9118069
    Abstract: A battery cell has a main body including active material configured to generate power from an electrochemical reaction. A first terminal is disposed on the main body and includes an integrated busbar. The integrated busbar is configured to place the battery cell in electrical communication with a second terminal of an adjacent battery cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Barton W. McLaughlin, Robert J. Heydel
  • Patent number: 9118052
    Abstract: The present invention discloses an integrated SOFC system powered by natural gas. Specifically, a SOFC-O cell is combined with a SOFC-H cell so as to take advantage of the high operating temperature and steam reforming capabilities of the SOFC-O cell as well as the higher fuel conversion efficiency of the SOFC-H cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Assignees: Philips 66 Company, Georgia Tech Research Corporation
    Inventors: Mingfei Liu, Meilin Liu, Ting He
  • Patent number: 9112212
    Abstract: Provided are novel methods of fabricating electrochemical cells containing high capacity active materials that form multilayered solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) structures on the active material surface during cell fabrication. Combining multiple different SEI layers on one surface can substantially improve cell performance by providing each layer with different properties. For example, an outer layer having a high electronic resistance may be combined with an inner layer having a high ionic permeability. To form such multilayered SEI structures, formation may involve changing electrolyte composition, functionalizing surfaces, and/or varying formation conditions. For example, formation may start with a boron containing electrolyte. This initial electrolyte is then replaced with an electrolyte that does not contain boron and instead may contain fluorine additives. In certain embodiments, cell's temperature is changed during formation to initiate different chemical reactions during SEI formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Assignee: Amprius, Inc.
    Inventors: Rainer J Fasching, Gregory Alan Roberts, Yi Cui, Song Han
  • Patent number: 9105891
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell of a solid polymer type that generates power by using a hydrogen-containing gas as a fuel gas, a reformer that generates the fuel gas by reforming ammonia, and a supply amount ratio control unit that controls a supply amount ratio of oxygen and ammonia to be supplied the reformer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hideo Nagaosa
  • Patent number: 9105887
    Abstract: A system and method for controlling an injector in a fuel cell system. The method provides a variety of injector pulse widths for at least one predetermined duty cycle and determines an injector close time for each of the variety of injector pulse widths. The method also determines an error for the at least one predetermined duty cycle based on each of the provided injector pulse widths and uses the injector pulse width with the lowest error for the at least one predetermined duty cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Daniel C. Di Fiore, Matthew A. Lang
  • Patent number: 9093700
    Abstract: A battery terminal cover is provided. The battery terminal cover has a base arranged to cover a battery terminal root, a tower arranged to cover a battery terminal post, and a projection coupled to the battery terminal cover. The projection has a retention area for temporary storage of a later used fastener for coupling to the battery terminal post. A battery is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Glenn W. Andersen, William J. Ross, Micah C. Mahnke, Jeff Hindman
  • Patent number: 9093686
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a battery pack including a battery module including a cell module stack having a structure in which a plurality of cell modules, each of which includes a battery cell mounted in a cartridge, is vertically stacked, a lower end plate to support a lower end of the cell module stack, an upper end plate to fix an uppermost cartridge of the cell module stack disposed on the lower end plate, and a voltage detection assembly to detect voltages of the battery cells, a box type pack case in which the battery module is mounted, a pack cover coupled to the pack case, and fastening extension members protruding upward from the battery module to couple the battery module to the pack case and the pack cover.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: LG CHEM, LTD.
    Inventors: BumHyun Lee, Jin Kyu Lee, MinJung Kim, Jong Moon Yoon, DalMo Kang
  • Patent number: 9093695
    Abstract: A lithium-ion storage battery includes LiFePO4 as an active material for a positive electrode, an active material for a negative electrode having a lithium insertion/extraction potential equal to or greater than 0.5 V vs. Li+/Li, and a separating element placed between the positive and negative electrodes. The active material for the negative electrode is a lithiated titanium oxide, a derivative of a lithiated titanium oxide, a non lithiated titanium oxide, a derivative of a non lithiated titanium oxide or a mixture thereof. The separating element is formed from a non-woven fabric comprising cellulose fibers or glass fibers of nanometric and/or micrometric size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
    Inventors: Marianne Chami, Sebastien Martinet, Florence Masse
  • Patent number: 9083030
    Abstract: There is provided a battery module including a first housing and a second housing, the first housing and the second housing each retaining a plurality of rechargeable batteries electrically connected to each other, the second housing being stacked on the first housing, and at least one of the rechargeable batteries retained by the second housing being coupled with at least one of the rechargeable batteries retained by the first housing; and a connecting member electrically connecting electrode terminals of the at least one rechargeable battery retained by the first housing and the at least one rechargeable battery retained by the second housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignees: SAMSUNG SDI CO., LTD., ROBERT BOSCH GmbH
    Inventors: Shi-Dong Park, Tae-Yong Kim
  • Patent number: 9083019
    Abstract: A flow battery system includes a flow battery stack, a sensor and a coolant loop. The flow battery stack has an electrolyte solution flowing therethrough, and the sensor is in communication with the electrolyte solution. The coolant loop is in heat exchange communication with the electrolyte solution, wherein the heat exchange communication is selective based on an output from the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Michael L. Perry, Rachid Zaffou
  • Patent number: 9077018
    Abstract: A battery unit includes: a main accommodation casing that includes a power output terminal; at least one sub-module that is accommodated in the main accommodation casing; and a control unit that is accommodated in the main accommodation casing and controls at least one of charging and discharging of a unit battery, wherein in the sub-module, two or more battery blocks are accommodated inside a sub-accommodation casing so that the terminals of the battery blocks each including a plurality of unit batteries are not exposed and the battery blocks are connected to each other through an electric connection member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuya Adachi, Tsutomu Aoyama