Patents Examined by Jas Sanghera
  • Patent number: 11598819
    Abstract: Ascertaining a charge state of a battery system that includes at least one battery cell and one additional energy store that is connected in series with the at least one battery cell and can be switched in and out. One method includes switching in the additional energy store; measuring a voltage of the additional energy store at predefined time intervals; ascertaining a capacity change of the additional energy store with reference to the measured voltage and to a characteristic voltage curve of the additional energy store; ascertaining a charge throughput of the additional energy store with reference to the ascertained capacity change of the additional energy store; and ascertaining the charge state of the battery system with reference to the ascertained charge throughput.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Arpad Imre
  • Patent number: 11592493
    Abstract: A method for battery capacity estimation is provided. The method includes monitoring a sensor, collecting a plurality of data points including a voltage-based state of charge value and an integrated current value, defining within the data points a first data set collected during a first time period and a second data set collected during a second time period, determining an integrated current error related to the second data set, comparing the integrated current error related to the second data set to a threshold integrated current error. When the error related to the second data set exceeds the threshold, the method further includes resetting the second data set based upon an integrated current value from the first time period. The method further includes combining the data sets to create a combined data set and determining a voltage slope capacity estimate as a change in integrated current versus voltage-based state of charge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Alfred Zhang, Justin Bunnell, Garrett M. Seeman, Jeffrey S. Piasecki, Charles W. Wampler, Brian J. Koch, Jing Gao, Jeffrey A. Bednar, Xiumei Guo, Justin R. McDade
  • Patent number: 11594743
    Abstract: A method of inspecting short circuit of an electrolyte membrane by a short circuit inspection apparatus includes an obtaining step of performing a process of obtaining the energization state of a limited range including divided portions that are adjacent to each other in a range which is smaller than the entire range of the plurality of divided portions, for each of a plurality of limited ranges provided at different positions, and a determination step of determining whether or not a short circuit portion is present in the electrolyte membrane based on the energization state of the plurality of limited ranges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroaki Kawanishi, Hiroyuki Yamagishi
  • Patent number: 11585855
    Abstract: A measuring assembly for measuring a temperature and a voltage includes a contact element including a temperature sensor and an electrically conductive portion, a voltage measurement conductor electrically connected to the conductive portion of the contact element, and an electrically conductive fixation element electrically connected to the conductive portion of the contact element, the electrically conductive fixation element extending through a fixation hole of a busbar in a fixed state to connect to the busbar by an elastic force provided by the electrically conductive fixation element in the fixed state, and the electrically conductive fixation element pressing the contact element to a measuring surface of the busbar by the elastic force in the fixed state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: SAMSUNG SDI CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Andreas Köppel, Fritz Haring
  • Patent number: 11588162
    Abstract: A method of detecting degradation of a membrane electrode assembly of a fuel cell is provided. In the method, it is possible to detect degradation (cross leakage) of the fuel cell. In the measurement step, the pressure drop value of the pressure of the fuel gas which decreases in the power generation state after discharging of the predetermined amount of the fuel gas, in each predetermined period of time is measured a plurality of times. Thereafter, in the determination step, it is determined that the membrane electrode assembly has been degraded in the case where the minimum pressure drop value, among a plurality of pressure measurement values, exceeds a threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhide Inoue, Kuniaki Ojima, Tomoyuki Inoue, Osamu Ogami
  • Patent number: 11579206
    Abstract: A method for estimating the state of health of an exchangeable rechargeable battery. The method includes: i. determining a remaining capacity of the battery during a charging operation, in such a manner, that a first charging value is ascertained by measuring an open-circuit voltage, as long as no charging current or only a minimal charging current is flowing; at least one further charging value is ascertained by measuring the charging current in specific time intervals, until the charging operation is completed; and a sum of the ascertained charging values is calculated; ii. determining a remaining performance of the battery during the charging operation in such a manner, that after a predefined battery voltage is reached, the charging current is briefly changed, and the respective battery voltage is measured; and an impedance of the battery is calculated from the quotient of the difference of the measured charging currents and battery voltages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Mischa Nicklaus, Andreas Gonser, Marc-Alexandre Seibert
  • Patent number: 11579205
    Abstract: Provided is an estimation device including: an acquisition unit that acquires measurement data on an energy storage device; an estimation unit that estimates the amount of deterioration for each deterioration mechanism of the energy storage device based on the acquired measurement data; and an output unit that outputs information based on an estimation result of the estimation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: GS Yuasa International Ltd.
    Inventors: Yosuke Okabe, Shota Yamauchi, Shuji Hitomi, Shigeki Yamate
  • Patent number: 11573250
    Abstract: An electric circuit arrangement and a measuring method for a galvanically insulated, AC/DC sensitive differential current measurement having a high resolution having: a toroid current transformer having at least one secondary winding for detecting a differential current; a driver circuit for powering the secondary winding; a first oscillator circuit for controlling the driver circuit and for generating a time-modulated binary oscillator signal having dwell times in a state 1 and a state 2; a second oscillator circuit for determining the corresponding dwell time in the states 1 and 2 in high resolution by means of a clock signal having a clock rate independent of the oscillator signal; an evaluation device for evaluating the dwell time; and a data interface for outputting a differential-current measuring value; the driver circuit and the second oscillator circuit each being realized as structurally individual, integrated circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: Bender GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Pascal Becker
  • Patent number: 11564608
    Abstract: Systems and methods for performing online spike recovery from multi-channel electrophysiological recordings in accordance with various embodiments of the invention are described. One embodiment of a method of performing online spike recovery from multi-channel electrophysiological recordings includes: determining a set of waveform templates; continuously obtaining multi-channel electrophysiological recordings using a multi-channel electrode; and automatically performing online spike recovery from the multi-channel electrophysiological recordings using a processing system that performs a method for sparse signal recovery that continuously adjusts a processing buffer size based upon newly obtained multi-channel electrophysiological recordings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Inventors: Sebastian Weingärtner, Tirin Moore
  • Patent number: 11569536
    Abstract: An electrical energy store has a plurality of storage modules, each of which has at least one temperature sensor string having a temperature sensor in the form of a temperature-dependent resistor for measuring the storage module temperature, and a battery control unit, which, based on the resistance values of the temperature sensor strings, determines the temperatures at the respective temperature sensors. The battery control unit is designed to determine a respective storage module type based on the measured resistance values of the temperature sensor strings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Timo Anderten, Florian Pritscher, Michael Schneider
  • Patent number: 11567140
    Abstract: An exciter unit, a battery system including the exciter unit, and a method for determining a battery state of at least one battery cell. The method includes: a. applying a current-exciting signal; b. recording an impedance spectrum of the battery cell; c. determining an evaluation variable on the basis of a measured impedance spectrum. At least one of the amplitude, frequency and relative phase difference of at least one component of the current-exciting signal is modified as a function of the first measured response signal such that a measuring error is minimized, a further measured response signal is determined and evaluated, the value evaluated is used as an evaluation variable, and the battery state variables of the battery cell are determined on the basis of a comparison of at least one diagnostic variable with at least one reference value and/or with at least one further diagnostic variable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Inventors: Hendrik Zappen, Alexander Gitis
  • Patent number: 11567139
    Abstract: A diagnostic device for a secondary battery which is an all-solid-state battery containing a solid electrolyte transporting lithium ions, in which the diagnostic device includes: an interruption means configured to interrupt a charging current or a discharging current of the secondary battery connected to a circuit; a measuring means configured to measure over time a variation characteristic of a terminal voltage of the secondary battery after the current is interrupted by the interruption means; and a diagnostic means configured to diagnose the cause of the degradation of the secondary battery by comparing a change rate or a change amount in voltage between a charging characteristic specified from measured values of a terminal voltage of the secondary battery measured by the measuring means, a charging/discharging characteristic specified from the measured values of the terminal voltage measured by the measuring means, and a reference characteristic of the secondary battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sakai, Pu Qian
  • Patent number: 11554850
    Abstract: A blade angle feedback assembly for an aircraft-bladed rotor, the rotor rotatable about a longitudinal axis and having an adjustable blade pitch angle, is provided. The assembly comprises a feedback device coupled to rotate with the rotor and to move along the longitudinal axis with adjustment of the blade pitch angle, the feedback device comprising a plurality of position markers circumferentially spaced around the feedback device, a plurality of sensors positioned adjacent the feedback device and each configured for producing a sensor signal in response to detecting passage of the position markers as the feedback device rotates about the longitudinal axis, the sensors circumferentially spaced around the feedback device and axially offset along the longitudinal axis, and a control unit communicatively coupled to the sensors and configured to generate a feedback signal indicative of the blade pitch angle in response to the sensor signals received from the sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventor: Dana Tomescu
  • Patent number: 11549990
    Abstract: A capacity judgment module and a capacity calibration method thereof are disclosed. The capacity judgment module is used to judge a capacity of a battery installed in an electronic device. The capacity judgment module includes a database, a voltage detection module and a processing module. The database is used to store the voltage-capacity comparison curve. The voltage detection module is used to obtain a voltage value interval between a maximum use voltage value and a minimum use voltage value of the electronic device so as to divide the voltage value interval into a plurality of levels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Gunitech Corp.
    Inventors: Huan-Ruei Shiu, Chung-Liang Hsu, Ming-Yi Wang, Hsin-Yi Kao
  • Patent number: 11543459
    Abstract: When a battery is insufficiently charged to allow ohmic testing of its condition, a charging source is connected to the battery, and a charge-acceptance test is performed to determine whether the battery is simply discharged but otherwise usable or beyond its useful service life.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: Battery Technolgy Holdings LLC
    Inventor: Andrew F Kallfelz
  • Patent number: 11543386
    Abstract: A rope tester to ascertain the condition of a wire rope in advance without increasing workload, Including a magnetization detector having a magnetizer for generating a magnetic force, and a detector for detecting a change in magnetism produced in a wire rope magnetized by the magnetic force generated by the magnetizer; a digital camera, which is provided a predetermined distance away from the magnetization detector along the traveling direction of the wire rope, for imaging the wire rope; and a controller, which is connected to the magnetization detector and to the digital camera, for detecting the location of a defect in the wire rope based on a change in magnetism detected by the magnetization detector, and outputting a drive signal that actuates the digital camera at a timing at which the defect location arrives at the location at which the digital camera is installed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: TOKYO ROPE MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Youta Hashime, Hiroaki Itoi, Ippei Furukawa, Youhei Nakamoto
  • Patent number: 11536773
    Abstract: An electronic device includes an ADC, a multiplexer, a voltage reference circuit, an analog circuit, and a digital circuit. The ADC has a signal input, a reference input, and an output. The multiplexer has signal inputs and a signal output coupled to the signal input of the ADC. The voltage reference circuit has an output coupled to the reference input of the ADC, a first strain sensor coupled to a first signal input of the multiplexer, a second strain sensor coupled to a second signal input of the multiplexer, and a temperature sensor. The analog circuit has an input coupled to a battery, and an output coupled to a fourth signal input of the multiplexer. The digital circuit is coupled to the output of the ADC and stores correction parameters for correcting a converted battery voltage value from the ADC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Jose Antonio Vieira Formenti, Michael Szelong, Takao Oshida, Tobias Bernhard Fritz, Vishnu Ravinuthula
  • Patent number: 11536771
    Abstract: The current sensor includes a battery terminal part that has electrical conductivity and is fastened to a battery post constituting a negative electrode of a battery, and a shunt resistor that is conductively connected to the battery terminal part via a joint part, the shunt resistor including a first detection terminal and a second detection terminal for detecting an electric current. The battery terminal part includes a third detection terminal for detecting a voltage of the battery between the joint part and the battery post. As a result, the current sensor can properly detect a voltage of the battery together with an electric current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: YAZAKI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasunori Kawaguchi, Takanori Toma
  • Patent number: 11536774
    Abstract: A communication device is provided with: a first communication part that is connected to an energy storage device or a power supply related apparatus and communicates with the energy storage device or the power supply related apparatus; an acquisition part that acquires information including a state of the energy storage device or the power supply related apparatus on the basis of a set timing; a change acceptance part that accepts a change in the timing and changes the timing; and a transmission part that transmits, at a timing after the change, the information acquired by the acquisition part to a first apparatus by using a second communication part communicatively connected to the first apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: GS YUASA INTERNATIONAL LTD.
    Inventors: Keita Nakai, Hitoshi Matsushima, Tomikatsu Uchihori, Tetsuro Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 11531070
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure provide for a circuit. In at least some examples, the circuit includes an output node at which a voltage for transmission via a differential conductor is present. The circuit further includes a first pull-up network coupled between a voltage supply node and the output node and configured to include a first amount of resistance. The circuit further includes a second pull-up network coupled between a voltage supply node and the output node and configured to include a second amount of resistance. The circuit further includes a comparator having a first input terminal coupled to the output node, a second input terminal configured to receive a reference voltage, and an output terminal configured to output a comparison result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Satya Someswara Kaushik Yanamandra, Soumya Chandramouli, Michael Shin-Chyr Lu