Patents Examined by John T Trischler
  • Patent number: 11539229
    Abstract: Provided are a multi-stage constant current charging method and a charging apparatus. The multi-stage constant current charging method includes the following. Perform a multi-stage constant-current charging on a battery, where a constant-current charging cut-off voltage is larger than a second voltage. Perform a constant-voltage charging on the battery, where a constant-voltage charging cut-off current is larger than a second current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.
    Inventors: Jun Zhang, Chunying Qu
  • Patent number: 11527900
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method for managing a battery are based upon degradation determination of the battery. The method includes determining a charging method when starting charging of a battery, storing at least one of a charge voltage, charge current, and temperature when starting charging of the battery, and when the determined charging method is constant current (CC) charging, determining a state of health (SOH) of the battery by comparing an increase in charge capacity of the battery with respect to an increase in charge voltage of the battery with a CC-section SOH mapping table, or when the determined charging method is constant voltage (CV) charging, determining the SOH of the battery by comparing at least one of an increase in the charge capacity of the battery and a charge time of the battery with a CV-section SOH mapping table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dong Rak Kim, Jae Rok Kim, Chang Gi Jung, Seoung Mun Back
  • Patent number: 11522380
    Abstract: A power storage apparatus includes a storage battery chargeable and dischargeable, a voltage stepping-up/down circuit that performs a voltage stepping-up operation of stepping up by PWM control a voltage supplied from the storage battery and outputting a stepped-up voltage to a high-voltage DC bus line, and a voltage stepping-down operation of stepping down by PWM control a voltage supplied from the high-voltage DC bus line and supplying a stepped-down voltage to the storage battery. Moreover, a detection device is provided that outputs a detection signal indicating a full-charged state of the storage battery, and a controller keeps a high-side switch in the voltage stepping-up/down circuit in an off state in response to input of the detection signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shuichi Tagawa
  • Patent number: 11515587
    Abstract: An electrochemical battery system includes at least one electrochemical cell, a thermal control system operably connected to the at least one electrochemical cell, a memory in which a physics-based model of the at least one electrochemical cell is stored and in which program instructions are stored, and a controller operably connected to the at least one electrochemical cell, the thermal control system and the memory. The controller is configured to execute the program instructions to identify a first requested operation, obtain a first generated target temperature which is based on the physics-based model and the identified first requested operation, and control the thermal control system based upon the obtained first target temperature while controlling the at least one electrochemical cell based upon the identified first requested operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Sarah Stewart, John F. Christensen, Nikhil Ravi, Maksim Subbotin, Reinhardt Klein, Yongfang Cheng
  • Patent number: 11509146
    Abstract: A battery charging apparatus includes a first converter having an input coupled to an input voltage bus and an output coupled to a first battery, and a second converter having an input coupled to the input voltage bus and an output coupled to the first battery and a second battery through a first bidirectional current blocking switch and a second bidirectional current blocking switch, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: NuVolta Technologies (Hefei) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Junhe Zhang, Fuchun Zhan, Miaosong Wu
  • Patent number: 11509153
    Abstract: In a storage system including a plurality of battery units, the charge/discharge amounts of the battery units are determined by predetermined computation using the state of charge (SOC). The predetermined computation includes allocating a larger discharge amount to a battery unit higher in SOC, out of the battery units, in the discharge mode, and allocating a larger charge amount to a battery unit lower in SOC, out of the battery units, in the charge mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: SAVE THE PLANET CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jaber Alipoor, Yukihiro Shimizu, Hirofumi Konishi, Masaki Nakaishi, Hisashi Nakabayashi
  • Patent number: 11503862
    Abstract: A power supply unit for an aerosol generation device includes an internal power supply configured to hold power supplied to a heater configured to heat an aerosol source, a first connector connectable to an external device and including a first communication terminal, a controller configured to control power supply from the internal power supply to the heater and including a second communication terminal, a first communication path between the first communication terminal of the first connector and the second communication terminal of the controller, and a switch unit positioned on the first communication path and configured to set the first communication path to a conductive state or a disconnected state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: JAPAN TOBACCO INC.
    Inventor: Takao Aradachi
  • Patent number: 11498446
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a battery that is rechargeable using an external power source coupled to the vehicle. The vehicle includes a controller that is programmed to estimate parameters of the battery using a parameter estimation algorithm. The controller is programmed to change a charging current when connected to the external power source to provide an input to the parameter estimation algorithm that is sufficiently dynamic such that the parameter estimation algorithm converges to an accurate solution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: John Paul Gibeau, Xu Wang
  • Patent number: 11502530
    Abstract: A state estimator estimates, based on at least one of a voltage, a current, and a temperature of a secondary battery, a state of the secondary battery including a state of charge (SOC) of the secondary battery. A discharge controller discharges, when a state of non-use of the secondary battery lasts for a predetermined period of time, the secondary battery such that an indicator indicating easiness of storage deterioration of the secondary battery to progress decreases in stages. The indicator includes a parameter that depends on an SOC of the secondary battery. A value of the indicator and a duration of stay in each stage are set such that a predetermined relationship holds between products in a plurality of stages, each of the products being derived from multiplying the value of the indicator and the duration of stay in each stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuya Hayayama, Tomokazu Sada, Yukikazu Ohchi, Masatoshi Nagayama
  • Patent number: 11498442
    Abstract: A method for controlling a battery charger circuit of a vehicle. The method includes injecting a first current pulse between at least one line and a protective earth connection of the battery charger circuit. The method also includes measuring at least one line voltage value of at least one node of the battery charger circuit. The method also includes identifying a noise value by performing one or more operations on the battery charger circuit. The method also includes determining a protective earth connection impedance based on the at least one line voltage value and the noise value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Joseph A. Engel
  • Patent number: 11502529
    Abstract: A battery charging method is disclosed. The method includes: obtaining historical working durations in which the electronic device was powered by a battery of the electronic device; in response to an electronic device connected to a charging power source, obtaining a remaining battery level and a target capacity of a battery of the electronic device, and accordingly defining a capacity to be charged; obtaining a current system time when the electronic device is connected to the charging power source; obtaining a specific time difference between the current system time and a predicted working duration, wherein the predicted working duration is a specific working duration chosen from the historical working durations subsequent to the current system time; and using the capacity to be charged to correspond to the specific time difference to obtain a predicted charging current value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: PEGATRON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shih-Feng Tseng, Yi-Hsuan Lee, Wen-Lin Huang
  • Patent number: 11489347
    Abstract: A voltage measurement unit measures voltages of the plurality of cells connected in series. A plurality of discharge circuits are connected in parallel to the plurality of cells, respectively. A controller controls, based on the voltages of the plurality of cells detected by voltage measurement unit, the plurality of discharge circuits to make the voltages or capacities of the plurality of cells equal to a target value. The controller determines a number of cells to be discharged among the plurality of cells in accordance with an allowable temperature of a substrate having the plurality of discharge circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yousuke Nakagawa, Masanori Ito, Masato Nakayama, Hidetsugu Mukae
  • Patent number: 11469601
    Abstract: A battery control unit includes a plurality of switching units, a control unit, a charger configured to charge batteries, and a charging control unit. The plurality of switching units is respectively provided for a plurality of batteries connected in series, and are configured to switch between a connected state and a non-connected state. The connected state is a state that a corresponding battery is connected in series with other batteries and the non-connected state is a state that the corresponding battery is disconnected from a series connection with the other batteries. The control unit is configured to determine whether each voltage of the plurality of batteries reaches a charge end voltage during charging, and to control the switching unit corresponding to the battery which is determined to reach the charge end voltage to switch to the non-connected state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: YAZAKI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chihiro Ono, Takahiro Syouda
  • Patent number: 11462777
    Abstract: The inspection device includes a charging unit and an inspection unit, and detects the connection anomaly by retrieving a first cell voltage at the early stage of start of the constant-current charging and a second cell voltage at a stage where the charging has progressed to determine deviations from the average value of all the cell groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Envision AESC Japan Ltd.
    Inventors: Shiro Yonekura, Eriko Kuribayashi, Nobuhiro Takamoto
  • Patent number: 11462930
    Abstract: An electronic device which can control battery charging on the basis of the state of a battery by checking the voltage of a battery and the output voltage of a charging circuit, while the battery is being charged in a constant current state, and determining the state of the battery on the basis of at least the voltage of the battery and the output voltage of the charging circuit. Other various embodiments identified in the description are possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Samsung Electronic Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Ho Yeong Lim, Yong Seung Yi, Du Hyun Kim, Hyun Seok Kim, Dong Il Son
  • Patent number: 11456610
    Abstract: A battery control method includes detecting charge state information including a charge current, a discharge current, and an SOC of the battery, detecting whether the SOC of the battery reaches a predetermined reference SOC using the charge state information, and determining when the SOC of the battery reaches the reference SOC as a first reference time point and when the SOC of the battery reaches the reference SOC after the first reference time point as a second reference time point, calculating a charge capacity of the battery using a charge current from the first time point to the second time point and a discharge capacity of the battery using the discharge current, comparing a difference between the charge capacity and the discharge capacity, and determining that an internal short circuit of the battery occurs when the difference between the charge capacity and the discharge capacity exceeds a threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: Samsung SDI Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Giyoung Kim, Young Shin Cho
  • Patent number: 11451067
    Abstract: A method and device that implements communication over an interconnect to support improved power distribution over the interconnect. The device includes a controller to implement a device policy manager (DPM) to manage power allotment over the interconnect, and a battery feedback mechanism coupled to the controller, the battery feedback mechanism to detect a low or dead battery condition of a connected device over the interconnect and to indicate to the DPM to advertise a higher power charging level to the connected device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Rajaram Regupathy, Nirmala Bailur, Rajeev Muralidhar
  • Patent number: 11448703
    Abstract: A state of charge (SOC) estimation method of a battery including: an SOC estimation device estimation mode checking step of checking an operation mode of an SOC estimation device; and an SOC estimation step of estimating an SOC of the battery according to an estimation mode of the SOC estimation device checked in the SOC estimation device operation mode checking step. The SOC estimation step estimates an SOC based on any one of an open circuit voltage during charging, an open circuit voltage during discharging, and an average open circuit voltage according to an estimation mode of the SOC estimation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.
    Inventor: Bo Mi Lim
  • Patent number: 11444477
    Abstract: A charging method for a mobile terminal includes charging a rechargeable battery of the mobile terminal with a constant power, which further includes: charging the rechargeable battery of the mobile terminal with a first constant power determined based on an average charging power supported by the mobile terminal, when a maximum output power of a charger is greater than or equal to the average charging power supported by the mobile terminal; and charging the rechargeable battery of the mobile terminal with a second constant power determined based on the maximum output power of the charger, when the maximum output power of the charger is less than the average charging power supported by the mobile terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Changyu Sun, Yanteng Wang
  • Patent number: 11437865
    Abstract: A wireless charging system, a wireless charging method, and a device to-be-charged are provided. The wireless charging system includes a wireless charging device and a device to-be-charged. The wireless charging device is configured to conduct wireless communication with the device to-be-charged through communication control circuits to adjust a transmission power of the wireless charging device. In addition, the device to-be-charged has a step-down circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.
    Inventors: Shiming Wan, Jialiang Zhang, Dongsun Yang, Shangbo Lin, Jiada Li