Patents Examined by Pamela J Jeppson
  • Patent number: 11973360
    Abstract: A battery protection charging method and a charging system thereof are provided. The battery protection charging method includes obtaining an operation parameter of a battery. When a first protection condition is satisfied, a charging voltage of the battery is reduced to a first voltage. When a second protection condition is satisfied, the charging voltage of the battery is reduced to a second voltage. The second voltage is lower than the first voltage. The first (second) protection condition includes the cycle-life count is higher than a first (second) cycle-life threshold, the high voltage cumulative time is higher than a first (second) high voltage time threshold, and the high voltage-temperature cumulative time is higher than a first (second) high voltage-temperature time threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: ASUSTEK COMPUTER INC.
    Inventors: Ming-Hsuan Huang, Wen-Hsiang Yang
  • Patent number: 11973359
    Abstract: A method for operating a battery system connected to an electric energy system, having battery strings connected in parallel, including a battery, an inverter and a transformer Each battery is chargeable and dischargeable. Each battery has an installed, maximum charge capacity and a capacity that is available in the current operating state. During discharging the currently available capacity corresponds to a state-of-charge of the respective battery, and during charging the currently available capacity corresponds to a difference between the maximum charge capacity and the state-of-charge of the respective battery. A total charge output requested during the charging of the battery system and/or a total discharge output requested during the discharging of the battery system is distributed as part outputs over the battery strings and thus over the batteries dependent on the currently available capacities of the batteries of the battery strings connected in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: MAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS SE
    Inventors: Moritz Henke, Susanne Lehner
  • Patent number: 11942814
    Abstract: A smart battery device includes a battery unit, a temperature-sensing unit and a processing unit. The temperature-sensing unit senses the ambient temperature to generate a temperature signal. The processing unit is coupled to the battery unit and the temperature-sensing unit. In a charging mode, the processing unit receives the temperature signal and obtains the power capacity of the battery unit. The processing unit sets full capacity according to the temperature signal and generates an indication flag when the power capacity of the battery unit reaches the full capacity, wherein the indication flag is used to indicate that the battery unit is in a fully charged state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: QUANTA COMPUTER INC.
    Inventor: Wei-Ting Yen
  • Patent number: 11936226
    Abstract: A battery control device for controlling a battery includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire a state of the battery, and an estimation unit configured to estimate a full charge capacity of the battery by selecting, based on the state acquired by the acquisition unit, a first estimation method for estimating the full charge capacity of the battery based on an accumulated current value obtained by accumulating a charging current of the battery obtained by performing a charging process and a second estimation method for estimating the full charge capacity of the battery based on aging deterioration data showing a deterioration state of the battery with aging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Osamu Shimizu
  • Patent number: 11916426
    Abstract: A system includes: a switching converter circuit adapted to be coupled between an input voltage source and a load; and an integrated circuit adapted to be coupled between the input voltage source and a battery and configured to charge the battery. The integrated circuit has: a monitoring circuitry adapted to be coupled to the battery and configured to detect a transient fault condition of the integrated circuit; a power stage adapted to be coupled between the input voltage source and the battery, the power stage having a power switch; and a control circuit coupled between the monitoring circuitry and the power stage, the control circuit configured to provide a control signal to adjust a conductivity of the power switch responsive to a detected transient fault condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Hakan Oner, Kevin Scoones
  • Patent number: 11916425
    Abstract: An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a housing, a battery disposed inside the housing, a power management module for controlling charging of the battery, and at least one processor operationally connected with the battery and the power management module. The at least one processor is provided to direct a plurality of charging intervals while charging the battery, each of the plurality of charging intervals having a target voltage, to alternately charge the battery in a first mode and in a second mode through the power management module, wherein a charging current flowing into the battery is uniformly maintained in the first mode and a voltage of the battery is uniformly maintained in the second mode, and to switch the first mode to the second mode when the voltage of the battery reaches the target voltage in the first mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Youngmi Ha, Hyunjun Oh, Jungmin Lee, Kuchul Jung, Sungjoon Cho, Hansol Choi, Kyounghoon Kim, Seongil Lee
  • Patent number: 11916424
    Abstract: Various disclosed embodiments include illustrative controller modules, direct current (DC) fast charging devices, and methods. In an illustrative embodiment, a controller module for a DC-DC converter includes a controller and computer-readable media configured to store computer-executable instructions configured to cause the controller to receive an input voltage Vin to the DC-DC converter, receive an output DC voltage Vo from the DC-DC converter, generate control signals configured to control a charging output of the DC-DC converter responsive to the received input voltage Vin and output voltage Vo, and output the generated control signals to the DC-DC converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Rivian IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Yang Liu, Steven Schulz, Ming Li
  • Patent number: 11909247
    Abstract: Semiconductor device includes a controller for controlling a charging of a battery cell. When the battery cell is charged, the controller generates a voltage command value which instructs to a charger so that an upper limit value of an output voltage output from the charger is higher than a predetermined voltage which is a maximum potential voltage that the battery cell can be charged maximally.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hironori Uchinohae, Youhei Kengoyama
  • Patent number: 11901749
    Abstract: A multi-battery system implements operations to equalize discharge path impedance. The system includes first and second batteries of different capacities each coupled to a battery rail that supports source load electronics. The system includes charge control electronics configured to decouple the first battery from the battery rail when the discharge path of the first battery and the discharge path of the second battery have unequal impedance and to recouple the first battery to the battery rail when the discharge path of the first battery and the discharge path of the second battery have substantially equal impedance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventor: Ajit Justin
  • Patent number: 11884180
    Abstract: A battery system includes a nickel-metal hydride battery and an ECU that controls charging and discharging of the nickel-metal hydride battery. The ECU calculates a discharge electricity amount showing an integrated value of a current discharged from the nickel-metal hydride battery, and further calculates ?SOC of the nickel-metal hydride battery in a prescribed time period. The ECU calculates a charge reserve capacity of the nickel-metal hydride battery based on a temperature of the nickel-metal hydride battery, the discharge electricity amount, and the ?SOC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, PRIMEARTH EV ENERGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takayuki Irie, Jun Satoh, Junichi Matsumoto, Daisuke Koba, Yosuke Murota, Kazuki Nakano, Suguru Muraki
  • Patent number: 11863062
    Abstract: A capacitor discharge circuit for discharging a capacitor to a discharge load. The discharge circuity includes current level sensing circuitry for producing a control signal circuity response to current passing to the discharge load. The discharge circuity modulates a level of current passing from the capacitor to the discharge load over time between predetermined ranges of current levels in response to the control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Benjamin J. Snyder, Erin K. Nolan, Aline Elad, John D. Walker
  • Patent number: 11848583
    Abstract: A constant current charging device is configured to charge a device to be charged and includes: a reference current source configured to provide a reference current; a current mirror electrically coupled to the reference current source and configured to output a mirror current; a current adjusting unit electrically coupled to the current mirror and the device to be charged and configured to output a charging current according to the mirror current to charge the device to be charged; and a current compensation unit electrically coupled to the current mirror and the current adjusting unit and configured to adjust the charging current according to a reference voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Inventors: Song-Sheng Lin, Keng-Nan Chen
  • Patent number: 11843267
    Abstract: A battery control unit includes a switching unit, a system controller, and a control unit. The switching unit switches between a connection state in which the corresponding battery is discharged and a non-connection state in which the corresponding battery is not discharged. The system controller limits a discharge current flowing through the battery in the connection state so as not to exceed a minimum discharge current limitation value that is smallest among discharge current limitation values. The control unit switches to the non-connection state in order from the battery having the minimum discharge current limitation value before the discharge current limitation unit limits the discharge current. Further, the control unit switches all the batteries to the connection state after the batteries in the connection state becomes one, and then switch the battery to the non-connection state in order from the battery determined to reach a discharge termination state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: YAZAKI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chihiro Ono, Takahiro Syouda
  • Patent number: 11817732
    Abstract: A charging controller includes a current measurement unit configured to measure a charging current of a rechargeable battery, a detection unit configured to detect switching from a constant current charge to a constant voltage charge based on the charging current measured by the current measurement unit, during charge of the rechargeable battery, and an update unit configured to update a full charge capacity of the rechargeable battery based on a charged capacity after the point in time, detected by the detection unit, of switching from the constant current charge to the constant voltage charge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiromitsu Yamaguchi, Tadashi Kosuga, Hideki Otsuki, Koichi Fukuoka
  • Patent number: 11799140
    Abstract: An electrical energy storage system, a controller, and methods of using the same are provided. The system includes battery packs connected in parallel, one or more battery power management unit, one or more power converters, and a controller. The controller includes one or more processor and at least one tangible, non-transitory machine readable medium encoded with one or more programs configured to perform steps for discharging or charging. The steps include: reading data including state of health (SOH) and state of charge (SOC) from each battery pack, connecting a respective battery pack with a respective power converter; receiving a power command from an energy management system, calculating a respective power rate of each battery pack based on the data of SOH, SOC, and the power command, and discharging power from battery packs to a grid or charging power to battery packs based on the power rate of each battery pack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignees: China Energy Investment Corporation Limited, National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy
    Inventors: Ratnesh Sharma, Surinder Singh, Peng Yu, You Zhou, Lulu Zhao, Brandon Ohara
  • Patent number: 11789084
    Abstract: Provided is a wireless battery control system, a method and a battery pack. The system includes a master, and a plurality of slaves sequentially positioned at different distances from the master. The master wirelessly transmit a preparation signal when entering an ID assignment mode. Each slave wirelessly transmits Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of the preparation signal to the master when wirelessly receiving the preparation signal from the master or other slave during operation in a standby mode. The master wirelessly transmits an ID associated with the operation count to a slave having wirelessly transmitted a maximum RSSI among the RSSIs of the preparation signal, and increases the operation count by 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.
    Inventor: Chang-Hyun Sung
  • Patent number: 11791504
    Abstract: A battery pack includes: a charging voltage detector for detecting charging voltage applied to a charging path; a charging first transistor disposed in series on the charging path for controlling charging current flowing through the charging path; a charging second transistor for controlling operation of the charging first transistor; and a controller for controlling operation of the charging first transistor and the charging second transistor. Based on the charging current detected by a charging current detector and the charging voltage detected by the charging voltage detector, the controller can adjust the charging current for charging the battery block, by controlling second ON resistance that is ON resistance of the charging second transistor in a linear region of the charging second transistor, and by controlling first ON resistance that is ON resistance of the charging first transistor in a linear region of the charging first transistor using the second ON resistance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: PANASONIC ENERGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Keitaro Taniguchi, Ryoji Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11757298
    Abstract: A charging system and method using a motor driving system which can charge a vehicle battery using charging equipment providing various voltages using a motor driving system provided in a vehicle and improve charging efficiency by selectively determining a charging mode in response to an actual voltage state of the vehicle battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Su Hyun Bae, Jung Mo Yu, Jae Ho Hwang, Joo Young Park, Yong Jae Lee
  • Patent number: 11750006
    Abstract: An estimation system, includes: a secondary battery; a monitoring device that detects a voltage and a current of the secondary battery; and a processor that estimates a full charge capacity of the secondary battery using a detection result of the monitoring device. The processor calculates a first charging rate of the secondary battery using a current integration amount in charging, discharging, or charging and discharging of the secondary battery and using a full charge capacity of the secondary battery that was estimated last time; calculates a second charging rate of the secondary battery using an open circuit voltage of the secondary battery, when a predetermined time has elapsed without charging and discharging since the first charging rate is calculated; and performs correction, when a magnitude of a difference between the first and second charging rates is larger than a threshold, on the full charge capacity based on the difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiki Sugino, Kimihito Nakamura, Masanari Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 11750018
    Abstract: Provided are a device to-be-charged and a charging control method. The device to-be-charged can include a wireless receiving circuit, a charging management circuit, and a step-down circuit. The wireless receiving circuit can be configured to receive a wireless charging signal to charge a battery. The charging management circuit can be configured to perform constant voltage control and/or constant current control on charging of the battery. The step-down circuit is configured to decrease an output voltage of the wireless receiving circuit or an output voltage of the charging management circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.
    Inventor: Shiming Wan