Patents Examined by Richard Isla
  • Patent number: 11848425
    Abstract: An energy storage system includes a DC bus; a plurality of battery strings, each battery string comprising batteries coupled electrically together; a plurality of DC/DC converters electrically coupling respective battery strings to the DC bus; an enclosure housing the battery strings and the DC/DC converters; and a temperature control system. The temperature control system includes at least one heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and a controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Keith Garrette Brown, Honggang Wang, Alistair Martin Waddell
  • Patent number: 11837411
    Abstract: The disclosure is directed to methods and systems for a battery configured to store a first energy in a chemical form of the battery at a battery voltage level; an electrical load configured to draw an electrical current from the battery in response to an energy requirement of the electrical load, wherein the battery voltage level is configured to decrease in response to the electrical current being drawn from the battery by the electrical load; and a capacitor module in electrical communication with the battery and configured to store a second energy as an electric field of the capacitor module at a capacitor voltage level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Inventor: Anthony Macaluso
  • Patent number: 11831194
    Abstract: A charger includes a rectifier including two input terminals for connection to an AC power supply, a cathode terminal and an anode terminal, a DC/DC converter including a first terminal be connected to the cathode terminal, a second terminal to be connected to the anode terminal, and two output terminals for connection to a battery, a power pulsation absorbing circuit including a first diode, a second diode, a third diode, an inductor, a capacitor, a first switch and a second switch, and a control section configured to control a switch of the DC/DC converter, the first switch and the second switch, wherein the control section is configured to control the DC/DC converter, the first switch and the second switch in such a way that a sum of a power outputted from the AC power supply and a power outputted from the capacitor is constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: YAZAKI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kentaro Imoto, Akinori Maruyama, Keisuke Ueta, Yoshiya Ohnuma, Shohei Komeda
  • Patent number: 11831190
    Abstract: An electronic apparatus includes: a display; a processor configured to, when a battery of the electronic apparatus is to be charged, obtain a display state of the display and generate a mode-selection signal according to the display state; and a battery management circuit connected to the processor and configured to, upon receiving the mode-selection signal, switch to one of a charge pump charging mode or a direct charging mode based on the mode-selection signal to charge the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jie Fan
  • Patent number: 11824382
    Abstract: A charging control device including: a first and second electrode supply path; a voltage measurement circuit configured to measure a voltage between the first and second electrode side supply paths; a first and second electrode side relays on the first and second electrode side supply paths which are located closer to the battery than the voltage measurement circuit; a series circuit of a resistor and a resistance regulation relay, the series circuit being connected in parallel to the voltage measurement circuit; and a controller configured to control opening and closing the first electrode side relay, the second electrode side relay and the resistance regulation relay, wherein the controller is configured to control the resistance regulation relay to be closed when performing welding determination of the first electrode side relay and/or the second electrode side relay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: YAZAKI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Haruhiko Yoshida, Yasutaka Wakasugi, Kyohei Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 11824380
    Abstract: A DC charging circuit for an electric vehicle includes a neutral-point clamped (NPC) rectifier and a DC/DC buck converter. The NPC rectifier is configured to convert three-phase AC power to a first DC voltage at a rectifier output stage. The DC/DC buck converter includes a first DC stage coupled to the rectifier output stage, and a second DC stage configured to be coupled to the electric vehicle. The DC/DC buck converter is configured to convert the first DC voltage to a second DC voltage to be supplied to the electric vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Fei Xu, Ahmed Elasser, Silvio Colombi, Kum Kang Huh
  • Patent number: 11813948
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a power interface configured to perform at least one of power transmission to and power reception from an external apparatus, a power accumulation device, a power line that constitutes at least a part of a current path between the power interface and the power accumulation device, and a control device configured to control charging and discharging of the power accumulation device using a plurality of profiles for protecting the power line. The profiles are determined such that the degrees of reduction of the magnitude of a current that flows through the power line and the energization time become larger as the ambient temperature of the power line becomes higher. The profiles include a first profile and a second profile that has a larger degree of reduction than that of the first profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hisato Kawahara
  • Patent number: 11801766
    Abstract: Disclosed is a vehicle including a battery, and a controller configured to check identification information of a charger when the charger and the battery are connected, determine whether a charging interruption history exists in the charger based on the identification information of the charger, determine whether or not a user consents to perform recharging of the battery with a first current value in a case where the charging interruption history exists, and perform the recharging of the battery with the first current value depending on the consent of the user or not.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Youngsik Kim, Do Hoon Kim
  • Patent number: 11787305
    Abstract: Techniques for estimating a vehicle state of charge (“SoC”) are disclosed. A computing device may determine a first instance of connectivity between the computing device and an electric vehicle and determine a first location of the computing device associated with the first instance of connectivity. The computing device may detect completion of a first trip of the electric vehicle, wherein the first trip reflects movement of the electric vehicle from the first location to a second location, and determine a first distance traveled by the electric vehicle during the first trip based on the first location and the second location. The computing device may select the electric vehicle for charging using the determined first instance of connectivity between the computing device and the electric vehicle, estimate a SoC of the selected electric vehicle using the determined first distance, and transmit the estimated SoC to a charging station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Enel X Way S.R.L.
    Inventors: Daniel Feldman, Amanpreet Kaur
  • Patent number: 11791652
    Abstract: A power control system is provided for AC mains, including an input bridge rectifier connected to the AC power mains, and a buck regulator circuit connected to the DC output of the input bridge rectifier, the output of the buck regulator circuit providing a DC power output bus. A current sensor is connected to the output of the buck regulator circuit, and one or more capacitors is connected across the DC power output bus for receiving current from the buck regulator circuit. The buck regulator circuit is controlled to limit peak output current thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: KOLLMORGEN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Boris Semenov, Christian Rolf Jakschies, George Borkey Yundt, Kerim Feiler, Lars Lindner, Michael Capelle, Robert Pearce, Sergio Maggioni, Silvio Dus
  • Patent number: 11777328
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein may generate and transmit power waves that, as result of their physical waveform characteristics (e.g., frequency, amplitude, phase, gain, direction), converge at a predetermined location in a transmission field to generate a pocket of energy. Receivers associated with an electronic device being powered by the wireless charging system, may extract energy from these pockets of energy and then convert that energy into usable electric power for the electronic device associated with a receiver. The pockets of energy may manifest as a three-dimensional field (e.g., transmission field) where energy may be harvested by a receiver positioned within or nearby the pocket of energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Energous Corporation
    Inventor: Michael A. Leabman
  • Patent number: 11770018
    Abstract: A method for charging a storage device, such as a capacitor or a supercapacitor, with energy from an energy harvester and using a voltage converter having a coldstart voltage convertor and a main voltage converter is provided. After charging a buffer capacitor with the coldstart voltage converter up to the first voltage V1, the method repetitively performs steps of a) charging the buffer capacitor with the main voltage converter up to a voltage V2>V1, followed by transferring charges from the buffer capacitor to the storage device, b) stopping transferring charges to the storage device when the voltage of the buffer capacitor is below a third voltage value V3, with V1<V3<V2. The steps a) to b) are repeated until the storage device has reached a storage reference voltage value Vst-ref with V1<Vst-ref<V3. A power management integrated circuit for charging a storage device according to the method is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: E-PEAS S.A.
    Inventors: Julien De Vos, Geoffroy Gosset, Cedric Hocquet, Francois Stas
  • Patent number: 11764600
    Abstract: A rechargeable battery assembly has a first battery unit with a first terminal and a second terminal; a second battery unit which is serially connected to the first battery unit and which has a first terminal and a second terminal; and a differential amplifier with an inverting input, a non-inverting input, and an output at which an amplified difference between the signal at the inverting input and the signal at the non-inverting input is produced. The non-inverting input of the differential amplifier is connected to the second terminal of the first battery unit and to the first terminal of the second battery unit. The inverting input of the differential amplifier is coupled to the first terminal of the first battery unit and to the second terminal of the second battery unit. The output of the differential amplifier is connected to the second terminal of the second battery unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Steffen Rothe
  • Patent number: 11731524
    Abstract: A system for matching a plurality of electrically powered vehicles to a plurality of available mobile chargers includes a computerized server device programmed to monitor optimization inputs related to the plurality of available mobile chargers, monitor optimization inputs related to the plurality of electrically powered vehicles operated by a plurality of customers, determine a lowest-cost-based ranked listing of matched charger and vehicle pairings for each of the plurality of customers based upon the optimization inputs related to the plurality of available chargers and the optimization inputs related to the plurality of the electrically powered vehicles, present the ranked listing of matched charger and vehicle pairings to each of the customers, monitor selection by each of the plurality of customers of a desired charger for the customer from the ranked listing, and direct each of the plurality of customers to the desired charger for the customer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Alan B. Martin, Matthew C. Kirklin, Charles E. Freese, V, Margarita M. Mann, William H. Pettit
  • Patent number: 11735940
    Abstract: The present invention provides a novel method for charging silver-zinc rechargeable batteries and an apparatus for practicing the charging method. The recharging apparatus includes recharging management circuitry; and one or more of a silver-zinc cell, a host device or a charging base that includes the recharging management circuitry. The recharging management circuitry provides means for regulating recharging of the silver-zinc cell, diagnostics for evaluating battery function, and safety measures that prevent damage to the apparatus caused by charging batteries composed of materials that are not suited for the charging method (e.g., non-silver-zinc batteries).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: RIOT ENERGY INC.
    Inventors: Reza Pourdarvish, Troy W. Renken, Timothy W. Powers
  • Patent number: 11724569
    Abstract: An air conditioner includes: a secondary battery which is chargeable with electric power supplied from outside of a vehicle and store the electric power for running the vehicle; an air conditioning unit which performs air conditioning in a vehicle interior of the vehicle; a timer for managing a time for operating the air conditioning unit; and a control unit which sets a charging prohibition time period for prohibiting charging of the secondary battery for a time period set by a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuaki Takizawa, Hiroyuki Kurokawa, Masahito Watanabe, Kazuhiro Matsuoka, Akira Saita, Kazufumi Kuroda
  • Patent number: 11712975
    Abstract: A securing system for securing an electric bicycle to a bicycle docking frame includes a female connecting assembly mountable on the bicycle docking frame and a male connecting assembly mountable on the electric bicycle and sized to be received within a tapered recess of the female connecting assembly. When so received, first current coupling elements of the female assembly electrically interface with second current coupling elements of the male assembly, which can allow current flow therebetween to charge a battery of the electric bicycle. A bicycle rack system includes electric bicycles, bicycle docks, a charging module operable to receive electrical power from an external power source and a charging controller for adjusting the level of electrical power provided to dock-side charging modules that charge battery modules of electric bicycles docked thereto. A method for managing charging is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Inventors: David Saint-Germain, Sébastien Bossan, Daniel Lévesque, Mario Bélanger, Alain St-Jacques
  • Patent number: 11708000
    Abstract: In an aspect, a system for recharging an electric vehicle. A system includes a recharging component. A recharging component includes a ventilation system. A system includes a sensor configured to detect a plurality of data from the recharging component. A sensor is configured to generate an environment datum as a function of the plurality of data. A system includes a control pilot. A control pilot is in electronic communication with a sensor. A control pilots is configured to receive an environment datum from a sensor. A control pilot is configured to generate a ventilation requirement datum from an environment datum. A control pilot is configured to command a recharging component to perform a ventilation process. A system includes a pilot display. A pilot display is coupled to an electric vehicle. A pilot display is configured to display a ventilation requirement datum to a pilot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventor: Herman Wiegman
  • Patent number: 11705609
    Abstract: A contact structure causing a first electric device to be electrically connected to a second electric device includes first terminals and second terminals. The second terminals include contact projections to be electrically connected to the first terminals, and cleaning projections located closer to an opening side of a fitting part of the second electric device than the contact projections to be brought into contact with the first terminals. The contact structure is configured such that the contact projections are not in contact with a surface of an outer case of the first electric device or surfaces of the first terminals before the cleaning projections climb over the first terminals. The contact structure is also configured such that the contact projections are brought into contact with the surfaces of the first terminals after the cleaning projections climb over the first terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: JVCKENWOOD CORPORATION
    Inventors: Koji Chiba, Takashi Kuboki, Takeshi Kimura, Kenji Tanisho
  • Patent number: 11695283
    Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide for a circuit. In at least some examples, the circuit includes a logic circuit, a first comparator, a second comparator, and an AND logic circuit. The logic circuit has an output and the first comparator has a first input coupled to an input voltage (VIN) pin, a second input configured to receive a Vin under voltage lockout (VINUVLO) threshold value, and an output. The second comparator has a first input coupled to a power middle (PMID) pin, a second input coupled to a battery pin, and an output and the AND logic circuit has a first input coupled to the output of the logic circuit, a second input coupled to the output of the first comparator, a third input coupled to the output of the second comparator, and an output coupled to an input of a field-effect transistor (FET) control circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Mustapha El Markhi, Alejandro Vera, Tonmoy Roy, Rohit Bhan