With Battery Or Cell Condition Monitoring (e.g., For Protection From Overcharging, Heating, Etc.) Patents (Class 320/134)
  • Patent number: 10254351
    Abstract: In a voltage monitoring system, a voltage monitoring module includes an adjusting current control circuit to generate an adjusting current so that the operating current consumed by the voltage monitoring modules reaches a specified value corresponding to a first operation current setting command, and stops generating the adjusting current according to an operating current switching command; and an operating current measurement circuit to measure the operating current according to the operating current measuring command following the operating current switching command; and in which a module control circuit sends a second operation current setting command based on the operating current that was measured, and the adjusting current control circuit generates an adjusting current so that the operating current reaches a specified value corresponding to the second operating current setting command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Renesas Electronics Corporation
    Inventor: Hideki Kiuchi
  • Patent number: 10256643
    Abstract: An system is provided that includes a first circuit that serially connects storage battery units, second circuits, and adjusters that adjust an amount of current flowing at the second circuits. The system also includes a controller that executes at least one of first control, where voltage at a first storage battery unit is made to be higher than voltage at a second storage battery unit regarding which prediction has been made that a degree of deterioration will be greater than the degree of deterioration of the first storage battery unit, and charging is stopped. The system further includes second control, where the adjusters are controlled and voltage at the first storage battery unit is made to be lower than voltage at the second storage battery unit, and discharging is stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shoichi Toya
  • Patent number: 10248176
    Abstract: A system and methods for delivering power to a multitude of portable electronic devices is provided. More specifically, the system and methods provide for powering different portable electronic devices through a central charging device. The method of delivering a power supply to a plurality of portable electronic devices includes determining a power requirement for each of the portable computing devices and supplying the power requirement to each of the portable computing devices in a daisy chain configuration using a central power device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Gregory J. Boss, Andrew R. Jones, P. Daniel Kangas, Kevin C. McConnell, John E. Moore, Jr.
  • Patent number: 10250238
    Abstract: Examples of a signal calculator include a voltage multiplier and a time divider. The voltage multiplier copies time information corresponding to a first voltage and generates a third voltage using a second current corresponding to a second voltage during a first period corresponding to the copied time information. The time divider generates an output according to a result of comparing a voltage generated by a first current on the basis of a voltage corresponding to a first time with a second voltage corresponding to a second time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Taesung Kim, Seunguk Yang, Youngbae Park
  • Patent number: 10243387
    Abstract: Battery charger circuitry includes a linear regulator and a current control loop. The linear regulator provides a constant current to a battery while the battery charger circuitry is in a current control mode. While the battery charger circuitry is in a constant voltage mode, the current control loop to: determine whether a charging current provided to the battery is less than an end of charging reference current; in response to the charging current being less than the end of charging reference current, to place the battery charger circuitry into an end of charging state; in response to the battery charger circuitry be placed the end of charging state, and to start a timer; and in response to the timer expiring, to enter the battery charger circuitry into a done state to end charging of the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventor: Meng Wang
  • Patent number: 10241154
    Abstract: A voltage monitoring module includes a first terminal configured to be coupled to a high-potential-side terminal of a first battery cell, and a second terminal configured to be coupled to a low-potential-side of the first battery cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hideki Kiuchi
  • Patent number: 10236692
    Abstract: A system and method for configuring a transport refrigeration unit (TRU) battery charger in a transport refrigeration system (TRS) is provided. The method includes receiving battery topology data indicating a battery topology of a TRU battery equipped in the TRS. The method also includes determining specific parameters for configuring a battery charging algorithm based on the battery topology data. Also, the method includes the TRU battery charger configuring the battery charging algorithm based on the specific parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: THERMO KING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ashok Muralidhar, Matthew S. Nelson
  • Patent number: 10230244
    Abstract: A battery charging system comprises a voltage bus; at least one charging circuit comprising: an input connected to the voltage bus; an output; and a converter connected between the input and the output and configured to provide DC power to the output; a plurality of charging ports, each charging port comprising: an input; and a pair of contacts configured to connect to battery terminals, the pair of contacts being connected to the input to enable a voltage received at the input to be applied across the pair of contacts; and a plurality of switches configured to connect and disconnect the output of the at least one charging circuit to the input of any one of the charging ports in the plurality of charging ports; and a control unit operably connected to the plurality of switches and configured to operate the plurality of switches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2019
    Assignees: Robert Bosch Tool Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Yizhuo Zhang, David Pozgay
  • Patent number: 10224739
    Abstract: A power supply system has a solar cell and a battery which comprises a plurality of modules. The number of modules used to supply electrical power to the load is controlled as well as the recharging of the modules, based on energy supply and demand data over a time period of multiple days. This enables the battery modules to be used more efficiently, and they can be charged and recharged less frequently on average, thereby extending the battery lifetime.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventor: Bjorn Christiaan Wouter Kaag
  • Patent number: 10224734
    Abstract: The present invention provides a charging system that includes a charging adapter and a mobile terminal. The charging adapter includes: a second USB interface; and an adjusting circuit for rectifying and filtering the mains supply to obtain an original power signal, for performing a voltage adjustment on the original power signal, and for outputting a power signal after the voltage adjustment. The mobile terminal includes a first USB interface. P first power wires in the first USB interface and P second power wires in the second USB interface are correspondingly coupled, and Q first ground wires in the first USB interface and Q second ground wires in the second USB interface are correspondingly coupled. Because each first power wire and a corresponding second power wire are coupled, at least two charging circuits can be provided, and the charging system supports charging with a large current more than 3 A.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.
    Inventors: Jialiang Zhang, Fengshuo Liu, Biao Chen, Kewei Wu
  • Patent number: 10219667
    Abstract: A vacuum cleaner may include a cleaner body including a suction motor for generating suction force, a suction unit communicating with the cleaner body and suctioning air and dust, and a battery assembly for supplying power to the suction motor. The battery assembly may include a plurality of battery cells, an inner case including a plurality of cell cases having the plurality of battery cells respectively accommodated therein and spaced apart from each other, and an outer case having the inner case accommodated therein and including a flow hole in which air flows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Dongho Kwon, Deokwon Kang, Seonghoon Han
  • Patent number: 10218201
    Abstract: The charge and discharge control apparatus divides a stored electricity amount of a storage battery into a backup electricity amount and a plurality of predetermined discharge amount corresponding to a plurality of dispatching time points. Each of the dispatching time points corresponds to a dispatching period and a predetermined discharge power. The charge and discharge control apparatus receives a load parameter of an electric loop at each dispatching time point. Each load parameter carries a load power of the electric loop. The charge and discharge control apparatus performs the following operations at each dispatching time point: (i) deciding a real discharge power that the storage battery provides to the electric loop according to a dispatching threshold and the load power corresponding to the dispatching time point and (ii) updating the backup electricity amount according to the real discharge power and the predetermined discharge amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Institute For Information Industry
    Inventor: Jui-Ming Wu
  • Patent number: 10205336
    Abstract: A switched-mode power supply is provided which has at least one power circuit for supplying a first electrical consumer, and at least one auxiliary power supply unit for generating a first transformer-coupled output voltage for a switching controller for controlling or regulating the power circuit, and at least one further transformer-coupled output voltage for at least one further electrical consumer in a first operating mode. The first and the at least one further transformer-coupled output voltage of the at least one auxiliary power supply unit are variable in comparison with the first operating mode in a further operating mode of the switched-mode power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Alexander Osswald, Marc-Alexandre Seibert
  • Patent number: 10205197
    Abstract: A programmable battery protection system. Implementations may include: a battery, only two field effect transistors (FETs) coupled with the battery, and a battery protection integrated circuit (IC) coupled with the FETs. The battery protection IC may include an array of fuses, a plurality of latches coupled with the array of fuses, and a comparator coupled with the plurality of latches. The array of fuses and the plurality of latches may be coupled with a fuse refresh circuit coupled with a trigger circuit where the fuse refresh circuit is configured to refresh the states of the plurality of latches using states of the array of fuses in response to receiving one of a power on signal and an operating trigger signal generated by the trigger circuit. The plurality of latches may be used to generate a threshold voltage that is provided to the comparator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Hiroshi Saito, Keiji Amemiya, Mutsuki Niki, Yasuaki Hayashi, Kenichi Nakajima
  • Patent number: 10199845
    Abstract: An electronic device includes an internal battery, a first battery, and a second battery. The device further includes a first latch for locking the first battery and a second latch for locking the second battery. The device further includes a latch state detector for determining whether each of the first and second latches are open or closed, and a remaining battery power detector for detecting the remaining power in each of the first battery, the second battery, and the internal battery. The device further includes an LED and an LED controller for controlling the on-off of the LED. The LED controller operates as follows when the first or second latch is determined to be opened. If at least one of the first battery, the second battery, and the internal battery can supply electric power to the electronic device, the LED controller lights the LED in a first ON state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co,. Ltd.
    Inventor: Satoru Masaoka
  • Patent number: 10199679
    Abstract: A battery protection integrated circuit for protecting a secondary battery by controlling a charge or discharge operation of the secondary battery includes a power supply terminal connected to a positive electrode of the secondary battery; a ground terminal connected to a negative electrode of the secondary battery; an input terminal connected to a negative terminal coupled to ground of a load; a control terminal at which a control signal is input, wherein the control signal has a voltage level with reference to a potential at the negative terminal; a signal detection circuit configured to detect a relative voltage level of the control signal input at the control terminal with reference to a potential at the input terminal; and a control circuit configured to control open/close of a switching circuit connected to a charge or discharge path between the negative electrode and the negative terminal based on the control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUMI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shuhei Abe
  • Patent number: 10183673
    Abstract: One or more powertrains can include a motor-generator disposed therein that is electrically coupled to an energy storage device through an inverter gate. A regulation strategy can monitor operation of the powertrain to regulate the inverter gate to selectively discharge energy from the energy storage device to the motor-generator to assist the powertrain or to charge energy from the motor-generator to the energy storage device for future use. In an aspect, the regulation strategy may maintain a consistent speed of an internal combustion engine associated with the powertrain. In another aspect, the regulation strategy may regulate simultaneous operation of first and second powertrains disposed a parallel relation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Peter J. Miller, Omar Abdel-Baqi
  • Patent number: 10178580
    Abstract: A system for optimizing the use of network bandwidth by a mobile device including a mobile application client, which resides on the mobile device, and is connected to a cloud server, wherein the system analyzes user content consumption, provides a prefetching schedule to the mobile device, and the mobile device prefetches content partially in accordance with the schedule. A method of optimizing the use of network bandwidth using the system is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: OHIO STATE INNOVATION FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Ahmed Abou-Elkheir, Hesham El Gamal, Nayer Wanas, Kareem Youssef, Hakem Zaid, John Tadrous
  • Patent number: 10170803
    Abstract: A controller for a lithium ion secondary battery, includes an electronic control unit configured to: detect an SOC of a lithium ion secondary battery that is a controlled object; set an upper limit SOC and lower limit SOC of a range of use of the lithium ion secondary battery on the basis of the SOC of the lithium ion secondary battery; record a charge history and discharge history of the lithium ion secondary battery; determine whether the lithium ion secondary battery is in an excessive charging state or an excessive discharging state on the basis of the charge history and the discharge history; and raise the lower limit SOC when the lithium ion secondary battery is in the excessive charging state or lower the upper limit SOC when the lithium ion secondary battery is in the excessive discharging state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Ryo Kanada
  • Patent number: 10170924
    Abstract: A battery controller and method for controlling a battery include generating a battery capacity prediction model that characterizes a battery capacity decay rate. Future battery capacity for a battery under control is predicted based on the battery capacity prediction model and a present value of the battery capacity. One or more operational parameters of the battery under control is controlled based on the predicted future battery capacity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takayuki Katsuki, Tetsuro Morimura
  • Patent number: 10164444
    Abstract: An energy storage device includes an integrated fuel gauge that is operatively connected to the energy storage device. The fuel gauge evaluates an operating parameter of the energy storage device and dynamically determines a state of charge. The fuel gauge communicates a communication including a requested operating parameter to the charging component with the single communication line and the signal indicates to an operating system component a change of an energy storage device state. The signal is used to trigger an alert or interrupt that causes the operating system component to display the change of the energy storage state based on the signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Thomas P. Sawyers, Jon G. Lloyd, John Wozniak, Christopher K. Matthews
  • Patent number: 10163324
    Abstract: A remote battery monitor that is configurable based upon the data from the battery and is able to monitor the condition of the battery while the battery is present in a circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Siemens Industry, Inc.
    Inventors: Alan V. Vapurcuyan, Eugene A. Mastroianni, Paul Richard Strelecki
  • Patent number: 10153651
    Abstract: Systems and methods for charging and discharging a plurality of batteries are described herein. In some embodiments, a system includes a battery module, an energy storage system electrically coupled to the battery module, a power source, and a controller. The energy storage system is operable in a first operating state in which energy is transferred from the energy storage system to the battery module to charge the battery module, and a second operating state in which energy is transferred from the battery module to the energy storage system to discharge the battery module. The power source electrically coupled to the energy storage system and is configured to transfer energy from the power source to the energy storage system based on an amount of stored energy in the energy storage system. The controller is operably coupled to the battery module and is configured to monitor and control a charging state of the battery module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: 24M Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Tony L. Taylor, Naoki Ota, Taison Tan
  • Patent number: 10133286
    Abstract: A device determines a first voltage measurement of an output of a first brick. The device further determines a second voltage measurement associated with a second brick. The first brick is larger in size than the second brick. The device ramps up an output voltage of the second brick when the second voltage measurement is less than the first voltage measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Juniper Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Jaspal S. Gill, David K. Owen
  • Patent number: 10128548
    Abstract: A battery device in one aspect of the present disclosure comprises a battery, a cell voltage monitoring part, a power supply line, a plurality of monitor lines, and an interrupter. The interrupter interrupts the power supply line and all of the plurality of monitor lines when the battery enters an overdischarge state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: MAKITA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hitoshi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 10124684
    Abstract: An arrangement, system and method are described which enhance efficiency, reduce the stray field of wireless power transfer, and make use of special coil geometries for transmitter and receiver. The coil geometry is an approximation of a multipole current. Such currents have a faster decaying electromagnetic field compared to traditional coils. This allows higher power densities to be transferred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Inventors: Harald Merkel, Anders Karlstrom
  • Patent number: 10122188
    Abstract: A battery pack includes a battery including at least one battery cell, a switching element including a charging switch and a discharging switch arranged on a high current path via which a charging current and a discharging current flow, a battery manager configured to monitor a voltage and a current of the battery, and to controlling charging and discharging of the battery based on the voltage of the battery, and a switch driver configured to output a second driving signal for driving the charging switch according to a control signal from the battery manager, wherein the battery manager is further configured to set a charging current limit based on a deterioration degree of the battery, and to control the charging switch by using the switch driver so that a magnitude of the charging current applied to the battery is equal to or less than the charging current limit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung SDI Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoon Phil Eo, Yong Heui Song
  • Patent number: 10121904
    Abstract: An object is to achieve low power consumption and a long lifetime of a semiconductor device having a wireless communication function. The object can be achieved in such a manner that a battery serving as a power supply source and a specific circuit are electrically connected to each other through a transistor in which a channel formation region is formed using an oxide semiconductor. The hydrogen concentration of the oxide semiconductor is lower than or equal to 5×1019 (atoms/cm3). Therefore, leakage current of the transistor can be reduced. As a result, power consumption of the semiconductor device in a standby state can be reduced. Further, the semiconductor device can have a long lifetime.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Kato, Jun Koyama
  • Patent number: 10120032
    Abstract: Provided is a device for estimating secondary cell status using multiple models. The device for estimating secondary cell status uses multiple models, model 1, model 2, and model 3, to estimate the status of respective secondary cells. An arithmetic unit compares the estimated voltage values obtained from model 1, model 2, and model 3 with measured voltage values, sets the model having the highest correlation as the optimal model, optimizes the parameters of such model, and estimates secondary cell status.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Primearth EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Naoshi Akamine
  • Patent number: 10116148
    Abstract: A secondary-battery protecting integrated circuit includes, a power supply terminal connected to a positive electrode of the secondary battery, a ground terminal connected to a negative electrode, an input terminal connected to the negative terminal, a control terminal at which a control signal is input, a pull-down resistor connected between the control terminal and the ground terminal, a voltage monitoring circuit monitoring a voltage between the control terminal and the ground terminal, a voltage comparison circuit configured to compare a voltage at the control terminal with a voltage at the input terminal; and a control circuit configured to perform an operation in which a discharge operation of the secondary battery is prevented by turning off a discharge control transistor included in the switch circuit in response to the voltage monitoring circuit detecting that the voltage between the control terminal and the ground terminal is greater than a first threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUMI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shingo Kubota
  • Patent number: 10109927
    Abstract: An In-Building Communications system is disclosed which permits communication in tunnels, underground parking garages, tall buildings such as skyscrapers, buildings having thick walls of concrete or metal, and/or any building which has communication dead zones due to electromagnetic shielding. The invention includes a portable bi-directional amplifier (BDA) system, an outdoor antenna system attached to the building or independently mountable, an indoor antenna system attached to the building or independently mountable inside the building, and a standardized, In-Building Communications (IBC) interface box affixed preferably to the exterior of the building. The interface box communicates with antenna systems attached to the building.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Inventor: Karl F. Scheucher
  • Patent number: 10107864
    Abstract: Various embodiments determine a remaining battery capacity of a battery in an energy storage battery support system. In one embodiment, a battery is operated at a state of charge which may include being charged, being discharged, and being idle. A change in the state of charge is detected after a duration of time. The amount of remaining battery capacity is calculated based upon the duration of time and the state of charge of the battery during the duration of time. The operating, detecting and calculating are repeated until the amount of remaining battery capacity reaches a predetermined value. The remaining battery capacity after the duration of time is calculated using the battery capacity at the beginning of the duration of time. The battery may be used as an energy source in an electric power distribution grid. The battery is replaced when the remaining battery capacity reaches an end-of-useful-life value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: Inventus Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Rachana Vidhi, Carlos Alves
  • Patent number: 10096863
    Abstract: A boat is disclosed. The boat includes an electrical storage having a storage element electrically connected to a positive and a negative pole. The boat also includes a water sensor configured to determine whether one of the poles is in contact with water, and a disconnection device operatively connected to the water sensor and configured to interrupt the electrical connection between at least one of the poles and the storage element when the water sensor determines that one of the poles is in contact with water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: Torqeedo GmbH
    Inventors: Marc Hartmeyer, Philipp Krieger, Jens Biebach
  • Patent number: 10097014
    Abstract: A battery charger monitors the voltages across individual batteries in a battery system during recharging of the batteries. The charger identifies a least voltage measurement and identifies the batteries in the battery system that have a voltage measurement that is a predetermined voltage differential above the least voltage measurement. A controller in the charger operates switches to connect a resistor in parallel across each battery having a voltage measurement above the least voltage measurement by the predetermined voltage differential in a one-to-one correspondence to reduce the charge returned to the battery during recharging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: Nidec Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Shane A. Pickett, William Pickering, Bruce A. Nielsen, Brandon M. Bodeker
  • Patent number: 10096992
    Abstract: An electrical storage system includes an electrical storage device (10); a relay (SMR-B, SMR-G, SMR-P) switching between on/off states; a current interruption circuit (60) interrupting energization of the electrical storage device by causing the relay to switch from the on state to the off state; and a controller (30) executing drive control over the relay. The current interruption circuit includes an alarm circuit (63) outputting an alarm signal indicating overcharging/overdischarging of any one electrical storage block by comparing a voltage value of each electrical storage block with a threshold; a latch circuit (64) retaining the alarm signal; and a transistor (68) causing the relay to switch from the on state to the off state upon reception of an output signal of the latch circuit. The controller determines an energization state of the electrical storage device by executing control for turning on the relay while control for causing the alarm circuit to output the alarm signal is being executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keiji Kaita, Yuji Nishi, Yukinari Tanabe, Hiromasa Tanaka, Motoi Ito
  • Patent number: 10097013
    Abstract: A battery management system can be provided which can include a plurality of battery management units connected in series and a host controller. Each battery management unit can include a battery cell, an isolation element, and at least one bypass element. The isolation element is connected with the battery cell in series, and the battery cell is isolated by turning off the isolation element. The bypass elements can be in parallel connection with the battery cell and isolation element, and the battery cell is bypassed by turning on the bypass element. A battery management method can include: activating the battery cell of the battery management unit by turning on the isolation element and turning off the bypass elements of the battery management unit; and deactivating the battery cell of the battery management unit by turning off the isolation element and turning on the bypass elements of the battery management unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: CHEEVC LTD
    Inventor: Kenneth Hamilton Norton
  • Patent number: 10097015
    Abstract: An electrical combination includes a power tool and battery pack. The battery pack includes a detection terminal and a normal terminal, two detection circuits, and a control module for respectively connecting with the two terminals. The control module can detect and compare voltage signals in the detection circuits. One detection circuit is used to provide a comparing reference and the other detection circuit is used as a circuit of the terminals and to apply the same voltage on the terminals. A difference between voltages sampled from voltage sampling points and a predetermined value is compared to determine whether the resistance of the terminals is increased. The method can help to decide whether the connection of terminals is good or not.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: Chervon (HK) Limited
    Inventors: Wilhelm Heupke, Zheng Geng, Yuexiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 10090690
    Abstract: A secondary battery protection circuit includes a first terminal connected to a power supply path between a secondary battery and a MOS transistor, a second terminal connected to the power supply path between a load and the MOS transistor, a third terminal connected to a gate of the MOS transistor, a fourth terminal connected to a back gate of the MOS transistor, a control circuit that outputs a switch control signal based on a detected abnormal state of the secondary battery, and a switch control circuit including a first switch for connecting the fourth terminal with the first terminal and a second switch for connecting the fourth terminal with the second terminal. At least one of the resistance between the fourth terminal and the first terminal and the resistance between the fourth terminal and the second terminal is greater than the on resistance value of the MOS transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignees: MITSUMI ELECTRIC CO., LTD., ITM Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuhei Abe, Hyuk Hwi Na, Ho Seok Hwang, Young Seok Kim, Sang Hoon Ahn
  • Patent number: 10090521
    Abstract: A lithium ion battery includes: a negative electrode in which a state of charge at a potential to be 0.1 V with respect to a lithium potential is 60% or more; and a positive electrode containing a lithium-containing composite metal oxide, and a capacity ratio of the positive electrode and the negative electrode (negative electrode capacity/positive electrode capacity) is 1 or more and less than 1.2. In the lithium ion battery described above, the lithium-containing composite metal oxide contains layered lithium nickel manganese cobalt composite oxide (NMC) and spinel lithium manganese oxide (sp-Mn).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: HITACHI CHEMICAL COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Katsunori Kodato, Eisuke Haba, Mie Abe
  • Patent number: 10084326
    Abstract: This disclosure relates generally to the field of providing highly accurate over current fault protection in charging systems and, more particularly, to systems in which the charge over current protection (COCP) and discharge over current protection (DOCP) circuitry in electronic devices are particularly resilient to variations in field-effect transistor (FET) resistance with temperature, gate drive, and/or process shift; variations in printed circuit board (PCB) resistance; and variations in integrated circuit (IC) trip voltages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Karthik Kadirvel, Soundararajan Manthiri
  • Patent number: 10076969
    Abstract: A battery system may include an energy storage component the couples to an electrical system. The battery system may also include a first semiconductor switching device and a second semiconductor switching device. The first semiconductor switching device and the second semiconductor switching device each selectively couple the energy storage component to the electrical system. Additionally, the battery system may include a first diode coupled in parallel with the first semiconductor switching device and a second diode coupled in parallel with the second semiconductor switching device. Further, the battery system may include a battery management system that controls operation of the first semiconductor switching device and the second semiconductor switching device to selectively couple the energy storage component to the electrical system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Ronald J. Dulle
  • Patent number: 10076970
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for a network in communication with one or more vehicles. In one example, a method may include transferring energy back and forth between the one or more vehicles and the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Maziar Khosravi, Florian Huth, David van Bebber
  • Patent number: 10075007
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments provide a system that manages use of a battery in a portable electronic device. During operation, the system operates a charging circuit for converting an input voltage from a power source into a set of output voltages for charging the battery and powering a low-voltage subsystem and a high-voltage subsystem in the portable electronic device. Upon detecting the input voltage from the power source and a low-voltage state in the battery during operation of the charging circuit, the system uses a first inductor group in the charging circuit to down-convert the input voltage to a target voltage of the battery that is lower than a voltage requirement of the high-voltage subsystem. The system also uses a second inductor group in the charging circuit to up-convert the target voltage to power the high-voltage subsystem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jamie Langlinais, Mark A. Yoshimoto, Lin Chen
  • Patent number: 10074878
    Abstract: Power storage system includes battery containing an electrolytic solution, and ECU that controls permission and prohibition of charge/discharge of battery based on inside temperature of battery. ECU sets determination temperature equal to or higher than freezing point of the electrolytic solution and determination temperature higher than determination temperature. ECU prohibits charge/discharge of battery when inside temperature falls below determination temperature while the electrolytic solution is in a liquid state, and cancels the prohibition of charge/discharge of battery when the electrolytic solution turns into the liquid state from a state in which the electrolytic solution is at least partially solidified, and when the temperature of battery exceeds determination temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Teruo Ishishita
  • Patent number: 10063083
    Abstract: An information handling system operating a BMU controller may include a rechargeable battery, a BMU controller to determine battery charge percentage value, a memory device for storage of an internal data record indicating a first power-on setting, and the controller operatively coupled to the memory memory device and the rechargeable battery. The controller executing machine-readable executable code instructions to determine that the main memory contains no internal data record indicating a first power-on event and to limit the voltage received by the rechargeable battery such that percentage value of the charge of the rechargeable battery does not exceed a set percentage value charge limit during storage and shipment of the information handling system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Dell Products, LP
    Inventors: Jim Leo LaMarre, Tuck Meng Chin, Kurt D. Gillespie, Adolfo S. Montero, Prabhash Kumar, Balasingh Ponraj Samuel, Xiaomei Zhu
  • Patent number: 10063084
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a digital battery charger. The digital battery charger includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to convert a terminal voltage of a battery to a first digital signal. The digital battery charger further includes a digital controller coupled to the ADC to receive the first digital signal and provide a set of control signals. The digital battery charger further includes a current digital-to-analog converter (IDAC) coupled to the digital controller to receive the set of control signals and to provide a battery charging current signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
    Inventors: Axel Thomsen, Dazhi Wei, Steffen Skaug, Praveen Kallam
  • Patent number: 10052966
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an application module mode control apparatus and a mode control method thereof, and more particularly, to an application module mode control apparatus and a mode control method thereof which can arbitrarily change a mode for each application module regardless of a change of a mode condition of a project by taking charge of changing the mode of the application module so as to independently change modes of one or more application modules that perform functions of a battery management system (BMS).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: LG CHEM, LTD.
    Inventor: Jihoon Kim
  • Patent number: 10056757
    Abstract: A control device for controlling the operation of a supply and demand adjustment device that is connected to a power grid includes: detection means for detecting the state of the supply and demand adjustment device; communication means for transmitting the detection result of the detection means to an external device and receiving from the external device operation control information for controlling the operation of the supply and demand adjustment device; comprehension means for receiving and comprehending an adjustment power amount transmitted by bidirectional communication or one-way communication; and control means for, based on the adjustment power amount and the operation control information, controlling the operation of the supply and demand adjustment device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Hisato Sakuma, Koji Kudo, Hitoshi Yano, Ryo Hashimoto, Eisuke Saneyoshi, Takahiro Toizumi, Kosuke Homma, Alexander Viehweider, Katsuya Suzuki
  • Patent number: 10035426
    Abstract: A vehicle may include a controller programmed to charge and discharge a battery according to an upper power limit that is based on estimates of ion-concentration profiles in the battery. The controller may be programmed such that for a given state of charge and temperature of the battery, the upper power limit increases as the profiles flatten. The upper power limit may be further based on a difference between a predefined expected power capability limit at the given state of charge and a power capability limit estimated from a voltage output and current input associated with the given state of charge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Tae-Kyung Lee
  • Patent number: 10038225
    Abstract: A method of battery cell monitoring includes measuring a temperature of an electrolyte in a battery cell using a temperature sensor, outputting from the temperature sensor a plurality of electrolyte temperature signals indicative of the temperature of the electrolyte over time, providing the plurality of electrolyte temperature signals to a system controller, determining by the system controller a sudden transition in the electrolyte temperature signals, and logging a watering event data indication in a memory in response to calculating the sudden transition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventor: Blake Edward Dickinson