To Determine Internal Battery Impedance Patents (Class 324/430)
  • Patent number: 7692430
    Abstract: A power control apparatus for controlling charging and discharging of a plurality of storage devices, including a voltage measuring device for measuring voltages of the storage devices, a current measuring device for measuring currents flowing through the storage devices, a status detecting device for detecting the operating status of each of the storage devices from values measured by the voltage measuring device and the current measuring device, and a charging/discharging controlling device for controlling currents, voltages, or power according to the operating status of each storage device detected by the status detecting device to charge or discharge the storage devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiko Emori, Eiichi Toyota, Masato Suzuki, Motomi Shimada, Tsutomu Miyauchi, Takuya Kinoshita, Hideki Miyazaki
  • Patent number: 7680612
    Abstract: A vehicle power supply device performs highly accurate determination of degradation of the capacitor unit as follows. Internal resistance and capacitance are corrected according to the temperature of capacitor unit during charge or discharge, thereby obtaining a corrected calculated value if capacitance. The corrected calculated value of capacitance is substituted into a degradation determination formula, which is pre-calculated according to the temperature, thereby calculating the standard value corresponding to the temperature detected by temperature sensor. When the standard value is equal to or less than the corrected calculated value of internal resistance, capacitor unit is determined to be degraded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2010
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tosihiko Oohasi, Yohsuke Mitani
  • Patent number: 7675293
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for determining an impedance of an energy-output device using a random noise stimulus applied to the energy-output device. A random noise signal is generated and converted to a random noise stimulus as a current source correlated to the random noise signal. A bias-reduced response of the energy-output device to the random noise stimulus is generated by comparing a voltage at the energy-output device terminal to an average voltage signal. The random noise stimulus and bias-reduced response may be periodically sampled to generate a time-varying current stimulus and a time-varying voltage response, which may be correlated to generate an autocorrelated stimulus, an autocorrelated response, and a cross-correlated response. Finally, the autocorrelated stimulus, the autocorrelated response, and the cross-correlated response may be combined to determine at least one of impedance amplitude, impedance phase, and complex impedance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2010
    Assignee: Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC
    Inventors: Jon P. Christophersen, Chester G. Motloch, John L. Morrison, Weston Albrecht
  • Publication number: 20100013490
    Abstract: When the operation point of a DC/DC converter, which steps up/down the output voltage of a fuel cell stack, is in a range of reduction in response capability and further there is issued a request of determining an AC impedance, a controller switches numbers of the drive phases of the DC/DC converter to determine an AC impedance of the fuel cell stack. If the operation point of the DC/DC converter is in the range of reduction in response capability and further the precision of determining the AC impedance is reduced, then the determination of AC impedance in the range of reduction in response capability is inhibited and the switching of the phases of the DC/DC converter is implemented, thereby causing the operation point of the DC/DC converter to be out of the range of reduction in response capability, with the result that the precision of determining the AC impedance can be raised.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2007
    Publication date: January 21, 2010
    Inventors: Kota Manabe, Takeshi Maenaka, Takahiko Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 7646176
    Abstract: A controller for a rechargeable battery and a temperature estimation method and a deterioration determination method for a rechargeable battery enabling an accurate battery temperature to be obtained through calculation. The controller calculates a heat generation amount of Joule heat generated in the rechargeable battery and a heat generation amount of chemical reaction heat generated in the rechargeable battery to calculate the battery temperature of the rechargeable battery based on the calculated Joule heat generation amount and the calculated chemical reaction heat generation amount. When a cooling device is connected to the rechargeable battery, the controller preferably calculates the battery temperature of the rechargeable battery using the Joule heat generation amount, the chemical reaction heat generation amount, and a value indicating the cooling capability of the cooling device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takao Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 7642787
    Abstract: An automotive vehicle electrical system diagnostic apparatus includes first and second electrical connections configured to electrically couple to an electrical system of an automotive vehicle which includes a battery. Digital samples are obtained during operation of the vehicle which are related to the system. The digital samples are stored in memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2010
    Assignee: Midtronics Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin I. Bertness, William G. Sampson
  • Patent number: 7633297
    Abstract: An internal impedance detecting apparatus for detecting the internal impedance of a secondary battery with high accuracy is provided. Processor 106 divides the variation of each voltage detected by voltage change detector 103 by the variation of the current detected by current change detector 105 for the same detecting time as that for the voltage variations to compute the internal impedances. Judging unit 107 checks the variations of the internal impedances computed by processor 106 and judges from the check result whether or not the internal impedances have reliability. Only when judging unit 107 judges that the internal impedances have reliability, generator 109 generates output internal impedance according to the internal impedances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2009
    Assignees: NEC Corporation, Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Mitsunori Ishii
  • Patent number: 7622894
    Abstract: In a status detector for a power supply, a power supply, and an initial characteristic extracting device for use with the power supply, a measuring unit obtains measured values of at least current, voltage and temperature of the electricity accumulating unit. A processing unit executes status detection of the electricity accumulating unit by using the measured values and the characteristic information of the electricity accumulating unit which is stored in a memory unit. A discrepancy detecting unit detects the presence of a discrepancy away from a theoretical value when a result of the status detection is changed over a predetermined threshold or reversed with respect to the measured values. A modifying unit modifies the characteristic information depending on the detected discrepancy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2009
    Assignee: Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Youhei Kawahara, Akihiko Emori, Shuko Yamauchi, Hirotaka Takahashi, Masami Shida, Akihiko Kudo
  • Publication number: 20090273349
    Abstract: Techniques for monitoring a battery of an implantable medical device are disclosed. First and second current sources are provided to draw currents having amplitudes of I1 and I2, respectively, from the battery. First and second voltage measurements, V1 and V2, are obtained when first and second combinations, respectively, of the first and second current sources are selectively activated. Battery impedance is determined using the current amplitudes I1 and I2 and the voltage measurements V1 and V2. The impedance measurement may be used to obtain an open-circuit voltage of the battery without the need to disconnect the battery from circuitry to which it provides power. Battery impedance and/or open-circuit battery voltage may then be used to determine an estimated time until an action is required involving the battery, which may include activation of an ERI or EOL indicator, or initiation of a recharge session.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2008
    Publication date: November 5, 2009
    Applicant: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: John C. Rondoni, Mukul Jain
  • Patent number: 7598712
    Abstract: Sate-of-life for an electrical energy storage device is predictively determined based on electrical current, state-of-charge, and temperature of the electrical energy storage device during active and quiescent periods of operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2009
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew M. Zettel, Anthony H. Heap
  • Patent number: 7593823
    Abstract: Coefficients A and B are calculated from the measured temperature and the measured state of charge. Next, a response voltage Vc is calculated by substituting the measured internal impedance X into a response-voltage correlation equation. Besides, by comparing the response voltage Vc with a predetermined threshold V0, if Vc is bigger than or equal to V0, the battery is determined as normal. By substituting the measured values of internal impedance, temperature, and SOC into the internal impedance calculation formula, a final internal impedance calculation formula is determined by calculating the value of C by an iterating operation. Next, in the case of determining SOH of a battery, by substituting a standard temperature and a standard SOC into the final internal impedance calculation formula, the internal impedance to determine the SOH is calculated. By comparing the internal impedance with SOH determination threshold, the SOH of the battery is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2009
    Assignee: The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Noriyasu Iwane, Keiko Chikazawa, Keisuke Morii
  • Patent number: 7589534
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for detecting a cell voltage of a battery pack. The method comprises the steps of storing an impedance of the conductive wire from a part connected to a voltage detector to a part connected with the corresponding battery cell existing between voltage measuring points of each battery cell, detecting current of the battery pack, multiplying the impedance of the conductive wire corresponding to each battery cell and the current to calculate a voltage correction value of each battery cell, detecting voltage of each battery cell, and correcting the voltage of each battery cell, with respect to the voltage correction value of each battery cell such that the voltage correction value corresponding to the voltage of each battery cell is subtracted during charging and the voltage correction value corresponding to the voltage of each battery cell is added during discharging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2009
    Assignee: LG Chem, Ltd.
    Inventor: Jonathan Lee
  • Publication number: 20090216473
    Abstract: The present invention generally relates to a thermal battery testing apparatus and a method for testing a thermal battery. The method includes one or more of the following steps: connecting the thermal battery in series with a resistance; connecting the thermal battery and resistance in series with a sinusoidal voltage source; applying a sinusoidal voltage to the thermal battery, measuring an impedance, reactance and/or capacitance across two terminals of the thermal battery, comparing the measured impedance, reactance and/or capacitance to a reference impedance, reactance and/or capacitance; and indicating whether the tested thermal battery is “in family” or “out of family.” The battery testing apparatus may include a testing device configured to apply a sinusoidal voltage to the thermal battery and to measure the impedance, reactance and/or capacitance across two terminals of the thermal battery. The testing apparatus may further be configured to report “out of family” batteries.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2009
    Publication date: August 27, 2009
    Applicant: EAGLEPICHER TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Mark Hart, Travis Qualls, William G. Studyvin
  • Publication number: 20090189614
    Abstract: A lighting system is provided that includes at least one lighting device, at least one connector, and a plurality of external power sources. The at least one lighting device includes at least one lighting source, and an internal power source applying a first electrical current to illuminate the at least one lighting element, wherein the internal power source supplies the first electrical current. The at least one connector electrically connects to the at least one lighting device. The plurality of external power sources include at least first and second external power sources that are adapted to be electrically connected to the at least one lighting device by the at least one connector. Further, a fuel gauging system and method detects an electrochemical composition of a power source, which can be at least one of the internal power source and the external power source, and then determines a state of charge of the power source based upon the determined electrochemical composition of the power source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2008
    Publication date: July 30, 2009
    Applicant: EVEREADY BATTERY COMPANY, INC.
    Inventors: John D. Crawford, Peter F. Hoffman, David A. Spartano, Frank F. Huang, Adam R. Jakubiak, Stephen E. Osmialowski
  • Patent number: 7567085
    Abstract: An emergency power diagnosis system measures the exact value of impedance voltage (Vis) from an AC actual waveform (VSM) includes circuits and software operable to measure the effective resistance of battery internal impedance to determine the expected life of a battery string. The system is configured to determine the cause of aging progress in advance and determine by unmanned monitoring the real-time status of emergency power system at a remote site.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2009
    Assignee: Powertron Eng'g Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Deuk-Soo Kim, Rae-Young Kim, Gi-Taek Kim
  • Patent number: 7550946
    Abstract: A hybrid vehicular powertrain includes an electrical energy storage device. State-of-life for the electrical energy storage device is predictively determined based on electrical current, state-of-charge, and temperature of the electrical energy storage device during active and quiescent periods of operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2009
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew M. Zettel, Anthony H. Heap
  • Publication number: 20090140744
    Abstract: A method and the device are provided for determining state of health of the battery, in addition to the power supply system using the device, to reduce operational and processing load by expanding the data sampled at the time when the battery is caused to discharge square wave pulses into the square wave is provided. The method includes determining state of health of a battery by causing the battery to discharge square wave pulses with a prescribed cycle at a prescribed current value. Response voltages are sampled at a time of a pulse-discharge. The sampled response voltages are sampled into orthogonal square wave components. An amplitude of the square wave component is divided by the current value of the pulse-discharge to obtain a pseudo-impedance. A state of health of the battery based on the pseudo-impedance is determined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2008
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Applicant: THE FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Noriyasu IWANE, Fumikazu IWAHANA, Atsushi KIMURA
  • Patent number: 7541814
    Abstract: A method and device for determining the charge of a battery, characterized in that a gain crossover frequency (f±) for an impedance of the battery excited by an alternating current signal is established, and the gain crossover frequency (f±) is assigned to the charge of the battery, whereby the gain crossover frequency (f±) is a frequency of the alternating current signal at which an imaginary portion of the impedance of the battery vanishes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2009
    Assignee: Rheinische Landschaftspflege Jakob Voets INg. Grad. GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Rik W. De Doncker, Abderrezak Hammouche, Eckhard Karden, Birger Fricke
  • Publication number: 20090115419
    Abstract: An apparatus is provided to estimate a charged state of a vehicle provided with an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft, a starter that initially rotates the crankshaft when the engine is started, and a battery that powers the starter. The apparatus comprises a detection device and an acquisition device. The detection device detects a voltage of the battery and a discharge current from the battery for a period of time over time instants before and after starting the engine. The acquisition device acquires information indicative of an amount of the discharge current from the battery when the detected voltage of the battery becomes a minimum due to starting the engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2008
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Applicants: NIPPON SOKEN, INC., DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenzi UEDA, Naoki Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20090096459
    Abstract: A measuring method of a battery includes the step of measuring frequency characteristics of an internal impedance of the battery by an AC impedance method, and determining a parameter of an element representing ease of mobility of charges on a surface of a positive electrode of the battery and that of an element representing the ease of mobility of charges on the surface of a negative electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2008
    Publication date: April 16, 2009
    Applicant: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Yoneda, Katsusada Motoyoshi, Yukiko Wakino, Kensuke Yoshida
  • Patent number: 7518375
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method of estimating a maximum output of a battery for a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). The method comprises extracting maximum charge/discharge outputs of the battery depending on a plurality of charged states (SOC) of the battery under which the vehicle is able to be driven and calculating an interrelation between them; extracting maximum charge/discharge outputs of the battery at plural temperatures under which the vehicle is able to be driven, and calculating an interrelation between them; extracting degradations of outputs of the battery as a capacity of the battery is discharged during the traveling, and calculating an interrelation between them; and based on the interrelations obtained, estimating a maximum output of the battery using a function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2009
    Assignee: LG Chem, Ltd.
    Inventors: Do Youn Kim, Do Yang Jung
  • Publication number: 20090051364
    Abstract: A battery management device is provided for accurately measuring in a simple manner the internal resistance (reciprocal of conductance) of a battery that serves as the determination reference of the deterioration level of a battery without the application of an AC voltage to the battery while the battery remains onboard, and determining and displaying the deterioration level of the onboard battery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2006
    Publication date: February 26, 2009
    Applicant: PCN CORPORATIOAN
    Inventors: Koroku Ishida, Sumio Homma, Shigeki Homma, Toshiko Homma, Futao Kaneko, Takahiro Kawakami
  • Patent number: 7489107
    Abstract: A system and method for charging and thus extending the life of an electrical storage device is disclosed. The system provides for developing an essentialized cell model structure of the electrical storage device; determining model parameters for charge-discharge data of the structure; and determining charge-discharge behavior of the structure in a voltage-charge plane. The method also includes measuring voltage values of the structure based upon the charge-discharge behavior; and deriving an instantaneous damage rate from the measured voltage values. The method further includes developing a charging profile based upon the instantaneous damage rate, wherein the charging profile optimizes a charging current with respect to the damage per cycle so as to extend the overall life of the electrical storage device. The method also includes the ability of the system to track the parameters of the electrical storage device as the device changes with time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2009
    Assignee: The University of Akron
    Inventors: Tom Hartley, Carl Lorenzo
  • Patent number: 7486079
    Abstract: An available input-output power estimating device for a secondary battery includes a parameter estimating section substituting a measured current value I and a measured voltage value V into an adaptive digital filter using an equivalent circuit model of the secondary battery for thereby collectively estimating values of parameters in the equivalent circuit model, an open circuit voltage calculator substituting I, V, and the estimated parameter values into the equivalent circuit model for calculating an open circuit voltage {circumflex over (V)}0, an available input power estimating section estimating an available input power Pin of the secondary battery using components (ân,{circumflex over (b)}n), associated with a direct term in the equivalent circuit model, in the estimated parameters, the open circuit voltage estimate value {circumflex over (V)}0 and an upper limit voltage Vmax of the terminal voltage, and an available output power estimating section estimating an available output power Pout for the secon
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Daijiro Yumoto, Hideo Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20080303528
    Abstract: Battery system is widely used in emergent power plant or communication network power plant and its effective management is important. When any one of batteries connected to each other in series is failed during operation of the battery system, since reliability of the system cannot be secured, a problem is arisen to stable operation of the communication network. In a method of separating inferior battery, the battery is operated in floating charge state without separation to generate square current containing charge current and easily generated to flow through the battery cell, voltage signal generated from terminal voltage of the battery by the measuring signal is processed such that only internal impedance voltage signal is separated from harmonics ripple voltage and noise voltage by a synchronized detection calculating algorithm to calculate the internal impedance or effective value thereof (resistance component).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2006
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Inventor: Deuk Soo Kim
  • Publication number: 20080284444
    Abstract: A method and a current operational module for on-line measurement of battery internal resistance and an on-line measurement instrument for battery internal resistance have high measurement accuracy and strong anti-interference ability. The on-line measurement instrument for battery internal resistance comprises a current work module, a voltage measurement module, an analog to digital conversion module, a signal generation module, a centre processing module, an Input/Output module, and a power supply module used for on-line measurement of battery internal resistance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2008
    Publication date: November 20, 2008
    Inventors: Qinglan Li, Xiangchen Xu
  • Patent number: 7444192
    Abstract: Reactive replenishable device management comprises receiving device measurement data from at least one device, updating one or more device usage profiles associated with the at least one device, and if an analysis of the one or more device usage profiles indicates usage of the at least one device is sub-optimal, performing one or more of: controlling at least one of an attribute or an operation of the at least one device, issuing one or more device management recommendations to a user of the at least one device, and issuing one or more user alerts to the user. The at least one device comprises at least one of one or more replenishable devices, one or more replenishers associated with the one or more replenishable devices, and one or more other devices associated with the one or more replenishable devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2008
    Assignee: Aerovironment, Inc.
    Inventors: Blake Dickinson, Lisa Lei Horiuchi, Nathaniel Jordan Ramer
  • Publication number: 20080258734
    Abstract: A method for determining the internal resistance of a battery, in particular a lead-acid vehicle battery, and an associated device for performing the method are described, in which differential values are calculated from the measured values for the voltage and the current, and these differential values are processed with the aid of a regulator, such as an integrator or a PID regulator. A signal results at the output of the regulator, which corresponds to the reciprocal value of the internal resistance of the battery. This signal is taken into consideration again in each following computing step. The functional capability may be inferred from its internal resistance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2005
    Publication date: October 23, 2008
    Inventors: Bernd Frey, Burkhard Iske
  • Publication number: 20080224709
    Abstract: In a battery management system and a driving method thereof, the system includes a sensor and a micro control unit (MCU). The sensor senses a voltage and a current of a battery, and generates an estimation current of the battery using a result of cumulatively calculating the battery current by a unit of a predetermined period. The MCU receives the battery voltage and the estimation current, sets a voltage of the battery in a key-on state as a first voltage, sets a voltage of the battery after a first period as a second voltage, and calculates an internal resistance of the battery using a difference between the first and second voltages and an average value of the estimation current.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2007
    Publication date: September 18, 2008
    Inventors: Yong-Jun Tae, Soo-Seok Choi, Young-Jo Lee, Han-Seok Yun, Se-Wook Seo, Gye-Jong Lim, Beom-Gyu Kim, Ho-Young Park
  • Patent number: 7423408
    Abstract: A method for determining at least one characteristic variable for the state of a battery includes: (a) determining the charge throughput of the battery per time step; having, (b) determining a first characteristic figure in order to describe the stratification of the electrolyte concentration in the battery on the basis of a defined initial state for an as-new battery, and of a second characteristic figure in order to describe the stratification of the state of charge in the battery on the basis of a defined initial value for an as-new battery during operation of the battery, in which (c) in each time step, the first characteristic figure and the second characteristic figure are adapted as a function of the charge throughput from the instantaneous state of the battery, and at least one characteristic variable is determined from the first and the second characteristic figure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2008
    Assignee: VB Autobatterie GmbH
    Inventors: Ingo Koch, Helmut Laig-Hoerstebrock, Eberhard Meissner, Ursula Teutsch
  • Patent number: 7420374
    Abstract: This invention provides an electronic device that has a battery with a power storage unit and a display module, a power detector and a display control module. The power storage unit is for storing electrical power and the display module is placed on the surface of the battery. The power detector is selectively coupled to the battery, and generates a remaining power signal after detecting the remaining power in the battery. The remaining power signal is used to control the display control module. When the power detector is selectively coupled to the battery, the display module shows the current remaining power in response to the action of the display control module. When the power detector is separated from the battery, the display module is essentially capable of maintaining the showing of remaining power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignees: QISDA Corporation, Benq Corporation
    Inventor: Wei-jou Chen
  • Publication number: 20080204031
    Abstract: A method for detecting SOC and SOH of a storage battery includes: calculating an SOC value of the storage battery with use of an SOC calculation unit based on a measured voltage value or a measured current value of the storage battery and calculating an SOH value of the storage battery with use of an SOH calculation unit based on the SOC value; further calculating a new SOC value with use of the SOC calculation unit based on the SOH value and calculating a new SOH value with use of the SOH calculation unit based on the new SOC value, these further calculations of SOC value and SOH value being repeated a prescribed n times of at least one so as to obtain an nth calculated SOC value and an nth calculated SOH value; outputting the nth calculated SOH value as an SOH output value and outputting the nth calculated SOH value as an SOC output value; and storing the SOH output value into a memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2008
    Publication date: August 28, 2008
    Applicant: The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Noriyasu IWANE, Atsushi KIMURA, Koji FUJIMURA, Yuichi Watanabe, Toshiyuki SATO, Fumikazu IWAHANA, Takashi IlJIMA
  • Patent number: 7411515
    Abstract: The invention is a method and remote control apparatus for controlling an electronic device that is capable of indicating a low battery state without the need for cooperation with the electronic device. In one aspect, the invention is a remote control apparatus for controlling an electronic device comprising: a power supply having a voltage; and means to activate an indicator, wherein the activation means activates the indicator in the first way when the voltage is at or above a predefined threshold and the activation means activates the indicator in the second way when the voltage is below a predefined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventors: Robert John Giger, Mark Gilmore Mears, Roberto Montanez
  • Patent number: 7405571
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for determining a battery capacity are described. According to one embodiment, an exemplary method includes generating virtual calibration data of the battery based on one or more characteristics of the battery, determining a virtual open circuit voltage (Voc) of the battery while the battery is being used, and estimating the capacity of the battery based on the determined virtual open circuit voltage of the battery and the virtual calibration data of the battery, while the battery is being used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2008
    Assignee: HDM Systems Corporation
    Inventor: David S. C. Liu
  • Patent number: 7403016
    Abstract: A car power source apparatus is provided with a battery having a plurality of battery modules connected in series on positive and negative sides of a midpoint reference node, and a voltage detection circuit that detects the voltage of one or a plurality of battery modules with respect to the midpoint reference node of the battery. The battery midpoint reference node of the power source apparatus is connected to the voltage detection circuit via a plurality of reference connection lines. Further, one or a plurality of conduction detection circuits connect to the reference connection lines, supply a voltage to each reference connection line, and detect current. The connection status of each reference connection line to the midpoint reference node is determined by this conduction detection circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2008
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kimihiko Furukawa, Masahiko Hashimoto
  • Publication number: 20080169819
    Abstract: An internal impedance detecting apparatus for detecting the internal impedance of a secondary battery with high accuracy is provided. Processor 106 divides the variation of each voltage detected by voltage change detector 103 by the variation of the current detected by current change detector 105 for the same detecting time as that for the voltage variations to compute the internal impedances. Judging unit 107 checks the variations of the internal impedances computed by processor 106 and judges from the check result whether or not the internal impedances have reliability. Only when judging unit 107 judges that the internal impedances have reliability, generator 109 generates output internal impedance according to the internal impedances.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2005
    Publication date: July 17, 2008
    Applicants: NEC CORPORATION, FUJI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Mitsunori Ishii
  • Patent number: 7394394
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for monitoring at least one battery condition. A ac signal is applied to a battery. A difference between a signal output from the battery and a threshold determines a battery condition. The determined battery condition is transmitted remotely from the battery location through a controller to a network server and/or is visibly displayed at the battery location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2008
    Assignee: Tarma, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Bradley W. Lockhart, Jason W. Toomey, Bruce R. Burry
  • Publication number: 20080150541
    Abstract: An electrical energy storage device is monitored by cyclically applying an electrical load thereto and monitoring voltage and current at transient portions of the cyclically applied electrical load.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2007
    Publication date: June 26, 2008
    Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Mutasim A. Salman, Zhenhui Yao
  • Patent number: 7388383
    Abstract: A detecting method for detecting internal resistance of an inspective rechargeable battery when said inspective rechargeable battery is charged by the constant current-constant voltage charging regime, said detecting method comprising at least a step (a) wherein an accumulated, charged electricity quantity of said inspective rechargeable battery in the constant voltage charging mode is obtained and a step (b) wherein said charged electricity quantity of said inspective rechargeable battery obtained in the constant voltage charging mode in said step (a) is referred to previously acquired data of a normal rechargeable battery, which corresponds to said inspective rechargeable battery, with respect to relationships of charged electricity quantities Qcv thereof versus internal resistances thereof when increased or decreased or their increased or decreased magnitudes in the constant voltage charging mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Soichiro Kawakami, Yasusaburo Degura
  • Patent number: 7382270
    Abstract: An apparatus supporting both identification of a battery type and communications over an interface between a battery and an electronic device is disclosed. The electronic device includes a processor for communicating with communications circuitry of the battery. Identification circuitry associated with the processor enables a determination of the type of battery with which the electronic device is connected. If a “smart” battery capable of carrying out serial communications with the electronic device is connected, the electronic device further provides means for carrying out communications between the processor and the communication circuitry of the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2008
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (Publ)
    Inventors: Heino Wendelrup, Magnus Hansson
  • Publication number: 20080100298
    Abstract: A battery management system and a driving method include a first switch coupled to an end of a resistor. When calculating an internal resistance of a battery, the first switch is turned on and the battery and the resistor are coupled in parallel. Then, the internal resistance of the battery is calculated by using a second current flowing to the battery and a first current flowing to the resistor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2007
    Publication date: May 1, 2008
    Applicant: Samsung SDI Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Han-Seok YUN, Soo-Seok CHOI, Young-Jo LEE, Yong-Jun TAE, Se-Wook SEO, Gye-Jong LIM, Beom-Gyu KIM, Ho-Young PARK
  • Patent number: 7319333
    Abstract: A tracked vehicle has a power control apparatus for controlling charging and discharging of a plurality of storage devices. A voltage measuring device measures voltages of the respective storage devices, and a current measuring device measures currents flowing through the respective storage devices. A status detecting device detects the operating status of each storage device based on values measured by the voltage and current measuring devices; and a charging/discharging controlling device controls currents, voltages, or power according to the operating status of each storage device detected by the status detecting device, to charge or discharge the storage devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiko Emori, Eiichi Toyota, Masato Suzuki, Motomi Shimada, Tsutomu Miyauchi, Takuya Kinoshita, Hideki Miyazaki
  • Publication number: 20070252600
    Abstract: A diagnosis method for SOH of batteries includes the steps of: providing data of discharge voltages and currents of a battery unit; setting an acceptable value of a predetermined period of time and an acceptable range of variation rate of discharge current for the battery unit; calculating variation rates of discharge voltages and currents of the battery unit within the predetermined period of time by using the data of discharge voltages and currents; recording the data of discharge voltages and currents of the batteries and variation rates thereof; comparing the data of discharge voltages of the batteries and the variation rates thereof if the variation rates of discharge current are fallen within the acceptable range of current variation with selected reference data; and converting results of compared data of discharge voltages of the battery unit and the variation rates thereof into a SOH index.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 22, 2007
    Publication date: November 1, 2007
    Applicant: ABLEREX ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hung-Liang Chou, Yu-Hua Sun, Kuen-Der Wu, Chin-Chang Wu, Ming-Hsun Hsieh, Ya-Tsung Feng
  • Patent number: 7253631
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of determining the complex impedance Z(fm) of a non-steady electrochemical system, comprising the following steps consisting in: bringing the system to a selected voltage condition and applying a sinusoidal signal with frequency fm thereto; immediately thereafter, measuring successive values for voltage and current at regular time intervals ?T; calculating the discrete Fourier transforms for voltage (E(f)) and current (I(f)), the voltage transform being calculated for the single frequency fm of the sinusoidal signal and the current transform being calculated for frequency fm and for two adjacent frequencies fm?1 and fm+1 on either side of frequency fm; and calculating the impedance using the following formula: Z(fm)=E(fm)/I*(fm), wherein I* denotes a corrected current such that Re[I*(fm)]=Re[I*(fm)]?(Re[I(fm+1)]+Re[I(fm?1)]2, Im[I*(fm)]=Im[I(fm)]?Im[I(fm+1)]+Im[I(fm?1)])/2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble
    Inventors: Bogdan Petrescu, Jean-Pierre Petit, Jean-Claude Poignet
  • Patent number: 7239147
    Abstract: A method for testing a precursor of a secondary cell with high reliability and high efficiency to judge the precursor to be acceptable or defective. The current flowing when a test voltage is applied between a pair of electrodes is measured before an electrolyte is placed between the electrodes. If a current the current value of which exceeds a predetermined reference current value (13) is detected during the time from the start of application of a voltage to a normal secondary cell precursor until the current becomes constant, the precursor is determined to be defective.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2007
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshiro Kume, Masashi Shoji, Emiko Igaki, Shuji Tsutsumi, Mikinari Shimada, Masakazu Tanahashi, Akira Takahashi, Shouichi Imashuku
  • Patent number: 7236893
    Abstract: An arrangement for supplying voltage to a number of loads for example, in a vehicle includes a vehicle power supply system (6) which has at least two energy stores. A first energy store is connected in a starter circuit element (6a) to a starter (8) for starting an engine; and a second energy store is connected in a load circuit element to the load. The starter circuit element is connected to the load circuit element via a coupling element, and loads which are classified as being safety-relevant can be connected to the starter circuit element via an additional coupling element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2007
    Assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
    Inventors: Christof Gross, Jochen Koenig, Andreas Loewel, Franz-Josef Petry
  • Patent number: 7212006
    Abstract: The method comprises coupling an external load having a predetermined resistance directly in series with the battery, conducting a power transistor to supply a transient large current to the battery for sampling voltage of the battery in a set very short period of time, and determining the internal resistance of the battery. The internal resistance of the battery can then be compared with a predetermined warning value of internal resistance of the battery so as to determine whether the former is equal to or larger than the warning value, and displaying a warning on a display if the determination is affirmative. The invention enables a driver to correctly know the condition of the battery in substantially real time while consuming a minimum amount of current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2007
    Assignee: BPPower, Inc.
    Inventor: Yung-Sheng Huang
  • Patent number: 7212011
    Abstract: A method for determining the deterioration of a capacitor that increases the measurement accuracy to have an improved reliability is disclosed. In this method for determining the deterioration of a capacitor, the deterioration of a capacitor including a pair of electrode bodies and electrolytic solution provided between the electrode bodies is determined by applying an AC voltage to the capacitor to measure an impedance characteristic at a frequency of the AC voltage. An inflection point appearing in the impedance characteristic due to the deterioration of the electrolytic solution is previously calculated to make comparison with an impedance value in the frequency region lower than the inflection point, thereby determining the deterioration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2007
    Assignee: Matsushita Electrid Industrial Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshiaki Shimizu, Toshihiko Oohashi
  • Patent number: 7205746
    Abstract: A battery cover assembly having integrated battery condition monitoring for measuring electrical current passing to and from a battery post, including an electrically conductive collar for connecting to a post of a battery, and an electrically conductive terminal for receiving a connector of a load. An electrically conductive resistor having a known resistance extends between outer surfaces of the collar and the terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignee: Microchip Technology Inc.
    Inventor: David C. Batson
  • Patent number: 7199537
    Abstract: By using a target voltage Vc* of a capacitor connected to the output side of a DC/DC converter and a voltage Vb of a battery connected to the input side of the DC/DC converter, a duty ratio D as a drive instruction of the DC/DC converter is calculated. By using the voltage Vb, the electromotive force Vbo of the battery, and the charge/discharge current Ib of the battery, an internal resistance Rb is calculated. According to the internal resistance Rb and the electromotive force Vbo, the current value when the battery output becomes maximum is set as the upper limit value of the optimal current range IR, the DC/DC converter is driven/controlled by limiting the duty ratio D so that the current Ib is within the range of the optimal current range IR. Thus, it is possible to appropriately convert the battery input voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2007
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaki Okamura, Eiji Sato