Automatic control system for a rechargeable battery system

• US 10,116,149 B1
• Filed: 07/24/2017
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elite Power Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: Elite Power Solutions LLC
• Inventors: Dao, Yuan, Schlanger, William Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Muralidar, Richard V
• Application Number:
  US15/658,156
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• Field of Search: 320112, 320132, 320134-136, 320157-159, 320162-164
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/425 Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing printed circuits H05K1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2010/4271 Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00302 Overcharge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00304 Overcurrent protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00306 Overdischarge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00308 Overvoltage protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00309 Overheat or overtemperature protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

An automatic battery control system automatically switches from charge to discharge modes with a single relay, thereby preventing the need to manually reset a relay switch due to an over or under voltage situation. An automatic battery control circuit is coupled with a battery management system and a relay contactor is opened and closed by a signal from the battery management system. The battery management system monitors a state of charge of the battery unit as well as current flow to and from a battery unit. A parallel resistor is configured across the input and output sides of the single relay contactor and the voltage drop across the resistor indicates a connection to either a charging power source or a load. The connection is communicated to the battery management system by an optocoupler and if the battery unit has an acceptable state of charge, the relay contactor is closed.

Claims

1. An automatic battery control system comprising:

a) a battery unit;

b) a microprocessor;

c) a battery management system that measures a state of charge of said battery unit and comprises;

i) an over-voltage output that provides an over-voltage signal to said microprocessor when the battery unit has a measured state of charge greater than an upper threshold limit;

ii) an under-voltage output that provides an under-voltage signal to said microprocessor when the battery unit has a measured state of charge less than a lower threshold limit; and

iii) a current flow output that provides a current signal of current flow direction into or out of said battery to said microprocessor;

d) an automatic battery control circuit coupled to the battery management system, the microprocessor and the battery unit and comprising;

i) a relay comprising;

a single relay contactor extending from an input side to an output side;

a transistor; and

ii) a parallel resistor configured in parallel with the relay contactor from said input side to said output side;

iii) a discharge optocoupler coupled between the automatic battery control circuit and the microprocessor;

iv) a charge optocoupler coupled between the automatic battery control circuit and the microprocessor;

v) a difference amplifier that senses a relay potential that is a voltage potential across the parallel resistor and communicates with the discharge optocoupler and charge optocoupler;

wherein the discharge optocoupler sends a signal to the microprocessor when the relay potential from the inlet to outlet side is positive;

wherein the charge optocoupler sends a signal to the microprocessor when the relay potential from the inlet to outlet side is negative;

wherein with the relay contactor open, a reduction in an output side voltage of the output side is indicated by the discharge optocoupler to the microprocessor, and when the battery is above a threshold discharge limit, the relay contactor is closed by said transistor and the battery unit is connected to a load and place the automatic battery control system in a discharge mode; and

wherein with the relay contactor open, an increase in the output side voltage of the output side is indicated by the charge optocoupler to the microprocessor, and when the battery is below a threshold charge limit, the relay contactor is closed by said transistor to connect the battery unit to a charging power source to place the automatic battery control system in a charge mode.

2. The automatic battery control system of claim 1, wherein when in said discharge mode and when no under-voltage signal is received by the microprocessor from the under-voltage output the relay contactor remains closed and the relay potential will be substantially zero, and the output of the discharge optocoupler will turn off preventing said over-voltage signal from causing the relay to be opened;

wherein the relay will remain closed as long as the current flow output provides a current signal of a current flowing to the load; and

wherein when said current signal of a current flowing to the load from the battery unit stops, the microprocessor will open the relay contactor thereby isolating the battery unit from the load.

3. The automatic battery control system of claim 2, wherein the microprocessor opens the relay contactor when the battery unit drops below the lower threshold limit.

4. The automatic battery control system of claim 1, wherein when in said charge mode and when no over-voltage signal is received by the microprocessor from the over-voltage output, the relay contactor remains closed and the relay potential will be substantially zero, and the output of charge optocoupler will turn off preventing any under-voltage signals from causing the relay to be opened;

and

wherein the relay will remain closed as long as the current flow output provides a current signal of a current flowing to the battery unit; and

wherein when said current signal of a current flowing to the battery unit stops, the microprocessor will open the relay contactor thereby isolating the battery unit from the charging power source.

5. The automatic battery control system of claim 4, wherein the microprocessor opens the relay contactor when the battery is above the upper threshold limit.

6. The automatic battery control system of claim 1, wherein the upper threshold limit is the same as the threshold discharge limit.

7. The automatic battery control system of claim 1, wherein the lower threshold limit is the same as the threshold charge limit.

8. The automatic battery control system of claim 1, wherein the upper threshold limit is higher than threshold discharge limit.

9. The automatic battery control system of claim 1, wherein the lower threshold limit is lower than threshold charge limit.

10. The automatic battery control system of claim 1, wherein the parallel resistor has a resistance value of 10.000 ohms or more.

11. The automatic battery control system of claim 1, further comprising a battery unit monitoring module that is electrically connected to the positive terminal and the negative terminal of the battery and measures a state of charge of the battery.

12. The automatic battery control system of claim 11, wherein the battery unit monitoring module comprises:

a) an input data request port connected to an output data request port of a computing device of a battery management system; and

b) an output data request port;

c) an output data port connected to the input data port of the computing device.

13. The automatic battery control system of claim 1, further comprising a battery management system comprising:

a) a computing device comprising;

i) an output data request port; and

ii) an input data port

b) a first battery unit monitoring coupled with a first battery unit and comprising;

i) an input data request port connected to the output data request port or the computing device; and

ii) an output data request port;

c) an output data port connected to the input data port of the computing device; and

d) a second battery unit monitoring module coupled with a second battery unit and comprising;

i) a single input data request port connected only to the output data request port of the first battery unit monitoring module, therein defining a module connection between said first battery unit monitoring module and said second battery unit monitoring module;

ii) an output data port connected to the input data port of the computing device;

wherein the first battery unit monitoring is a master to said second battery unit monitoring module and the second battery unit monitoring module is a slave to the first battery unit monitoring module;

wherein the first battery unit monitoring module responds to a data request signal from the output data request port of the computing device by transmitting data of the first battery unit to the input data port of the computing device and subsequently transmits a data request to the second battery unit monitoring module through said module connection; and

wherein the second battery unit monitoring module responds to the data request from the output data request port the first battery unit monitoring module by transmitting data of the second battery unit to the input data port of the computing device;

wherein the computing device receives data from the first and second battery unit monitoring modules sequentially after sending a single data request signal to only the first battery unit monitoring module; and

wherein the computing device receives data from the second battery unit monitoring module automatically after receiving data from the first battery unit monitoring module.

14. An automatic battery control system comprising:

a) a battery unit;

b) a microprocessor;

c) a battery management system that measures a state of charge of said battery unit and comprises;

i) an over-voltage output that provides an over-voltage signal to said microprocessor when the battery unit has a measured state of charge greater than an upper threshold limit;

ii) an under-voltage output that provides an under-voltage signal to said microprocessor when the battery unit has a measured state of charge less than a lower threshold limit; and

iii) a current flow output that provides a current signal of current flow direction into or out of said battery to said microprocessor;

d) an automatic battery control circuit coupled to the battery management system, the microprocessor and the battery unit and comprising;

i) a relay comprising;

a single relay contactor extending from an input side to an output side;

a transistor; and

ii) a parallel resistor configured in parallel with the relay contactor from said input side to said output side;

iii) a discharge optocoupler coupled between the automatic battery control circuit and the microprocessor;

iv) a charge optocoupler coupled between the automatic battery control circuit and the microprocessor;

v) a difference amplifier that senses a relay potential that is a voltage potential across the parallel resistor;

wherein with the relay contactor open, a reduction in an output side voltage of the output side is indicated by the discharge optocoupler to the microprocessor, and when the battery is above a threshold discharge limit, the relay contactor is closed by said transistor and the battery unit is connected to a load and place the automatic battery control system in a discharge mode; and

wherein with the relay contactor open, an increase in the output side voltage of the output side is indicated by the charge optocoupler to the microprocessor, and when the battery is below a threshold charge limit, the relay contactor is closed by said transistor to connect the battery unit to the charging power source to place the automatic battery control system in a charge mode

wherein when in said discharge mode and when no under-voltage signal is received by the microprocessor from the under-voltage output the relay contactor remains closed and the relay potential will be substantially zero, and the output of the discharge optocoupler will turn off preventing said over-voltage signal from causing the relay to be opened;

wherein the relay will remain closed as long as the current flow output provides a current signal of a current flowing to the load; and

wherein when said current signal of a current flowing to the load from the battery unit stops, the microprocessor will open the relay contactor thereby isolating the battery unit from the load;

wherein when in said charge mode and when no over-voltage signal is received by the microprocessor from the over-voltage output, the relay contactor remains closed and the relay potential will be substantially zero, and the output of charge optocoupler will turn off preventing any under-voltage signals from causing the relay to be opened; and

wherein the relay will remain closed as long as the current flow output provides a current signal of a current flowing to the battery unit; and

wherein when said current signal of a current flowing to the battery unit stops, the microprocessor will open the relay contactor thereby isolating the battery unit from the charging power source.

15. The automatic battery control system of claim 14, wherein the microprocessor opens the relay contactor when the battery unit drops below the lower threshold limit.

16. The automatic battery control system of claim 14, wherein the microprocessor opens the relay contactor when the battery is above the upper threshold limit.