Efficient battery tester
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A battery tester for evaluating intrinsic characteristics of a battery, comprising:
- a. at least one sensor for sensing voltage and current;
b. an energy storage unit for temporarily storing power from the battery, wherein the energy storage unit comprises a supercapacitor;
c. a bi-directional power converter for facilitating energy transfer between the battery and the energy storage unit;
d. a controller for controlling the bi-directional power converter, the controller comprising a processor, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, and instructions stored in the non-transitory computer readable storage medium, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a battery test method, wherein the battery test method comprises transferring energy from the battery to the energy storage unit and transferring energy from the energy storage unit to the battery using the bi-directional power converter; and
e. a display, wherein a user interface on the display provides controls operable for selecting the battery test method;
f. wherein the battery test method is selected from a first test mode for quick evaluation of the battery or a second test mode for precise evaluation of the battery, wherein the first test mode comprises a high current pulse test and the second test mode comprises the high current pulse test and a switching excitation test;
g. wherein the high current pulse test comprises drawing a high current from the battery to the energy storage unit over a short period of time, returning energy from the energy storage unit to the battery, and measuring voltage and current changes using the at least one sensor;
h. wherein the switching excitation test comprises transferring energy from the battery to the energy storage unit and transferring energy from the energy storage unit to the battery at a fixed frequency, and measuring voltage and current using the at least one sensor;
i. wherein the first test mode determines battery internal resistance, cold cranking ampere (“
CCA”
), and state of charge (“
SOC”
), wherein battery internal resistance is determined by evaluating
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A battery tester for efficiently extracting intrinsic characteristics of a battery. The battery tester comprises a sensing unit, a controller, bi-directional power converter, and an energy storage unit so that energy discharged from a battery during testing is stored in the energy storage unit and recycled back to the battery. The battery tester uses a high current pulse test and a switching excitation test with a modified particle arm optimization algorithm to analyze precise model parameters that can be used to describe the health conditions of a battery.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A battery tester for evaluating intrinsic characteristics of a battery, comprising:
-
a. at least one sensor for sensing voltage and current; b. an energy storage unit for temporarily storing power from the battery, wherein the energy storage unit comprises a supercapacitor; c. a bi-directional power converter for facilitating energy transfer between the battery and the energy storage unit; d. a controller for controlling the bi-directional power converter, the controller comprising a processor, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, and instructions stored in the non-transitory computer readable storage medium, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a battery test method, wherein the battery test method comprises transferring energy from the battery to the energy storage unit and transferring energy from the energy storage unit to the battery using the bi-directional power converter; and e. a display, wherein a user interface on the display provides controls operable for selecting the battery test method; f. wherein the battery test method is selected from a first test mode for quick evaluation of the battery or a second test mode for precise evaluation of the battery, wherein the first test mode comprises a high current pulse test and the second test mode comprises the high current pulse test and a switching excitation test; g. wherein the high current pulse test comprises drawing a high current from the battery to the energy storage unit over a short period of time, returning energy from the energy storage unit to the battery, and measuring voltage and current changes using the at least one sensor; h. wherein the switching excitation test comprises transferring energy from the battery to the energy storage unit and transferring energy from the energy storage unit to the battery at a fixed frequency, and measuring voltage and current using the at least one sensor; i. wherein the first test mode determines battery internal resistance, cold cranking ampere (“
CCA”
), and state of charge (“
SOC”
), wherein battery internal resistance is determined by evaluating - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A battery tester for evaluating intrinsic characteristics of a battery, comprising:
-
a. at least one sensor for sensing voltage and current; b. an energy storage unit for temporarily storing power from the battery, wherein the energy storage unit comprises a supercapacitor; c. a bi-directional power converter for facilitating energy transfer between the battery and the energy storage unit; d. a controller for controlling the bi-directional power converter, the controller comprising; i. a processor, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, and instructions stored in the non-transitory computer readable storage medium, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform at least one battery test method, wherein the at least one battery test method comprises transferring energy from the battery to the energy storage unit and transferring energy from the energy storage unit to the battery using the bi-directional power converter; ii. wherein the battery tester further comprising a user interface on a display, wherein the user interface comprises controls for selecting the at least one battery test method; iii. wherein the at least one battery test method comprises conducting a high current pulse test, wherein the high current pulse test comprises drawing a high current from the battery to the energy storage unit over a short period of time, returning energy from the energy storage unit to the battery, and measuring voltage and current changes using the at least one sensor; iv. wherein the battery characteristics determined are battery internal resistance, cold cranking ampere (“
CCA”
), and state of charge (“
SOC”
), wherein battery internal resistance is determined by evaluating - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A battery tester for evaluating intrinsic characteristics of a battery, comprising:
-
a. at least one sensor for sensing voltage and current; b. an energy storage unit for temporarily storing power from the battery, wherein the energy storage unit comprises a supercapacitor; c. a bi-directional power converter for facilitating energy transfer between the battery and the energy storage unit; d. a controller for controlling the bi-directional power converter, the controller comprising; i. a processor, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, and instructions stored in the non-transitory computer readable storage medium, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform at least one battery test method, wherein the at least one battery test method comprises transferring energy from the battery to the energy storage unit and transferring energy from the energy storage unit to the battery using the bi-directional power converter; ii. wherein the battery tester further comprising a user interface on a display, wherein the user interface comprises controls for selecting the at least one battery test method; iii. wherein the at least one battery test method comprises conducting a high current pulse test, wherein the high current pulse test comprises drawing a high current from the battery to the energy storage unit over a short period of time, returning energy from the energy storage unit to the battery, and measuring voltage and current changes using the at least one sensor; and iv. wherein the at least one battery test method further comprises conducting a switching excitation test, wherein the switching excitation test comprises transferring energy from the battery to the energy storage unit and transferring energy from the energy storage unit to the battery at a fixed frequency, and measuring voltage and current using the at least one sensor. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method of testing batteries for intrinsic characteristics, the method comprising:
at a circuit having a controller, a bi-directional power converter, an energy storage unit, and at least one sensor, wherein the energy storage unit comprises a supercapacitor; a. performing a battery test method, wherein the battery test method comprises; i. recording a voltage and current of a battery; ii. directing the controller to transfer energy from the battery to the energy storage unit using the bi-directional power converter; iii. directing the controller to transfer energy from the energy storage unit to the battery using the bi-directional power converter; and iv. measuring voltage and current of the circuit using the at least one sensor; b. determining intrinsic characteristics of the battery based on measured voltage and current of the circuit; c. the method for testing batteries further comprising providing a user interface on a display, wherein the user interface provides a selection of battery test methods to perform on the battery; d. wherein the selection of battery test methods comprises a first battery test method to simulate a high current pulse, wherein the step of directing the controller to transfer energy from the battery to the energy storage unit using the bi-directional power converter is conducted over a short period of time; and e. wherein the intrinsic characteristics comprise battery internal resistance, cold cranking ampere (“
CCA”
), and state of charge (“
SOC”
), wherein battery internal resistance is determined by evaluating- View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
-
17. A method of testing batteries for intrinsic characteristics, the method comprising:
at a circuit having a controller, a bi-directional power converter, an energy storage unit, and at least one sensor, wherein the energy storage unit comprises a supercapacitor; a. performing a battery test method, wherein the battery test method comprises; i. recording a voltage and current of a battery; ii. directing the controller to transfer energy from the battery to the energy storage unit using the bi-directional power converter; iii. directing the controller to transfer energy from the energy storage unit to the battery using the bi-directional power converter; and iv. measuring voltage and current of the circuit using the at least one sensor; b. determining intrinsic characteristics of the battery based on measured voltage and current of the circuit; c. the method for testing batteries further comprising providing a user interface on a display, wherein the user interface provides a selection of battery test methods to perform on the battery; d. wherein the selection of battery test methods comprises a first battery test method to simulate a high current pulse, wherein the step of directing the controller to transfer energy from the battery to the energy storage unit using the bi-directional power converter is conducted over a short period of time; and e. wherein the selection of battery test methods comprises a second battery test method to simulate switching excitation, wherein the steps of directing the controller to transfer energy from the battery to the energy storage unit and from the energy storage unit to the battery are performed at a fixed frequency. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
Specification