Method and circuitry to adaptively charge a battery/cell
First Claim
1. A method of controlling at least one characteristic of a charging process for a battery having positive and negative terminals, the method comprising:
- (a) applying charge to the terminals of the battery at a first current;
(b) measuring a terminal voltage between the terminals of the battery multiple times or continuously over a period of time that includes at least when the first current is applied to the battery;
(c) from the measurements of the terminal voltage in (b), determining whether one or more values of the measured terminal voltage are outside a predetermined range or greater than a predetermined upper limit value; and
(d) based on the determination in (c), controlling at least one characteristic of the charging process for the battery, wherein the at least one characteristic of the charging process is selected from the group consisting of;
a charge pulse voltage;
a charging time;
a charging voltage;
a charging current;
a shape, spacing; and
a programmable number of pulses of a charge and/or discharge signal.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present inventions, in one aspect, are directed to techniques and/or circuitry to applying a charge pulse to the terminals of the battery during a charging operation, measure a plurality of voltages of the battery which are in response to the first charge pulse, determine a charge pulse voltage (CPV) of the battery, wherein the charge pulse voltage is a peak voltage which is in response to the first charge pulse, determine whether the CPV of the battery is within a predetermined range or greater than a predetermined upper limit value and adapt one or more characteristics of a charge packet if the CPV is outside the predetermined range or is greater than a predetermined upper limit value.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method of controlling at least one characteristic of a charging process for a battery having positive and negative terminals, the method comprising:
-
(a) applying charge to the terminals of the battery at a first current; (b) measuring a terminal voltage between the terminals of the battery multiple times or continuously over a period of time that includes at least when the first current is applied to the battery; (c) from the measurements of the terminal voltage in (b), determining whether one or more values of the measured terminal voltage are outside a predetermined range or greater than a predetermined upper limit value; and (d) based on the determination in (c), controlling at least one characteristic of the charging process for the battery, wherein the at least one characteristic of the charging process is selected from the group consisting of;
a charge pulse voltage;
a charging time;
a charging voltage;
a charging current;
a shape, spacing; and
a programmable number of pulses of a charge and/or discharge signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method of controlling at least one characteristic of a packet charging process for a battery having positive and negative terminals, the method comprising:
-
(a) applying a charge packet to the terminals of the battery at a first current; (b) measuring a terminal voltage between the terminals of the battery multiple times or continuously over a period of time that includes at least when the first current is applied to the battery; (c) from the measurements of the terminal voltage in (b), determining whether one or more values of the measured terminal voltage are outside a predetermined range or greater than a predetermined upper limit value; and (d) based on the determination in (c), controlling at least one characteristic of the packet charging process for the battery.
-
Specification