Method and apparatus for determining battery capacity in a defibrillator

• US 10,426,965 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2016
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scion Medical Ltd. (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Scion Medical Ltd. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Bowers, Kyle R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alter, Alyssa M
• Application Number:
  US15/213,047
• Publication Number:
  US 20170043176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,170 Days
• Field of Search: 607 5
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3925 Monitoring; Protecting
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3975 Power supply A61N1/378 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3993 User interfaces for automatic external defibrillators
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3646 for indicating electrical conditions or variables, e.g. visual or audible indicators
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/367 Software therefor, e.g. for battery testing using modelling or look-up tables
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/23 The load being a medical device, a medical implant, or a life supporting device
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/342 The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/0034
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/345 using capacitors as storage or buffering devices

Abstract

A defibrillator system and associated methodology for determining capacity of a battery and/or a number of battery cells contained in a pack. The system measures and stores the battery or battery pack voltage signal data and uses an algorithm to determine the remaining capacity. The algorithm takes into account the operating mode of the device, historical information of the device including, but not limited to, how long it has been since the device has been used, how the device has been used (e.g. shocking mode or idle mode), how many times the device has been used with its installed battery or battery pack, how many charging cycles and/or shocks have been delivered etc. The output from the system is fed back to the user to inform the user when the battery is low, needs to be replaced and/or how many remaining shocks are left the battery.

Claims

1. A method for notifying a user to replace a battery in a defibrillator, the method comprising:

measuring the battery voltage during operation of the defibrillator;

counting the number of shocks delivered during operation of the defibrillator; and

notifying the user that the battery in the defibrillator needs to be replaced when;

(i) the number of shocks delivered during operation of the defibrillator is >

19;

or

(ii) the number of shocks delivered during operation of the defibrillator is >

6 and the battery voltage measured during operation of the defibrillator is <

9.03 volts;

or

(iii) the number of shocks delivered during operation of the defibrillator is between 6 and 4, and the battery voltage measured during operation of the defibrillator is <

7.87 volts;

or

(iv) the number of shocks delivered is between 3 and 1, and the battery voltage measured during operation of the defibrillator is <

7.39.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the battery voltage is measured once every 45 mS during operation of the defibrillator.