Digital battery

• US 20030071523A1
• Filed: 10/11/2002
• Published: 04/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DeNovo Research, LLC
• Original Assignee: DeNovo Research, LLC
• Inventors: Silverman, Martin S.
• Granted Patent: US 6,731,022 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/150
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/0436 Small-sized flat cells or batteries for portable equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4207 for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially
• 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 10/4257 Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/50 Current conducting connections for cells or batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/40 Printed batteries , e.g. thin film batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/5016 Multimode utilisation
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/005 Detection of state of health [SOH]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/50 Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product

Abstract

A dynamic battery array of individual cells, controllably interconnected for instantaneous dynamic configuration into a plurality of individual power buses having different electrical power output characteristics, each of which is tailored to supply the electrical power required at the instant by a particular electrical load within a circuit. Preferably the cells are fungible and randomly available so that at any given instant any given cell can be poweringly associated with a particular electrical load. The dynamic battery array, consisting of discrete cells lends itself to mounting on physically flexible substrates such as credit cards. The programmable array employs low resistance switch arrays for dynamically and instantaneously forming individual power networks or power buses between selected power cells and individual electrical loads in electrical circuits. The circuits to which such battery arrays are applied are generally complex circuits in which several different loads occur, each of which has a different power requirement.

Claims

1. A digital battery comprising:

a substrate that is incapable of producing electrical energy;

a plurality of discrete cells supported in an array by said substrate, individual ones of said cells being capable of providing electrical energy, said array being electrically interconnected through an electrical interconnection system, said electrical interconnection system being changeably configurable responsive to signals from an interconnection controller;

an electrical circuit operatively connected to said array, said electrical circuit including at least two loads that require different electrical energy conditions, said interconnection controller being adapted to configure said electrical interconnection system so that individual ones of said plurality of discrete cells are interconnected to provide each of said two components with the required different electrical energy conditions.

2. A digital battery comprising:

a physically flexible substrate that is incapable of producing electrical energy;

a plurality of discrete cells supported in an array by said substrate, individual ones of said cells being capable of providing electrical power, said array being electrically interconnected through a semiconductor switch array;

an electrical circuit operatively connected to said array, said electrical circuit including at least two loads that require different instantaneous electrical energy conditions, said semiconductor switch array interconnecting said individual ones of said cells to provide each of said two loads with the required different electrical energy conditions.

3. A process of forming a digital battery comprising:

selecting a substrate that is incapable of producing electrical energy;

forming a plurality of discrete cells supported in an array by said substrate, individual ones of said cells being capable of providing electrical energy, said array being electrically interconnected through an electrical interconnection system;

providing an electrical circuit operatively connected to said array, said electrical circuit including at least two components that require different electrical energy conditions, said electrical interconnection system interconnecting said individual ones of said cells to provide each of said two components with the required different electrical energy conditions.

4. A complex electronic device including a plurality of individual power cells, said complex electronic device comprising:

a plurality of individual loads;

a plurality of power conductive paths conductively and selectively associatable with each of said individual power cells and each of said individual loads;

a plurality of semiconductor switches operatively associated with said plurality of power conductive paths, said semiconductor switches being adapted to substantially dynamically selecting at least one of said individual power cells to form a power selection, and forming said power selection into an individual power bus for one of said individual loads.

5. A complex electronic device of claim 4 wherein said individual power cells are selected randomly from said plurality of individual power cells to form said power selection.

6. A complex electronic device of claim 4 including a programmable switch array, said programmable switch array including said semiconductor switches.

7. A system comprising:

a power array, said power array including a plurality of separate power generating cells;

an electronic circuit, said electronic circuit including at least first and second loads, said first and second loads requiring power for their operation, the power required to operate said first load being different from the power required to operate said second load; and

a programmable switch array between said power array and said electronic circuit, said programmable switch array being adapted to dynamically forming individual power buses between said power array and each of said first and second loads, said individual power buses being formed from said separate power generating cells, substantially all of said separate power generating cells being substantially instantaneously fungible between said individual power buses.

8. A system of claim 7 wherein said programmable switch array includes a plurality of semiconductor switches, said semiconductor switches have an ON resistance of less than approximately 0.5 ohms.

9. A system of claim 7 wherein said power array includes enough of said separate power generating cells to provide a plurality of normally spare separate power generating cells.

10. A system of claim 7 wherein said electronic circuit includes more than two loads and the power requirements of each of said loads is different.

11. A system of claim 7 wherein said power generating cells are electrochemical cells.

12. A system of claim 7 wherein said system is mounted on a physically flexible substrate.

13. A method of providing instantaneous individual power buses for loads in an electronic circuit comprising:

selecting a power array including a plurality of power cells;

selecting a said electronic circuit including a plurality of loads, said loads requiring power for their operation;

dynamically selecting at least a first said power cell from said power array, and poweringly associating said first power cell with a first of said loads to form a first power bus; and

dynamically selecting at least a second said power cell from said power array, and poweringly associating said second power cell with a second of said loads to form a second power bus, all of the said power cells on said first power bus being different from the said power cells on said second power bus, said forming of said first and second power buses including establishing electrical connections using semiconductor switches having an ON resistance of less than approximately 0.5 ohms, and said semiconductor switches being actuated to establish said electrical connections responsive to control signals generated by a programmable switch array.

14. A complex electronic device of claim 13 including a plurality of said semiconductor switches operatively associated with said plurality of individual said power buses, said semiconductor switches being adapted to substantially dynamically forming said individual power buses from said individual power cells and maintaining at least one power characteristic on at least one of said individual power busses at substantially a predetermined value by substantially instantaneously switching individual power cells into and out of said one individual power bus.