Fuel cell voltage monitoring system
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring a plurality of cell voltages of an electrochemical device for a plurality of cells connected in series, the system comprising:
- (a) a plurality of connecting pins for removable connection across the plurality of cells;
(b) a plurality of differential amplifiers, each differential amplifier having a plurality of laser wafer trimmed resistors providing matching, so that common mode signals are rejected, while differential input signals are amplified, each differential amplifier having two inputs and one output, wherein the inputs are each connected to the plurality of connecting pins;
(c) a switching network having a plurality of inputs and one output, the inputs of the switching network connected to the outputs of the differential amplifiers;
(d) not more than one analog to digital converter per 16 cells having an input connected to the output of the switching network and adapted to provide digital values indicative of the voltages measured by the plurality of differential amplifiers; and
(e) a power supply to supply regulated power to at least one electrical circuit consisting of the differential amplifiers, switching network, and mixtures thereof, wherein the power supply derives its power from the plurality of cells.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention includes, in one embodiment, a system for monitoring a plurality of cell voltages of an electrochemical device for a plurality of cells connected in series, the system including: a plurality of connecting pins for removable connection across the plurality of cells; a plurality of differential amplifiers, each differential amplifier having a plurality of laser wafer trimmed resistors providing matching, so that common mode signals are rejected, while differential input signals are amplified, each differential amplifier having two inputs and one output, where the inputs are each connected to the plurality of connecting pins; a switching network having a plurality of inputs and one output, the inputs of the switching network connected to the outputs of the differential amplifiers; not more than one analog to digital converter per 16 cells having an input connected to the output of the switching network and adapted to provide digital values indicative of the voltages measured by the plurality of differential amplifiers; and a power supply to supply regulated power to at least one electrical circuit consisting of the differential amplifiers, switching network, and mixtures thereof, where the power supply derives its power from the plurality of cells.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring a plurality of cell voltages of an electrochemical device for a plurality of cells connected in series, the system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of connecting pins for removable connection across the plurality of cells;
(b) a plurality of differential amplifiers, each differential amplifier having a plurality of laser wafer trimmed resistors providing matching, so that common mode signals are rejected, while differential input signals are amplified, each differential amplifier having two inputs and one output, wherein the inputs are each connected to the plurality of connecting pins;
(c) a switching network having a plurality of inputs and one output, the inputs of the switching network connected to the outputs of the differential amplifiers;
(d) not more than one analog to digital converter per 16 cells having an input connected to the output of the switching network and adapted to provide digital values indicative of the voltages measured by the plurality of differential amplifiers; and
(e) a power supply to supply regulated power to at least one electrical circuit consisting of the differential amplifiers, switching network, and mixtures thereof, wherein the power supply derives its power from the plurality of cells. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for monitoring a plurality of cell voltages of a fuel cell stack or battery bank having a plurality of cells connected in series, the system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of connecting pins for removable connection across the plurality of cells, the plurality of cells having a cumulative maximum voltage of at least about 225 volts;
(b) a plurality of differential amplifiers, each differential amplifier having a plurality of laser wafer trimmed resistors providing matching, so that common mode signals are rejected, while differential input signals are amplified, wherein said differential amplifiers each produce an output such that the voltage of a cell being measured is determined with an error of about 0.02 percent or less, each differential amplifier having two inputs and one output, wherein the inputs are each connected to the plurality of connecting pins, (c) a switching network having a plurality of inputs and one output, the inputs of the switching network connected to the outputs of the differential amplifiers;
(d) not more than one analog to digital converter per 16 cells having an input connected to the output of the switching network and adapted to provide digital values indicative of the voltages measured by the plurality of differential amplifiers;
(e) a power supply to supply regulated power to at least one electrical circuit consisting of the voltage dividers, differential amplifiers, switching network, and mixtures thereof, wherein the power supply derives its power from the plurality of cells; and
(f) a single housing, wherein each system component is housed therein. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for monitoring a plurality of cell voltages of a fuel cell stack having a plurality of cells connected in series, the system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of connecting pins for removable connection across the plurality of cells, the plurality of cells having a cumulative maximum voltage of at least about 250 volts;
(b) a plurality of differential amplifiers, each differential amplifier having a plurality of laser wafer trimmed resistors providing matching, so that common mode signals are rejected, while differential input signals are amplified, wherein each differential amplifier is adapted to reject a common-mode voltage of at least ±
270 volts, wherein said differential amplifiers each produce an output such that the voltage of a cell being measured is determined with a gain nonlinearity error of about 3 parts per million or less, each differential amplifier having two inputs and one output, wherein the inputs are each connected to the plurality of connecting pins;
(c) a switching network having a plurality of inputs and one output, the inputs of the switching network connected to the outputs of the differential amplifiers;
(d) not more than one analog to digital converter per 16 cells having an input connected to the output of the switching network and adapted to provide digital values indicative of the voltages measured by the plurality of differential amplifiers;
(e) a power supply to supply regulated power to at least one electrical circuit consisting of the voltage dividers, differential amplifiers, switching network, and mixtures thereof, wherein the power supply derives its power from the plurality of cells; and
(f) a single housing, wherein each system component is housed therein. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method for monitoring a plurality of cell voltages of an electrochemical device for a plurality of cells connected in series and having output terminals, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) connecting the voltages from the terminals of each cell to the inputs of a differential amplifier, each differential amplifier having a plurality of laser wafer trimmed resistors providing matching, so that common mode signals are rejected, while differential input signals are amplified, each differential amplifier having two inputs and one output;
(b) rejecting the common-mode voltage from the voltages at the terminal of each cell, in the differential amplifier, to give the voltage differential between the two terminals;
(c) converting the voltage differential from analog to digital values; and
(d) powering the differential amplifier with a power supply to supply regulated power, wherein the power supply derives its power from the plurality of cells. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification