Power supply charging method and device
First Claim
1. A method of charging a power supply having a predetermined number of battery cells divided into at least two battery cell groups, the method comprising the steps of:
- a—
for each battery cell group, applying a voltage across the battery cell group until one condition selected from the group consisting of the voltage of a battery cell exceeding a first threshold and the current of the cell group dropping below a second threshold, is met;
b—
verifying that each of the predetermined number of battery cells has a similar voltage;
c—
when the verification of the battery cells voltage in step b determines that at least one battery cell has a voltage departing from the voltage of the other battery cells by more than a predetermine value, decreasing the voltage of the other cells and returning to step a.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A power supply charging method and device for charging a power supply having a predetermined number of battery cells divided into at least two battery cell groups. The method comprises the steps of, for each battery cell group, applying a voltage across the battery cell group until one condition selected from the group consisting of the voltage of a battery cell exceeding a first threshold and the current of the cell group dropping below a second threshold, is met and verifying that each of the predetermined number of battery cells has a similar voltage. When the verification of the battery cells voltage determines that at least one battery cell has a voltage departing from the voltage of the other battery cells by more than a predetermine value, the voltage of the other cells is decreased and the previous steps are repeated. The method may further comprise the step of, for each battery cell group, applying a voltage across the battery cell group until the current of the battery cell group drops below a third threshold and stays below the third threshold for a predetermined period of time. As device implementing the charging method is also described.
-
Citations
42 Claims
-
1. A method of charging a power supply having a predetermined number of battery cells divided into at least two battery cell groups, the method comprising the steps of:
-
a—
for each battery cell group, applying a voltage across the battery cell group until one condition selected from the group consisting of the voltage of a battery cell exceeding a first threshold and the current of the cell group dropping below a second threshold, is met;
b—
verifying that each of the predetermined number of battery cells has a similar voltage;
c—
when the verification of the battery cells voltage in step b determines that at least one battery cell has a voltage departing from the voltage of the other battery cells by more than a predetermine value, decreasing the voltage of the other cells and returning to step a. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A power supply charger for charging a power supply having a predetermined number of battery cells divided into at least two battery cell groups, the power supply charger comprising:
-
a power source input configured to be connected to a power source;
at least two power converters connected to the power input and associated with the at least two battery cell groups, respectively, each of the at least two power converters being associated with a switching controller, a current sensing circuit, a voltage sensing circuit and a balancer circuit;
each of the at least two power converters being provided with terminals configured to be connectable to the battery cell groups;
a micro-controller operatively connected to the switching controllers, current sensing circuits, voltage sensing circuits and balancer circuits, the micro-controller being so configured as to;
a—
for each battery cell group, activate the switching controllers to apply a voltage from the power converters across the battery cell group until one condition selected from the group consisting of the voltage sensing circuit of a battery cell group sensing that the voltage exceeds a first threshold and the current sensing circuit of a battery cell group sensing that the current has dropped below a second threshold, is met;
b—
activate the voltage sensing circuits to verify that each of the predetermined number of battery cells has a similar voltage;
c—
when the verification of the voltage of the battery cells in step b determines that at least one battery cell has a voltage departing from the voltage of the other battery cells by more than a predetermine value, activate the balancer circuits to decrease the voltage of the other cells and return to step a. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
Specification