Battery Chargers and Methods for Extended Battery Life
First Claim
1. A battery charger, comprising:
- a relay that controls the flow of an electrical charge current from a power supply to one or more batteries;
a control unit that controls the actuation of the relay; and
a temperature sensor that continuously measures the ambient temperature of the one or more batteries and communicates the temperature measurements to the control unit;
wherein the control unit receives the temperature measurements from the temperature sensor, determines a charging time period for the one or more batteries, and selectively actuates the relay for the charging time period; and
wherein the charging time period for the one or more batteries has a predetermined duration and represents a coolest time period within a monitoring period of the control unit.
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Abstract
A battery charger that includes a relay, a control unit, and a temperature sensor. The relay controls the flow of an electrical charge current from a power supply to one or more batteries. The temperature sensor continuously measures the ambient temperature of the one or more batteries and communicates the temperature measurements to the control unit. The control unit control the actuation of the relay. The control unit receives the temperature measurements from the temperature sensor, determines a charging time period for the one or more batteries, and selectively actuates the relay for the charging time period. The charging time period has a predetermined duration and represents a coolest time period within a monitoring period of the control unit.
253 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A battery charger, comprising:
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a relay that controls the flow of an electrical charge current from a power supply to one or more batteries;
a control unit that controls the actuation of the relay; and
a temperature sensor that continuously measures the ambient temperature of the one or more batteries and communicates the temperature measurements to the control unit;
wherein the control unit receives the temperature measurements from the temperature sensor, determines a charging time period for the one or more batteries, and selectively actuates the relay for the charging time period; and
wherein the charging time period for the one or more batteries has a predetermined duration and represents a coolest time period within a monitoring period of the control unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An automatic system for float charging one or more batteries, comprising:
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a power supply configured to output an electrical charge current that is used to charge one or more batteries;
a relay that controls the flow of the electrical charge current from the power supply to the one or more batteries;
a temperature sensor that continuously measures the ambient temperature of the one or more batteries; and
a control unit configured to;
receive the temperature measurements from the temperature sensor;
determine a time period for charging the one or more batteries; and
selectively actuate the relay for the time period for charging the one or more batteries;
wherein the time period for charging the one or more batteries has a predetermined duration and represents a coolest time period within a monitoring period of the control unit;
- View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A method for float charging one or more batteries, comprising:
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monitoring the ambient temperature of the one or more batteries over a first monitoring period;
determining a charging period having a predetermined charging duration that represents a coolest time period having the predetermined charging duration that occurs within the first monitoring period; and
charging the one or more batteries during the charging period in a second monitoring period;
- View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification