Staggered Backup Battery Charging System
First Claim
1. An article of manufacture including a data storage medium, said data storage medium including a set of machine-readable instructions that are executable by a processing device to implement an algorithm, said algorithm comprising the steps of:
- detecting when a first energy capacity of a first battery pack falls below a lower threshold;
comparing the first energy capacity to a second energy capacity of a second battery pack; and
, if the first energy capacity is less than the second energy capacity, directing a charging circuit to charge the first battery pack to a first maximum energy capacity.
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Abstract
A battery backup system includes a control device including a power sensing device, a discharge circuit, a charging circuit, and a plurality of battery packs. A lower threshold is established representative of a minimum acceptable effective energy capacity. Each battery pack is recharged if its effective energy capacity falls below the lower threshold. Additionally, an upper threshold is established representative of the minimum acceptable effective energy capacity plus a performance margin. In a two battery-pack system, if both battery packs fall below the upper threshold, the battery with the least effective energy capacity is discharged to the minimum acceptable effective energy capacity and then recharged to the battery pack'"'"'s maximum energy capacity. In this way, both battery packs are prevented from approaching the minimum acceptable effective energy capacity at the same time. This reduces the size or number of battery packs and reduces their associated cost and volume.
22 Citations
14 Claims
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1. An article of manufacture including a data storage medium, said data storage medium including a set of machine-readable instructions that are executable by a processing device to implement an algorithm, said algorithm comprising the steps of:
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detecting when a first energy capacity of a first battery pack falls below a lower threshold;
comparing the first energy capacity to a second energy capacity of a second battery pack; and
,if the first energy capacity is less than the second energy capacity, directing a charging circuit to charge the first battery pack to a first maximum energy capacity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of providing a service for managing a support system, comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the computer-readable code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing the following steps:
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detecting when a first energy capacity of a first battery pack falls below a lower threshold;
comparing the first energy capacity to a second energy capacity of a second battery pack; and
,if the first energy capacity is less than the second energy capacity, directing a charging circuit to charge the first battery pack to a first maximum energy capacity. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification