ELECTRONIC STORAGE BATTERY DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM

• US 20110295532A1
• Filed: 05/23/2011
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Franklin Grid Solutions, LLC (EBW, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Midtronics Incorporated
• Inventors: Stukenberg, Todd J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,229,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/63
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/367 Software therefor, e.g. for battery testing using modelling or look-up tables
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/385 Arrangements for measuring battery or accumulator variables for monitoring G01R31/382
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/396 Acquisition or processing of data for testing or for monitoring individual cells or groups of cells within a battery

Abstract

A battery diagnostic system including Kelvin connectors configured to electrically couple to a storage battery. A forcing function source is configured to apply a forcing function signal to the storage battery through the Kelvin connectors. Measurement circuitry calculates an electrical parameter of the storage battery. A memory stores a plurality of electrical parameters for a plurality of storage batteries and each of the plurality of stored electrical parameters is associated with storage battery identifier information which identifies one of the storage batteries of the plurality of storage batteries and time information, which identifies a time the electrical parameter was obtained.

Claims

1. A battery diagnostic system, comprising:

Kelvin connectors configured to electrically couple to a storage battery;

a forcing function source configured to a forcing function signal to the storage battery through the Kelvin connectors;

measurement circuitry calculating an electrical parameter of the storage battery;

a memory storing a plurality of electrical parameters for a plurality of storage batteries, each of the plurality of stored electrical parameters associated with storage battery identification information which identifies one of the storage batteries of the plurality of storage batteries and time information, which identifies a time the electrical parameter was obtained; and

diagnostic circuitry coupled to the memory and diagnosing conditions of the plurality of storage batteries based upon the plurality of stored electrical parameters, the identifier information and the time information.

2. The battery diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein the identification information identifies the set of Kelvin connectors in a plurality of Kelvin connectors to the diagnostic circuitry.

3. The battery diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein the identification information comprises information which is uniquely associated with one of the storage batteries.

4. The battery diagnostic system of claim 1 including an input configured to receive the identification information.

5. The battery diagnostic system of claim 4 wherein the input comprises a manual input.

6. The battery diagnostic system of claim 4 wherein the input comprises a barcode input.

7. The battery diagnostic system of claim 4 wherein the input comprises a RFID reader input.

8. The battery diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein the stored electrical parameters in the memory are overwritten with newer measured electrical parameters.

9. The battery diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein the diagnostic circuitry identifies a peak value of a stored electrical parameter associated with a storage batter.

10. The battery diagnostic system of claim 9 wherein the peak electrical parameter is used as a baseline and diagnostic output from the diagnostic circuitry is based upon a comparison of a current measured electrical parameter to the baseline.

11. The battery diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein the diagnostic circuitry determines a rate of change of a dynamic battery parameter based upon the plurality of battery of stored electrical parameters and the time information and responsively provides a diagnostic output.

12. The battery diagnostic system of claim 11 wherein the diagnostic output comprises an output indicating a battery is failing if a rate of change between consecutive measurement is more than 5%.

13. The battery diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein the diagnostic circuitry provides an output indicative of expected life span of a battery.

14. The battery diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein the electrical parameter comprises a dynamic parameter.

15. A method of diagnosing a battery system comprising a plurality of batteries, the method comprising:

electrically coupling Kelvin connectors to each of the plurality of storage batteries;

applying a forcing function signal from a forcing function source to each of the plurality storage batteries through the respective Kelvin connectors;

measuring a response for each of the plurality of the storage batteries for the applied forcing function signal;

calculating an electrical parameter for each of the plurality of storage batteries based upon the forcing function signal and the measured response;

storing each of the calculated electrical parameters in a memory, each of the stored electrical parameters associated with identification information which identifies which of the plurality of storage batteries the measurement was obtained and time information which identifies the time the electrical parameter was obtained and diagnosing a condition of each of the plurality of storage batteries based upon the stored electrical parameters, the identifier information and the time information.

16. The method of diagnosing a battery system of claim 15 wherein the identification information identifies the set of Kelvin connectors in a plurality of Kelvin connectors to the diagnostic circuitry.

17. The method of diagnosing a battery system of claim 15 wherein the identification information comprises information which is uniquely associated with one of the storage batteries.

18. The method of diagnosing a battery system of claim 15 including receiving an input related to the identification information.

19. The method of diagnosing a battery system of claim 15 including overwriting stored electrical parameters in the memory with newer measured electrical parameters.

20. The method of diagnosing a battery system of claim 15 including identifying a peak value of a stored electrical parameter associated with a storage battery.

21. The method of diagnosing a battery system of claim 20 including using the peak electrical parameter as a baseline and the diagnosing is based upon a comparison of a current measured electrical parameter to the baseline.

22. The method of diagnosing a battery system of claim 15 including determining a rate of change of a dynamic battery parameter based upon the plurality of battery of stored electrical parameters and the time information and responsively providing a diagnostic output.