Method and Circuitry to Determine the Relaxation Time of a Battery/Cell
First Claim
1. A method to adaptively charge a battery, wherein the battery includes at least two terminals, the method comprising:
- applying a current signal to the battery;
terminating application of the current signal to the battery;
measuring a voltage at the terminals of the battery after terminating application of the current signal to the battery, including a first voltage;
determining data which is representative of a relaxation time of the battery, wherein the relaxation time is an amount of time corresponding to when the voltage at the terminals of the battery decays to at least the first voltage after terminating application of the current signal to the battery; and
adapting one or more characteristics of a charge signal based on or using the data which is representative of the relaxation time of the battery.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present inventions, in one aspect, are directed to techniques and/or circuitry to adaptively charge a battery/cell using data which is representative of a change in terminal voltage of the battery/cell. In another aspect, the present inventions are directed to techniques and/or circuitry to adaptively charge a battery/cell using data which is representative of partial and/or full relaxation time of the battery/cell. In yet another aspect the present inventions are directed to techniques and/or circuitry to determine whether the data which is representative of partial and/or full relaxation time exceeds a predetermined range and/or is greater than a predetermined value.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method to adaptively charge a battery, wherein the battery includes at least two terminals, the method comprising:
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applying a current signal to the battery; terminating application of the current signal to the battery; measuring a voltage at the terminals of the battery after terminating application of the current signal to the battery, including a first voltage; determining data which is representative of a relaxation time of the battery, wherein the relaxation time is an amount of time corresponding to when the voltage at the terminals of the battery decays to at least the first voltage after terminating application of the current signal to the battery; and adapting one or more characteristics of a charge signal based on or using the data which is representative of the relaxation time of the battery. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus to charge a battery, wherein the battery includes at least two terminals, the apparatus comprising:
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current generation circuitry, coupled to the battery, to; generate a current signal, apply the current signal to the battery, terminate application of the current signal to the battery; measuring circuitry, coupled to the battery, to measure a voltage at the terminals of the battery after terminating application of the current signal to the battery; and control circuitry, coupled to the charging circuitry and the measuring circuitry, and configured to (i) receive data which is representative of the measured voltage and output one or more control signals to the current generation circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to; determine data which is representative of a relaxation time of the battery, wherein the relaxation time is an amount of time for the voltage at the terminals of the battery to decay to a first voltage after terminating application of the current signal to the battery, and generate the one or more control signals based on or using the data representative of the relaxation time of the battery. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method to determine a condition of a battery, wherein the battery includes at least two terminals, the method comprising:
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applying a current signal to the battery; terminating application of the current signal to the battery; measuring a voltage at the terminals of the battery after terminating application of the current signal to the battery, including a first voltage; determining data which is representative of a relaxation time of the battery, wherein the relaxation time is an amount of time corresponding to when the voltage at the terminals of the battery decays to at least the first voltage after terminating application of the current signal to the battery; and determining whether the data which is representative of a relaxation time exceeds a predetermined range and/or is greater than a predetermined value. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification