Battery maintenance system
First Claim
1. A method of determining the need for charging a nickel cadmium battery, comprising:
- a. sensing the battery voltage of said battery;
b. when said sensed battery voltage is greater than or equal to a first predetermined voltage and less than or equal to a second larger predetermined voltage, setting a timer out to a first short time and analyzing whether said battery voltage is diminishing; and
,c. When said analysis reveals that said battery voltage is not diminishing, saving said battery voltage, setting a drop delay to a second longer time and charging said battery.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A battery maintenance system for charging, analyzing, discharging and conditioning of a NiCad battery. The system displays voltage and capacity to determine whether or not a NiCad battery has enough capacity to power equipment for an optimal time period. The system charges the battery using a negative delta voltage method of detecting full charge, while also displaying instantaneous battery voltage. The system also analyzes the battery in a charge, discharge and recharge mode of operation, and during the charge mode the instantaneous voltage is displayed. The discharge mode discharges the battery to one volt per cell while displaying voltage and accumulative capacity alternately. The system also conditions batteries by cycling a battery through three cycles of charging, discharging and a subsequent recharge cycle.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of determining the need for charging a nickel cadmium battery, comprising:
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a. sensing the battery voltage of said battery; b. when said sensed battery voltage is greater than or equal to a first predetermined voltage and less than or equal to a second larger predetermined voltage, setting a timer out to a first short time and analyzing whether said battery voltage is diminishing; and
,c. When said analysis reveals that said battery voltage is not diminishing, saving said battery voltage, setting a drop delay to a second longer time and charging said battery. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 17, 18)
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5. A method of determining whether to discharge a nickel cadmium battery, comprising:
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a. sensing the voltage per cell of said battery; b. when said sensed voltage per cell is greater than or equal a first predetermined voltage and less than or equal to a second predetermined voltage, setting a timer out to a first short time and analyzing whether said voltage per cell is less than one volt; and
,c. when said analysis reveals that said voltage per cell is not less than one volt, discharging said battery. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 19)
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11. A method of conditioning a nickel cadmium battery comprising:
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a. sensing the battery voltage of said battery; b. when said sensed battery voltage is greater than or equal to a first predetermined voltage and less than or equal to a second predetermined voltage, setting a timer out to a first short time and analyzing whether said battery voltage is diminishing; c. when said analysis reveals that said battery voltage is not diminishing, saving said battery voltage, setting a drop delay to a second longer time and charging said battery; d. sensing the voltage per cell of said battery; e. when said sensed voltage per cell is greater than or equal to a third predetermined voltage and less than or equal to a fourth predetermined voltage, setting a timer out to the first time and analyzing whether said voltage per cell is less than a fifth predetermined voltage; f. when said analysis reveals that said voltage per cell is not less than the fifth predetermined voltage, discharging said battery; and
,g. recharging said battery by repeating steps a-c. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20)
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21. A process of charging a rechargeable battery of the type susceptible to battery memory comprising the steps of:
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a. sensing the battery voltage of the battery; b. determining if the sensed battery voltage is less than a first predetermined voltage and, if so, returning to step a;
if not, determining if battery voltage is less than or equal to a second larger predetermined voltage and, if not, returning to step a, and if so, setting a timer out to a first short time;c. analyzing whether battery voltage is diminishing; d. if battery voltage is not diminishing, saving battery voltage and setting a drop delay to a second larger time, charging said battery; e. testing whether duration time is complete; and
,f. if not, returning to step a, if duration time is complete, terminating charging. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. Apparatus for analyzing and conditioning a rechargeable battery susceptible to battery memory, comprising:
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a. means for sensing battery voltage of a battery; b. means for determining that battery voltage is greater than or equal to a first predetermined voltage and less than or equal to a second predetermined voltage and showing a timer out signal; c. an out timer responsive to the timer signal for timing a first short time; d. means for determining that battery voltage is not diminishing; e. a drop delay timer responsive to the means for determining that battery an voltage is not diminishing for timing a second longer time; f. means for sensing voltage per cell of the battery and for determining when the sense voltage is greater than or equal to a third predetermined voltage or less than or equal to a fourth predetermined voltage, the means for sensing including means for setting the out timer to the first time and analyzing whether the voltage per cell is less than a fifth predetermined voltage; and
,g. means responsive to the means for sensing for discharging the battery and for activating the first means for sensing battery voltage for restarting a cycle of analyzing.
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Specification