Rechargeable battery manager
First Claim
1. A battery conditioner comprises a plurality of differing programming means representing a plurality of batteries of differing characterisitcs, the programming means including a signature tailored to the characteristics of each of the batteries for automatically programming the battery conditioner to supply to the batteries individually programmed optimal levels of charge;
- an attaching means for attaching the programming means to the batteries to match each of the batteries with each of the programming means tailored to the characteristics of each of the respective batteries;
a housing for individually receiving each of the batteries and attached programming means, the housing including electrical circuits for discharging and recharging the batteries;
a sensing means associated with the housing for sensing the presence of one of the programming means;
an electrical connection between battery terminals and the housing; and
control means including the sensing means and the electrical connection for recognizing the signature of said one of the programming means and discharging the respective battery to a voltage level tailored to the voltage characteristics of the respective battery and then automatically recharging the respective battery to a predetermined programmed level according to said one of the programming means.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for conditioning batteries incorporates a programming device having different signatures for batteries of different characteristics. When a battery is to be conditioned, one of the programming devices representing the characteristics of that battery is attached to the battery and the combined battery/programming device is positioned on the battery conditioner. A surface of the conditioner contains a reading device that reads the signature of the programming device and automatically programs the discharging/charging circuits to provide a discharge/charge sequence that is tailored to the particular characteristics of the battery being conditioned. Programming devices can include mechanical complementary protrusions and apertures, bar codes, magnetic strips, magnetic spots with Hall-Effect readers, electrical parameters, built-in wire coding, and other suitable complementary signatures and readers.
-
Citations
32 Claims
-
1. A battery conditioner comprises a plurality of differing programming means representing a plurality of batteries of differing characterisitcs, the programming means including a signature tailored to the characteristics of each of the batteries for automatically programming the battery conditioner to supply to the batteries individually programmed optimal levels of charge;
- an attaching means for attaching the programming means to the batteries to match each of the batteries with each of the programming means tailored to the characteristics of each of the respective batteries;
a housing for individually receiving each of the batteries and attached programming means, the housing including electrical circuits for discharging and recharging the batteries;
a sensing means associated with the housing for sensing the presence of one of the programming means;
an electrical connection between battery terminals and the housing; and
control means including the sensing means and the electrical connection for recognizing the signature of said one of the programming means and discharging the respective battery to a voltage level tailored to the voltage characteristics of the respective battery and then automatically recharging the respective battery to a predetermined programmed level according to said one of the programming means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- an attaching means for attaching the programming means to the batteries to match each of the batteries with each of the programming means tailored to the characteristics of each of the respective batteries;
-
20. A method of conditioning a battery comprising providing a plurality of differing programming means representing a plurality of batteries of differing characteristics, the programming means including a specific signature tailored to the characteristics of each specific type of the batteries, respectively, providing a battery conditioner with a sensing means complementary to the programming means for reading the signature of the battery, identifying characteristics of the type of the battery and automatically programming the battery conditioner to condition the battery according to the characteristics of the type of the battery and for supplying to the batteries individually programmed optimal levels of charge;
- matching each of the batteries with each of the programming means tailored to the characteristics of each of the respective batteries by attaching the programming means to the batteries;
individually receiving each of the batteries and attach programming means in a housing including electrical circuits for discharging and recharging the batteries;
sensing the presence of one of the programming means by a sensing means associated with the housing;
recognizing the signature of said one of the programming means and discharging the respective battery to a voltage level tailored to the voltage characteristics of the respective battery and then automatically recharging the respective battery to a predetermined programmed level according to said one of the programming means by having an electrical connection between battery terminals and the housing and by having a control means including the sensing means and the electrical connection. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
- matching each of the batteries with each of the programming means tailored to the characteristics of each of the respective batteries by attaching the programming means to the batteries;
Specification