Equipment for testing battery of electric device

• US 6,275,042 B1
• Filed: 11/04/1999
• Issued: 08/14/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Wei-Jen Tsai
• Original Assignee: Wei-Jen Tsai
• Inventors: Tsai, Wei-Jen
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Peter S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TOATLEY, GREGORY J
• Application Number:
  US09/433,714
• Time in Patent Office: 649 Days
• Field of Search: 324/427, 324/433, 320/132, 320/134, 320/136
• US Class Current: 324/427
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/006 on road vehicles, e.g. automobiles or trucks testing of ignition installations peculiar to internal combustion engines F02P17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3646 for indicating electrical conditions or variables, e.g. visual or audible indicators
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3648 comprising digital calculation means, e.g. for performing an algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/378 specially adapted for the type of battery or accumulator
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3835 involving only voltage measurements
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries

Abstract

An equipment is designed to test the residual characteristic of a battery set of an electric device. The equipment comprises a microcomputer main unit, an analog/digital converter, a decoder, at least one set of voltage testing lines, at least one relay, an analog switch, and a display. The voltage testing lines are connected with each battery of the battery set for measuring the terminal voltage of each battery. The analog switch is used to measure the discharge current, which is transmitted along with the terminal voltage via the analog/digital converter to the microcomputer main unit. One of the relays is activated by the microcomputer main unit via the decoder to retrieve the terminal voltage datum of one of the batteries of the battery set for computing the value of a residual characteristic by the microcomputer main unit. The value of the residual characteristic of the battery is digitally exhibited by the display.

Claims

1. An equipment for testing a battery set of an electric motor vehicle that has an electric motor and a plurality of wheels, at least one of the wheels being connected to be driven by the motor, said equipment being connected between the battery set and the electric motor and comprising a microcomputer main unit, an analog/digital converter, a decoder, at least one set of voltage testing lines, at least one relay, an analog switch, and a display;

wherein said one set of voltage testing lines is connected with two terminals of a battery of the battery set for measuring a terminal voltage of the battery;

wherein said analog switch is used to measure a discharge current of the battery;

wherein said analog/digital converter is used to transmit said terminal voltage of the battery and said discharge current to said microcomputer main unit;

wherein one of said relays is selected by said microcomputer main unit via said decoder to retrieve a terminal voltage datum of the battery of the battery set whereby said terminal voltage datum is used by said microcomputer main unit to compare and compute a residual characteristic value, which is exhibited by said display, wherein a residual range is obtained using a residual storage capacity, the discharge current, the motor rotation speed and the radius of the at least one of the wheels.

2. The equipment as defined in claim 1 further comprising a RS232 serial communication via which said microcomputer main unit transmits the measured data to a personal computer for processing the measured data.

3. The equipment as defined in claim 1 further comprising a charger for charging the batteries of the battery set.

4. The equipment as defined in claim 3 being connected with a dummy load in cooperation with said charger to charge and discharge the batteries periodically.

5. The equipment as defined in claim 1, wherein said display is an LCD (liquid crystal display) element.

6. The equipment as defined in claim 1, wherein said display is an LED (light-emitting diode) element.

7. The equipment as defined in claim 1, wherein said microcomputer main unit makes use of an inversely proportional relationship of a terminal voltage and a discharge rate in a small section of a discharge process whereby said relationship is used to compute said discharge rate which is then multiplied by a measured discharge current to obtain the value of a residual storage capacity.

8. The equipment as defined in claim 7, wherein said residual storage capacity value is divided by a discharge current of a power supply demand to obtain a residual discharge time.

9. The equipment as defined in claim 1, wherein said display exhibits the data in a digital manner.