Battery having discharge state indication

• US 6,507,196 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2000
• Issued: 01/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Midtronics Incorporated, Westmont Venture Partners, LLC, CNF Ventures, LLC (XPO, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intra International AB (Midtronics Incorporated)
• Inventors: Rehnberg, Tore, Thomsen, Jes
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Edward H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LUK, LAWRENCE W
• Application Number:
  US09/741,891
• Publication Number:
  US 20020018927A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 324/436, 324/435, 324/433, 324/430, 324/426, 324/434, 429/61, 429/90, 429/91, 429/92
• US Class Current: 324/436
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/364 Battery terminal connectors with integrated measuring arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/06 Lead-acid accumulators semi-lead accumulators H01M10/20
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4257 Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/543 Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A storage battery of the conventional kind for supplying power to electrical devices has a supervising unit for determining the electric capacity. The supervising unit is electrically connected to terminal posts of the battery in order to measure the battery voltage and also measures the battery current. Measurement posts are connected to the end cells of the battery in parallel to the terminal posts and to the supervising unit through bridges. The supervising unit also measures the voltage between the measurement posts and the difference between the measured voltages is a measure of the current flowing through the battery, this difference voltage corresponding to a sum of the voltages over portions of the terminal posts and the bridges. From this difference voltage the current through the battery is calculated and therefrom the remaining electric capacity of the battery is determined by repeating regularly the measurement. The addition of measurement posts in a storage battery can be made rather easily by modifying the moulding of the terminal posts.

Claims

1. A storage battery for supplying power to electrical devices, the battery comprising:

a battery vessel and a lid arranged on the vessel,

several cells arranged in the battery vessel and electrically connected in series with each other, so that two end cells are formed,

exterior terminal posts, electrically connected to the two end cells and extending from plates in an end cell through the lid or vessel to the exterior,

a supervisor unit for determining the remaining electric capacity of the battery, the supervising unit being electrically connected to the terminal posts and arranged to measure a first voltage between the terminal posts,

characterized in that the supervising unit is arranged to measure a second voltage from which a third voltage over part of at least one of the terminal posts is obtained, to calculate from the third voltage the current through the battery and to determine, from the calculated current and the first voltage, the remaining electric capacity of the battery.

2. A storage battery according to claim 1, characterized in that the supervising unit is arranged to measure the second voltage so that the third voltage is a voltage between a connection of a first one of the terminal posts to the plates in the end cell and place at an exterior end of the first terminal post or this voltage added to a voltage between a connection of a second one of the terminal posts to the plates in the end cell and a place at an exterior end of the second terminal post.

3. A storage battery according to claim 1, characterized in that the supervising unit is arranged to measure the second voltage so that the third voltage is a voltage between a connection of the thermal post to the plates in the end cell and a place on the terminal post, at which is passes through the lid or the vessel.

4. A storage battery according to claim 1, characterized by measurement posts, each measurement post being connected to a separate one of the two end cells and each measurement post being arranged in parallel to a terminal post, the supervising unit being connected to the measurement posts and arranged to measure the second voltage as a voltage between a position on a first measurement post and a similarly located position on a second measurement post.

5. A storage battery according to claim 1, characterized by measurement posts, each measurement post being connected to a separate one of the two end cells and each measurement post being arranged in parallel to a terminal post,

the supervising unit being connected to at least one of the measurement posts and arranged to measure the second voltage as a voltage between a measurement post and a place on that terminal post, which is connected to the end cell, to which the measurement post is connected, the place being located at an exterior end of the terminal post.

6. A storage battery according to claim 1, characterized in

that the supervising unit is arranged to measure, in an initial phase, when the battery is first connected to a load, this load being a known resistance, the second voltage and to determine from the second voltage and resistance of the part of the at least one of the terminal posts, and

that the supervising unit is arranged to use the determined resistance in calculations of the remaining electric charge capacity of the battery.

7. A storage battery according to claim 1, characterized in that the supervising unit is arranged to measure the second voltage at times occurring periodically in time and to calculate for an interval between two consecutive times the electric charge capacity drawn from the battery during this interval.

8. A storage battery according to claim 7, characterized in that the supervising unit is arranged to subtract the calculated electric charge capacity drawn from the battery during an interval from a current capacity value indicating the remaining charge capacity of the battery in order to determine the current capacity value.

9. A storage battery according to claim 1, characterized in that the supervising unit is arranged to measure the second voltage at times occurring periodically in time in order to determine whether the no current has flowed through the battery during a predetermined time period and to measure, in the case where it has determined that no current has flowed during the predetermined time period, the first voltage and to calculate from the measured value of the first voltage a reliable current capacity value indicating the remaining charge capacity of the battery.