Smart lead acid battery charging/discharging management system

• US 7,683,576 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2007
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: J-Tek Incorporation
• Original Assignee: J-Tek Incorporation
• Inventors: Hong, Jan-Wu, Tien, Jenn-Yang
• Primary Examiner(s): TSO, EDWARD H
• Application Number:
  US11/742,658
• Publication Number:
  US 20080272736A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,057 Days
• Field of Search: 320/106, 320/112, 320/132, 320/141, 320/101, 320/116, 320/128, 320/130
• US Class Current: 320/128
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4257 Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0019 using switched or multiplexed charge circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00302 Overcharge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00306 Overdischarge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00309 Overheat or overtemperature protection
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system comprised of one or a plurality of identical smart battery unit with each including a controller, a lead-acid battery, and a sensor switch device working together with a alternator and a voltage regulator to upgrade charging efficiency, achieve consistent capacity among batteries, and isolate malfunctioning or failing battery to extend service life of the battery.

Claims

1. A smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system comprising multiple identical smart battery units, an alternator, and a voltage regulator;

each smart battery unit being comprised of a controller including a micro-control unit, a time synchronous unit, an access unit, a display unit, an independent communication device, and a smart identifier to execute smart battery unit management, data storage, system identification, master-slave communication, independent communication, estimation of battery life cycle, and judgment of battery charging voltage limits;

a lead-acid battery serving as an energy storage device to control charging based on cycle counts and ambient temperature since overcharging or over-discharging will significantly affect energy storage capacity and cycle life;

a sensor switch device including a charging switch and a discharging switch to detect voltage, amperage, and temperature data of the lead-acid battery and to further execute charging/discharging management of the battery; and

a transmission interface for data transmission among smart battery units;

wherein a controller from a smart battery unit within the system is designated as a master controller for the system to automatically constitute with other devices a master-slave system;

the master controller causes all batteries to be charged in sequence by turns; and

each battery in the course of charging maintains its electrode plate in active status under the lower demand of power to upgrade charging efficiency and extend service life of the lead-acid battery.

2. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible master-slave smart battery management system is constructed of combination of series and parallel connected architecture frameworks to create a dynamic management framework.

3. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller using the management method of cyclic charging by turns reduces charging power demands, and measure open circuit voltage of the battery when the charging is suspended to accurately control real charging efficiency of each battery in series-parallel connection and detect any battery with poor energy storage capacity.

4. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller measures accumulated cycle counts of the battery using a method for judging with a discharging amperage whether the battery is fully charged with charging as judged by the open circuit voltage of the battery;

and battery cycle counts and temperature are parameters to be converted into charging upper limit of open circuit terminal voltage to serve reference in judging whether a battery is fully charged.

5. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the smart identifier designates roles of master and slave using an external wiring setup;

and each controller of the battery confirms its role as a master or a slave upon the system is powered on.

6. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the master controller after verification of a role of master or slave by the smart identifier activates an automatic configuration function to designate a unique device address for each and all smart battery units included in the system.

7. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor switch device is put under management by the controller to maintain normal operation of the system in case that a limited quantity of batteries fails or is found deteriorating performance.

8. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmission interface relates to a general master-slave series communication interface circuit and its wiring layout that is applicable to both of the master and slave devices.

9. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the time synchronous unit relates to a standard timer to access to synchronous clock when connected to the system for serving reference in data logging of the controller;

and the clock maintains its timing function at a minimum consumption of power stored in the battery without failure due to lower power level of the system.

10. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor switch device retrieves information of charging, discharging, and temperature of the battery through computation and conversion executed by the controller using natural laws including Ohm'"'"'s Law and Ampere'"'"'s Right Hand Law.

11. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 2, wherein a dynamic management framework confirms master and slave relation within the system by means of automatic detection on-line device and an device address setup method.

12. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the controller converts and solves parameters of battery characteristics needed, compiles those parameters according to battery characteristics adopted, and stores those parameters in the data access unit.

13. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein each controller periodically stores associate information and logging time of the battery in the data access unit for follow up and analysis of battery service and failure.

14. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein resume of each battery is downloaded to an externally connected computer from the data access unit at any time through an independent communication device or under the framework of a battery.

15. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the controller designated as the master controller instructs each smart battery to report status of the battery so to evaluate and give command to charge the battery groups by turns.

16. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the smart battery unit reports information on the status of each battery to a controller designated as the master controller;

the master controller gives commands to charge those smart battery units not yet fully charged with charging by turns so to achieve balanced battery capacity in the course of charging, upgrade charging efficiency, and effectively apply all energy in charging to solve the problem of waste of charging energy and compromised cycle life of battery due to heat generated from power consumption as found in a conventional process of having bypassed fully charged battery to a load.

17. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the battery controller when designated as the master controller gives a command to turn off the charging and discharging switches of any other controller so to isolate malfunctioning or failing battery to avoid unnecessary power consumption by the malfunctioning or failing battery and to prevent battery service life from being compromised by overheating generated in inverse charging.

18. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 8, wherein no power consumption takes place on the data transmission interface when the system is not executing data transmission.

19. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the data transmission interface is isolated by the optical coupling drive device, and is applicable to a transmission circuit design where a problem of voltage difference exists between the master and the slave devices connected in series and parallel, and with the circuit and wiring layout design of the present invention any battery can be installed at any location within the system to serve as a master or a slave device without relying upon any additional circuit setup.

20. The smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the data transmission interface is provided with large current drive function for supplying sufficient connected communication drive capacity within a system framework containing a large quantity of batteries.