Battery charger with integrated cell balancing
First Claim
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1. A battery charger, comprising:
- circuitry to sense battery voltage on output terminals of the charger andcircuitry to sense individual cell voltages on inter-cell connection ports of the charger;
circuitry to determine whether one of the cells in a cell pack is at or above a target value, and to adjust a total output voltage lower to keep that cell at the target value by draining current from that cell; and
a first connector for a main charge path; and
an auxiliary connector configured to be attached to inter-cell points in the pack for cell balancing and individual cell voltage monitoring.
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Abstract
A battery charger containing circuitry including integrated cell balancing and automatic cell configuration determination is presented. The charger automatically adapts output current to different battery configurations. The charger also ensures that all the cells within a battery configuration are at roughly the same voltage.
70 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A battery charger, comprising:
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circuitry to sense battery voltage on output terminals of the charger and circuitry to sense individual cell voltages on inter-cell connection ports of the charger; circuitry to determine whether one of the cells in a cell pack is at or above a target value, and to adjust a total output voltage lower to keep that cell at the target value by draining current from that cell; and a first connector for a main charge path; and
an auxiliary connector configured to be attached to inter-cell points in the pack for cell balancing and individual cell voltage monitoring. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A battery charger, comprising:
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circuitry to sense battery voltage on output terminals of the charger and circuitry to sense individual cell voltages on inter-cell connection ports of the charger; a resistor; a transistor coupled to the resistor; circuitry to apply a resistive load of the resistor to a selected one or ones of the cells of a cell pack by turning on the transistor that connects the resistor across the terminals of a higher-voltage cell, with a value of the resistor determining a balancing current; and a first connector for a main charge path; and
an auxiliary connector configured to be attached to inter-cell points in the pack for cell balancing and individual cell voltage monitoring.
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17. A battery charger, comprising:
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circuitry to charge a nanophosphate cell in about 15 minutes, the circuitry including integrated cell balancing and with the circuitry automatically adapting to different connected battery configurations; and a resistive load network including individual resistors, each individual resistor having a distinct resistance that is variably adjusted and inserted in series between each cell in the cell pack to all but a cell with the smallest voltage in the pack wherein cell balancing continuously attempts to bring all the cells in the cell pack to a same voltage by varying each resistance corresponding to an individual resistor in the resistive load network. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification