Cell site power system management, including battery circuit management
First Claim
1. A cell site power management system for providing supplementary or emergency power to radio and telecommunications circuitry at a cell site, the system comprising:
- a cell site battery circuit connected to a battery circuit node, wherein the battery circuit node is configured to provide battery power to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site, and wherein the battery circuit comprises—
multiple battery strings, wherein each battery string comprises;
one or more batteries coupled in a series configuration; and
at least one switch circuit configured to selectively couple the one or more batteries to the battery circuit node,wherein the battery circuit node is configured to provide power, as needed, to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site and to receive a charging current for charging batteries when external power is available to the cell site; and
a cell site power controller configured to;
selectively couple one or more of the multiple battery strings in the battery circuit to the battery circuit node,wherein a battery string coupled to the battery circuit node operates as an active battery string,wherein the active battery string provides power, as needed, to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site via the battery circuit node, andwherein the active battery string actively receives the charging current when external power is available to the cell site to maintain the active battery string at or near a full charge;
selectively decouple at least one of the one or more of the multiple battery strings in the battery circuit from the battery circuit node,wherein a battery string decoupled from the battery circuit node operates as a parked battery string,wherein the parked battery string does not actively receive the charging current; and
,upon an occurrence of a battery change event, to—
(i) couple the parked battery string to the battery circuit node to provide power, as needed, to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site and to actively receive the charging current;
or(ii) decouple the active battery string from the battery circuit node and to no longer receive the charging current;
or(iii) both (i) and (ii); and
,wherein the battery change event includes a specified charging event, a specified testing event, or a power failure event.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems, apparatuses, and methods for managing battery circuits in systems such as wireless communications service base stations are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a battery circuit having multiple strings of one or more serially connected batteries. The apparatus may be configured to rotate between battery strings such that one or more strings are maintained at or near an upper threshold while other string(s) are disconnected from the maintained string(s). The apparatus may also be configured to charge the battery circuit, to test the battery circuit, and to handle power failures.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A cell site power management system for providing supplementary or emergency power to radio and telecommunications circuitry at a cell site, the system comprising:
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a cell site battery circuit connected to a battery circuit node, wherein the battery circuit node is configured to provide battery power to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site, and wherein the battery circuit comprises— multiple battery strings, wherein each battery string comprises; one or more batteries coupled in a series configuration; and at least one switch circuit configured to selectively couple the one or more batteries to the battery circuit node, wherein the battery circuit node is configured to provide power, as needed, to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site and to receive a charging current for charging batteries when external power is available to the cell site; and a cell site power controller configured to; selectively couple one or more of the multiple battery strings in the battery circuit to the battery circuit node, wherein a battery string coupled to the battery circuit node operates as an active battery string, wherein the active battery string provides power, as needed, to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site via the battery circuit node, and wherein the active battery string actively receives the charging current when external power is available to the cell site to maintain the active battery string at or near a full charge; selectively decouple at least one of the one or more of the multiple battery strings in the battery circuit from the battery circuit node, wherein a battery string decoupled from the battery circuit node operates as a parked battery string, wherein the parked battery string does not actively receive the charging current; and
,upon an occurrence of a battery change event, to— (i) couple the parked battery string to the battery circuit node to provide power, as needed, to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site and to actively receive the charging current;
or(ii) decouple the active battery string from the battery circuit node and to no longer receive the charging current;
or(iii) both (i) and (ii); and
,wherein the battery change event includes a specified charging event, a specified testing event, or a power failure event. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for managing a battery circuit that has multiple battery strings and is configured to provide backup power to radio and telecommunications circuitry at a base station, the method comprising:
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detecting an event that indicates that one or more actions related to management of the battery circuit is to be performed, wherein the battery circuit comprises multiple battery strings, and wherein each battery string in the battery circuit further comprises; two or more batteries arranged in a serial fashion and configured to provide backup power to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the base station; a string connection switch configured to selectively couple and decouple the battery string from a battery circuit node; and
,a sensor configured to provide a string sense signal indicating conditions relating to at least one state of the battery string; and wherein the detected event comprises; a battery test event indicating that the battery circuit is to be tested; a battery charging event indicating that the battery circuit is to be charged; a battery rotation event indicating that at least one of the following is to be performed— (i) rotating one or more battery strings from a parked status into an active status, (ii) rotating one or more battery strings from an active status to a parked status, or (iii) both (i) and (ii); and
,a power failure event indicating that an external power failure exists; performing a battery test process when the detected event comprises the battery test event, wherein the battery test process comprises selectively coupling one or more battery strings to the battery circuit node for testing; performing a battery charging process when the detected event comprises the battery charging event, wherein the battery charging process comprises selectively coupling one or more battery strings to the battery circuit node for charging; performing a battery rotation process when the detected event comprises the battery rotation event, wherein the battery rotation process comprises at least one or both of— selectively coupling one or more battery strings to the battery circuit node and into the active status, and selectively decoupling one or more battery strings from the battery circuit node and into the parked status; and
,performing a power failure handling process when the detected event comprises the power failure event, wherein the power failure handling process comprises selectively coupling one or more battery strings in the parked status to the battery circuit node to provide backup power to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the base station. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification