Battery monitoring algorithms for vehicles
First Claim
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1. A battery monitoring system comprising:
- a ground line for coupling to a ground terminal of a battery installed in a vehicle;
an input line for coupling to a positive terminal of said battery;
a voltage sensor coupled to said input line and said ground line and operative to provide voltage data indicative of an output voltage of said battery, said voltage data including voltage data acquired during a time period from when a starter of said vehicle is energized by said battery and an engine of said vehicle starts and being indicative of an initial drop in said output voltage of said battery;
memory operative to store data and code; and
a processing unit coupled to said memory and said voltage sensor and responsive to said code being operative toreceive said voltage data from said voltage sensor,retrieve voltage data previously provided by said voltage sensor from said memory, said previously provided voltage data being indicative of initial drops in said output voltage of said battery during previous time periods when said starter of said vehicle is energized;
compare said voltage data from said voltage sensor to said voltage data previously provided by said voltage sensor,determine whether said voltage data differs from said previously provided voltage data by at least a predetermined amount, andgenerate a notification signal when said voltage data differs from said previously provided voltage data by at least said predetermined amount; and
whereinsaid processing unit is operative to compare said initial drop in said output voltage of said battery with said initial drops in said output voltage of said battery during said previous time periods.
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Abstract
A system for monitoring the starter battery of a vehicle includes a central processing unit, a voltage sensor, a temperature sensor, a timer, a data store, and a display. A collection of computer software algorithms are executed by the central processing unit to ascertain the operational state of a vehicle'"'"'s starter battery. The algorithms are operative to determine engine start time, initial start voltage drop, and the charge state of the battery.
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Citations
92 Claims
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1. A battery monitoring system comprising:
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a ground line for coupling to a ground terminal of a battery installed in a vehicle; an input line for coupling to a positive terminal of said battery; a voltage sensor coupled to said input line and said ground line and operative to provide voltage data indicative of an output voltage of said battery, said voltage data including voltage data acquired during a time period from when a starter of said vehicle is energized by said battery and an engine of said vehicle starts and being indicative of an initial drop in said output voltage of said battery; memory operative to store data and code; and a processing unit coupled to said memory and said voltage sensor and responsive to said code being operative to receive said voltage data from said voltage sensor, retrieve voltage data previously provided by said voltage sensor from said memory, said previously provided voltage data being indicative of initial drops in said output voltage of said battery during previous time periods when said starter of said vehicle is energized; compare said voltage data from said voltage sensor to said voltage data previously provided by said voltage sensor, determine whether said voltage data differs from said previously provided voltage data by at least a predetermined amount, and generate a notification signal when said voltage data differs from said previously provided voltage data by at least said predetermined amount; and
whereinsaid processing unit is operative to compare said initial drop in said output voltage of said battery with said initial drops in said output voltage of said battery during said previous time periods. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for monitoring a battery, said method comprising:
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receiving voltage data indicative of the output voltage of a battery in a vehicle; storing said voltage data in memory to create stored voltage data; receiving new voltage data indicative of the output voltage of said battery, said new voltage data including voltage data acquired during a time period from when a starter of said vehicle is energized by said battery and an engine of said vehicle starts and being indicative of an initial drop in said output voltage of said battery during a recent engine start; retrieving said stored voltage data, said stored voltage data being indicative of initial drops in said output voltage of said battery during previous engine starts; comparing said new voltage data to said stored voltage data using a processing unit; determining whether said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least a predetermined amount; and generating a notification signal when said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least said predetermined amount; and
whereinsaid step of comparing said new voltage data to said stored voltage data includes comparing said initial drop in said output voltage of said battery during said recent engine start with at least one of said initial drops in said output voltage of said battery during previous engine starts. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to:
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receive voltage data indicative of the output voltage of a battery in a vehicle; store said voltage data in memory to create stored voltage data; receive new voltage data indicative of the output voltage of said battery, said new voltage data including voltage data acquired during a time period from when a starter of said vehicle is energized by said battery and an engine of said vehicle starts and being indicative of an initial drop in said output voltage of said battery during a recent engine start; retrieve said stored voltage data, said stored voltage data being indicative of initial drops in said output voltage of said battery during previous engine starts; compare said new voltage data to said stored voltage data; determine whether said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least a predetermined amount; and generate a notification signal when said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least said predetermined amount; and
whereinsaid code is further operative to cause said electronic device to compare said initial drop in said output voltage of said battery during said recent engine start with at least one of said initial drops in said output voltage of said battery during previous engine starts. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A battery monitoring system comprising:
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a ground line for coupling to a ground terminal of a battery installed in a vehicle; an input line for coupling to a positive terminal of said battery; a voltage sensor coupled to said input line and said ground line and operative to provide voltage data indicative of an output voltage of said battery; memory operative to store data and code; a processing unit coupled to said memory and said voltage sensor and responsive to said code being operative to receive said voltage data from said voltage sensor, retrieve voltage data previously provided by said voltage sensor from said memory; compare said voltage data from said voltage sensor to said voltage data previously provided by said voltage sensor, determine whether said voltage data differs from said previously provided voltage data by at least a predetermined amount, and generate a notification signal when said voltage data differs from said previously provided voltage data by at least said predetermined amount; and a timer coupled to said processing unit and operative to provide time data to said processing unit; and
whereinresponsive to said voltage data and said time data said processing unit is operative to generate start time data indicative of a length of a time period from when a starter of said vehicle is energized by said battery to when an engine of said vehicle starts, retrieve start time data previously generated by said processing unit and stored in said memory, compare said start time data to said previous start time data, and generate said notification signal when said start time data differs from said previous start time data by at least a predetermined amount of time. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A battery monitoring system comprising:
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a ground line for coupling to a ground terminal of a battery installed in a vehicle; an input line for coupling to a positive terminal of said battery; a voltage sensor coupled to said input line and said ground line and operative to provide voltage data indicative of an output voltage of said battery; memory operative to store data and code; a processing unit coupled to said memory and said voltage sensor and responsive to said code being operative to receive said voltage data from said voltage sensor, retrieve voltage data previously provided by said voltage sensor from said memory; compare said voltage data from said voltage sensor to said voltage data previously provided by said voltage sensor, determine whether said voltage data differs from said previously provided voltage data by at least a predetermined amount, and generate a notification signal when said voltage data differs from said previously provided voltage data by at least said predetermined amount; and a timer coupled to said processing unit and operative to provide time data to said processing unit; and
whereinresponsive to said voltage data and said time data said processing unit is operative to determine whether a predetermined post-operation time period has passed since an engine of said vehicle last operated. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A method for monitoring a battery, said method comprising:
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receiving voltage data indicative of the output voltage of a battery in a vehicle; receiving time data; associating said time data with said voltage data; storing said voltage data in memory to create stored voltage data; receiving new voltage data indicative of the output voltage of said battery; retrieving said stored voltage data; comparing said new voltage data to said stored voltage data using a processing unit; determining whether said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least a predetermined amount; determining from said new voltage data and said associated time data the duration of a current start time period from when a starter of said vehicle is energized by said battery to when an engine of said vehicle starts; retrieving data indicative of previous start time periods; comparing said current start time period to at least one of said previous start time periods; generating a notification signal when said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least said predetermined amount; and generating said notification signal when said current start time period differs from said at least one of said previous start time periods. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A method for monitoring a battery, said method comprising:
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receiving voltage data indicative of the output voltage of a battery in a vehicle; receiving time data; associating said time data with said voltage data; storing said voltage data in memory to create stored voltage data; receiving new voltage data indicative of the output voltage of said battery; determining whether a predetermined post-operation time period has passed since an engine of said vehicle last operated; retrieving said stored voltage data; comparing said new voltage data to said stored voltage data using a processing unit; determining whether said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least a predetermined amount; and generating a notification signal when said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least said predetermined amount. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. A method for monitoring a battery, said method comprising:
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receiving voltage data indicative of the output voltage of a battery in a vehicle; storing said voltage data in memory to create stored voltage data; receiving new voltage data indicative of the output voltage of said battery; retrieving said stored voltage data; receiving time data associated with said new voltage data and stored time data associated said stored voltage data; receiving temperature data associated with said new voltage data and stored temperature data associated with said stored voltage data, said temperature data indicative of a temperature of said battery; determining the operational state of said battery based solely on said new voltage data, said time data associated with said new voltage data, said temperature data associated with said new voltage data, said stored voltage data, said stored time data, and said stored temperature data; comparing said new voltage data to said stored voltage data using a processing unit; determining whether said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least a predetermined amount; and generating a notification signal when said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least said predetermined amount. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75)
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76. A non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to:
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receive voltage data indicative of the output voltage of a battery in a vehicle; receive time data; associate said time data with said voltage data; store said voltage data in memory to create stored voltage data; receive new voltage data indicative of the output voltage of said battery; retrieve said stored voltage data; compare said new voltage data to said stored voltage data; determine whether said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least a predetermined amount; determine from said new voltage data and said associated time data the duration of a current start time period from when a starter of said vehicle is energized by said battery to when an engine of said vehicle starts; retrieve data indicative of previous start time periods; compare said current start time period to at least one of said previous start time periods; generate a notification signal when said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least said predetermined amount; and generate said notification signal when said current start time period differs from said at least one of said previous start time periods. - View Dependent Claims (77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84)
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85. A non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to:
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receive voltage data indicative of the output voltage of a battery in a vehicle; receive time data; associate said time data with said voltage data; store said voltage data in memory to create stored voltage data; receive new voltage data indicative of the output voltage of said battery; determine whether a predetermined post-operation time period has passed since an engine of said vehicle last operated; retrieve said stored voltage data; compare said new voltage data to said stored voltage data; determine whether said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least a predetermined amount; and generate a notification signal when said new voltage data differs from said stored voltage data by at least said predetermined amount. - View Dependent Claims (86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92)
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Specification