Battery system and management method
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring a battery system connectable to a battery charger, comprising:
- a current sensor disposed so as to measure a direct (DC) current value of a battery string of a plurality of battery strings connected to a DC current source; and
a controller;
wherein the controller is configured to compare the measured DC current value of a selected battery string of the plurality of battery strings with an average measured DC current value computed from the measured DC current value of more than one battery string of the plurality of battery strings, and provide an alarm indication when the measured DC current value of the selected battery string deviates from the average measured DC current value by more than a threshold value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for monitoring the status of a system of battery strings is described. The system includes a current sensor for each of the battery strings, and a controller configured to compute the average current from the measured currents. The state of the battery system is determined as being fully charged, discharging or charging, and the individual battery string currents are compared with the average measured current to determine if the currents are within a threshold value. An alarm indication is provided when one or more of the currents exceeds a threshold difference. The system may provide a local indication of status and may also interface with a communications network to provide for remote monitoring.
27 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring a battery system connectable to a battery charger, comprising:
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a current sensor disposed so as to measure a direct (DC) current value of a battery string of a plurality of battery strings connected to a DC current source; and a controller; wherein the controller is configured to compare the measured DC current value of a selected battery string of the plurality of battery strings with an average measured DC current value computed from the measured DC current value of more than one battery string of the plurality of battery strings, and provide an alarm indication when the measured DC current value of the selected battery string deviates from the average measured DC current value by more than a threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A battery system, comprising:
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a plurality of battery strings connected in parallel and configured to be connected to a source of direct (DC) current; a DC current sensor disposed in each of at least two battery strings of the plurality of battery strings to measure a DC current value in each of the at least two battery strings of the plurality of battery strings; a controller configured to receive at the measured DC current value of for each battery string of the at least two of the plurality of battery strings, and the controller is configured to compute an average measured DC current value of the at least two measured DC current values, and to compare at least one of the received measured DC current values to the computed average measured DC current value. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method of managing a battery system, the method comprising:
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measuring a direct (DC) current of each of a plurality of battery strings determining an operating state of the battery system using at least one of the measured DC currents; computing an average measured DC current of a group of the measured DC currents of the plurality of battery strings; determining a difference value between the measured DC current for a battery string of the plurality of battery strings and the average measured DC current; comparing the difference value with a threshold value; and providing an alarm indication when the difference value exceeds the threshold value for the determined operating state of the battery system. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A software program product, stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, enabling a computer to perform the steps in a method, the method comprising:
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measuring a direct (DC) current value in a battery string in a battery system having a plurality of battery strings; computing an average value of battery string DC current of using the measured DC current values from at least a group of the plurality of battery strings; determining a deviation of the measured DC current value of a selected battery string of the plurality of battery strings from the average value of battery string DC current; determining an operating state of the battery system; comparing a deviation of the measured DC current value from the average DC current value with a threshold value for the determined operating state; and generating an alarm indication when the deviation exceeds the threshold value.
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Specification