Battery chargers, electrical systems, and rechargeable battery charging methods
First Claim
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1. An electrical system comprising:
- charge circuitry configured to apply a plurality of main charging pulses of electrical energy to a plurality of rechargeable cells of a battery to charge the rechargeable cells during a common charge cycle of the battery and to apply a plurality of secondary charging pulses of electrical energy to less than all of the rechargeable cells of the battery during the common charge cycle of the battery to charge the less than all of the rechargeable cells;
wherein the charge circuitry is configured to apply the main charging pulses comprising constant current charging pulses and constant voltage charging pulses; and
wherein the charge circuitry is further configured to apply the constant current charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge less than a defined state of charge and to apply the constant voltage charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge greater than the defined state of charge.
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Abstract
Battery chargers, electrical systems, and rechargeable battery charging methods are described. According to one aspect, a battery charger includes charge circuitry configured to apply a plurality of main charging pulses of electrical energy to a plurality of rechargeable cells of a battery to charge the rechargeable cells during a common charge cycle of the battery and to apply a plurality of secondary charging pulses of electrical energy to less than all of the rechargeable cells of the battery during the common charge cycle of the battery to charge the less than all of the rechargeable cells.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. An electrical system comprising:
- charge circuitry configured to apply a plurality of main charging pulses of electrical energy to a plurality of rechargeable cells of a battery to charge the rechargeable cells during a common charge cycle of the battery and to apply a plurality of secondary charging pulses of electrical energy to less than all of the rechargeable cells of the battery during the common charge cycle of the battery to charge the less than all of the rechargeable cells;
wherein the charge circuitry is configured to apply the main charging pulses comprising constant current charging pulses and constant voltage charging pulses; and wherein the charge circuitry is further configured to apply the constant current charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge less than a defined state of charge and to apply the constant voltage charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge greater than the defined state of charge. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- charge circuitry configured to apply a plurality of main charging pulses of electrical energy to a plurality of rechargeable cells of a battery to charge the rechargeable cells during a common charge cycle of the battery and to apply a plurality of secondary charging pulses of electrical energy to less than all of the rechargeable cells of the battery during the common charge cycle of the battery to charge the less than all of the rechargeable cells;
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10. A battery charger comprising:
- charge circuitry configured to apply different numbers of charging pulses of electrical energy to different ones of a plurality of rechargeable cells of a battery during a common charge cycle of the battery and corresponding to the rechargeable cells having different states of charge;
wherein the charge circuitry is configured to apply the main charging pulses comprising constant current charging pulses and constant voltage charging pulses; and wherein the charge circuitry is further configured to apply the constant current charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge less than a defined state of charge and to apply the constant voltage charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge greater than the defined state of charge. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
- charge circuitry configured to apply different numbers of charging pulses of electrical energy to different ones of a plurality of rechargeable cells of a battery during a common charge cycle of the battery and corresponding to the rechargeable cells having different states of charge;
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13. An electrical system comprising:
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a battery comprising a plurality of rechargeable cells individually configured to receive charging electrical energy and to discharge electrical energy to a load; charge circuitry configured to apply a plurality of main charging pulses to the rechargeable cells to charge the rechargeable cells during a common charge cycle of the battery and to apply a plurality of secondary charging pulses to at least one of the rechargeable cells during the common charge cycle of the battery; monitoring circuitry configured to monitor states of charge of the rechargeable cells during the common charge cycle of the battery and to detect the at least one of the rechargeable cells having a state of charge lower than states of charge of others of the rechargeable cells of the battery; and control circuitry coupled with the monitoring circuitry and configured to use the monitoring of the monitoring circuitry to control the charge circuitry to apply the secondary charging pulses to the at least one of the rechargeable cells having the lower state of charge than the states of charge of the others of the rechargeable cells to substantially balance the state of charge of the at least one of the rechargeable cells with the states of charge of the others of the rechargeable cells during the common charge cycle of the battery; wherein the charge circuitry is configured to apply the main charging pulses comprising constant current charging pulses and constant voltage charging pulses; and wherein the charge circuitry is further configured to apply the constant current charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge less than a defined state of charge and to apply the constant voltage charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge greater than the defined state of charge. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A rechargeable battery charging method comprising:
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applying electrical energy to a first number of rechargeable cells of a battery at a plurality of first moments in time to charge the first number of rechargeable cells during a common charge cycle of the battery, wherein applying electrical energy to the first number of rechargeable cells comprises applying charging pulses comprising constant current charging pulses and constant voltage charging pulses; and wherein applying electrical energy to the first number of rechargeable cells further comprises applying the constant current charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge less than a defined state of charge and applying the constant voltage charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge greater than the defined state of charge; monitoring an electrical characteristic of the rechargeable cells; and using the monitoring, applying electrical energy to a second number of the rechargeable cells of the battery at a plurality of second moments in time to charge the second number of the rechargeable cells during the common charge cycle of the battery, and wherein the second number is less than the first number. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A rechargeable battery charging method comprising:
- applying a plurality of main charging pulses of electrical energy to charge a plurality of rechargeable cells of a battery during a common charge cycle of the battery; and
during the common charge cycle of the battery, applying a plurality of secondary charging pulses of electrical energy to charge at least one of the rechargeable cells of the battery having a lower state of charge compared with states of charge of others of the rechargeable cells of the battery;wherein applying the main charging pulses comprises applying charging pulses comprising constant current charging pulses and constant voltage charging pulses; and wherein applying the main charging pulses further comprises applying the constant current charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge less than a defined state of charge and applying the constant voltage charging pulses to the rechargeable cells having states of charge greater than the defined state of charge. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
- applying a plurality of main charging pulses of electrical energy to charge a plurality of rechargeable cells of a battery during a common charge cycle of the battery; and
Specification