Rechargeable multipurpose smart power source

• US 9,269,993 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2011
• Issued: 02/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gram Power, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Gram Power, Inc.
• Inventors: Khaitan, Yashraj, Dickinson, Jacob
• Primary Examiner(s): Rodas, Richard Isla
• Assistant Examiner(s): DIBENEDETTO, MICHAEL N
• Application Number:
  US13/100,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20110273132A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,756 Days
• Field of Search: 320/107, 320/110, 320/112, 320/121
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/46 Accumulators structurally combined with charging apparatus circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00306 Overdischarge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0031 using battery or load disconnect circuits H02J9/002 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A rechargeable multipurpose power management system has a power management system that can include a plurality of power management units. The power management units sources can be individually activated and deactivated (I think there might be a confusion between power sources and the system. Everything is within one box itself (the image that I sent you). Each unit is a power management system that can be connected to a variety of INPUT power sources. Several power management units can be combined together to create a stack of them but each one can operated individually as well). and each one is configured to be coupled to a variety of inputs. A rechargeable battery is coupled to the (One rechargeable battery is attached to only one power management units). A charging controller provides regulated charging to the battery. A plurality of convertors are (do we need to specify here what kind of converters, like DC-DC converters) coupled to the battery and provide output voltages that are accessible individually. A plurality of sensing circuits sense external signals and provide selective activation or deactivation of the system.

Claims

1. A rechargeable multipurpose power management system for powering, comprising:

a plurality of stackable power management modules, each power management module capable of being individually activated and deactivated, each power management module comprising;

a rechargeable battery;

at least one input connection for coupling the module to at least one input energy source;

a charging controller configured for providing regulated charging from the at least one input energy source to the rechargeable battery;

a plurality of convertors coupled to the battery, wherein each of the plurality of converters is configured to provide a plurality of variable, individually-accessible-output voltages at a corresponding plurality of output connectors; and

a plurality of sensing circuits that are adapted to sense signals from an external activation device and to individually and selectively activate the modules for a period of time based on the sensed signals.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the charging controller includes discrete circuitry to regulate charging of the rechargeable battery.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a microcontroller that is structured and arranged to generate and receive control signals to provide at least one of;

activate the module, deactivate the module, protect the module against voltage overload, and protect the module against short circuit conditions.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a system housing; and

a first stacking connector that is disposed on a top portion of the housing of the module and a second stacking connector that is disposed on a bottom portion of the housing of the module, for stacking a first module to a second module for higher power output.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

internal circuitry that couples the microcontroller to the rechargeable battery, the charging controller, the plurality of convertors, and the plurality of sensing circuits.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensing circuits includes:

a plurality of filters.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the rechargeable battery includes:

a plurality of filters coupled to the rechargeable battery to filter signals for activation/deactivation of the entire device or for recharging the battery with credits to turn back on.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more input energy sources coupled to the at least one input connection of any module.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more input energy sources are selected from at least one of:

solar panels, grid supply, micro wind generators, bicycle dynamos, and micro hydro power plants.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first reverse blocking diode operatively disposed between the one or more input energy sources and the rechargeable battery to prevent current from at least one of;

flowing from the rechargeable battery to the one or more input energy sources and flowing from a first input energy source to a second input energy source.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a second reverse blocking diode operatively disposed between the first reverse blocking diode and the rechargeable battery to prevent current from flowing from the battery to a battery of another module electrically coupled thereto.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the charging controller compares a battery voltage of an individual power management module to a reference voltage using a comparator that is adapted to perform at least one of:

keep the system on if the battery voltage exceeds the reference voltage;

turn the system off if the reference voltage exceeds the battery voltage; and

turn the system off if a short circuit is detected.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the charge monitoring circuit is structured and arranged so that the one or more input energy sources charge the battery without at least one of DC-DC conversion and an external voltage regulation.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein power management modules can be configured for a particular type of input energy source to enable secure rental through charging station businesses.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein, in response to a power management module being configured for a particular type of input energy, the stacked power management modules do not charge from another input energy source.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of power management modules are electrically coupleable in a stack to generate a variety of output voltages.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the stack of power management modules is charged from a single input energy source.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the stack of power management modules is charged from multiple input energy sources.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein, during a charging state of the stack, the module includes a reverse blocking diode to prevent current flowing from the battery to at least one of the other modules in the stack and the one or more input energy source.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein any input energy source is adapted to produce an output voltage equal to or greater than that of a single battery in the stack to charge the entire stack.

21. The system of claim 1 further comprising circuitry to activate the system for a fixed period of time upon detecting a signal from an external source.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein after expiration of the fixed period of time, the circuitry of the system is automatically deactivated.

23. The system of claim 21 further comprising circuitry to enable the system to be externally activated for certain a fixed period of time using a USB dongle that provides a waveform of particular frequencies on data pins of a USB port.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the circuitry includes a plurality of band pass filters, each band pass filter of which is coupled to inputs for the power management module.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the circuitry includes at least one of a plurality of filters and a plurality of sensing circuits, each filter corresponding to a range of passing frequencies such that any input frequency detected that is within the range of passing frequencies, triggers a controller.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

one or more MOSFETs that turns the plurality of power management modules on or off.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the controller includes an internal clock that is adapted to deactivate the module after expiry of a period of time.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the controller includes an internal clock counter that counts a number of battery recharge events and that turns the module off after a pre-designated number of battery recharges has been reached.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein at least one of the plurality of filters and the plurality of sensing circuits includes a variable resistor providing variable resistance to provide different frequencies and frequency ranges, wherein a frequency range can be changed by changing a resistor value of the resistor.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein the USB dongle is configured to be re-programmable to provide a waveform at different frequencies.

31. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of power management modules is configured to provide continuous protection against short circuit and overload conditions of the system.

32. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of converters is a DC-DC converter configured to provide a different output voltage.

33. The system of claim 32 further comprising a fault detection device to detect a fault during a condition in which a high power device is connected at an output port of the system and a sufficiently high current flow causes an output voltage to be less than a reference voltage.

34. The system of claim 1 further comprising an overload indicator that is activated if an output voltage is lower than a reference voltage.

35. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of power management modules includes one or more indicators for indicating at least one of:

battery status, fault status, and charging status.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein, under a condition that an output is a short circuit to ground, an output voltage drops below a reference voltage and an associated power management module is then in an off state.

37. The system of claim 12, wherein the comparator is adapted to control a gate of a MOSFET.

38. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more output jacks or connector pins.

39. The system of claim 20, wherein the input energy source is a rectified AC generator.