Remote battery monitor

• US 10,163,324 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2016
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Vapurcuyan, Alan V., Mastroianni, Eugene A., Strelecki, Paul Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Terrell, Emily C
• Application Number:
  US15/276,555
• Publication Number:
  US 20180089983A1
• Time in Patent Office: 820 Days
• Field of Search: 34063613, 3406361
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/36 Arrangements for testing, measuring or monitoring the electrical condition of accumulators or electric batteries, e.g. capacity or state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/371 with remote indication, e.g. on external chargers
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/382 Arrangements for monitoring battery or accumulator variables, e.g. SoC
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3832 without measurement of battery voltage
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0428 Safety, monitoring G05B19/0423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/185 Electrical failure alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/181 due to failing power supply
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/486 for measuring temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2010/4278 Systems for data transfer from batteries, e.g. transfer of battery parameters to a controller, data transferred between battery controller and main controller
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A remote battery monitor that is configurable based upon the data from the battery and is able to monitor the condition of the battery while the battery is present in a circuit.

Claims

1. A remote battery monitor for monitoring a battery, comprising:

a memory;

a transceiver;

a current sensing element;

at least one sensor; and

a controller coupled to the memory, the transceiver, the current sensing element, and the at least one sensor, where the at least one sensor is a gas sensor, where the current sensing element is able to measure current going into or out of the battery and that can switch the battery out of a circuit and connect the battery to a predetermined resistance of the remote battery monitor in response to a request from the controller where a voltage from the battery to the circuity and to the predetermined resistance is the same prior to and where battery data generated by the current sensing element and the at least one sensor is formatted for transmission by the transceiver.

2. The remote battery monitor of claim 1, including battery setup information received at the transceiver for the battery in response to a battery configuration information request made by the controller.

3. The remote battery monitor of claim 2, where the controller is in receipt of battery identification information from the battery and requests battery setup information via the transceiver.

4. The remote battery monitor of claim 2, where the predetermined resistance is identified in the battery configuration information.

5. The remote battery monitor of claim 1, further comprising at least one additional sensor that is a battery temperature sensing element.

6. The remote battery monitor of claim 1, where the controller sends the battery data periodically.

7. The remote battery monitor of claim 1, where the controller sends a message in response to the at least one sensor.

8. The remote battery monitor of claim 1, where the controller sends a message in response to the current sensing element.

9. A method of remote battery monitoring of a battery connected to a circuit, comprising:

measuring a current flowing into and out of the battery with a current sensing element resulting in current data, where a switch switches the battery out of the circuit and connects the battery to a predetermined resistance of a remote battery monitor where a voltage from the battery to the circuity and to the predetermined resistance is the same in response to a request from a controller of the remote battery monitor to generate the current;

generating sensor data with at least one sensor, where the at least one sensor is a gas sensor;

storing the sensor data and current data as battery data in a memory of the remote battery monitor; and

transmitting the battery data with a transceiver of the remote battery monitor in response to the request from the controller which is formatted by the remote battery monitor for reception by a server.

10. The method of remote battery monitoring of claim 9, which includes configuring the controller for the battery in response to receipt of battery setup information at the transceiver.

11. The method of remote battery monitoring of claim 10, receiving battery setup information at the controller from the battery identification information, and requesting battery configuration information via the transceiver.

12. The method of remote battery monitoring of claim 10, further including identifying the predetermined resistance in the battery setup information.

13. The method of remote battery monitoring of claim 9, further comprising at least one additional sensor that is a battery temperature sensing element.

14. The method of remote battery monitoring of claim 9, further including sending the operational battery data periodically.

15. The method of remote battery monitoring of claim 9, where the transceiver sends a message requested by the controller in response to the current sensed by the current sensing element.

16. A remote battery monitoring system, comprising:

a memory;

a transceiver;

a current sensing element;

at least one sensor;

a controller coupled to the memory, the transceiver, the current sensing element, and the at least one sensor, where the at least one sensor is a gas sensor, where the current sensing element is able to measure current going into or out of the battery and switch the battery out of a circuit and connect the battery to a predetermined resistance of the remote battery monitor in response to a request from the controller where a voltage from the battery to the circuity and to the predetermined resistance is the same and where battery data generated by the current sensing element and the at least one sensor is formatted for transmission by the transceiver to a server; and

a server in receipt of the battery data stores the battery data and analyzes the stored battery data with historical battery data and generates a periodic report of analyzed battery data.

17. The remote battery monitoring system of claim 16, including configuration of the controller for the battery in response to receipt of battery setup information at the transceiver.

18. The remote battery monitoring system of claim 17, where the controller is in receipt of battery identification information from the battery and request battery configuration information via the transceiver.

19. The remote battery monitoring system of claim 17, where the predetermined resistance is identified in the battery setup information.

20. The remote battery monitoring system of claim 16, further comprising at least one additional sensor that is a battery temperature sensing element.

21. The remote battery monitoring system of claim 16, where the controller sends the operational battery data periodically.