Voltage monitoring for connected electrical energy storage cells
First Claim
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1. An electrical device comprising:
- at least one voltage equalizer configured to balance individual cell voltages of a plurality of energy storage cells connected in series; and
a voltage monitoring circuit configured to monitor voltage of a subset of the plurality of energy storage cells, wherein the subset comprises fewer than all cells of the plurality of energy cells.
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Abstract
A voltage monitoring circuit is connected to monitor voltage of fewer than all cells of a series stack of energy storage cells. The individual cell voltages in the stack are balanced using voltage equalizers, so that the voltage of any one cell or a combination of selected cells is indicative of the voltage of each individual cell in the stack. Monitoring the voltage of the selected cells can thus replace monitoring the individual cell voltages. The voltage monitoring circuit can be combined with one of the voltage equalizers. In one exemplary embodiment, each energy storage cell is a double layer capacitor cell.
30 Citations
39 Claims
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1. An electrical device comprising:
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at least one voltage equalizer configured to balance individual cell voltages of a plurality of energy storage cells connected in series; and
a voltage monitoring circuit configured to monitor voltage of a subset of the plurality of energy storage cells, wherein the subset comprises fewer than all cells of the plurality of energy cells. - 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)
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27. A method comprising:
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providing a plurality of energy storage cells connected in series;
balancing individual cell voltages of the plurality of energy storage cells; and
monitoring voltage of a subset of the plurality of energy storage cells, wherein the subset comprises fewer than all cells of the plurality of energy cells. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. An electrical device, comprising:
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cell voltage balancing means for balancing cell voltages of a plurality of energy storage cells; and
cell voltage monitoring means for monitoring a voltage of the energy storage cells. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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Specification