Method and system for battery protection employing over-discharge control
First Claim
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1. A battery pack configured to be interfaced with a hand held power tool, the battery pack comprising:
- a housing;
a locking assembly operable to lock the battery pack to the power tool, the locking assembly including an actuator;
at least three terminals including a positive terminal, a negative terminal, and a sense terminal;
a plurality of cells, each cell having a voltage, power being transferable between the cells and the power tool, each cell having a lithium-based battery chemistry, the cells being electrically connected to one another in a partial parallel arrangement and a partial series arrangement;
a battery identification resistor; and
a thermistor indicative of a battery pack temperature;
whereina controller is operable to control a function of the battery pack, the controller being external to the cells and being operable with a voltage at least one of equal to and greater than an operating voltage threshold, the cells being operable to selectively supply voltage to the power tool as a function of the state of a switch and the thermistor; and
the controller is operable to prevent the battery pack from entering an over-discharged state via the switch when the voltage supplied by the cells to the power tool is below a predetermined battery voltage threshold.
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Abstract
A method and system for battery protection. In some aspects, a battery pack configured to be interfaced with a power tool includes a housing, a cell, a controller, and a circuit. The circuit is operable to enable the controller to operate when the voltage supplied by the cell to the controller is below an operating voltage threshold of the controller.
121 Citations
5 Claims
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1. A battery pack configured to be interfaced with a hand held power tool, the battery pack comprising:
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a housing; a locking assembly operable to lock the battery pack to the power tool, the locking assembly including an actuator; at least three terminals including a positive terminal, a negative terminal, and a sense terminal; a plurality of cells, each cell having a voltage, power being transferable between the cells and the power tool, each cell having a lithium-based battery chemistry, the cells being electrically connected to one another in a partial parallel arrangement and a partial series arrangement;
a battery identification resistor; and
a thermistor indicative of a battery pack temperature;
whereina controller is operable to control a function of the battery pack, the controller being external to the cells and being operable with a voltage at least one of equal to and greater than an operating voltage threshold, the cells being operable to selectively supply voltage to the power tool as a function of the state of a switch and the thermistor; and the controller is operable to prevent the battery pack from entering an over-discharged state via the switch when the voltage supplied by the cells to the power tool is below a predetermined battery voltage threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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Specification