Battery charger capable of performing a full or partial state of health evaluation of the battery based on the history of the battery

• US 8,564,242 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2009
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stryker Corporation
• Original Assignee: Stryker Corporation
• Inventors: Hansford, Brey Daniel, Malackowski, Don
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOATENG, ALEXIS ASIEDUA
• Application Number:
  US12/582,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20100039071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,462 Days
• Field of Search: 320/107, 320/110, 320/111, 320/112, 320/113, 320/114, 320/115, 320/132, 320/137, 320/134, 320/135, 320/136
• US Class Current: 320/107
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/14 Surgical saws A61B17/1637 takes precedence; tooth saws A61C3/12 ; Accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00734 battery operated
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/42 Methods or arrangements for servicing or maintenance of secondary cells or secondary half-cells H01M10/60 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/425 Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing printed circuits H05K1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4257 Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/46 Accumulators structurally combined with charging apparatus circuits for charging H02J7/00
• 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 2010/4271 Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2200/00 Safety devices for primary or secondary batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/213 adapted for cells having curved cross-section, e.g. round or elliptic H01M50/209, H01M50/216 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/574 Devices or arrangements for the interruption of current
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/10 Control circuit supply, e.g. means for supplying power to the control circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/22 The load being a portable electronic device
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00036 Charger exchanging data with battery
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00047 with provisions for charging different types of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0045 concerning the insertion or the connection of the batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00714 in response to battery charging or discharging current
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007194 of the battery
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 : Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/50 : Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4911 : including sealing

Abstract

A rechargable battery with an internal microcontroller. The microcontroller contains a memory in which data regarding the environment to which the battery is exposed are stored. These data are read by a processor integral with the charger used to charge the battery. If these data indicates the battery may have been subjected to a harsh environment, such as being exposed to an excessive temperature, the charger performs a fulle state of health evaluation of the battery.

Claims

1. A battery charger, said battery charger including:

a socket for removably receiving a battery, said socket having components through which charging current can be supplied to the battery and through which data from the battery can be read;

a current source connected to said socket components for applying a charging current to the battery;

test components that are connected to said battery through said socket components to which the battery is selectively connected as part of processes for performing a plurality of different state-of-health evaluations on the battery; and

a processor, said processor being;

connected to said socket components for reading data from the battery;

connected to said current source for regulating the charging of the battery; and

being connected to said test components for regulating the state-of-health evaluations performed on the battery wherein, said processor is configured to;

read from the battery data indicating if the battery was, prior to attachment to said charger, exposed to a harsh environment;

if the battery data indicates the battery was not exposed to a harsh environment, cause said test components to perform a partial state-of-health evaluation on the battery; and

if the battery data indicates that the battery was exposed to a harsh environment, cause said test components to perform a full state-of-health evaluation on the battery, the full state-of-health evaluation including the partial state-of-health evaluation and a further state-of-health evaluation.

2. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein said test components and said processor are collectively configured to perform the partial state-of-health evaluation on the battery by, after the battery is charged, performing a voltage-at-load test on the battery.

3. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein said test components and said processor are collectively configured to, as part of the full state-of-heath evaluation on the battery, determine the time required to fully charge the battery from a known discharged state.

4. The battery charge of claim 3, wherein the known charge state from which the battery is discharged is the completely discharged state of the battery.

5. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein said test components and said processor are collectively configured to, as part of performing the full state-of-health evaluation of the battery, discharge the battery prior to connecting said current source to the battery to charge the battery.

6. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein said test components and said processor are collectively configured to perform the full state-of-health evaluation, by:

determining the time required to fully charge the battery when the battery is fully discharged; and

determining the voltage at load of the fully charged battery.

7. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein the battery data the processor reads from the battery are data indicating if the battery was exposed to a harsh environment are data indicating if the battery was at least one of:

at a temperature above a threshold level for more than a defined time block;

exposed to excessive humidity;

dropped;

or excessively vibrated.

8. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein said processor is further configured to:

if the battery data indicates the battery was not exposed to a harsh environment, cause said current source to charge the battery without a prior discharge of the battery and, after the charging of the battery, cause said test components to perform the partial state-of-health evaluation on the battery; and

if the battery data indicates that the battery was exposed to a harsh environment, cause said test components to discharge the battery, cause said current source to charge the battery, monitor the time required to charge the battery, after the charging of the battery, cause said test components to perform the partial state-of-health evaluation of the battery and base the full state-of-health evaluation of the battery on the time required to charge the battery and the partial state-of-health evaluation of the battery.

9. A battery charger, said battery charger including:

a current source for applying a charging current to a battery;

contacts that are configured to be removably connected to contacts integral with the battery through which the charging current from said current source is applied to the battery and from which data stored in a memory in the battery are read;

test components to which the battery is selectively connected through said charger contacts as part of processes for performing state-of-health evaluations of the battery; and

a processor, said processor being;

connected to said charger contacts for reading the data stored in the battery memory;

connected to said current source for regulating the charging of the battery by said current source;

able to selectively connect the battery to said test components to perform the battery state-of-health evaluations; and

connected to said test components to, based on the signals output by said test components, determine the battery state-of-health wherein, said processor is configured to;

read from the battery memory data indicating if the battery was exposed to a harsh environment;

if the data read from the battery memory indicates the battery, prior to attachment to said charger, was not exposed to a harsh environment;

without a prior discharging of the battery, cause said current source to charge the battery; and

after the charging of the battery, cause said test components to perform a partial state-of-health of evaluation of the battery; and

if the data read from the battery memory indicates that the battery, prior to attachment to said charger, was exposed to a harsh environment, perform a full state-of-health evaluation on the battery by;

causing said test components to discharge the battery to a discharged state;

cause said current source to charge the battery;

monitor the time it takes said current source to charge the battery;

after the charging of the battery, cause said test components to perform a partial state-of-health evaluation of the battery; and

determine the full state-of-health of the battery based on the time it takes to charge the battery and the partial state-of-health evaluation.

10. The battery charger of claim 9, wherein said test components and said processor are collectively configured to perform the partial state-of-health evaluation on the battery by performing a voltage-at-load test on the battery.

11. The battery charger of claim 9, wherein the discharged state to which the battery is discharged is the fully discharged state of the battery.

12. The battery charger of claim 9, wherein the battery memory data the processor reads are data indicating if the battery was exposed to a harsh environment are data indicating at least one of:

at a temperature above a threshold level for more than a defined time block;

exposed to excessive humidity;

dropped;

or excessively vibrated.

13. A battery charger, said battery charger including:

a socket for removably receiving a battery, said socket having components through which charging current can be supplied to the battery and through which data from the battery can be read;

a current source connected to said socket components for applying a charging current to the battery;

test components that are connected to said battery through said socket components to which the battery is selectively connected, said test components able to perform a plurality of different state-of-health evaluations on the battery; and

a processor, said processor being;

connected to said socket components for reading data from the battery;

connected to said current source for regulating the charging of the battery; and

being connected to said test components for regulating the state-of-health evaluations performed on the battery and to, based on signals generated by said test components, determine the state-of-health of the battery, said processor being configured to;

read from the battery data indicating if the battery was previously at a temperature above a threshold level for more than a defined time block;

if the battery data indicates the battery was not, prior to attachment to said charger, at a temperature above the threshold level for more than the defined time block, cause said current source to charge the battery and, after the charging of said battery, cause said test components to perform a partial state-of-health evaluation on the battery; and

if the battery data indicates that the battery was, prior to attachment to said charger, at a temperature above the threshold level for more than the defined time block, cause said test components to perform a full state-of-health evaluation on the battery, the full state-of-health evaluation including the partial state-of-health evaluation and a further state-of-health evaluation.

14. The battery charger of claim 13, wherein said test components and said processor are collectively configured to perform the partial state-of-health evaluation on the battery by performing a voltage-at-load test on the battery.

15. The battery charger of claim 13, wherein, as part of performing the full state-of-health evaluation of the battery, said processor and said test components collectively discharge the battery prior to said processor causing said current source to charge the battery.

16. The battery charger of claim 13, wherein said test components and said processor are collectively configured of as part of the full state-of-heath evaluation on the battery, determine the time required to fully charge the battery from a known discharged state.

17. The battery charger of claim 16, wherein the known charge state from which the battery is discharged is the completely discharged state of the battery.

18. The battery charger of claim 13, wherein said processor further causes a full state-of-health evaluation to be performed on the battery if the battery data indicates that the battery has been at least one of:

exposed to excessive humidity;

dropped;

or excessively vibrated.

19. The battery charger of claim 13, wherein:

said test components and said processor are collectively configured to perform the partial state-of-health evaluation on the battery by performing a voltage-at-load test on the battery; and

as part of performing the full state-of-health evaluation of the battery, said processor and said test components collectively discharge the battery prior to said processor causing said current source to charge the battery.

20. The battery charger of claim 13, wherein said processor is further configured so that:

when said processor determines that said test components should perform the partial state-of-health evaluation of the battery, charge the battery without performing an initial discharging of the battery; and

when said processor determines that said test components should perform the full state-of-health evaluation of the battery, said processor and said test components collectively discharge the battery prior to said processor causing said current source to charge the battery.