Systems and methods for self-contained automatic battery charging and battery-life-extension charging

• US 9,948,125 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2016
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stored Energy Systems, A Limited Liability Company
• Original Assignee: Stored Energy Systems, A Limited Liability Company
• Inventors: Groat, Timothy, Miller, Kyle, Flavin, John, Kaewert, William
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, SUN J
• Application Number:
  US15/258,371
• Publication Number:
  US 20160380441A1
• Time in Patent Office: 587 Days
• Field of Search: 320107
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/20 Charging or discharging characterised by the power electronics converter
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0029 with safety or protection devices or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0045 concerning the insertion or the connection of the batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0049 Detection of fully charged condition
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007 Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0071 with a programmable schedule
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00714 in response to battery charging or discharging current
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/02 for charging batteries from ac mains by converters

Abstract

The disclosure provides embodiments of a self-contained automatic battery charging system having a power printed circuit board (PCB) that enables inputting an alternating current (AC) power flow to the automatic battery charging system. A first switchmode converter converts an AC input power to a direct current (DC) power, thereby providing an active power factor correction. The first switchmode converter comprises an isolation transformer, which provides an electrical isolation between a primary circuitry and a secondary circuitry of the automatic battery charging system. A second switch mode converter regulates a system output voltage and limits a system output current to an electrical load. A DC output is connected to a battery, another electrical storage device, and/or a parallel-connected DC load to be powered. An optional accessory PCB electrically connects to the power PCB and provides features including a liquid crystal display (LCD), alarm output relay(s), and/or a controller area network bus (CANbus) interface. The automatic battery charging system can implement a battery-life-extension charging regime. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A battery-life-extension charging system, comprising:

a monitoring component configured to measure a direct current (DC) output current delivered by the charging system to a battery, wherein the DC output current is a function of an existing charge status of the battery;

a timing component; and

a charge control system in communication with the monitoring component and the timing component, the charge control system configured for;

obtaining at least one of a time measurement from the timing component and a charge measurement from the monitoring component;

based on the at least one of the time measurement and the charge measurement, determining at least one of a time to complete the charge mode cycle and a charge to complete a charge mode cycle, each tailored to achieve a desired charge status of the battery; and

based on at least one of the determined time and the determined charge to complete the charge mode cycle, transitioning to a select one of a number of DC output voltage settings until the determined time to complete the determined charge mode cycle has passed or the charge to complete the charge mode cycle has been provided, wherein the DC output voltage settings include at least an eco-float output voltage setting, a refresh output voltage setting, and a boost output voltage setting.

2. The battery-life-extension charging system of claim 1, wherein the charge control system is further configured for continually repeating the obtaining the at least one of a time measurement and a charge measurement, the determining at least one of a time to complete a charge mode cycle and a charge to complete the charge mode cycle, and the transitioning to a select one of a number of the DC output voltage settings.

3. The battery-life-extension charging system of claim 2, wherein the DC output voltage settings further include a float output voltage setting.

4. The battery-life-extension charging system of claim 3, wherein:

the eco-float output voltage setting comprises an eco-float output voltage that is equal to or nominally higher than an open-circuit voltage of the battery;

the float output voltage setting comprises a float output voltage that offsets at least a rate of self-discharge of the battery;

the boost output voltage setting comprises a boost output voltage that is equal to a maximum voltage required to accelerate battery charging; and

the refresh output voltage setting comprises a refresh output voltage that is higher than the float output voltage and lower than the boost output voltage.

5. The battery-life-extension charging system of claim 3, wherein a first time to complete a first charge mode cycle in the refresh output voltage setting comprises between 1% and 10% of a second time to complete a second charge mode cycle in the eco-float output voltage setting.

6. The battery-life-extension charging system of claim 1, wherein:

the monitoring component comprises a DC current sensor integrated within a monitoring and control circuitry of the charging system; and

the timing component is one or more of a timer, a clock, or a counter integrated within the monitoring and control circuitry of the charging system.

7. The battery-life-extension charging system of claim 1, wherein the battery is a flooded lead-acid starting, lighting, and ignition (SLI) battery.

8. The battery-life-extension charging system of claim 1, wherein the DC output current delivered by the charging system also powers an accessory DC load.

9. A battery-life-extension charging method of a charging system, the method comprising:

obtaining a charge measurement associated with a battery via a monitoring component of a battery charger, the charge measurement reflecting a direct current (DC) output current delivered by the battery charger to the battery;

obtaining a time measurement associated with the battery via a timing component of the battery charger;

transmitting at least one of the charge measurement and the time measurement to a battery charge control system of the battery charger;

determining, by the battery charge control system and based on at least one of the charge measurement and the time measurement, at least one of a charge to complete a charge mode cycle and a time to complete the charge mode cycle, the charge mode cycle is tailored to achieve a desired charge status of the battery; and

selectively regulating, by a voltage regulator in communication with the battery charge control system, a DC output voltage of the battery charger to one of a number of pre-set DC output voltages until the time to complete the charge mode cycle has passed or the charge to complete the charge mode cycle has been provided, the pre-set DC output voltages comprising an eco-float output voltage, a refresh output voltage, and a boost output voltage.

10. The battery-life-extension charging method of claim 9, wherein the pre-set DC output voltages further comprise a float output voltage.

11. The battery-life-extension charging method of claim 10, wherein:

the eco-float output voltage comprises a voltage equal to or nominally higher than an open-circuit voltage of the battery;

the float output voltage comprises a voltage that offsets at least a rate of self-discharge of the battery;

the boost output voltage comprises a voltage equal to a maximum voltage required to accelerate battery charging; and

the refresh output voltage comprises a voltage higher than the float output voltage and lower than the boost output voltage.

12. The battery-life-extension charging method of claim 9, wherein:

the monitoring component comprises a DC current sensor integrated within a monitoring and control circuitry of the charging system; and

the timing component comprises one of a timer, a clock, or a counter integrated within the monitoring and control circuitry of the charging system.

13. An automatic, self-contained, battery-life-extension charging system, comprising:

a power printed circuit board (PCB) comprising;

input connections to allow an input alternating current (AC) to flow into the charging system;

two series-connected switchmode converters that together are configured to convert the input AC into an output direct current (DC) for delivery to a DC load, to limit the output DC to the DC load, and to regulate a DC output voltage; and

monitoring and control circuitry in communication with the two series-connected switchmode converters, the monitoring and control circuitry comprising;

a monitoring component configured to measure a charge measurement associated with the DC load;

a timing component configured to measure a time measurement associated with a charge mode cycle of the DC load; and

a charge control system in communication with the monitoring component and the timing component, the charge control system configured to transition the two series-connected switchmode converters between a number of DC output voltage charge modes based upon at least one of the charge measurement and the time measurement.

14. The automatic, self-contained, battery-life-extension charging system of claim 13, wherein the charge measurement reflects the output DC delivered by the two series-connected switchmode converters to the DC load, and wherein the output DC is a function of an existing charge status of the DC load.

15. The automatic, self-contained, battery-life-extension charging system of claim 13, wherein of the DC output voltage charge modes include:

an eco-float charge mode in which the DC output voltage comprises a voltage equal to or nominally higher than an open-circuit voltage of the DC load;

a float charge mode in which the DC output voltage comprises a voltage that offsets at least a rate of self-discharge of the DC load;

a boost charge mode in which the DC output voltage comprises a float output voltage equal to a maximum voltage required to accelerate charging of the DC load; and

a refresh charge mode in which the DC output voltage comprises a boost output voltage higher than the float output voltage and lower than the boost output voltage.

16. The automatic, self-contained, battery-life-extension charging system of claim 15, wherein the timing component causes the charge control system to maintain a charge-mode ratio of the eco-float charge mode to the refresh charge mode that is between 90:

10 and 99;

1.

17. The automatic, self-contained, battery-life-extension charging system of claim 13, wherein the two series-connected switchmode converters are further configured to provide an active power factor correction so as to provide an improved power factor, provide an electrical isolation between a primary circuitry and a secondary circuitry, and provide output connections configured for wiring the output DC to the DC load.

18. The automatic, self-contained, battery-life-extension charging system of claim 17, wherein the two series-connected switchmode converters combine to form a two-stage switchmode converter, the two-stage switchmode converter comprising an active circuitry for controlling an amount of the input AC to maintain a sinusoidal waveform in phase with an input voltage waveform to provide the active power factor correction.

19. The automatic, self-contained, battery-life-extension charging system of claim 13, further comprising an accessory PCB electrically connected to the power PCB, the accessory PCB and the power PCB housed in a common enclosure, the accessory PCB further comprising a liquid crystal diode (LCD) display, one or more alarm output relays, and/or a controller area network bus (CANbus) interface.

20. The automatic, self-contained, battery-life-extension charging system of claim 13, wherein the DC load comprises at least one of a flooded lead-acid starting-lighting-ignition (SLI) battery to be charged, another electrical storage device to be charged, and an accessory DC load to be powered.