Battery charging and maintaining with defective battery monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9702939-B2
Application number	US-201313910760-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2013
Priority date	Jun 6, 2012
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a system for charging or maintaining a battery that includes power conversion circuitry configured to provide output power for charging or maintaining the battery. The system also includes electrical conductors coupled to the power conversion circuitry and configured to be coupled to the battery for charging or maintaining the battery. Additionally, the system includes control circuitry coupled to the power conversion circuitry and configured to monitor charging or maintaining of the battery. The control circuitry is further configured to determine whether the battery may be defective or failing based upon the output power and a time threshold.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for charging or maintaining a battery, comprising:
power conversion circuitry configured to provide output power for charging or maintaining the battery;
electrical conductors coupled to the power conversion circuitry and configured to be coupled to the battery, wherein the electrical conductors are configured to convey the output power from the power conversion circuitry to the battery for charging or maintaining the battery; and
control circuitry coupled to the power conversion circuitry and configured to monitor at least the output power as it is provided from the power conversion circuitry to the battery via the electrical conductors during charging or maintaining of the battery, the control circuitry being further configured to:
start a timer in response to determining that the charging or maintaining current of the output power is above a current threshold;
reset the timer in response to determining that the charging or maintaining current of the output power falls below the current threshold before a time threshold is reached; and
identify that the battery is defective or failing and to interrupt charging or maintaining of the battery in response to identifying that the charging or maintaining current of the output power has exceeded the current threshold for the time threshold.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the current threshold is between approximately 1 and 10 Amps.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the current threshold is between approximately 2 and 8 Amps.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the current threshold is approximately 3 Amps.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the time threshold is between approximately 6 and 72 hours.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the time threshold is between approximately 12 and 48 hours.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the time threshold is approximately 24 hours.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to re-start the timer in response to determining that the charging or maintaining current of the output power again rises above the current threshold after being below the current threshold.

9. The system of claim 1 , comprising a user interface coupled to the control circuitry and configured to accept user inputs and to provide user notifications, wherein the control circuitry is configured to provide a user notice via the user interface in response to determining that the battery is identified as defective or failing.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to use averaging to determine whether the current threshold is met or exceeded.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the time threshold is based upon the size of the battery.

12. A system for charging or maintaining a battery, comprising:
power conversion circuitry configured to provide a charging or maintaining current for charging or maintaining the battery;
electrical conductors coupled to the power conversion circuitry and configured to be coupled to the battery, wherein the electrical conductors are configured to convey the charging or maintaining current from the power conversion circuitry to the battery for charging or maintaining the battery; and
control circuitry coupled to the power conversion circuitry and configured to monitor the charging or maintaining current as it is provided from the power conversion circuitry to the battery via the electrical conductors during charging or maintaining of the battery, the control circuitry being configured to separately gather data from the battery, wherein the data includes voltage data, current data, ampere hours data, battery temperature data, or any combination thereof, of the battery, the control circuitry being further configured to:
start a timer in response to determining that the charging or maintaining current is above a current threshold;
reset the timer in response to determining that the charging or maintaining current falls below the threshold before a time threshold is reached; and
interrupt charging or maintaining of the battery in response to identifying that the charging or maintaining current has exceeded the current threshold for the time threshold, wherein the current threshold, the time threshold, or both is based on the data from the battery and the size of the battery.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to reset the timer in response to determining that the charging or maintaining current again rises above the current threshold after being below the current threshold.

14. A method of charging or maintaining a battery performed by control circuitry communicatively coupled to power conversion circuitry of a battery charger, comprising:
monitoring a charging or maintaining current of an output power being provided by the power conversion circuitry to the battery during charging or maintaining of the battery;
starting a timer in response to determining that a charging or maintaining current of the output power rises above a current threshold;
resetting the timer in response to determining that the charging or maintaining current of the output power falls below the current threshold before a time threshold is reached; and
identifying the battery as defective or failing and interrupting charging or maintaining of the battery in response to identifying that the charging or maintaining current of the output power has remained above the current threshold for the time threshold.

15. The method of claim 14 , comprising resetting the timer in response to determining that the charging or maintaining current of the output power again rises above the threshold after being below the current threshold.

16. A battery charging and maintaining system, comprising:
power conversion circuitry configured to provide a charging or maintaining current to a battery via electrical conductors;
one or more sensors configured to monitor the charging or maintaining current;
control circuitry coupled to the one or more sensors and configured to control operation of the power conversion circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to monitor the charging or maintaining current to determine whether the charging or maintaining current remains above a current threshold for a predetermined amount of time; and
a user interface communicatively coupled to the control circuitry and configured to accept charging parameter inputs and user selections and to display charge information, wherein the control circuitry is configured to cause the power conversion circuitry to stop providing the charging or maintaining current and to cause the user interface to provide a notification that the battery may be defective or failing in response to identifying that the charging or maintaining current has remained above the current threshold for the predetermined amount of time, wherein the control circuitry is configured to reset a timer in response to determining that the charging or maintaining current rises above the current threshold but subsequently falls below the current threshold before the predetermined amount of time.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the control circuitry comprises processing circuitry and associated memory circuitry, the memory circuitry storing a plurality of instructions including charging and/or maintaining regimes executable by the processing circuitry to enable the charging and/or maintaining of different sizes and ratings of batteries.

Assignees

• Johnson Controls Tech Co

Inventors

• Brockman Daryl C
• Liedhegner Joseph E

Classifications

• H02J7/663

  using battery or load disconnect circuits (H02J9/002 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M10/44 Primary

  Methods for charging or discharging (circuits for charging H02J7/00) · CPC title

• H01M2010/4271

  Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing · CPC title

• G01R31/382 Primary

  Arrangements for monitoring battery or accumulator variables, e.g. SoC · CPC title

• H02J7/00

  Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries · CPC title