# US 11,114,876 B2 · Battery safety mechanism for battery fault conditions > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,114,876 B2 - Document ID: US11114876B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/559,860 - Filed: 2019-09-04 - Published: 2020-08-20 - Granted: 2021-09-07 - Earliest claimed: 2019-02-18 - Assignees: Texas Instruments Incorporated - Applicants: Texas Instruments Incorporated - Inventors: Gautham Ramachandran; Mustapha El Markhi - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11114876B2 ## CPC - 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) - H01M 10/44: Methods for charging or discharging (circuits for charging H02J7/00) - H01M 10/486: {for measuring temperature} - H02J 7/663: {using battery or load disconnect circuits (H02J9/002 takes precedence)} - H02J 7/865: {Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply (H02J7/50 takes precedence)} - H01M 2200/00: Safety devices for primary or secondary batteries - H02J 7/80: including monitoring or indicating arrangements - H02J 7/875: {Charging or discharging for charge maintenance, battery initiation or rejuvenation} - H02J 2207/20: Charging or discharging characterised by the power electronics converter - Y02E 60/10: Energy storage using batteries - H01M: PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY - H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY - Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION ## Abstract A battery charger circuit associated with a portable electronic device is disclosed. The battery charger circuit comprises a charging circuit configured to charge a battery and a discharging circuit configured to discharge the battery. The battery charger circuit further comprises a battery fault detection circuit configured to detect a battery fault condition, based on monitoring one or more battery parameters. In some aspects, the battery charger circuit further comprises a battery charge control circuit configured to selectively activate the discharging circuit, in order to discharge the battery, and deactivate the charging circuit, in order to suspend charging the battery during the discharge of the battery, when the battery fault condition is detected. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A battery charger circuit, comprising: a charging circuit configured to charge a battery; a discharging circuit configured to discharge the battery; and a battery fault detection circuit configured to detect a battery fault condition of the battery, based on monitoring one or more battery parameters of the battery; and a battery charge control circuit configured to selectively activate the discharging circuit, in order to discharge the battery, and deactivate the charging circuit, in order to suspend charging the battery during the discharge of the battery, after the battery fault condition is detected. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The battery charger circuit of claim 1, wherein the battery fault condition is detected based on whether a battery temperature associated with the battery is greater than a predefined fault temperature threshold and a battery voltage is greater than a predefined fault voltage threshold. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The battery charger circuit of claim 1, wherein: upon activating the discharging circuit, the battery fault detection circuit is further configured to: determine a battery fault correction condition indicative of a correction of the battery fault condition; and the battery charge control circuit is further configured to deactivate the discharging circuit, after the battery fault correction condition is detected. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The battery charger circuit of claim 3, wherein the battery fault detection circuit comprises: a battery monitoring circuit comprising one or more fault threshold comparator circuits configured to respectively provide one or more fault threshold parameters, based on comparing a respective battery parameter to a respective predefined fault threshold, wherein the one or more fault threshold parameters is indicative of the battery fault condition; and a fault determination circuit configured to determine the battery fault condition, based on the one or more fault threshold parameters. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The battery charger circuit of claim 4, wherein the battery monitoring circuit further comprises one or more fault correction comparator circuits configured to respectively provide one or more fault correction threshold parameters, based on comparing a respective battery parameter to a respective predefined fault correction threshold, wherein the one or more fault correction threshold parameters is indicative of the battery fault correction condition. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The battery charger circuit of claim 3, wherein the battery fault condition comprises a battery temperature associated with the battery being greater than a predefined fault temperature threshold and a battery voltage being greater than a predefined fault voltage threshold. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The battery charger circuit of claim 6, wherein the battery fault correction condition comprises the battery voltage being less than or equal to a predefined safe voltage threshold. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The battery charger circuit of claim 1, wherein, upon detecting the battery fault condition, the battery fault detection circuit is further configured to: provide a fault detection interrupt signal to a host circuit, wherein the fault detection interrupt signal is indicative of the battery fault condition; receive a discharge activation signal from the host circuit, in response to the fault detection interrupt signal; and generate a discharge control signal to activate the discharging circuit, the discharge control signal being based on the discharge activation signal. ### Claim 9 A portable electronic device, comprising: a battery; and a battery charger circuit, comprising: a charging circuit configured to charge the battery, wherein the charging circuit comprises a pull-up transistor having a first source/drain coupled to a battery charger adapter port and a second source/drain coupled to the battery; a discharging circuit configured to discharge the battery, wherein the discharging circuit comprises a pull-down transistor having a first source/drain coupled to the battery and a second source/drain coupled to a circuit ground; a battery fault detection circuit configured to detect a battery fault condition of the battery, based on monitoring a battery voltage and a battery temperature associated with the battery; and a battery charge control circuit configured to selectively discharge the battery via the discharging circuit, based on whether the battery fault condition is detected. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The portable electronic device of claim 9: wherein the battery fault detection circuit is further configured to determine a battery fault correction condition indicative of a correction of the battery fault condition, based on the battery voltage; and wherein the battery charge control circuit is configured to stop discharging the battery based on the battery fault correction condition. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The portable electronic device of claim 10, further comprising: a coupling transistor having a first source/drain coupled to the second source/drain of the pull-up transistor and having a second source/drain coupled to the battery, wherein the coupling transistor is coupled between the pull-up transistor and the battery such that the second source/drain of the pull-up transistor is coupled to the battery through the coupling transistor. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The portable electronic device of claim 10, further comprising: a sink resistor coupled between the second source/drain of the pull-up transistor and the first source/drain of the pull-down transistor, the sink resistor configured to dissipate power due to the discharge of the battery. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The portable electronic device of claim 10, wherein the battery fault condition is detected based on whether the battery temperature is greater than a predefined fault temperature threshold and the battery voltage is greater than a predefined fault voltage threshold. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The portable electronic device of claim 13, wherein the battery fault correction condition is detected based on whether the battery voltage is less than or equal to a predefined safe voltage threshold. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The portable electronic device of claim 14, wherein the battery fault detection circuit comprises a battery monitoring circuit comprising: a temperature comparator circuit configured to determine whether the battery temperature is greater than the predefined fault temperature threshold, and provide a temperature fault threshold parameter based thereon, wherein the temperature fault threshold parameter is indicative of the detection of the battery fault condition; and a voltage comparator circuit configured to determine whether the battery voltage is greater than the predefined fault voltage threshold, and provide a voltage fault threshold parameter, wherein the voltage fault threshold parameter is indicative of the detection of the battery fault condition. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the battery fault detection circuit comprises further comprises a fault determination logic configured to determine the battery fault condition, based on the temperature fault threshold parameter and the voltage fault threshold parameter. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The portable electronic device of claim 16, wherein the battery monitoring circuit further comprises a voltage correction comparator circuit configured to determine whether the battery voltage is less than or equal to the predefined safe voltage threshold and provide a voltage correction threshold parameter based thereon, wherein the voltage correction threshold parameter is indicative of the determination of the battery fault correction condition. ### Claim 18 (depends on 10) The portable electronic device of claim 10, further comprising a host circuit configured to: receive a fault detection interrupt signal from the battery fault detection circuit, when the battery fault condition is determined at the battery fault detection circuit, wherein the fault detection interrupt signal is indicative of the battery fault condition; and provide a discharge activation signal to the battery fault detection circuit, in response to the fault detection interrupt signal, to induce the discharging circuit to discharge the battery. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The portable electronic device of claim 18, wherein the host circuit is further configured to: receive a fault correction interrupt signal from the battery fault detection circuit, when the battery fault correction condition is determined at the battery fault detection circuit, wherein the fault correction interrupt signal is indicative of the battery fault correction condition; and provide a discharge deactivation signal to the battery fault detection circuit, in response to the fault correction interrupt signal, to induce the discharging circuit to stop discharging the battery. ### Claim 20 A method for controlling a charge level of a battery, comprising: using a charging circuit to charge the battery at a first temperature to a first charge level; after the battery has been charged to the first charge level, using a battery monitoring circuit to measure a second charge level of the battery and a temperature associated therewith as a second temperature; using a fault determination circuit to make a determination whether the second charge level is greater than a first charge level threshold and whether the second temperature is greater than or equal to a first temperature threshold; and based on the determination, using a discharging circuit to selectively discharge the battery while charging of the battery is suspended. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein the charging of the battery to the first charge level occurs while the battery is connected to a battery charger adapter, and wherein the selectively discharging of the battery occurs while the battery is disconnected from the battery charger adapter. ### Claim 22 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein the first temperature is less than the second temperature, and the first charge level is greater than the first charge level threshold. ### Claim 23 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein the battery is selectively discharged using the discharging circuit until a charge level of the battery is equal to or less than the first charge level threshold.