Balanced discharge in multi-battery system
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorAjit Justin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multi-battery system implements operations to equalize discharge path impedance. The system includes first and second batteries of different capacities each coupled to a battery rail that supports source load electronics. The system includes charge control electronics configured to decouple the first battery from the battery rail when the discharge path of the first battery and the discharge path of the second battery have unequal impedance and to recouple the first battery to the battery rail when the discharge path of the first battery and the discharge path of the second battery have substantially equal impedance.
Claims17
A system comprising:
- a first battery with a first discharge path coupled to a battery rail supporting source load electronics;
- a second battery with a second discharge path coupled to the battery rail;
- and
- charge control electronics configured to:
- decouple the first battery from the battery rail when a first overcharge protection mechanism of the first battery is in a first state different from a second state of a second overcharge protection mechanism of the second battery, wherein a time that the first battery is decoupled from the battery rail corresponds to a time when the first overcharge protection mechanism is disabled and the second overcharge protection mechanism is enabled, the first overcharge protection mechanism preventing charging of the first battery when enabled and the second overcharge protection mechanism preventing charging of the second battery when enabled;
- and
- recouple the first battery to the battery rail when the first overcharge protection mechanism of the first battery and the second overcharge protection mechanism of the second battery are both in a same state that is either an enabled state or a disabled state.
A method comprising:
- decoupling a first battery from a battery rail at a time when a first overcharge protection mechanism of the first battery is in a first state different from a second state of a second overcharge protection mechanism of a second battery coupled to the battery rail;
- and
- recoupling the first battery to the battery rail at a subsequent time when the first overcharge protection mechanism of the first battery and the second overcharge protection mechanism of the second battery are both in a same state that is either an enabled state or a disabled state, wherein the time that the first battery is decoupled from the battery rail corresponds to a time when the first overcharge protection mechanism is disabled and the second overcharge protection mechanism is enabled, the first overcharge protection mechanism preventing charging of the first battery when enabled and the second overcharge protection mechanism preventing charging of the second battery when enabled.
An electronic device comprising:
- a first battery with a first discharge path coupled to a battery rail supporting source load electronics;
- a second battery with a second discharge path coupled to the battery rail;
- and
- a means for preventing the first battery from discharging when a first overcharge protection mechanism of the first battery is in a first state different from a second state of a second overcharge protection mechanism of the second battery, wherein the first battery is decoupled from the battery rail at a time when the first overcharge protection mechanism is disabled and the second overcharge protection mechanism is enabled, the first overcharge protection mechanism preventing charging of the first battery when enabled and the second overcharge protection mechanism preventing charging of the second battery when enabled.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.