US 12,651,755 B2 · Battery management systems and methods

Abstract

A battery management system includes thermal batteries, sensors, a clock, a processor, and memory storing a data structure, and is configured to receive energy parameters and time data, calculate a rate of energy usage of the thermal batteries based on the received data, and execute battery commands to activate or disable selected thermal batteries. Energy usage data can be stored as individual data points over time, and battery commands can be received from an external computer. The system determines when to activate a second battery based on a predetermined threshold of estimated electrical energy of a first thermal battery. A battery management method includes receiving signals for voltage, current, temperature, and time duration, estimating electrical energy based on these parameters, and activating a second battery when the estimated energy falls below a predetermined threshold.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A battery management system comprising:

one or a plurality of thermal batteries;
one or a plurality of sensors configured to determine energy parameters at the one or the plurality of thermal batteries;
a clock configured to report a time at which the energy parameters are determined;
a processor;
and
a memory storing executable instructions that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive the energy parameters from the one or the plurality of sensors;
receive the time from the clock;
calculate a rate of energy usage of the one or the plurality of thermal batteries based on the energy parameters and the time;
and
responsive to calculating the rate of energy usage, execute a battery command to activate or disable a selected thermal battery or a selected plurality of thermal batteries of the one or the plurality of thermal batteries based at least in part on the calculated rate of energy usage.

8 more elements

A battery management system comprising:

a first thermal battery;
a second thermal battery;
a voltage sensor configured to generate a voltage signal indicating a voltage of the first thermal battery;
a current sensor configured to generate a current signal indicating a current of the first thermal battery;
a temperature sensor configured to generate a temperature signal indicating a temperature of the first thermal battery;
a clock configured to generate a time signal indicating a time duration of activation of the first thermal battery;
a processor;
and
a memory storing a data structure and executable instructions that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive the voltage signal indicating the voltage of the first thermal battery;
receive the current signal indicating the current of the first thermal battery;
receive the temperature signal indicating the temperature of the first thermal battery;
receive the time signal indicating the time duration of activation of the first thermal battery;
determine an estimated electrical energy of the first thermal battery based on the current, the voltage, the temperature, and the time duration of the first thermal battery;
determine that the estimated electrical energy of the first thermal battery falls below a predetermined threshold;
and
activate the second thermal battery via an activation command, responsive to determining that the estimated electrical energy of the first thermal battery falls below the predetermined threshold.

14 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Battery management systems and methods

Life of this patent

Battery management systems and methods

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20