Apparatus and method for controlling charging and discharging of batteries

An apparatus electrically connected to a battery unit that consists of multiple batteries and supplies power to power-driven equipment, the apparatus further connected to an energy conversion system and the power-driven equipment, the apparatus comprising:

• a storage device;
• at least one microprocessor;
• and
• one or more programs executable by the at least one processor, the one or more programs comprising instructions to:
• (a) set number requirements of batteries to be connected to a discharge unit and a charge unit of the battery unit, and set a cut-off discharge voltage and a nominal voltage of each battery;
• (b) when the power-driven equipment is started, detect an open-circuit voltage of each battery by a sensor connected to the battery;
• (c) establish connections of the batteries with the discharge unit and the charge unit according to the open-circuit voltages of the batteries and the number requirements;
• (d) monitor variations of the open-circuit voltages of the batteries during the discharge unit supplying power to the power-driven equipment and the energy conversion system charging the charge unit;
• (e) switch connections of one or more first batteries from the discharge unit to the charge unit, wherein a current open-circuit voltage of each first battery is lower than the cut-off discharge voltage of the first battery;
• and
• (f) switch connections of one or more second batteries from the charge unit to the discharge unit, wherein a current open-circuit voltage of each second battery equals the nominal voltage of the second battery.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions capable of being executed by a microprocessor of an apparatus for controlling charge and discharge of batteries in a battery unit that supplies power to power-driven equipment, the apparatus electrically connected with the battery unit, the power-driven equipment, and an energy conversion system, the method comprising:

• (a) setting number requirements of batteries to be connected to a discharge unit and a charge unit of the battery unit, and setting a cut-off discharge voltage and a nominal voltage of each battery;
• (b) when the power-driven equipment is started, detecting an open-circuit voltage of each battery by a sensor connected to the battery;
• (c) establishing connections of the batteries with the discharge unit and the charge unit according to the open-circuit voltages of the batteries and the number requirements;
• (d) monitoring variations of the open-circuit voltages of the batteries during the discharge unit supplying power to the power-driven equipment and the energy conversion system charging the charge unit;
• (e) switching connections of one or more first batteries from the discharge unit to the charge unit, wherein a current open-circuit voltage of each first battery is lower than the cut-off discharge voltage of the first battery;
• and
• (f) switching connections of one or more second batteries from the charge unit to the discharge unit, wherein a current open-circuit voltage of each second battery equals the nominal voltage of the second battery.