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US 2013/0094115 A1Published application
Method and apparatus for charging a battery
AssigneeFenix International, Inc.
InventorsMichael Lin, Mitchell Heinrich, Jonas Ketterle, Brian Warshawsky, Paul Jehlen, Jonathan Thomas, John Pelochino, Akbar Dhanaliwala, Brian Krieger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for protecting against certain energy sources used to charge a battery is disclosed.
Claims20
A method for protecting against certain energy sources used to charge a battery, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving energy from the energy source at input terminals isolated from the battery by a switch;
- (b) determining if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is greater than a minimum source voltage threshold;
- (c) if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is not greater than the minimum source voltage threshold, opening the switch to disconnect the energy source from the battery and resetting a counter to zero;
- (d) if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is greater than the minimum source voltage threshold, incrementing the counter;
- (e) determining whether the counter has exceeded a counting threshold;
- (f) if the counter has not exceeded the counting threshold, repeating steps (b) through (e);
- and
- (g) if the counter has exceeded a counting threshold, closing the switch to connect the energy source to the battery.
5 more elements
The method of step 5, further comprising the steps of:
- if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is less than the minimum source voltage threshold, opening the switch to disconnect the energy source from the battery and resetting the counter to zero.
A method for protecting against certain energy sources used to charge a battery, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving energy from the energy source at input terminals isolated from the battery by a switch;
- (b) determining if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is greater than a maximum source voltage threshold;
- (c) if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is greater than a maximum source voltage threshold, opening the switch to disconnect the energy source from the battery;
- (d) determining if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is greater than a minimum source voltage threshold;
- (e) if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is not greater than the minimum source voltage threshold, opening the switch to disconnect the energy source from the battery and resetting a counter to zero;
- (f) if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is greater than the minimum source voltage threshold, incrementing the counter;
- (g) determining whether the counter has exceeded a counting threshold;
- (h) if the counter has not exceeded the counting threshold, repeating steps (d) through (g);
- (i) if the counter has exceeded a counting threshold, closing the switch to connect the energy source to the battery;
- (j) after step (i), continuously determining if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is less than the minimum source voltage threshold;
- and
- (k) if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is less than the minimum source voltage threshold, opening the switch to disconnect the energy source from the battery and resetting the counter to zero.
9 more elements
An apparatus for protecting against certain energy sources used to charge a battery comprising:
- input terminals for receiving energy from the energy source at input terminals;
- a switch isolating the input terminals from the battery;
- a voltage sensor for determining the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals;
- a microcontroller configured for
- (a) receiving energy from the energy source at input terminals isolated from the battery by a switch;
- (b) determining if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is greater than a minimum source voltage threshold;
- (c) if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is not greater than the minimum source voltage threshold, opening the switch to disconnect the energy source from the battery and resetting a counter to zero;
- (d) if the voltage of the energy source at the input terminals is greater than the minimum source voltage threshold, incrementing the counter;
- (e) determining whether the counter has exceeded a counting threshold;
- (f) if the counter has not exceeded the counting threshold, repeating steps (b) through (e);
- and
- (g) if the counter has exceeded a counting threshold, closing the switch to connect the energy source to the battery.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.