Circuit and method for battery equalization

A battery equalization circuit, comprising:

• a primary battery equalization cluster comprising N primary cluster cells;
• a central control circuit configured to control the operation of the primary battery equalization cluster, and to provide signals to a data bus;
• and
• wherein
• an ith primary cluster cell further comprises
• an ith positive primary battery node configured to connect to a positive node of an ith monitored primary battery cell contained in a primary battery circuit that includes N primary battery cells connected in series with each other,
• an ith negative primary battery node configured to connect to a negative node of the ith monitored primary battery cell,
• an ith primary transformer winding configured to receive an output voltage of an AC generator, the ith primary transformer winding having an ith upper primary transformer node and an ith lower primary transformer node,
• an ith primary triac connected between the ith positive primary battery node and the ith upper primary transformer node, and
• wherein
• the central control circuit is configured to control the operation of the ith primary triac based on an ith measured primary cell voltage between the ith positive primary battery node and the ith negative primary battery node, and a total primary battery voltage of the primary battery circuit,
• the first through Nth primary transformer windings are connected in series such that an ith lower primary transformer node is connected to an (i+1)th upper primary transformer node,
• an ith negative primary battery node is connected to an (i+1)th positive primary battery node, and
• i is an integer index that varies from 1 to N.

A method of equalizing a battery, including:

• measuring a total voltage of a battery containing N battery cells arranged in series with each other;
• determining an optimum cell voltage based on the measured total voltage and the value of N;
• measuring a selected cell voltage of a selected battery cell from the N battery cells;
• determining whether the measured cell voltage is less than the optimum cell voltage;
• connecting the selected battery cell to a voltage output of a generator during a portion of a positive cycle of the voltage output of the generator, when it is determined that the measured cell voltage is less than the optimum cell voltage;
• determining whether the measured cell voltage is greater than the optimum cell voltage;
• and
• connecting the selected battery cell to the voltage output of the generator during a negative cycle of the voltage output of the generator, when it is determined that the measured cell voltage is greater than the optimum cell voltage,
• where N is an integer greater than 1.