High-current battery management system
AssigneeRocketship, Inc.
InventorsMichael S. Horito, Zack D. Bomsta
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus includes a microcontroller and isolation circuitry including multiple transistor-based switches arranged electrically in parallel to isolate a battery from a load source, wherein the battery is capable of providing high levels of current. The apparatus includes a first buss bar to which first pins of the multiple switches are connected, wherein the first buss bar is to be connected to the battery and a second buss bar to which second pins of the multiple switches are connected, wherein the second buss bar is to be connected to the load source. A microcontroller is programmed to control the multiple switches substantially simultaneously to isolate the battery from the load source upon detecting a predetermined condition.
Claims25
An apparatus comprising:
- an isolation circuitry including multiple, transistor-based switches arranged electrically in parallel to isolate a battery from a load source, wherein the battery is capable of providing high levels of current;
- a first buss bar to which first pins of the multiple switches are connected, wherein the first buss bar is to be connected to the battery;
- a second buss bar to which second pins of the multiple switches are connected, wherein the second buss bar is to be connected to the load source;
- and
- a microcontroller programmed to control the multiple switches substantially simultaneously to isolate the battery from the load source upon detecting a predetermined condition.
An apparatus comprising:
- an isolation circuitry including multiple, transistor-based switches arranged electrically in parallel to isolate a battery from a load source, wherein the battery is capable of providing high levels of current of at least 400 amperes;
- a switching driver circuit operatively coupled to the isolation circuitry such as to switch off the multiple switches simultaneously;
- and
- a microcontroller operatively coupled to the switching driver circuit, wherein the microcontroller is to direct the switching driver circuit to turn off the multiple switches responsive to detecting a predetermined condition.
An apparatus comprising:
- an isolation circuitry including multiple, transistor-based switches arranged electrically in parallel on a circuit board, wherein the isolation circuitry is to isolate a load source from a battery that is capable of providing high levels of current;
- a surge detection circuit including an operation amplifier to detect a surge in current by measuring a voltage difference between source and drain of a subset of the multiple switches;
- a surge measuring circuit to measure a magnetic field and to determine a current level of the surge in current;
- and
- a microcontroller operatively coupled to the surge detection circuit and the surge measuring circuit, wherein the microcontroller is to:
- receive a first signal from the surge detection circuit, wherein the first signal is indicative of detecting the surge in current;
- turn on the surge measuring circuit responsive to the first signal;
- receive the current level of the surge from the surge measuring circuit;
- and
- send a second signal to switch off the multiple switches responsive to determining that the current level is above a pre-defined threshold current level indicating a short circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.