Methods and apparatus for battery current monitoring
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsDevin Cass, Jorge Zabaco, George D. Beckstein, III
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for battery current monitoring. A current controller can prevent injury from a battery operated wearable device. An isolation switch can interrupt delivery of current of a battery to a load in response to an isolation switch control signal to prevent burn injury to a wearer of the battery operated wearable device. The battery operated wearable device can be wrist wearable or head wearable.
Claims21
A current controller to prevent injury from a battery operated wearable device comprising:
- a battery coupler to couple current of a battery;
- a sense resistor in circuit with the battery coupler to generate a voltage from the current of the battery;
- a current sense amplifier to sense the voltage of the sense resistor;
- an integrator in circuit with an output of the current sense amplifier to integrate the output of the current sense amplifier and to generate an integrator output;
- a comparator to compare an overcurrent threshold reference and the integrator output to generate an overcurrent indicator;
- control logic to generate an isolation switch control signal in response to the overcurrent indicator;
- and
- an isolation switch to interrupt delivery of the current of the battery to a load in response to the isolation switch control signal to prevent burn injury to a wearer of the battery operated wearable device.
A method of preventing thermal injury in a wearable device, the method comprising:
- sensing current from a battery integrating a signal representative of the current from the battery using an integrator to generate an integrator output;
- comparing the integrator output and an overcurrent threshold reference;
- generating an overcurrent indicator when the integrator output satisfies the overcurrent threshold reference;
- and
- interrupting the current from the battery in response to the overcurrent indicator to prevent the thermal injury.
A head wearable system to avoid thermal head injury due to overcurrent, the system comprising:
- a battery;
- a sense resistor to generate a voltage from a current of the battery;
- a current sense amplifier having inputs in circuit with the sense resistor to sense the voltage of the sense resistor;
- an integrator in circuit with an output of the current sense amplifier to integrate the output of the current sense amplifier and to generate an integrator output;
- a reset switch to reset the integrator;
- a comparator to compare an overcurrent threshold reference and the integrator output to generate an overcurrent indicator;
- and
- an isolation switch to interrupt the current of the battery based on the overcurrent indicator to avoid the thermal head injury.
21-25. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.