High capacity battery balancer

Abstract

An apparatus for balancing charge of a battery in a battery pack includes a plurality of power supplies configured to be selectively coupled to the battery and a plurality of electrical loads configured to be electrically coupled to the battery. Test circuitry is configured to measure an amount of charge of the battery. Control circuitry selectively controls a voltage applied to the battery by the plurality of power supplies and a load applied to the battery by the plurality of electrical loads based upon a measured amount of charge of the battery. A method and apparatus for repairing or testing a used battery pack from an electric vehicle includes optionally removing the battery pack from the vehicle. Batteries within the pack are balanced such that they have similar states of charge. The present invention includes a battery pack maintenance device for performing maintenance on battery packs of hybrid and/or electrical vehicles (referred herein generally as electric vehicles). In various embodiments, the device includes one or more loads for connecting to a battery pack for use in discharging the battery pack, and/or charging circuitry for use in charging the battery pack. Input/output circuitry can be provided for communicating with circuitry of in the battery pack and/or circuitry of the vehicle.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.