Flexible battery system for a vehicle
AssigneeKitty Hawk Corporation
InventorsJoseph Orender, Christopher Scott Saunders, Derek Wong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A configuration instruction associated with configuring a plurality of batteries which supply power to a plurality of motors in a vehicle is received. The batteries are configuring as specified by the configuration instruction, where the batteries are able to be configured in a plurality of configurations, including: a first configuration where at least some of the batteries are electrically connected together in parallel and a second configuration where at least some of the batteries are electrically connected together in series.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- a plurality of batteries which supply power to a plurality of motors in a vehicle;
- one or more sensors that are configured to monitor the plurality of batteries and generate an indication associated with a bad battery if any such bad battery is detected in the plurality of batteries;
- and
- a battery configuration controller that is configured to:
- receive a configuration instruction associated with configuring the plurality of batteries to electrically isolate the bad battery, wherein the configuration instruction is generated in response to receiving the indication associated with the bad battery;
- and
- configure the plurality of batteries as specified by the configuration instruction such that the bad battery is electrically isolated and a motor corresponding to the bad battery is powered by one or more batteries other than the bad battery in the plurality of batteries, wherein the plurality of batteries is able to be configured in a plurality of configurations.
A method, comprising:
- receiving an indication associated with a bad battery if any such bad battery is detected in a plurality of batteries, wherein the plurality of batteries are configured to supply power to a plurality of motors in a vehicle;
- receiving a configuration instruction associated with configuring a plurality of batteries to electrically isolate a bad battery, wherein the configuration instruction is generated in response to receiving the indication associated with the bad battery;
- and
- configuring the plurality of batteries as specified by the configuration instruction such that the bad battery is electrically isolated and a motor corresponding to the bad battery is powered by one or more batteries other than the bad battery in the plurality of batteries, wherein the plurality of batteries is able to be configured in a plurality of configurations.
A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:
- receiving an indication associated with a bad battery if any such bad battery is detected in a plurality of batteries, wherein the plurality of batteries are configured to supply power to a plurality of motors in a vehicle;
- receiving a configuration instruction associated with configuring a plurality of batteries to electrically isolate a bad battery, wherein the configuration instruction is generated in response to receiving the indication associated with the bad battery;
- and
- configuring the plurality of batteries as specified by the configuration instruction such that the bad battery is electrically isolated and a motor corresponding to the bad battery is powered by one or more batteries other than the bad battery in the plurality of batteries, wherein the plurality of batteries is able to be configured in a plurality of configurations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.