Systems, apparatus and methods for battery charge management
AssigneeModalis Engineering, Inc.
InventorNathan Mariels
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems, apparatus, and methods for automobile battery management is provided. In one embodiment, an apparatus for providing balanced and individualized charging to a battery pack is provided. The apparatus uses microcontrollers to determine a charge level of the batteries, and correspondingly controls a power balancer to apply a charge current to the battery in relation to the charge level, and dissipates the remaining charge current as heat energy. In one embodiment, a system controller controls a balanced charging operation of the battery system, provides an interface for a user to monitor cell-level parameters, and protects the battery cells from undercharging or overcharging during the charging or discharging operations.
Claims18
An apparatus for providing balanced and individualized charging to each battery cell in a plurality of battery cells, the apparatus comprising:
- a first power balancer configured to regulate a charge current applied to a first battery cell of the plurality of battery cells;
- and
- a microcontroller configured to monitor a charge level of the first battery cell, wherein the microcontroller controls the first power balancer such that an effective amount of the charge current applied to the first battery cell is proportional to the charge level of the first battery cell, and wherein an unused portion of the charge current is dissipated as heat energy through a heat sink associated with the first power balancer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.