US4290002A — Method and apparatus for controlling battery rech…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 86 words

A method of controlling the charging of a rechargeable battery (17) during the charging thereof by a ferroresonant charging apparatus (16) and the like which provides cyclical periods of substantially zero current flow to the battery during the charging operation, said method comprising the steps of: digitizing information representative of a portion of the charging voltage waveform (W) during said period of zero current flow; and determining the duty cycle content of the digitized information as an indication of the state of charge of the battery.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 86 words

A method of controlling the charging of a rechargeable battery (17) during the charging thereof by a ferroresonant charging apparatus (16) and the like which provides cyclical periods of substantially zero current flow to the battery during the charging operation, said method comprising the steps of: digitizing information representative of a portion of the charging voltage waveform (W) during said period of zero current flow; and determining the duty cycle content of the digitized information as an indication of the state of charge of the battery.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 44 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 including the further step of causing termination of the charging of the battery (17) when the determined duty cycle content reaches a preselected value corresponding to the charged condition of the battery.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 30 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle content is caused to be accurate to within approximately 31/2%.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 69 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of digitizing said information comprises a step of comparing a scaled value of the battery charging waveform (W) with a scaled value of a solid reference voltage and providing an output signal having selectively opposite states as a function of whether said charging waveform is greater or less than the reference voltage scaled value.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 40 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle comprises a step of alternately charging and discharging a capacitor (61) and determining the effective voltage across the capacitor (61).

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 57 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle comprises a step of alternately charging and discharging a capacitor (61) suitably to change the voltage across the capacitor (61) as a direct function of the duty cycle and determining the effective voltage across the capacitor (61).

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 95 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle comprises a step of alternately charging and discharging a capacitor (61) suitably to slowly change the voltage across the capacitor (61) with respect to time while the state of charge of the battery (17) is below a preselected state of charge and to rapidly increase the voltage across the capacitor (61) with respect to time as the state of charge reaches said preselected state of charge and determining the effective voltage across the capacitor (61).

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 101 words

The method of controlling the charging of a batery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle comprises a step of alternately charging and discharging a capacitor (61) suitably to slowly change the voltage across the capacitor (61) with respect to average battery charging voltage while the state of charge of the battery (17) is below a preselected state of charge and to rapidly change the voltage across the capacitor (61) with respect to average battery charging voltage as the state of charge reaches said preselected state of charge and determining the effective voltage across the capacitor (61).

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 107 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle comprises a step of alternately charging and discharging a capacitor (61) suitably to slowly change the voltage across the capacitor (61) with respect to time and the average battery charging voltage while the state of charge of the battery (17) is below a preselected state of charge and to rapidly change the voltage across the capacitor (61) with respect to time and the average battery charging voltage as the state of charge reaches said peselected state of charge and determining the effective voltage across the capacitor (61).

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 68 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle comprises a step of alternately charging and discharging a capacitor (61) and determining the effective voltage across the capacitor (61), and including the further step of causing termination of the charging of the battery (17) when the determined effective voltage across the capacitor (61) reaches a preselected voltage.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 57 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle comprises a step of alternately charging and discharging a capacitor (61), smoothing ripple of the voltage across the capacitor (61) caused by said alternately charging and discharging, and determining the effective smoothed voltage across the capacitor (61).

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 65 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle comprises a step of alternately charging and discharging a capacitor (61) and determining the effective voltage across the capacitor (61), and including the step of introducing hysteresis in the determining of the effective voltage across the capacitor (61) to smooth ripple in said effective voltage.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 58 words

The method of controlling the charging of a battery of claim 1 wherein said step of determining the duty cycle comprises a step of alternately charging and discharging a capacitor (61) and determining the effective voltage across the capacitor (61) within an accuracy of ±5% to provide an accuracy in the state of charge determination of ±4 mv.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 124 words

Control apparatus (10) for controlling the charging of a rechargeable battery (17), such as a lead acid battery, by means of a ferroresonant battery charger (16) and the like providing alternating periods of current delivery to the battery and periods of substantially no current delivery to the battery and during which a transient voltage (T) having a peak-to-peak voltage in the order of 1% of the fully charged battery voltage appears in the charging voltage waveform (W), said control apparatus comprising: digitizing means (21) for digitizing information representative of said transient voltage; determining means (22) for determining the duty cycle content of the digitized information; and control means (23) responsive to said determining means for controlling charging of the battery by said battery charger.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 124 words

Control apparatus (10) for controlling the charging of a rechargeable battery (17), such as a lead acid battery, by means of a ferroresonant battery charger (16) and the like providing alternating periods of current delivery to the battery and periods of substantially no current delivery to the battery and during which a transient voltage (T) having a peak-to-peak voltage in the order of 1% of the fully charged battery voltage appears in the charging voltage waveform (W), said control apparatus comprising: digitizing means (21) for digitizing information representative of said transient voltage; determining means (22) for determining the duty cycle content of the digitized information; and control means (23) responsive to said determining means for controlling charging of the battery by said battery charger.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 20 words

The control apparatus of claim 14 wherein said preselected duty cycle corresponds to the charged condition of the battery (17).

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 34 words

The control apparatus of claim 14 wherein said digitizing means (21) comprises means for digitizing said information with said transient voltage having a peak-to-peak voltage in the range of approximately 80 to 160 mv.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 24 words

The control apparatus of claim 14 wherein said determining means (22) comprises means for determining said duty cycle content within an accuracy of ±31/2%.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 62 words

The control apparatus of claim 14 wherein said digitizing means (21) comprises means (41,42, 43) for providing a scaled value of the battery charging waveform (W) during said periods of no current delivery, means (32) for providing a scaled value of a solid reference voltage, and means (38) for comparing said values and providing an output signal to said determining means (22).

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 42 words

The control apparatus of claim 14 wherein said determining means (22) comprises a capacitor (61) and means (51,63,69) for causing the effective voltage of the capacitor to correspond to the duty cycle content of the information received from the digitizing means (21).

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 126 words

The control apparatus of claim 14 wherein said digitizing means (21) comprises means (41,42,43) providing a scaled value of the battery charging waveform (W) during said periods of no current delivery, means (32) for providing a scaled value of a solid reference voltage, and means (38) for comparing said values and providing an output signal to said determining means (22), said output signal having selectively opposite states as a function of whether said charging waveform scaled value is greater or less than the reference voltage scaled value, said determining means (22) comprising a capacitor (61) and means (51,63,69) responsive to said output signal for cyclically charging and discharging said capacitor (61) to provide an effective voltage thereon corresponding to the duty cycle content of said signal.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 53 words

The control apparatus of claim 14 wherein said determining means (22) comprises a capacitor (61) and means (51,63,69) for causing the effective voltage of the capacitor (61) to correspond to the duty cycle content of the information received from the digitizing means (21), and means (73) for smoothing ripple of the capacitor voltage.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 46 words

The control apparatus of claim 14 wherein said control means (23) comprises means for terminating said charging of the battery (17) as an incident of said determining means (22) determining a duty cycle content of said digitized information corresponding to the charged condition of the battery.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1984-09-14	1985-03-16	1985-09-15	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1988-09-14	1989-03-16	1989-09-15	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1992-09-14	1993-03-16	1993-09-15	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Method and apparatus for controlling battery recharging

Abstract

Inventors

Bibliographic Details

Claims Analysis

References Cited (Backward Citations)

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Assigned Categories & Tags

Assign Category Tag