Battery performance control

Claim 1

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; and, a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units from said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, said control being arranged to receive data representative of the sensed values of at least two of the temperature, vapor pressure, capacity, pH, current and voltage of a cell-unit of said battery and to switch said cell-unit when a conjoint difference of said two differs from a predetermined standard by more than a predetermined amount.

Claim 2

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; and, a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units from said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, said control being arranged to receive data representative of the sensed values of at least two of the temperature, vapor pressure, capacity, pH, current and voltage of a cell-unit of said battery and to switch said cell-unit when a conjoint difference of said two differs from a predetermined standard by more than a predetermined amount.

Claim 11

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; and, a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units froms said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, said sensors being arranged to sense a said value of selected ones of said cell-units of said passive partition, said cell-units in said passive partitions being connectible to said source of power, and said control including means causing said switches to connect said cell-units in said passive partition to said source of power and to disconnect a cell-unit in said passive partition from said source of power and permit said cell-unit to be switched into said active partition when the difference between said data representative of said sensed value of said cell-unit in said passive partition and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable value is less than a predetermined acceptable difference.

Claim 12

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; and, a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units froms said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, said sensors being arranged to sense a said value of selected ones of said cell-units of said passive partition, said cell-units in said passive partitions being connectible to said source of power, and said control including means causing said switches to connect said cell-units in said passive partition to said source of power and to disconnect a cell-unit in said passive partition from said source of power and permit said cell-unit to be switched into said active partition when the difference between said data representative of said sensed value of said cell-unit in said passive partition and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable value is less than a predetermined acceptable difference.

Claim 22

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; and, a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units froms said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, said parameters including cell temperature, pressure and capacity, said sensors being arranged to sense the values of said cell temperature and pressure of selected ones of said cell-unit in said active partition and said cell capacity of selected ones of said cell-units in said passive partition, and said control comparing data representative of said sensed values of cell capacity of said cell-units in said passive partition and a desired value of cell capacity and causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit whose cell capacity has been sensed from said source of power and permitting said cell-unit to be switched into said active partition when the difference between said cell capacity of said cell-unit and the desired value of said cell capacity is less than a predetermined difference.

Claim 23

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; and, a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units froms said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, said parameters including cell temperature, pressure and capacity, said sensors being arranged to sense the values of said cell temperature and pressure of selected ones of said cell-unit in said active partition and said cell capacity of selected ones of said cell-units in said passive partition, and said control comparing data representative of said sensed values of cell capacity of said cell-units in said passive partition and a desired value of cell capacity and causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit whose cell capacity has been sensed from said source of power and permitting said cell-unit to be switched into said active partition when the difference between said cell capacity of said cell-unit and the desired value of said cell capacity is less than a predetermined difference.

Claim 34

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units from said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and, said sensors sensing the values of at least four of the temperature, vapor pressure, capacity, pH, current and voltage of said cell-units, said control recalculating said predetermined acceptable values of said four when said sensed values of said four differ from predetermined standards by more than a predetermined amount, and said recalculated predetermined acceptable values of said four then being stored in place of previous stored predetermined acceptable values of said four.

Claim 35

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units from said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and, said sensors sensing the values of at least four of the temperature, vapor pressure, capacity, pH, current and voltage of said cell-units, said control recalculating said predetermined acceptable values of said four when said sensed values of said four differ from predetermined standards by more than a predetermined amount, and said recalculated predetermined acceptable values of said four then being stored in place of previous stored predetermined acceptable values of said four.

Claim 37

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units froms said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and a recharging control connected to said cells of said reserve partition and cells of said passive partition, said first-mentioned control being connected to said recharging control and controling connected to said recharging control and controling power flow from said cells of said reserve partition to said cells of said active partition.

Claim 38

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units froms said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, and (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and a recharging control connected to said cells of said reserve partition and cells of said passive partition, said first-mentioned control being connected to said recharging control and controling connected to said recharging control and controling power flow from said cells of said reserve partition to said cells of said active partition.

Claim 39

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units froms said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, end (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and, cell restoration means connected to said cell-units and to said control, said restoration means including means for changing the temperature, pressure and pH of said cell-units and said control being arranged to cause said means to change selected ones of said temperature, pressure and pH of said cell-units in response to said data representative of sensed values of said cell-units.

Claim 40

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cell-units not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units and to switch cell-units froms said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said selected ones of said cell-units, end (iii) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and, cell restoration means connected to said cell-units and to said control, said restoration means including means for changing the temperature, pressure and pH of said cell-units and said control being arranged to cause said means to change selected ones of said temperature, pressure and pH of said cell-units in response to said data representative of sensed values of said cell-units.

Claim 42

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups of the other, said method comprising the steps of; sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units, said physical operating parameters including at least two of cell temperature, pressure, pH, capacity, voltage and current, and two of said parameters of each of said selected ones of said cell-units being sensed; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units by determining a conjoint difference of the differences between the sensed values of two of said parameters and predetermined acceptable values of said two, determining an acceptable conjoint difference of said two, and comparing the first-mentioned conjoint difference with the acceptable conjoint difference; and, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the first-mentioned conjoint difference of said data representative of said sensed values of said two of said parameters of said cell-unit is greater than the acceptable conjoint difference of said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values.

Claim 43

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups of the other, said method comprising the steps of; sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units, said physical operating parameters including at least two of cell temperature, pressure, pH, capacity, voltage and current, and two of said parameters of each of said selected ones of said cell-units being sensed; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units by determining a conjoint difference of the differences between the sensed values of two of said parameters and predetermined acceptable values of said two, determining an acceptable conjoint difference of said two, and comparing the first-mentioned conjoint difference with the acceptable conjoint difference; and, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the first-mentioned conjoint difference of said data representative of said sensed values of said two of said parameters of said cell-unit is greater than the acceptable conjoint difference of said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values.

Claim 48

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of; sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units, said physical operating parameters being at least four of cell temperature, pressure, pH, capacity, voltage and current, and two of said parameters of each of said selected ones of said cell-units being sensed, storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said four selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units by determining a conjoint difference of the differences between the sensed values of two of said parameters and predetermined acceptable values of said two, determining an acceptable conjoint difference of said two, and comparing the first-mentioned joint difference with the acceptable conjoint difference; and disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when said first mentioned conjoint difference of said said data representative of said sensed values of said two of said parameters of said cell-unit is greater than said acceptable conjoint difference of said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values of said two.

Claim 49

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of; sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units, said physical operating parameters being at least four of cell temperature, pressure, pH, capacity, voltage and current, and two of said parameters of each of said selected ones of said cell-units being sensed, storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said four selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units by determining a conjoint difference of the differences between the sensed values of two of said parameters and predetermined acceptable values of said two, determining an acceptable conjoint difference of said two, and comparing the first-mentioned joint difference with the acceptable conjoint difference; and disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when said first mentioned conjoint difference of said said data representative of said sensed values of said two of said parameters of said cell-unit is greater than said acceptable conjoint difference of said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values of said two.

Claim 59

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected phyical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; and, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, the values of selected physical operating parameters of cell-units in said passive partition being sensed and said data representative of predetermined acceptable values being compared with said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-units in said passive partition prior to comparing said data representative of sensed values of cell-units in said active partitions with said data representative of acceptable values.

Claim 60

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected phyical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; and, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, the values of selected physical operating parameters of cell-units in said passive partition being sensed and said data representative of predetermined acceptable values being compared with said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-units in said passive partition prior to comparing said data representative of sensed values of cell-units in said active partitions with said data representative of acceptable values.

Claim 63

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, determining the likely cell capacity of cell-units in said passive partition and comparing data representative of said likely cell capacity with data representative of a predetermined acceptable value of cell capacity; and, recharging all cell-units in said passive partition from a set of reserve cell-units of said battery if the difference between said likely cell capacity and said predetermined acceptable value is greater than a predetermined difference.

Claim 64

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, determining the likely cell capacity of cell-units in said passive partition and comparing data representative of said likely cell capacity with data representative of a predetermined acceptable value of cell capacity; and, recharging all cell-units in said passive partition from a set of reserve cell-units of said battery if the difference between said likely cell capacity and said predetermined acceptable value is greater than a predetermined difference.

Claim 65

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, determining the likely cell capacity of cell-units in said passive partition and comparing data representative of said likely cell capacity with data representative of a predetermined acceptable value of cell capacity; and, sensing at least one of the temperature, vapor pressure and pH of each cell-unit in said passive partition if the difference between said likely cell capacity and said predetermined acceptable value is less than a predetermined difference, and thereafter adjusting the said temperature, vapor pressure and pH of any cell-unit if the difference between data representative of the sensed value of said temperature, vapor pressure or pH of said any cell-unit and a predetermined acceptable value of said temperature, vapor pressure or pH is greater than a respective predetermined difference.

Claim 66

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, determining the likely cell capacity of cell-units in said passive partition and comparing data representative of said likely cell capacity with data representative of a predetermined acceptable value of cell capacity; and, sensing at least one of the temperature, vapor pressure and pH of each cell-unit in said passive partition if the difference between said likely cell capacity and said predetermined acceptable value is less than a predetermined difference, and thereafter adjusting the said temperature, vapor pressure and pH of any cell-unit if the difference between data representative of the sensed value of said temperature, vapor pressure or pH of said any cell-unit and a predetermined acceptable value of said temperature, vapor pressure or pH is greater than a respective predetermined difference.

Claim 67

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, determining the likely cell capacity of cell-units in said passive partition and comparing data representative of said likely cell capacity with data representative of a predetermined acceptable value of cell capacity; and sensing at least two of the temperature, vapor pressure, pH and cell capacity of each cell-unit in said passive partition if the difference between said likely cell capacity and said predetermined acceptable value is less than a predetermined difference, determining whether the determinant of the inverse of the correlation matrix of data representative of the sensed values of all values sensed by sensors of said each cell-unit is less than a predetermined value, and, if so, thereafter correcting said parameters the sensed values of which are less than acceptable predetermined values.

Claim 68

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, determining the likely cell capacity of cell-units in said passive partition and comparing data representative of said likely cell capacity with data representative of a predetermined acceptable value of cell capacity; and sensing at least two of the temperature, vapor pressure, pH and cell capacity of each cell-unit in said passive partition if the difference between said likely cell capacity and said predetermined acceptable value is less than a predetermined difference, determining whether the determinant of the inverse of the correlation matrix of data representative of the sensed values of all values sensed by sensors of said each cell-unit is less than a predetermined value, and, if so, thereafter correcting said parameters the sensed values of which are less than acceptable predetermined values.

Claim 70

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-unit being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and, sensing the cell capacity of each cell unit in said passive partition to determine the likely cell capacity of cell-units in said passive partition considering the passive partition as a whole and thereafter monitoring said cell-units in said passive partition individually by comparing data representative of sensed values of at least two of the temperature, vapor pressure, pH and cell capacity of each cell unit in said passive partition to data representative of acceptable values of said two.

Claim 71

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-unit being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and, sensing the cell capacity of each cell unit in said passive partition to determine the likely cell capacity of cell-units in said passive partition considering the passive partition as a whole and thereafter monitoring said cell-units in said passive partition individually by comparing data representative of sensed values of at least two of the temperature, vapor pressure, pH and cell capacity of each cell unit in said passive partition to data representative of acceptable values of said two.

Claim 72

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; and, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, said predetermined acceptable difference being in the range of 0.1 to 0.3 of the determinant of the inverse correlation matrix of the difference between data representative of the sensed values of operating parameters of said cell unit and data representative of acceptable values of the same operating parameters as those sensed in said cell unit.

Claim 73

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units; and, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference, said predetermined acceptable difference being in the range of 0.1 to 0.3 of the determinant of the inverse correlation matrix of the difference between data representative of the sensed values of operating parameters of said cell unit and data representative of acceptable values of the same operating parameters as those sensed in said cell unit.

Claim 74

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and, determining a new set of predetermined acceptable values of said operating parameters based on said sensed values of said operating parameters and replacing said previous predetermined acceptable values of said operating parameters with said new set.

Claim 75

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and, determining a new set of predetermined acceptable values of said operating parameters based on said sensed values of said operating parameters and replacing said previous predetermined acceptable values of said operating parameters with said new set.

Claim 81

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and sensing the value of one of the current and voltage applied to said load, and varying the number of cell-units in said active partition when said one is changing at faster than a predetermined rate.

Claim 82

The method of controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, each of said cell-units being connectible to a source of power and to a load, a first group of said cell-units being connected to said load and comprising an active partition, a second group of said cell-units not being connected to said load and being connectible to said source of power and comprising a passive partition, and said cell-units being switchable from one of said groups to the other, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the values of selected physical operating parameters of selected ones of said cell-units; storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said selected physical operating parameters in a memory; comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of said sensed values of successive ones of said cell-units, disconnecting a cell-unit of said first group from said load and switching said cell-unit into said second group when the difference between said data representative of said sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values is greater than a predetermined acceptable difference; and sensing the value of one of the current and voltage applied to said load, and varying the number of cell-units in said active partition when said one is changing at faster than a predetermined rate.

Claim 89

A method for controlling the operation of a battery comprising a plurality of cell-units, each of said plurality being selectively connectible into one of a first (active) partition of cell-units under load and a second (passive) partition of cell-units not under load, said battery having sensors for monitoring the conditions of physical operating parameters distributed among the cell-units, said operating parameters, said sensors including cell temperature, pressure, pH and capacity and said method comprising the steps of: at intervals, sensing the value of one or more of said physical operating parameters for cell-units of active partition; for each sensed operating parameter comparing said sensed value with a predetermined acceptable value, said comparing including generating measures of conjoint differences between said operating parameter values, one of said sets being generated using said sensed and said predetermined acceptable values, and the other of said sets being generated using predetermined acceptable differences between said sensed and said acceptable values; and comparing said sets to determine whether the difference therebetween is acceptable; for each sampled cell-unit, switching said cell-unit from said active partition to said passive partition if said difference therebetween is not acceptable.

Claim 90

A method for controlling the operation of a battery comprising a plurality of cell-units, each of said plurality being selectively connectible into one of a first (active) partition of cell-units under load and a second (passive) partition of cell-units not under load, said battery having sensors for monitoring the conditions of physical operating parameters distributed among the cell-units, said operating parameters, said sensors including cell temperature, pressure, pH and capacity and said method comprising the steps of: at intervals, sensing the value of one or more of said physical operating parameters for cell-units of active partition; for each sensed operating parameter comparing said sensed value with a predetermined acceptable value, said comparing including generating measures of conjoint differences between said operating parameter values, one of said sets being generated using said sensed and said predetermined acceptable values, and the other of said sets being generated using predetermined acceptable differences between said sensed and said acceptable values; and comparing said sets to determine whether the difference therebetween is acceptable; for each sampled cell-unit, switching said cell-unit from said active partition to said passive partition if said difference therebetween is not acceptable.

Claim 92

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of of the temperature, pressure, pH and capacity of select ones of said cell-units, each of said cell-units including sensors arranged to sense the values of a selected two of said temperature, pressure, pH and capacity; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cells not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; and, a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said temperature, pressure, pH and capacity of cell-units in said active partition, to switch cell-units from said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data, and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said temperature, pressure, pH and capacity, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said cell-units in said active partition, (iii) calculating new acceptable values of said parameters when the differences between said data representative of said sensed values and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values exceed a first predetermined difference and replacing said predetermined acceptable values with said new acceptable values, and, (iv) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of the sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of acceptable values is greater than a second predetermined acceptable difference.

Claim 93

A system for controlling the operation under load of a battery including a plurality of cell-units, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors adapted for connection to cell-units of said battery and arranged to sense the values of of the temperature, pressure, pH and capacity of select ones of said cell-units, each of said cell-units including sensors arranged to sense the values of a selected two of said temperature, pressure, pH and capacity; switches for selectively connecting each of said cell-units to one of a source of power and a load, said cell-units connected to said load comprising an active partition and said cells not connected to said load comprising a passive partition; and, a control attached to said sensors and said switches, said control being arranged to receive from said sensors data representative of sensed values of said temperature, pressure, pH and capacity of cell-units in said active partition, to switch cell-units from said active partition to said passive partition in response to said data, and including means for (i) storing data representative of predetermined acceptable values of said temperature, pressure, pH and capacity, (ii) comparing said data representative of predetermined acceptable values with said data representative of sensed values of said cell-units in said active partition, (iii) calculating new acceptable values of said parameters when the differences between said data representative of said sensed values and said data representative of said predetermined acceptable values exceed a first predetermined difference and replacing said predetermined acceptable values with said new acceptable values, and, (iv) causing said switches to disconnect a cell-unit in said active partition from said load and switch said cell-unit into said passive partition when the difference between said data representative of the sensed values of said cell-unit and said data representative of acceptable values is greater than a second predetermined acceptable difference.