Method and circuitry to adaptively charge a battery/cell
The present inventions, in one aspect, are directed to techniques and/or circuitry to applying a charge pulse to the terminals of the battery during a charging operation, measure a plurality of voltages of the battery which are in response to the first charge pulse, determine a charge pulse voltage (CPV) of the battery, wherein the charge pulse voltage is a peak voltage which is in response to the first charge pulse, determine whether the CPV of the battery is within a predetermined range or greater than a predetermined upper limit value and adapt one or more characteristics of a charge packet if the CPV is outside the predetermined range or is greater than a predetermined upper limit value.
1. A method of controlling at least one characteristic of a charging process for a battery having positive and negative terminals, the method comprising:
(a) applying charge to terminals of the battery at a first current;
(b) measuring a terminal voltage between the terminals of the battery multiple times or continuously over a period of time that includes at least when the first current is applied to the battery;
(c) from the measurements of the terminal voltage in (b), determining, by control circuitry, whether one or more values of the measured terminal voltage are outside a predetermined range or greater than a predetermined upper limit value, wherein the predetermined range and/or the predetermined upper limit value fall over time from an initial predetermined range and an initial predetermined upper limit value, wherein the initial predetermined range and/or the initial predetermined upper limit value are stored in memory accessible by the control circuitry; and
(d) based on the determination in (c), controlling at least one characteristic of a charging process for the battery.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying charge to the terminals of the battery comprises applying a first charge signal to the terminals of the battery.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first charge signal has a substantially constant current.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein controlling the at least one characteristic of the charging process comprises applying a second charge signal to the terminals of the battery.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the second charge signal is provided at a second current, which is different from the first current.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first charge signal has a first profile, the second charge signal has a second profile, and the first profile and the second profile are different.
7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first charge signal has a first duration, the second charge signal has a second duration, and the first duration is not equal to the second duration.
8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first charge signal comprises one or more first rest periods, the second charge signal comprises one or more second rest periods, and the durations and/or relative locations of the first rest periods within the first charge signal differ from that of the second rest periods within the second charge signal.
9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first charge signal has a first amplitude, the second charge signal has a second amplitude, and the first amplitude differs from the second amplitude.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein applying the second charge signal comprises reducing a current applied to the battery.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining whether the one or more values of the measured terminal voltage are outside the predetermined range or greater than the predetermined upper limit value in (c) comprises determining whether the one or more of the values are less than a predetermined lower limit value.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the terminal voltage over the period of time that includes at least when the charge is applied to the battery comprises measuring the terminal voltage intermittently or periodically.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the terminal voltage over the period of time that includes at least when the charge is applied to the battery comprises measuring the terminal voltage continuously.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the at least one characteristic of the charging process for the battery comprises reducing the first current according to a predetermined rate and/or a predetermined pattern.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined range or upper limit value is dependent on an external temperature.
16. A method of controlling at least one characteristic of a charging process for a battery having positive and negative terminals, the method comprising:
(a) applying charge to terminals of the battery at a first current;
(b) measuring a terminal voltage between the terminals of the battery multiple times or continuously over a period of time that includes at least when the first current is applied to the battery;
(c) from the measurements of the terminal voltage in (b), determining, by control circuitry, whether one or more values of the measured terminal voltage are outside a predetermined range or greater than a predetermined upper limit value, wherein the predetermined range or upper limit value is determined by the control circuitry based on a temperature of the battery and is stored in memory accessible by the control circuitry; and
(d) based on the determination in (c), controlling at least one characteristic of a charging process for the battery.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined range or upper limit value is dependent on the battery's state of charge.
18. A method of controlling at least one characteristic of a charging process for a battery having positive and negative terminals, the method comprising:
(a) applying charge to terminals of the battery at a first current;
(b) measuring a terminal voltage between the terminals of the battery multiple times or continuously over a period of time that includes at least when the first current is applied to the battery;
(c) from the measurements of the terminal voltage in (b), determining, by control circuitry, whether one or more values of the measured terminal voltage are outside a predetermined range or greater than a predetermined upper limit value, wherein the predetermined range or upper limit value is determined by the control circuitry based on the battery's state of health and is stored in memory accessible by the control circuitry; and
(d) based on the determination in (c), controlling at least one characteristic of a charging process for the battery.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the at least one characteristic of the charging process for the battery comprises applying a plurality of additional charge signals to the battery, wherein a current applied to the battery is decreased during each consecutive charge signal.
20. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined range and/or the predetermined upper limit value fall over time based on a maximum amount of charge the battery can hold.
21. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined range and/or the predetermined upper limit value fall over time based on a combination of age and use of the battery.
22. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined range and/or the predetermined upper limit value fall over time based on use of the battery.
23. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined range and the predetermined upper limit value fall over time in a predetermined manner.