Granted Patent B2

US 12,328,020 · App. 18/217,982 · Granted Jun 10, 2025

Inventor: Kong-Chen Chen (Gilroy, CA)

Assignee: ENTRANTECH INC.

H02J7/0025B60L53/80H02J7/00304H02J7/00308H02J7/00309H02M1/0029H02M7/25

Abstract

Claims (88)

1. A system configured to charge a plurality of battery modules in a plurality of battery slots, wherein a first one of the plurality of battery slots comprises:

a receptacle adapted to couple to a battery module;

a detector adapted to detect a presence of the battery module at the receptacle; and

a charging control unit comprising:

a charging comparator adapted to monitor an energy level of the battery module;

a charging input enable signal to enable a charging demultiplexer disposed in the charging control unit; and

a charging-enable output signal generated by the charging demultiplexer, wherein when the charging input enable signal is asserted, the charging demultiplexer is adapted to:

activate a transfer device disposed in the system to transfer energy from a DC power source to charge the battery module when the energy level detected by the charging comparator is below a charging reference voltage, and

assert the charging-enable output signal to activate a charging control unit at a succeeding one of the plurality of battery slots when the energy level detected by the charging comparator reaches the charging reference voltage.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the

detector is a direct contact limit switch, which

is normally-closed to output a high value to inhibit the charging control unit when the battery module is not present in the battery slot; and

is open when the battery module is in the battery slot, wherein a pulled-down resistor attached at output of the direct contact limit switch negates inhibit input to the charging control unit.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the charging control unit and the transfer device form a charging control switch.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the charging-enable output signal of a (k−1) th charging control unit associated with a (k−1) th one of the plurality of battery slots and the charging input enable signal of a k th charging control unit associated with a k th one of the plurality of battery slots are linked to form a sequential charging control chain in the system, wherein k is an integer greater than or equal to 2, wherein the (k−1) th charging control unit has a higher priority to perform charging than the k th charging control unit in the sequential charging control chain.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the sequential charging control chain controls sequential charging of the plurality of battery modules whose energy levels are below the charging reference voltage, in accordance with a linking sequence of the charging control units at the sequential charging control chain associated with the plurality of battery slots, when the sequential charging control chain is enabled.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a comparator adapted to monitor availability of the DC power source for charging by comparing an attenuated voltage derived from the DC power source with the charging reference voltage.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the system is adaptive to reconfigure the charging control chain automatically on a rearrangement of the plurality battery slots in the system, including one or more of:

re-ordering the linking sequence of the plurality of battery slots;

increasing a number of the plurality of battery slots; and

reducing a number of the plurality of battery slots.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein a parallel charging enable signal is ORed with the charging input enable signal to generate a combined signal adapted to enable the charging demultiplexer in the charging control unit.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the parallel charging enable signal is adapted to enable one or more charging control units associated with the plurality of battery slots to charge one or more battery modules disposed in one or more battery slots in parallel, wherein the DC power source is distributed to one or more charging control units.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the charging control chain is partitioned into one or more charging segments, wherein

a segment charging input enable signal is applied to the charging input enable terminal of the charging control units in a charging segment in parallel; and

a segment charging-enable output signal is generated by ANDing the charging-enable output signals of the charging control units in the charging segment to enable a succeeding charging segment in the charging control chain of the system.

11. A system configured to discharge a plurality of battery modules in a plurality of battery slots, wherein a first one of the plurality of battery slots comprises:

a receptacle adapted to couple to a battery module;

a detector adapted to detect a presence of the battery module at the receptacle; and

a discharging control unit, comprising:

a discharging comparator to monitor the energy level of the battery module;

a discharging input enable signal adapted to enable a discharging demultiplexer disposed in the discharging control unit; and

a discharging-enable output signal generated by the discharging demultiplexer, wherein when the discharging input enable signal is asserted, the discharging demultiplexer is adapted to:

activate closure of a normally-open switch coupled to an output of the battery module to deliver energy for external use, when the discharging comparator detects energy level in the battery module above a discharging reference voltage; and

assert the discharging-enable output signal to activate a discharging control unit at a succeeding one of the plurality of battery slots, when the discharging comparator detects energy level in the battery module is below the discharging reference voltage.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the detector is a direct contact limit switch, which

is normally-closed to output a high value to inhibit the discharging control unit when the battery module is not in the battery slot; and

is open when the battery module is in the battery slot, wherein a pulled down resistor attached to output of the direct contact limit switch negates inhibit input to the discharging control unit.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the the detector to detect presence of the battery module coupled to the receptacle includes one of following:

direct contact limit switch;

capacitance sensor;

electrostatic sensor;

magnetic sensor; and

optical sensor.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the discharging control and the transfer device form a discharging control switch.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the discharging control unit and the transfer device form a discharging control switch.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the discharging-enable output signal of a (k−1) th discharging control unit associated with a (k−1) th one of the plurality of battery slots and the discharging input enable signal of a k th discharging control unit associated with a k th one of the plurality of battery slots are linked to form a sequential discharging control chain in the system, wherein k is an integer greater than or equal to 2, wherein a preceding discharging control unit has a higher priority to discharge a battery module designated as a higher priority than a succeeding discharging control unit to discharge a battery module designated as a lower priority in the sequential discharging control chain.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the sequential discharging control chain controls discharging of the plurality of battery modules sequentially in accordance with a linking sequence of the discharging control units forming the discharging control chain associated with the plurality of battery slots.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the sequential discharging control chain controls sequential discharging of the plurality of battery modules whose energy levels are above the discharging reference voltage automatically, when the discharging control chain is enabled.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the system is adaptive to reconfigure the discharging control chain automatically on a rearrangement of the plurality battery slots in the system, including one or more of:

re-ordering the linking sequence of the plurality of battery slots;

increasing a number of the plurality of battery slots; and

reducing a number of the plurality of battery slots.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein a parallel discharging enable signal is ORed with the discharging input enable signal to generate a combined signal adapted to enable the discharging demultiplexer in the discharging control unit.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein assertion of the parallel discharging enable signal enables one or more discharging control units associated with the plurality of battery slots to discharge energy from battery modules disposed in one or more battery slots in parallel, wherein discharging more than one battery modules in parallel increases output energy of the system.

22. The system of claim 19 , wherein the discharging control chain is partitioned into one or more discharging segments, wherein

a segment discharging input enable signal is applied to the discharging input enable terminal of the discharging control units in a discharging segment in parallel; and

a segment discharging-enable output signal is generated by ANDing the discharging-enable output signals of the discharging control units in the discharging segment to enable a succeeding discharging segment in the discharging control chain of the system.

23. An energy storage system configured to charge and discharge a plurality of battery modules in a plurality of battery slots, wherein a first one of the plurality of battery slots comprises:

a receptacle adapted to couple to a battery module;

a detector adapted to detect a presence of the battery module at the receptacle; and

a charging control unit comprising:

a charging comparator adapted to monitor an energy level of the battery module;

a charging input enable signal to enable a charging demultiplexer disposed in the charging control unit; and

a charging-enable output signal generated by the charging demultiplexer, wherein when the charging input enable signal is asserted, the charging demultiplexer is adapted to:

activate a transfer device disposed in the energy storage system to transfer energy from a DC power source to charge the battery module when the energy level detected by the charging comparator is below a charging reference voltage, and

assert the charging-enable output signal to activate a succeeding charging control unit at a succeeding one of the plurality of battery slots when the energy level detected by the charging comparator reaches the charging reference voltage; and

a discharging control unit comprising:

a discharging comparator adapted to monitor the energy level of the battery module;

a discharging input enable signal adapted to enable a discharging demultiplexer disposed in the discharging control unit; and

a discharging-enable output signal generated by the discharging demultiplexer, wherein when the discharging input enable signal is asserted, the discharging demultiplexer is adapted to:

activate closure of a normally-open switch coupled to an output of the battery module to deliver energy for external use, when the discharging comparator detects energy level in the battery module is above a discharging reference voltage; and

assert the discharging-enable output signal to activate a succeeding discharging control unit at the succeeding one of the plurality of battery slots, when the discharging comparator detects energy level in the battery module is below the discharging reference voltage.

24. The energy storage system of claim 23 , wherein the charging reference voltage is a first attenuated voltage derived from an output of the battery module and the discharging reference voltage is a second attenuated voltage derived from the output of the battery module.

25. The energy storage system of claim 23 , wherein the charging reference voltage is higher than the discharging reference voltage.

26. The energy storage system of claim 23 , wherein a power comparator being adapted to compare an attenuated DC power input voltage with the charging reference voltage to activate the charging demultiplexer.

27. The energy storage system of claim 23 , wherein the charging control unit in the first one of the plurality of battery slots is linked with a second charging control unit in a second one of the plurality of battery slots to form a charging control chain to control charging of the plurality of battery modules in the plurality of battery slots sequentially; and

the discharging control unit in the first one of the plurality of battery slots is linked with a second discharging control unit in the second one of the plurality of battery slots to form a discharging control chain to control discharging of the plurality of battery modules in the plurality of battery slots sequentially.

28. The energy storage system of claim 27 , wherein the charging control chain and discharging control chain are enabled to charge and discharge energy in the plurality of battery modules independently.

29. The energy storage system of claim 23 , wherein the detector to detect presence of the battery module coupled to the receptacle includes one of following:

a direct contact limit switch;

a capacitance sensor;

an electrostatic sensor;

a magnetic sensor; and

an optical sensor.

30. The energy storage system of claim 29 , wherein the direct contact limit switch

is normally-closed to output a high value to inhibit the charging control unit and the discharging control unit when the battery module is not in the battery slot; and

is open when the battery module is in the battery slot, wherein a pulled down resistor attached to output of the direct contact limit switch negates inhibit input to the charging control unit and the discharging control unit.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (9)

References Cited (80)

Cited By (3)

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