76676results about "Secondary cells" patented technology

An internal component arrangement within a battery pack housing having multiple cells and adapted for cordless power tools may provide desired mechanical support to constrain the cells. The housing with internal component arrangement is configured to route sensing wires from the cells to an electronics module of the pack.

Systems and methods are provided that use a mobile robotic device to transport rechargeable batteries between a base station, which charges the batteries, and a battery operated device, such as battery powered kiosk or signage system, which uses a charged battery as a power source. After traveling to a battery operated device, the mobile robotic device removes any discharged batteries from the battery operated device and installs a charged battery. The mobile robotic device then travels to the base station and attaches the discharged battery to the base station for recharging. The mobile robotic device may be configured to perform other transfers, such as data transfers and paper transfers. In addition, the mobile robotic device may be configured to perform a photographic and spatial survey of the isles, retail shelves, and surrounding environment for various purposes, such as generating three-dimensional store models and remote viewing.

To provide a power storage device, an operation condition of which is easily analyzed. A secondary battery includes a sensor that is a measurement unit, a microcontroller unit that is a determination unit, and a memory that is a memory unit. With the sensor, conditions of the secondary battery such as the remaining battery power, the voltage, the current, and the temperature are measured. The microcontroller unit performs arithmetic processing of the measurement results and determines the operation condition of the secondary battery. Further, the microcontroller unit stores the measurement result in the memory in accordance with the operation condition of the secondary battery.

A surgical stapler includes a handle assembly, an end effector, a firing rod disposed in mechanical cooperation with the end effector, a drive motor coupled to the firing rod, a sensor, and a controller. The end effector includes a first and second jaw member moveable relative to one another. The first jaw member includes a surgical fastener and the second jaw member includes an anvil. The drive motor is configured to advance the firing rod to cause the first and second jaw members to clamp tissue and to eject a surgical fastener. The surgical stapler includes a sensor that is configured measure a clamping force exerted on tissue by the first and second jaw members. The controller control a speed of the drive motor based on the measured clamping force.

A device and method for rated voltage detection and charging of electric batteries. The method comprises the steps of measuring a terminal voltage of the battery having first or second rated voltages, comparing the terminal voltage to a number of threshold voltages between a minimum threshold voltage and a maximum threshold voltage, determining a condition of the battery, which can be ready to charge or fault, based on a comparison of the terminal voltage to the threshold voltages, determining that the rated voltage of the electric battery is the second rated voltage if the determined condition of the electric battery is ready to charge, conducting a pre-charge process if the determined condition of the battery is neither ready to charge nor fault, determining the rated voltage of the electric battery based on a response to the pre-charge process, and charging the electric battery according to the determined rated voltage.

There is provided a planar inductive battery charging system designed to enable electronic devices to be recharged. The system includes a planar charging module having a charging surface on which a device to be recharged is placed. Within the charging module and parallel to the charging surface is at least one and preferably an array of primary windings that couple energy inductively to a secondary winding formed in the device to be recharged. The invention also provides secondary modules that allow the system to be used with conventional electronic devices not formed with secondary windings.

A system and method is provided for the inductive transfer of electric power between a substantially flat primary surface and a multitude of secondary devices in such a way that the power transfer is localized to the vicinities of individual device coils. The contact free power transfer does not require precise physical alignment between the primary surface and the secondary device and can allow the secondary device or devices to be placed anywhere and in arbitrary orientation with respect to the primary surface. Such power transfer is realized without the need of complex high frequency power switching network to turn the individual primary coils on or off and is completely scalable to almost arbitrary size. The local anti-resonance architecture of the primary device will block primary current from flowing when no secondary device or devices are in proximity to the local RF power network. The presence of a tuned secondary device detunes the local anti-resonance on the primary surface; thereby enable the RF power to be transferred from the local primary coils to the secondary device. The uniformity of the inductive coupling between the active primary surface and the secondary devices is improved with a novel multi-pole driving technique which produces an apparent traveling wave pattern across the primary surface.