410 results about "Trickle charging" patented technology

A method for pay-per-use, self-service charging of electric storage power systems of electric automobiles, said automobiles charged via electrical connections to a provided curbside charging station, said charging station automatically modifying grid electricity to be suitable for charging an array of said automobiles, said charging station also automatically securing electricity at off-peak rates when available and storing same for subsequent use.

A robot apparatus 1 is to be electrically charged autonomously. An electrical charging device 100 is provided with two markers, namely a main marker 118 and a sub-marker 119, and the heights of the markers are pre-stored in the robot apparatus. When the robot apparatus 1 is to find the direction and the distance to the electrical charging device 100, a CCD camera 20 finds the direction vector of the marker from the photographed image. This direction vector is transformed into a position vector of a camera coordinate system {c} and further into a position vector of the robot coordinate system {b}. The coordinate in the height-wise direction in the robot coordinate system {b} is compared to the pre-stored height to find the distance between the markers and the robot apparatus and the direction of the robot apparatus.

A sump pump control system for monitoring and driving AC pumps that are supplied by directly either by AC utility power, or converted DC battery power. AC power is continuously monitored and the control automatically switches to DC battery supply in the case of power failure. DC battery power is converted to AC power. The control is equipped with unique pump switching circuitry allowing the pumps to be configured in parallel or staggered positions. Both pumps automatically alternate to prevent damage to pumps from humidity and corrosion that can result from remaining idle. Each pump has its own float switch to control operation. A third float switch controls both pumps in case of failure of either pump or float switch. Multiple visual and audio signals are included, displaying present power and pump conditions as well as alerting to any pump malfunction. The control utilizes two 12 volt deep cycle lead acid batteries that are being monitored for voltage level and continuously trickle charged to maintain maximum capacity. Batteries can be paralleled to obtain longer pump running time when AC power fails. The control system also allows for use of a single pump in the absence of a second pump.

The current draw of a wireless device, e.g., a cordless telephone, is minimized for a cradled remote handset drawing power from an AC outlet. This allows a greater portion of the total current amperage provided by the AC to DC converter to be allowed to charge the battery in the remote unit, and reduces the overall maximum or peak value of the current draw of the wireless device. With an improved peak power budget, a smaller (and presumably less expensive) AC to DC adapter than otherwise necessary may be used to power the wireless device. In one aspect, sniff operations of the remote handset are disabled or otherwise suppressed while the remote handset is in the cradle of the base unit, e.g., receiving a quick charge or trickle charge to its battery. In a second aspect, sniff operations of the base unit are disabled or otherwise suppressed while the remote handset is in the cradle of the base unit. In a last aspect, the charging mode of the battery in the remote handset of a wireless device changes based on activity in the remote handset.

A distributed charging system for electric and hybrid electric vehicles includes multiple battery packs of different voltages including high voltage battery packs and one or more low voltage battery packs, each having separate and independent charging systems and multiple sources of electric power. Electric power is distributed from the sources of electric power separately to each of the independent charging systems. A drive system for the electric or hybrid electric vehicle includes a stored energy system made up of these multiple battery packs and a master events controller controlling at least one of a) a traction drive system including a motor and controller for receiving driving electric energy from a stored energy system for propulsion of the vehicle, b), an auxiliary power system for recharging the battery packs and c) a vehicle monitoring and control network for controlling the operation of, and monitoring all bus systems in the vehicle.

A sump pump control system for monitoring and driving AC pumps that are supplied by directly either by AC utility power, or converted DC battery power. AC power is continuously monitored and the control automatically switches to DC battery supply in the case of power failure. DC battery power is converted to AC power. The control is equipped with unique pump switching circuitry allowing the pumps to be configured in parallel or staggered positions. Both pumps automatically alternate to prevent damage to pumps from humidity and corrosion that can result from remaining idle. Each pump has its own float switch to control operation. A third float switch controls both pumps in case of failure of either pump or float switch. Multiple visual and audio signals are included, displaying present power and pump conditions as well as alerting to any pump malfunction. The control utilizes two 12 volt deep cycle lead acid batteries that are being monitored for voltage level and continuously trickle charged to maintain maximum capacity. Batteries can be paralleled to obtain longer pump running time when AC power fails. The control system also allows for use of a single pump in the absence of a second pump.

An object of the present invention is to provide a quick charger for an electric vehicle in which a quick charging cable can be compactly stored, which is excellent in safety, and in which the burden on a user in operations is lightened.Provided is a quick charger for an electric vehicle including: an operation panel provided on the front face of a body housing; an outlet for a charging cable provided on one side face of the body housing; a charging connector housing unit that is provided on the other side face of the body housing to hold a charging connector in the body housing; and a charging cable receiver that is provided at a lower part of the body housing, wherein the charging cable receiver has a function of holding an intermediate part of the charging cable.

A charger assembly 10 for use with a battery assembly 22. Charger assembly 10 includes a member 50 which is selectively and removably insertable into a conventional electrical power outlet, effective to allow electrical power to be communicated to the charger assembly 10. The communicated electrical power is selectively transferred to the battery assembly 22, effective to substantially and fully charge the battery assembly 22 in a manner which substantially reduces the likelihood of overcharging and in a manner which selectively allows a "float" voltage or "trickle charge" to be provided to the battery assembly 22.

A substantially uninterruptible backup power system to provide power to common household appliances comprises a rechargeable battery, a trickle-charging circuit to keep the battery fully charged at all times from the receptacle power, a DC to AC inverter to supply standard AC line voltage from the battery to the lamp, a relay switch, controlled by main power voltage, to switch to the backup system when main power fails, and a timing circuit to optimize a voltage output of the system based on current battery voltage and a desired time period for the voltage output. The system can be set to operate only when the appliance is turned on, which optimizes the current and power required to provide backup power to the appliance for a maximum period of time.

The invention discloses a general rapid intelligent charger and a charging method thereof, mainly comprising a power module, a battery test analysis module, a charging parameter regulation and dynamic control module, an integrated control test module, a charging module and an indication module. Adopting a single chip as a control unit, the charger incorporates four storage battery charging control processes of pre-charging control, rapid charging control, supplementary charging control and trickle charging control to realize the whole process control of charging execution circuit, thus greatly improving the charging effect and effectively prolonging the actual life of battery. The charger can also identify different battery types, adjust the charging procedures of the controller according to the optimum charging curve automatically and charge different types of storage batteries.

The invention relates to a multifunctional stereo garage integrating such functions as vehicle storing, vehicle getting back, vehicle washing, used water circulating, vehicle charging and the like. The garage comprises a plurality of parking place units, vehicle transporting equipment and a garage control system. The garage is characterized in that the parking place units are used for parking vehicles; the vehicle transporting equipment is used for putting the vehicles into the parking place units and getting the vehicles out of the parking place units; and the garage control system is used for controlling the functions of the stereo garage. The stereo garage comprises the following additional equipment: vehicle washing equipment, waterproof curtains, water storing and purifying equipment, charging equipment and automatic plug-pull equipment. The stereo garage has the following beneficial effects: such services as keeping, washing, charging and the like can be provided to the vehicles in the parking place units; the water used for washing the vehicles is saved by circulating the water; and in addition, the stereo garage can serve as corollary equipment of a strong smart grid while serving as an electric vehicle charging station.

An energy storage system for a substation on an electrical power network is provided. The energy storage system is coupled to receive and store electrical power. The stored electrical power may then be used to either charge vehicles or meeting the needs of other discretionary or interruptible loads with an electric propulsion, or to provide electrical power a feeder connected to essential service loads such as police stations, hospitals and traffic control. In one embodiment, the substation also utilizes the energy storage system in a peak shaving mode of operation.

The invention discloses a power supply adapter capable of charging directly, which comprises a charging interface, an AC-DC conversion unit and a control unit. The power supply adapter capable of charging directly performs timing communication with a mobile terminal acting as a charging object so as to acquire voltage variations of a battery inside an electronic product, then dynamically adjusts charging voltage outputted by the power supply adapter according to the voltage variations of the battery, and carries out direct charging on the built-in battery of the electronic product by using the charging voltage, thereby realizing great improvement in charging current, accelerating the charging speed of the battery, and shortening the time required by one-time charging of the electronic product. Therefore, inconvenience brought about by frequent and long-time charging of the electronic product for daily use of users can be reduced, and the satisfaction degree of the users in use is improved to a great extent.

The invention proposes a vehicle-mounted lithium battery charger and a charging control method thereof, which can better control charging process, enables charging current and voltage to approach the optimal battery charging curve to the maximum degree and lengthens service life of the battery. The optimal charging curve of one or more than one battery pack is preset in a control module of the charger, the control module selects the corresponding optimal charging curve according to concrete batter pack information and controls output voltage and output current of a DC-DC power conversion module according to the optimal charging curve and the voltage of the rechargeable battery, the optimal charging curve is the curve for describing the optimal relation of the charging voltage and charging current of the battery pack. When voltage U of the rechargeable battery pack is less than the preset value U1, trickle charge is carried out; when U is between U1 and U2, the control module controls the output current of the DC-DC power conversion module according to the charging voltage and charging current of the rechargeable battery pack; and when U is more than the preset value U2, constant-voltage charge is charged.

The invention discloses an intelligent charging system and charging method applied to a power battery. A 4-stage charging method is adopted, namely trickle charge; multi-stage constant current-constant voltage alternative charge; constant voltage charge and floating charge. A charging control system that automatically adjusts charging current and charging voltage, that is a control system of the invention, is used for distinguishing voltage and current thresholds, an equalizing charge condition, a charging terminal condition and the real-time acquired battery pack temperature, battery pack total voltage, single maximum and minimum voltage and the like of each charging stage according to a battery specification transmitted by a battery management system, and can automatically switch charging stages according to different conditions of practical batteries and different conditions of different batteries and so on, so that each charging stage in the charging process can be accurately controlled.

An electrical monitor comprising a via array and method for determining and reducing an electrically charged state of a semiconductor process wafer the method including providing a metal filled via array including a plurality of interspersed electrically isolated dummy metal portions to form a via array monitor; exposing the semiconductor process wafer including the via array monitor to an electrical charge altering process including to produce an electrically charged state over at least a portion of the semiconductor wafer; carrying out electrical measurements of the via array monitor to determine a level of the electrically charged state; and, carrying out an electrically charge neutralizing process to reduce a level of the electrically charged state to a predetermined acceptable level prior to carrying out a subsequent process.

The invention provides a charging control method for a super capacitor, which is characterized in that a charging process comprises a charging current setting phase, a constant-current charging phase, a constant-voltage charging phase, a super capacitor self-discharging phase and a trickle charging phase. In the constant-current charging phase, the charging capacity of the super capacitor is tested, and abnormality judgment, health analysis and treatment are carried out. The charging capacity of the capacitor can be calculated and the open circuit of the capacitor and the output short circuit of a charger can be tested in the constant-current charging phase, whether the capacitor is charged to the rated capacitance can be tested in the constant-voltage charging phase, and results can be applied in a health analysis and treatment control module. The protection for a load and the super capacitor charger can be realized, and the reliability of the system can be improved effectively.

A vehicle power management system (VPMS) controls a charging voltage of a battery in a vehicle, wherein a VPMS controller evaluates state-of-charge (SOC), battery temperature, and battery charging current to determine a charge mode. A rapid charge mode is used when the SOC is less than a first threshold, wherein the VPMS controller selects a target rapid charge voltage, compensates the target rapid charge voltage for the battery temperature, and transmits the compensated rapid charge voltage to the charging source. A normal charge mode is used when the SOC is greater than the first threshold and less than a second threshold, wherein a target normal charge voltage is selected and compensated which is less than the target rapid charge voltage. A trickle charge mode is used when the SOC is greater than the second threshold, wherein a target trickle charge voltage is less than the target normal charge voltage. The VPMS controller also enters the trickle charge mode in the event of a failure to receive the SOC, battery temperature, or battery charging current from a battery monitor.

A charging ECU causes a charger to perform quick charging until a state of charge of a power storage device reaches a predetermined state. The charging ECU causes the charger to perform additional charging during which charging progresses more slowly than the quick charging, when the state of charge comes closer to full charge than the predetermined state. The charging ECU stops charging of the power storage device by the charger when the state of charge of the power storage device reaches a charging stop threshold value during the additional charging, and stops charging of the power storage device by the charger when a time of the additional charging exceeds a predetermined time even if the state of charge of the power storage device does not reach the charging stop threshold value.

A vehicle power management system (VPMS) controls a charging voltage of a battery in a vehicle, wherein a VPMS controller evaluates state-of-charge (SOC), battery temperature, and battery charging current to determine a charge mode. A rapid charge mode is used when the SOC is less than a first threshold, wherein the VPMS controller selects a target rapid charge voltage, compensates the target rapid charge voltage for the battery temperature, and transmits the compensated rapid charge voltage to the charging source. A normal charge mode is used when the SOC is greater than the first threshold and less than a second threshold, wherein a target normal charge voltage is selected and compensated which is less than the target rapid charge voltage. A trickle charge mode is used when the SOC is greater than the second threshold, wherein a target trickle charge voltage is less than the target normal charge voltage. The VPMS controller also enters the trickle charge mode in the event of a failure to receive the SOC, battery temperature, or battery charging current from a battery monitor.

The device consists of the microprocessor module (MP), the voltage and current stability module (VCS), the power supply management module and the tiny current charging module. Depending on the battery type, MP selects the corresponding charging function curve and samples the charging parameters timely. MP compares the sampled data with the charging curve and judges whether it is needed to change the charging parameter; if yes, resetting the recent charging parameters according to the charging curve and regulates VCS output. This invention is compatible with various batteries and suits flexibly to the various charging curve to charge batteries accurately. It solves the existed technique problem that the special charging management circuit possesses high cost, poor flexibility and weak ability on adapting various batteries.

The invention discloses a variable constant-current constant-voltage charging method which comprises the following steps: when the voltage of a battery is relatively low, trickle charging is carried out according to information fed back after sampling; when the voltage of the battery rises to a large-current charging set threshold, a large-current constant-current charging mode is adopted, wherein the charging current in the process only can fall gradually, but cannot vary reversely; then, the battery is in a constant-voltage charging stage. The variable constant-current constant-voltage charging method is provided based on analysis of the advantages and the disadvantages of common charging strategies and the charging and discharging characteristics of a lithium titanate battery, integrates the advantages of a constant-current constant-voltage charging method, a pulse charging method, a variable-current intermittent charging method and other charging strategies, and overcomes the defects of the common charging strategies.

The invention discloses an electric vehicle storage battery wireless charging system and a control method thereof. The system comprises a rectifying module, a high-frequency inversion module, an LCL type primary side trigger mechanism, a secondary side pickup mechanism, a secondary side rectifying module, a DC / DC module, a storage battery, a battery parameter detecting module, a battery management control module, a PWM control module, a PWM algorithm unit, a vehicle-mounted radio frequency emission unit, a primary side radio frequency receiving unit and a high-frequency inversion control module. The system is characterized in that the LCL type primary side trigger mechanism enables the current amplitude of a primary side coil to be kept constant under certain working frequency of a high-frequency inverter, so that the induced voltage of a secondary side circuit is independently decoupled with the parameters of a primary side circuit, and independent control over of the secondary side circuit is facilitated; meanwhile, under the action of the PWM control module, the DC / DC module enables the storage battery to work in the trickle charge mode, or the constant-voltage charge mode or the constant-current charge mode according to the parameter state of the storage battery.

The present invention relates to a charging equipment for nickel-hydrogen batteries, which comprises a power source management unit, a charging unit and a nickel-hydrogen battery connected with each other and is characterized in that the power source management unit is composed of a charging control module. Wherein, the charging unit is composed of a trickle charging control circuit, a constant current control circuit, a constant voltage control circuit, a charging mode control circuit and a charging circuit. The charging mode control module is connected with the charging control module. The trickle charging control circuit, the constant current control circuit and the constant voltage control circuit are connected in parallel and respectively connected with the charging circuit and the charging control module. The charging circuit is connected with the nickel-hydrogen battery. In addition, the charging control module controls the charging unit to select the constant current charging, the trickle charging or the constant voltage charging to charge the battery according to voltage of the nickel-hydrogen battery. The present invention can enhance nickel-hydrogen battery charging performance, prolong nickel- hydrogen service life and ensure battery safety.

The invention relates to a control method for the intelligent charging of a ni-mh power accumulator battery, which is a power accumulator battery charging control method, belonging to the technical field of power accumulator battery. The control method of the invention is mainly characterized in that online measurement of battery essential resistance, voltage, current and temperature of the battery is adopted, the online diagnosis of the battery pack, the online calculation of the carrying capacity SOC and the safety state monitoring of the battery are carried out, and the four processes as follows are sequentially carried out on the basis of the online measurement: pre-charging, pulse-quick charging by adding negative pulse, supplementary charging and trickle charging; therefore, the control method of the invention leads the charging efficiency to be the highest and the charging time to be the shortest, is beneficial to prolonging the service life of the battery at the same time, avoids the damage of the battery caused by excessively high over-heat and internal pressure during the charging process, and realizes the automatic intelligent optimum safety charging control with unmanned watching.

A control system (700) is disclosed that includes a room controller (704) transmitting signals to both a shade control network (716) and a light control network (718), directing that motorized roller shades (106) and dimmable lights (714) be set to desired intensity levels. The control system further includes an intelligent hub (710) that provides a trickle-charge re-charge current via power-over-Ethernet cables to batteries associated with each of the motorized roller shades for re-charging the batteries, thereby eliminating power supplies being installed within walls. The intelligent hub provides for communication with the room controller based on streaming protocol and with the shade control network based on event-based protocol. A computer (414) running user interface software may be connected to the system to facilitate programing.

The invention provides a lithium battery pack charging method. According to the lithium battery pack charging method, the diversity of single cells is gradually reduced by adopting four stages of a constant-current pre-charging mode, a constant-current equalizing charging mode, a constant-voltage current-reducing charging mode, and a constant-current trickle charging mode. The relatively poor single cell can be relatively fully charged, and the relatively good cell can be discharged in an equalizing manner by controlling the charging time and charging current of the single cell with a relatively poor performance so as to achieve the effect that the diversity of the single cells is well reduced. The cells can be recovered to a certain degree by stopping charging for a period of time in the constant voltage charging mode, the voltage of the relatively-high-voltage single cell is reduced to a certain degree, so that the charging time can be prolonged for the relatively low voltage cell, and finally the cell is charged with trickle with the minimum charging current. This period of the charging time is prolonged so that the relatively low voltage cell keeps to be changed for a long time. In the whole charging process, the diversity of the single cells is reduced by prolonging the charging time so as to achieve the effect that the cells are relatively fully charged, and the service life of a battery pack is relatively long.

The invention discloses a charging current safety control method. The method includes the steps of 1, acquiring a charging curve, to be specific, testing and sampling status changes in a battery charging process so as to obtain the charging curve; 2, in a constant-current charging state, monitoring ambient temperature, battery status, actual output capacity of a charger and actual output capacity of a power grid in real time, and adjusting charging current according to the acquired charging curve; 3, in a constant-voltage charging phase, adjusting the charging current according to an actual output of the charger; 4, in a trickle charging phase, acquiring the current battery status and charging current under the temperature environment according to the charging curve acquired in the step 1; 5, if the charging current is less than a preset threshold, ending charging, and stopping the charger from outputting. The method has the advantages that the charging current can be monitored in real time, real-time adjustment is performed according to comprehensive set current demands such as temperature environment, battery status and charger output, and charging safety is effectively guaranteed.

This invention includes a charging circuit employing an off-the-shelf battery protection circuit. The invention offers an improvement to the battery protection circuit by providing means to accommodate trickle charging during undervoltage conditions. A pass transistor is provided with a trickle resistor coupled in parallel. The pass transistor is driven by a drooping voltage circuit that causes the pass transistor to open in undervoltage conditions, thus forcing charging current through the trickle resistor. Indicating means are also included to tell the user whether the circuit is in trickle mode or normal charging mode.