| ElectriTek-AVT, Inc. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20090079397 | ANTI-SWELL PROTECTION CIRCUIT FOR BATTERY CELLS - The present invention provides a protection circuit and method for preventing a battery from swelling in one embodiment. The protection circuit includes: a voltage monitoring circuit that monitors a voltage across the battery; a control circuit that receives voltage information from the voltage monitoring circuit; and a discharge circuit that turns on to discharge the battery upon receiving a signal from the control circuit. The control circuit includes: a timer that sets predetermined time periods; a signaling section that outputs the signal to the discharge circuit after a first predetermined time period if the voltage stays above a first predetermined voltage threshold without charging or discharging to a load for the first predetermined time period; a sleep mode applying section that applies a sleep mode when the voltage falls below a second predetermined voltage threshold; and a load disconnecting section that disconnects the load if a wake-up command is not issued during the sleep mode for a third predetermined time period. Alternatively, the protection circuit may include a swell monitoring device that monitors a swell associated with the battery; a control circuit that receives swell information from the swell monitoring device; and a discharge circuit that turns on to discharge the battery upon receiving a signal from the control circuit. | 03-26-2009 |
| 20090072790 | LOW SIDE N-CHANNEL FET PROTECTION CIRCUIT - The present invention relates to a battery protection circuit for protecting a plurality of batteries connected in series. The battery protection circuit includes: a controller for monitoring the batteries and outputting control signals based on predetermined conditions associated with the batteries; a first N-channel MOSFET and a second N-channel MOSFET coupled in a common-drain configuration in a low-side path, wherein at least one of the first and second N-channel MOSFETs turns off in response to the control signal received from the controller when at least one of the predetermined conditions is detected; and a gate protection circuit for preventing gate-to-source voltages of the first and second N-channel MOSFETs from exceeding a predetermined gate-to-source voltage level. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090015207 | Multi-Cell Charger with Individual Cell Control - The present invention discloses a battery charger and a method for charging a plurality of batteries. The battery charger includes: a current source for supplying a source current which has a charge current portion and a diverted current portion; bypass sections; voltage clamp sections; sense sections; a feedback section for processing information from the sense sections; and a controller for modifying the source current based on the information from the feedback section. Each bypass section is connected to a battery for diverting the diverted current. Each voltage clamp section is connected to the bypass section for clamping a voltage across the battery when the voltage increases to a predetermined level. Each sense section is connected to the bypass section for determining the diverted current and/or the charge current. | 01-15-2009 |
