A charging system of an electric vehicle battery is provided. The charging system has a charging station and at least one charging cable connectable to a battery to be charged. The charging station has at least one power unit provided with a power card adapted to charge the battery and a female-type connector adapted to connect to a male-type connector of the at least one charging cable. The at least one charging cable and the charging station have respective authentication circuits configured to implement a cable authentication algorithm which, in case of positive outcome, enables charging the battery. The charging system allows charging batteries of different types and working voltages. A method for charging an electric vehicle battery is also provided.

A modular integrated ultracapacitor-based energy storage and power delivery apparatus (UCAP module) is described. In some embodiments, the UCAP module comprises: at least one ultracapacitor cell coupled together in a series, parallel, or combination of both series and parallel configuration; an integrated charging unit; conductive hardware electrically coupling the ultracapacitors cells together; at least one UCAP terminal rod extending throughout the UCAP module and used to route power within the UCAP module and in some embodiments to other UCAP modules; and a protective casing. In some embodiments the UCAP terminal rod couples the UCAP module to at least one additional UCAP module in a series, parallel, or a combination of both series and parallel configurations. In other embodiments, the UCAP module further comprises connector rods that electrically and mechanically couple the UCAP module to at least one additional UCAP module.

Disclosed is a charging apparatus including a first power source connector connectable to a charging station power source, a second power source connector connectable to a commercial power source, a cable connected to the first power source connector and the second power source connector, and a. controller including a power source terminal connected to the first power source connector or the second power source connector via the cable and controlling the intensity of a charging supply current when the first power source connector or the second power source connector is connected to the power source terminal.

A method for conducting an operation including a power tool battery pack. The battery pack can include a housing, a first cell supported by the housing and having a voltage, and a second cell supported by the housing and having a voltage. The battery pack also can be connectable to a power tool and be operable to supply power to operate the power tool. The method can include discharging one of the first cell and the second cell until the voltage of the one of the first cell and the second cell is substantially equal to the voltage of the other of the first cell and the second cell.

The invention is in the field of emergency lighting devices and power supply of emergency lighting devices. A LED converter for an emergency lighting unit comprises a LED driver for supplying a current to a LED lighting device, an energy storage interface for connecting an energy storage device, a charging circuit for charging the energy storage, and a control circuit. The energy storage interface is configured to connect at least two different types of energy storage devices. The charging circuit sets at least one energy storage management parameter according to the type of energy storage device connected by the energy storage interface. The control circuit determines the type of energy storage device connected by the energy storage interface and controls the charging circuit to set the energy storage management parameter according to the determined type of energy storage device.

A system is provided with a set of removable battery packs and a set of power tools each including a motor, a controller, and a battery receiving portion. For each power tool, the controller is configured to identify a type of battery pack coupled to the battery receiving portion and limit a maximum amount of electric current drawn from the battery pack by the motor based on the identified type of the battery pack. The greater a ratio of an impedance of the motor to an impedance of the battery pack, the less the controller limits the maximum amount of electric current drawn from the battery pack such that for a given battery pack of the set of removable battery packs, the lower the impedance of the motor, the more current the motor draws from the given battery pack.

A dispenser for dispensing a material includes a circuit in communication with a battery and a rechargeable energy storage device. The circuit places the battery and the rechargeable energy storage device in series during a dispense event such that an actuator that facilitates dispensing the material during the dispense event receives power from the battery and the rechargeable energy storage device during the dispense event.

A system is disclosed for managing interactions between a plurality of devices selected from a group consisting of energy sources, energy loads and energy storage devices, the system comprising a control bus; a power bus; a plurality of energy device interfaces, each energy device interface comprising a control bus port, a power bus port and a device port, the device port for operatively connecting the energy device interface to a corresponding device selected from the group consisting of energy sources, energy loads and energy storage devices and for controlling the corresponding device, the energy device interface being operatively connected to the control bus via the control bus port and to the power bus via the power bus port, wherein each of the plurality of energy device interfaces comprises a dedicated power agent for operating the corresponding device, wherein each dedicated power agent directly manages low level physical details associated with operating the corresponding device such that each power agent provides a normalized power interface with the power bus; a power management unit operatively connected to the control bus, the power management unit configured to control each of the plurality of energy device interfaces according to a determined control strategy to thereby control interactions between the plurality of corresponding devices by controlling how and when each power agent interacts with the power bus at any time wherein the low level physical details directly managed by any one of the dedicated power agents are not shared with the power management unit.

Examples of the present disclosure describe systems and methods for automated battery replacement. In example aspects, a notification is transmitted to a central hub from an IoT device, alerting the central hub of battery status information. Based on the battery status information, a robot may be deployed from the hub to replace the battery or batteries on the IoT device. The robot may be land-based, air-based, or sea-based, among other configurations and combinations. The robot may engage the IoT device by connecting an external power source, which triggers an authentication procedure to verify the authenticity of the IoT device and the robot. Upon successful authentication, the main battery compartment hatch may be opened. In some example aspects, the main battery compartment hatch is controlled using magnets (e.g. electromagnets). A successful authentication process may result in a change of magnetic force, which may cause the battery compartment hatch to open. Upon opening of the battery compartment hatch, the robot may remove the old battery and insert a new battery. The IoT device may run at least one test on the new battery to ensure proper functionality. Upon verifying proper functionality, the IoT device and robot may disengage, and the IoT device may resume normal operations with the newly installed battery.

A method for conducting an operation including a power tool battery pack. The battery pack can include a housing, a first cell supported by the housing and having a voltage, and a second cell supported by the housing and having a voltage. The battery pack also can be connectable to a power tool and be operable to supply power to operate the power tool. The method can include discharging one of the first cell and the second cell until the voltage of the one of the first cell and the second cell is substantially equal to the voltage of the other of the first cell and the second cell.