A rechargeable battery system includes: a first battery pack; and a second battery pack in a daisy chain connection with the first battery pack to form a communication path, the second battery pack consuming a larger power for communication than a power consumed in the first battery pack for communication. A power consumed in the second battery pack for an additional process other than communication is smaller than power consumed in the first battery pack for the additional process.

A multilevel converter system is provided. The system includes a converter and a converter controller interfaced with the converter. The converter controller includes a voltage loop, a current loop, and a voltage compensation loop. The voltage loop is configured to receive first and second voltages from the first and second segments of the converter and a reference voltage. The current loop is configured to receive a current output of the converter, a reference current, and a balancing reference current. The voltage compensation loop is configured to receive the first and second voltages and a sign signal. The converter controller is configured to generate first and second pulse-width modulation (PWM) signals using output signals from the current loop and the output compensation signals from the voltage compensation loop. The PWM signals are configured to control the switches of the converter and to balance the first voltage with the second voltage.

The invention relates to a method that consists to give a second life to used electric vehicle battery packs by reusing them as a power source for an autonomous battery charger, preferably for a mobile battery charger. The method includes successive steps consisting in: a) selecting, among battery packs that have been removed from electric vehicles, at least two battery packs; b) balancing the voltage between the selected battery packs, in order that the selected battery packs have the same State Of Charge (SOC); and c) integrating the selected battery packs (11, 12) into the battery charger.

A method of charging and discharging a secondary battery includes detecting a displacement in a secondary battery by one or more sensors and controlling a charging and discharging current based on the detection result of each of the sensors. The charging and discharging current of the secondary battery is controlled so that an amount of displacement of the secondary battery does not exceed a threshold value.

An electricity storage device includes a battery, a discharge device, and a controller for controlling charging and discharging of the battery. The discharge device includes a swelling member, a movable switch, and a discharge switch. When the swelling member swells, the movable switch is moved. When the movable switch is moved, the discharge switch is turned on. A signal indicating that the discharge switch is turned on is transmitted to the controller to cause the battery to start discharging of electricity.

A battery charge-discharge balancing circuit assembly used in a battery pack consisting of multiple secondary battery cells is disclosed to include a switch device installed in each of the positive and negative terminals of each secondary battery cell and a balancing resistor connected with all the secondary battery cells in a parallel manner and the balancing resistor device having two opposite ends thereof connected the switch devices in series. All the secondary battery cells or multiple secondary battery cells of the battery pack can share one balancing resistor. By means of discharging the secondary battery cells in rotation, every secondary battery cell gets balanced to achieve efficient charging, eliminating the problem of overheat of the prior art technique.

A hybrid energy storage module system includes a first power stage having a short circuit switch to connect the first power stage to a power bus, a second power stage stacked in series with the first power stage and having a short circuit switch to connect the second power stage to the power bus, and a controller. The controller is operably connected to the first and second power stage short circuit switches to discharge one of the first and second power stage through the other of the first and second power stage in a state of charge balancing mode. Aircraft electrical systems and methods of controlling connectivity of hybrid energy storage modules to electrical systems are also described.

A charging apparatus maintains a balance in power between battery cells by respectively charging the battery cells with power, and rapidly charges the battery cells with power. The charging apparatus supplying unit wirelessly supplying power, and the battery apparatus includes a plurality of charging units corresponding to a plurality of battery cells in a one-to-one scheme. Each of the plurality of charging units respectively includes a charging unit charging a corresponding battery cell with power wirelessly received from the power supplying unit.

A vehicle includes: a battery pack including a plurality of battery cells connected in parallel; and a controller configured to distribute a current load having a magnitude proportional to a state of health (SOH) of each of the plurality of battery cells to each of the plurality of battery cells, and to control the charging and discharging of each of the plurality of battery cells according to the magnitude of the distributed current load.

A battery system includes a plurality of battery packs connected in parallel each including a switch and a battery connected to the switch in series and a battery state determining unit determining a state of the battery. The battery state determining unit includes a disconnection determining unit controlling disconnection of the switch and a switch controller controlling open and close of the switch in accordance with a result of determining the state. The disconnection determining unit calculates allowable stop and demanded stop periods of the battery packs on the basis of the past data, season data, and allowable currents of the batteries and transmits data to the switch controller when the demanded stop period is smaller than the allowable stop period, and the switch controller makes the switch in an open state.