The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for management and control of interconnected energy storage modules, such as battery packs, that can form a larger energy storage system. The disclosure also relates to methods and system for the measurement of cell impedances in a battery pack in-situ and on-line and using active balancing circuits that may already be present in the battery pack. The methods and systems can inject disturbances of different frequencies and measure impedance by using the active balancing circuits present in the battery pack, which can transform an active balancer into a dual active balancer and impedance measurement system. The speed up of impedance measurement energy storage modules can be accomplished by using multi-tone, orthogonal or spread spectrum waveforms applied simultaneously on all or a sub-set of the active balancer circuits in an active balancer.

In a storage system including a plurality of battery units, the charge/discharge amounts of the battery units are determined by predetermined computation using the state of charge (SOC). The predetermined computation includes allocating a larger discharge amount to a battery unit higher in SOC, out of the battery units, in the discharge mode, and allocating a larger charge amount to a battery unit lower in SOC, out of the battery units, in the charge mode.

A battery charging apparatus includes a first converter having an input coupled to an input voltage bus and an output coupled to a first battery, and a second converter having an input coupled to the input voltage bus and an output coupled to the first battery and a second battery through a first bidirectional current blocking switch and a second bidirectional current blocking switch, respectively.

A method for controlling the discharging or charging of a group of one or more battery modules able to be interconnected in parallel, wherein the module voltages of the battery modules are ascertained and a highest or lowest module voltage is ascertained from the ascertained module voltages and only battery modules whose module voltage differs from the highest or lowest module voltage by less than a predefined activation difference are interconnected, and a battery module for use in a group of at least two battery modules able to be interconnected in parallel, wherein the battery module has at least one power connection and a battery unit connected thereto via a switch, wherein the battery module furthermore has a voltmeter for measuring the voltage of the battery unit and a module controller connected to the voltmeter and the switch, wherein the module controller has at least one data bus connection and is designed, in the event of connection to a data bus, to provide a voltage ascertained by the voltmeter on the data bus and to open the switch in response to a control command received on the data bus.

Provided is a jump starting device for boosting a depleted or discharged battery having a positive terminal and negative terminal, including a battery device including multiple battery cells connected together in series, a positive battery connector for connecting the positive terminal of the battery device to the positive terminal of the depleted or discharge battery, a negative battery connector for connecting the negative terminal of the battery device battery to the negative terminal of the depleted or discharged battery, and electronics in circuit with the battery device, positive battery connector, and negative battery connector, the electronic configured for selectively connecting at least one or more battery cells of the battery device to the depleted or discharge battery in a normal boost mode or in an enhanced boost mode.

In one embodiment, a system comprising a battery set comprising plural battery cells configured in a circuit; and a control system configured to switch current flow in the circuit from bi-directional flow to and from the battery set to mono-directional flow to or from the battery set based on an over-charging or over-discharging condition.

The invention relates to a method for reducing the overall power consumption of a parked vehicle, whereby said vehicle comprises a DC power network including two batteries connected in series and an equalizer circuit, whereby the equalizer circuit includes a DC/DC converter for converting an input voltage corresponding to the sum of the voltages of the two batteries into an output voltage to be applied to a first battery of the two batteries. The method consists in i) activating the DC/DC converter only when the State of Charge (SoC) of the first battery reaches a first level below the State of Charge (SoC) of the second battery; and u) keeping the DC/DC converter active until the State of Charge (SoC) of the first battery reaches a second level above the State of Charge (SoC) of the second battery.

A non-contact charging station with a planar-spiral power transmission core, a non-contact power-receiving apparatus, and a method for controlling the same. A primary core of the non-contact charging station transmitting a power signal to a portable device using an induced magnetic field and a secondary core of the non-contact power-receiving apparatus are configured as a power transmission Printed Circuit Board (PCB) core in which a planar-spiral core structure is formed on a core base. The power transmission PCB core has a simplified shape along with improved applicability that facilitates its mounting on a non-contact charger. In addition, the receiving core has a reduced volume to reduce the entire size of the power-receiving apparatus so that it can be easily mounted onto a portable device.

Systems and methods are described for managing charging and discharging of battery packs. In one or more aspects, a system and method are provided to minimize overcharging of battery cells of specific battery chemistries while still enabling fast charging cycles. In other aspects, a buck converter may be used to reduce a voltage of power used to charge the cells. In further aspects, a fast overcurrent protection circuit is described to address situations involving internal short circuits of a battery cell or battery pack. In yet further aspects, a bypass circuit is provided in series-connected battery packs to improve the charging of undercharged battery packs while also increasing the efficiency of the overall charging process. In other aspects, a circuit is provided that permits a controller to determine a configuration of battery packs. In yet further aspects, a system may determine a discharge current for a collection of battery packs based on each battery pack's state of health (SOH) and forward that determination to an external device.

A balancing unit is installed on a battery cell, and includes an element for measuring state parameters of the cell, a wireless communication element, making it possible to send and receive state parameters, and a wireless power transfer element.