A battery pack assembly or enclosure comprises one or more batteries having an electrochemical cell and an enclosure having at least an outer wall configured to create a sealed volume of space substantially around the batteries. An atmosphere of the volume of space comprises gas having a thermal conductivity less than 0.018 watts per meter per degree Celsius. This atmosphere of gas provides an insulative layer between the outer wall of the enclosure and the batteries. With this insulative layer, the battery pack assembly can be subjected to autoclaving without damaging the batteries. The battery pack assembly can be used to power surgical tools or other devices that are subjected to autoclaving.

A pluggable state-of-charge (SOC) indicator and methods of use are disclosed. The pluggable SOC indicator includes at least one voltage input jack for connecting to a battery, at least one instance of control electronics, and at least one SOC indicator, such as a 5-bar liquid crystal display (LCD). Embodiments of the pluggable SOC indicator include, but are not limited to, a pluggable single-connector SOC indicator, a pluggable dual-connector SOC indicator, a pluggable tri-connector SOC indicator, and a pluggable quad-connector SOC indicator. Further, the control electronics are programmable for any input voltage range and/or battery discharge characteristics.

A battery module according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a battery stack in which a plurality of battery cells including a cathode tab and an anode tab are stacked; a first bus bar assembly including a first bus bar connecting cathode tabs and anode tabs located at one end of the battery stack; and a second bus bar assembly including a second bus bar connecting cathode tabs and anode tabs located at the other end of the battery stack. The first bus bar assembly or the second bus bar assembly may include a venting part including at least one venting knife which protrudes from the first bus bar or the second bus bar toward the battery cell, such that stability of the battery module may be improved.

A connector for connecting cells of a battery unit is disclosed. The connector comprises a carrier having weld openings, a cover covering the weld openings, a contact disposed in the carrier, a film connector disposed along an edge of the carrier, and a film conductor disposed in the carrier and contacting the contact and the film connector.

A battery for a vehicle having a fixed battery pack and a replaceable battery pack. The replaceable battery pack has electronic or mechanical locks to semi-temporarily hold the replaceable battery pack in place. The fixed battery pack is held in place via permanent or semi-permanent fasteners such as bolts. A battery controller controls the replaceable battery pack to power motors of the vehicle before controlling the fixed battery pack to power motors of the vehicle.

A battery management system and method that allows a battery bank to be composed of battery modules that can be heterogeneous with respect to each other. A battery bank composed of modules that support the battery management system allows for any subset of modules to be easily replaced with modules of different electrochemical characteristics. Each of the modules may also have a controller that manages cells of the module. The bank level controller and module level controller may operate to virtualize the hardware under their management to reduce or eliminate the heterogeneous features of the underlying cells and modules.

Multi-cell battery packs can be made safer with certain features that mitigate the consequences of cell failure. Parameters of a cell are monitored to determine when the cell should be disconnected from the pack in case of a fault. The battery is reconfigured to continue operating in a safer mode. An over-charging prevention system reduces the maximum voltage that remaining battery pack can be charged to, so that the cells do not overcharge. Additional circuitry allows the disconnected cell to be periodically reconnected to the battery pack to determine if its conditions have sufficiently improved. The cells also include components for self-powering these cell functions while it is disconnected from the rest of the circuit.

A system and method for monitoring the health of smart battery packs in an electric vehicle and determining when one or more of the smart battery packs needs to be replaced. In addition, the system and method locate optimal smart battery packs to exchange with the one or more battery packs that need to be replaced.

A method for estimating a battery power percentage of a battery includes: performing a first fuel gauge operation upon the battery; and using the first fuel gauge operation to generate the battery power percentage of the battery by referring to information measured by a second fuel gauge operation performed upon the battery wherein the second fuel gauge operation is different from the first fuel gauge operation.

An apparatus for detecting swelling of a battery module, which includes a swelling detection panel having an edge in contact with an inner surface of a battery module housing; a slant portion configured to protrude from the inner surface of the battery module housing and having a slant surface extending from a first location adjacent to the edge of the swelling detection panel to a second location while forming a predetermined angle with the inner surface; a contact sensor unit installed to the inner surface of the battery module housing immediately adjacent to an end of the slant surface corresponding to the second location; and a control unit configured to receive a swelling detection signal from the contact sensor unit when the edge of the swelling detection panel contacts the contact sensor unit, and to control an alarm unit to output an alarm message.