Patent ID: 11876250
Assignee: PALATOV GROUP LLC
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  Y | IPC H

Claim 11:
12. A method of activating a battery module, said battery module comprising an enclosure, a plurality of series connected battery cells contained within said enclosure and defined by a first battery cell, at least one intervening battery cell, and a last battery cell, a positive terminal, a negative terminal, a first relay contained within said enclosure and connected between a positive terminal of the last battery cell and the positive terminal of the battery module, wherein the first relay controls connection of said plurality of battery cells to a first of said terminals, a second relay contained within said enclosure and connected between a negative terminal of the first battery cell and the negative terminal of the battery module, wherein the first relay controls connection of said plurality of battery cells to a second of said terminals, wherein the first relay is of electromechanical type, wherein the second relay is of solid state type, and a battery management system having a digital communications port, said battery management system being configured to control said first relay and said second relay, said method comprising:
receiving a first message at the battery management system via said digital communications port, wherein the first message corresponds to a first activation command to activate the first relay and the second relay;
activating said first relay to connect a first one of said plurality of series connected battery cells to said positive terminal of said battery module in response to receiving said first message;
activating said second relay, subsequent to activating the first relay, to connect a second one of said plurality of series connected battery cells to said negative terminal of said battery module in response to receiving said first message;
setting an activated duration period based on information contained in said received first message;
checking for expiration of the activated duration period;
responsive to the activation duration period not having expired, checking for receipt of a second message, wherein the second message corresponds to a second activation command to activate the first relay and the second relay;
in response to receiving the second message, setting a new activated duration period based on information contained in said received second message;
and
deactivating said second relay, and subsequently deactivating said first relay to disconnect said plurality of series connected battery cells from both said positive terminal of the battery module and said negative terminal of the battery module in response to expiration of the activation duration period before the second message is received.