Patent ID: 9472952
Filing Date: 2016-10-18
CPC Classification: H02J

Claim Text:
1. A method for managing supply of electrical power by a battery module to a load, the battery module including N battery units, where N≧2, N linear regulators, N switches, and a battery management unit, each of the switches being coupled between a respective one of the battery units and an input of a respective one of the linear regulators, outputs of the linear regulators being coupled together and coupled to the load, the battery management unit being configured to control each of the switches to make or break electrical connection between the respective one of the battery units and the input of the respective one of the linear regulators, said method comprising: (A) controlling, by the battery management unit at the start of a discharge period of the battery units, all of the switches to make electrical connections for coupling each of the linear regulators to the respective one of the battery units, so that an output current of each of the battery units is output via the respective one of the linear regulators, thereby providing to the load a total current formed by the output currents from the linear regulators; and (B) acquiring, by the battery management unit, magnitude information of the output currents outputted by the N battery units, determining, by the battery management unit, whether or not a total magnitude of the output currents of the N battery units ranges between a magnitude of a current rating of one of the battery units and N times the magnitude of the current rating, and controlling, by the battery management unit when determination made thereby is affirmative, only M of the N switches to make electrical connections, where 2≦M≦N, and where the total magnitude of the output currents of the N battery units ranges between (M−1) times the magnitude of the current rating and M times the magnitude of the current rating.