Patent ID: 9548520
Date: 2017-01-17
CPC Classifications: G01F,H01M,Y02E,Y02P

Claim:
1. A system for monitoring an electrolyte level in a battery cell and generating an indication of a fault condition when the electrolyte level drops below a predetermined acceptable level, the system comprising: a housing adapted to be fixedly secured to an exterior surface of the battery cell; a controller housed in the housing; an ultrasonic transmitter circuit, housed in the housing, for transmitting an ultrasonic signal into an interior area of the battery cell; an ultrasonic receive circuit, housed in the housing, for receiving the ultrasonic signal after it has been reflected from the interior area of the battery cell; and the controller configured to use the reflected ultrasonic signal and a predetermined calibration signal representing the predetermined acceptable level of the electrolyte to determine when the electrolyte level has dropped below the predetermined acceptable level; and wherein the controller is configured to obtain a plurality of calibration data samples to construct a calibration signature, and to obtain a plurality of test data samples to construct a test signature, and to compare the calibration signature with the test signature to determine if the electrolyte level is at least at the predetermined acceptable level.