Patent ID: 9746527
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: G01R,H02J

Claim:
1. An apparatus for battery charge level estimation comprising: an energy harvester configured to convert non-electrical energy into electrical energy; an energy storage apparatus, electrically connected to the energy harvester and configured to store received energy from the energy harvester; a battery electrically connected to the energy storage apparatus such that the energy storage apparatus transfers the received energy to the battery; wherein the energy storage apparatus is configured to transfer the received energy to the battery by dumping the received energy stored in the energy storage device when the stored received energy reaches a threshold, an amount of energy transferred by the energy storage device to the battery during dumping being a known quantity; a counter configured to monitor a number of times that the energy storage apparatus dumps the received energy to the battery; and a processor configured to monitor the energy transferred from the energy storage apparatus to the battery and to monitor the energy delivered by the battery to a power-consuming component; wherein the processor is configured to determine a remaining life of the battery as a function of the energy transferred from the energy storage apparatus to the battery, the battery charge level of the battery, and the energy delivered by the battery to the power-consuming component; and wherein the processor is configured to determine the battery charge level of the battery based on the number of times that the energy storage apparatus dumps the amount of energy to the battery and a charge remaining in the battery prior to the energy storage apparatus dumping the received energy to the battery.