Patent ID: 6504344
Filing Date: 2003-01-07
Classification: B60L,G01R,H02J,Y02T

Abstract:
A system for determining the health of a rechageable battery pack, said battery pack being composed of plurality of individual battery modules, said system comprising:a discharge load for discharging one of said battery modules; a module charger for charging one of said battery modules; a controller for controlling a network of switches; a battery module sensor for measuring a characteristic of a battery module; and a network of switches controlled by the controller, said network capable of operatively coupling each module to: the discharge load; the module charger; and the module sensor, an expert system for controlling the controller, said expert system receiving an output of the module sensor, wherein said controller discharges and recharges each individual battery module by connecting said battery module to either the discharge load or the module charger using said network of switches; and the expert system determines the useful capacity of each module based on said characteristic of each module.