Abstract:
A modification to existing mono-block battery design for positively indicating the operating condition of the battery by adding a failure detector. The voltage of two groups of internal series connected cells are measured and compared. An indicator of one color indicates the battery is operating normally and an indicator of a contrasting color indicates the battery is defective. The indicator may be located remotely from the failure detector. An additional embodiment provides for an optical indicator located remotely from the failure detector such that luminous energy is transferred from the failure detector to the remote indicator by an optical-conductor.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This is a continuation-in-part of U. S. patent application No. 09/179,282 filed Oct. 26, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,927, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/758,843 filed Dec. 2, 1996 now abandoned. 
     New matter related to the continuation-in-part is appended after the original matter in each respective section of the specification. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Another object of this invention is to provide a means of remotely indicating battery condition. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide a bi-directional communication means for transferring data and instructions. 
     PRIOR ART 
     Some lead-acid battery manufacturers use visible warning indicators to show a battery may be discharged or defective. The indicators are only responsive to one cell in the battery and the viewer must be near the battery. Many times the battery is in an in-accessible location, such as under an automobile seat or in a remotely located battery room. The present invention provides for several novel methods to convey battery condition information to a suitable convenient location. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Additional embodiments of the present invention provide methods for communicating the battery condition. A failure indicator may be located remotely from the battery monitor in proximity of an observer. Information representing the battery condition may be communicated by simple serial data interfaces, or a variety of information networks known to those in the art such as SAE J-1739, SAE J-1750 or J-1850. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the battery failure indicator with a remote indicator. 
     FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the failure detector connected to a remote indicator via an optical cable. 
     FIG. 3 shows block diagrams of the various indicator elements within a remote indicator. 
     FIG. 4 shows various display patterns and legends representing various battery conditions that are own on the rote indicator. 
     FIG.  5  and FIG. 6 are block diagrams showing two battery failure detectors, one with a serial communication interface and one with an isolated serial communication interface. 
     FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing multiple battery failure detectors connected to a remote control unit by means of an isolated half duplex current loop interface. 
     FIG. 8 shows multiple battery failure detectors with isolated transmitters on a common bus communication network. 
     FIG. 9 shows multiple failure detectors connected to an isolated communication network by optical cables. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Most lead acid batteries are now manufactured as sealed units, which permits placement in locations that are not readily accessible for maintenance. Batteries that are out of sight and out of mind are more likely to be neglected. A battery failure detector with remote indication and/or communication capability is extremely useful in warning of pending failure. 
     FIG. 1 shows a second embodiment of the present invention with a novel remedy for this situation. A remote indicator  80  consists of a body  82 , face  84  and an electrical cable  88  containing one or more wires and a variety of indicator elements. The remote indicator  80  may be located a substantial distance from the failure detector  4  for convenient observation. 
     A battery fault condition will be defined to simplify discussion in the embodiments that follow. Refer to page 5 paragraph 2 of the specification Ser. No. 09/179,282, a battery fault condition is true when the any of the values VD 1  . . . VD 6  are less than 0 volts as determined by the microprocessor program, else the battery fault condition is false. 
     The remote indicator  80  may be implemented with a variety of indicator elements. The most preferred indicator elements are shown in FIG.  3 . The face  84  is normally transparent for direct viewing of the indicator element; however, a simple and effective message about the battery condition is displayed on a face with a pattern indicating a particular battery condition as determined by the failure detector  4 . The patterns and legends in FIG. 4 are illuminated by the LEDs  118 ,  120 , or lamps  136 ,  138  within the remote indicator. A first such pattern, the broken battery  160 , is visible by illuminating lamp  136  when the battery fault condition is true. A second such pattern is a battery with the BATSTAT™ logo  162  that is visible when illuminated by lamp  136  when the battery fault condition is false. Patterns  164 ,  166 ,  168 , and  170  are visible when a dot matrix LED or LCD devices is used to indicate that the battery fault condition is true. Pattern  172  is a pattern that is visible when dot matrix LED or LCD device is used to indicate that the battery fault condition is false. 
     A first type of indicator element within the remote indicator is shown in FIG.  3 . The multi-function element  112  controls one or more display sub-elements and communicates with the failure detector via one or more ports on the microprocessor  15 . Methods for communicating and controlling a device such as the multi-function element from a microprocessor and construction of the remote intelligent indicator are known to one skilled in the art. 
     A second type of indicator element consists of LED  118 , LED  120  and resistor  116 . The anode of LED  120  and cathode of LED  118  are connected to one end of resistor  116  and the other end of resistor  116  is connected to port P 1   32  on the microprocessor  15  by a first wire. The cathode of LED  120  and the anode of LED  118  are connected to port P 2   33  by a second wire. LED  120  is illuminated when the battery fault condition is false by setting microprocessor port P 1  to a high value and simultaneously setting port P 2  low value. LED  118  is illuminated when the battery fault condition is true by setting microprocessor port P 2  to a high value and simultaneously setting port P 1  low value. When either port P 1   32  or P 2   33  is off or if the voltage on both ports is approximately the same then both LEDs  118  and  120  are off. Resistor  116  is required to limit current in the LED. 
     Either LED  118  or  120  may be operated independently. For example LED  118  could be illuminated to signify the battery fault condition is false and extinguished when a battery fault condition is true. Conversely, the LED  120  could be illuminated when the battery fault condition is true and extinguished when the battery fault condition is false. 
     When a single LED, for example LED  118 , is operated independently various patterns could be used in place of steady illumination. An LED consumes a relatively large amount of power when driven at the high currents required for viewing in high ambient light conditions. Operating the LED with a pattern at a low duty cycle permits a substantial power saving while at the same time attracting visual attention from the observer. For example, LED  118  could be flashed by illuminating for 200 mili-seconds then extinguishing for 800 mili-seconds. Only 25% of the power of a continuously illuminated LED is consumed. 
     Specifically the LED is flashed with a color signifying the battery fault condition is false such as green or blue. The LED could also be flashed with a color signifying the battery fault condition is true such as red or yellow. 
     A third type of indicator element consisting of lamp  136 , lamp  138 , diode  118 , diode  120  and resistor  34  is shown in FIG.  3 . Normally three wires would be required to selectively illuminate a single lamp, but one wire can be eliminated by using diodes  132  and  134  to steer current to lamp  136  or lamp  138  respectively. Lamp  138  is illuminated when the battery fault condition is false; lamp  136  is illuminated when the battery fault condition is true. Lamp  138  is illuminated by setting port P 1  to a high value (near Vcc) and simultaneously setting port P 2   33  to a low value (near 0 volts). Current will Pow from port P 1   32  through resistor  116 , lamp  138  and diode  134 , then into port P 2   33  causing the LAMP  138  to illuminate. Lamp  136  is illuminated by setting port P 1   32  to a low value (near 0 volts) and simultaneously setting port P 2  to a high value (near Vcc). Current will flow from port P 2   33  through diode  132 , lamp  136 , resistor  116 , then into port P 1   32  causing LAMP  136  to illuminate. Resistor  116  is required to limit inrush current when the lamp starts to illuminate. 
     A fourth type of the remote indicator element consists of a single LCD  146  and connections to the microprocessor ports P 1   32  and P 2   33  for operating the LCD. Methods for connecting and controlling a LCD are known to those in the art. The LCD is driven by the microprocessor to indicate a first color or pattern the battery failure condition is false and indicates a second color or pattern when the battery failure condition is true. LCDs with this property are known to those in the art. This principle can be extended to multiple LCDs as shown by the multi-element LCD. 
     A third embodiment of the present invention is an remote optical indicator  90  shown in FIG. 2 consisting of a body  92 , optical pipe diffuser  94  and an optical cable  96 . The first end of the optical cable  98  is attached the diffuser  94  within the indicator, and the second end  100  of the optical cable is attached to the failure detector in close proximity to the multi color LED  150  shown in FIG.  3 . Methods for attaching optical cables for illumination purposes are known to those in the art. A multi-colored LED  150  consists of two or more single color LEDs in one package that may be independently controlled. The optical energy from the multi-LED  150  representing a battery fault condition that is true or false is conducted to the face of the indicator by means of the optical cable and a light pipe. 
     A fourth embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.  5 . The battery fault condition information from the failure detector is communicated to other devices such as instrumentation systems, computers or data link devices by means of standard networks. FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a communication network  200  with a transmit circuit  202  and a receive circuit  204  connected to the microprocessor  15  within the failure detector  4 . 
     When more than one battery with the present invention is connected to a communication network, electrical isolation must be provided for proper network operation. FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a communication network  200  with a transmit circuit  202  and a receive circuit  204  connected to the microprocessor  15  within the failure detector  4  by means of an electrical isolation device  206 . 
     Literature available to one in the art shows many methods of communicating by way of isolated interfaces and bus networks. FIGS. 7, and  8  show preferred methods of connecting the failure detector to a communication interface or to a single control unit. The communication interface is any one of many standard networks or data links common in the industry. Examples of the more popular interface standards that apply to a battery failure detector are Current Loop, RS-232, RS-485, SAE J-1708, SAE J-1850 and CAN. The control unit in FIGS. 7,  8  is a generic device that one skilled in the art could readily fabricate. 
     FIG. 7 is a block diagram of multiple batteries that may be connected in any series or parallel fashion. In a series connection, the potential at the positive post of battery n is greater than the potential at the positive post of battery  1  with respect to the negative terminal of battery  1 . In practice the potential difference between the negative terminal of battery  1  and the positive terminal of battery n is normally 48V for telephone systems and may be 120V to 300V in other applications. This arrangement requires an electrically isolated data interface for proper operation of the data network. The operation of the failure detector associated with battery  1  will be described although the failure detector associated with battery  2 —battery n is the same. 
     The failure detector  4  communicates the battery failure condition by means of a transmitter  216  and receiver  214  to a control unit  218 . The transmitter  220  in the control unit provides current to the half duplex current loop network  228  which is received by each transmitter  216  and receiver  214 . The transmitter and receiver are optically isolated devices known to those in the art. Any transmitter on the network can modulate current for transmitting information and any receiver on the network can receive the current. One skilled in the art would know the construction of such a network. The control unit  218  contains a power supply  224  for the circuits within the control unit and an indicator  226 . The indicator  226  displays battery fault condition of any battery as determined by failure detector  1  through n and communicated by way of the network  228 . The indicator  226  contains any of the indicator elements described in previous embodiments of the present invention as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. 
     FIG. 8 shows one or more batteries with respective failure detectors configured to transmit a signal representing a battery fault condition to the control unit. Failure detector  14  determines that a fault condition is true for battery  1 . When the fault condition is true, the isolated transmitter  230  is energized which creates a closed circuit path within the isolated transmitter causing current to flow in the interface circuit  232 . The flow of current in the interface circuit  232  is detected by the receiver  234  in the control unit  236 . Indicator  238  illuminates or displays a pattern representing a true battery fault condition. Indicator  2   240  illuminates or displays patterns representing a false battery fault condition when a flow of current is not detected by the receiver. Indicators  238  and  240  contain any of the indicator elements described in previous embodiments of the present invention as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. 
     FIG. 9 shows another type of isolated communication network whereby one or more failure detectors communicate with a control unit by means of an optical cable. The optical cable operates in simplex mode, which requires each optical transceiver to be connected in series so that the optical cable and each transceiver forms a closed ring for data transmission. The transmitter  246  in the control unit  244  is connected to the receiver  258  of the first transceiver  260 , the transmitter of the first transceiver  262  is connected to the receiver  264  of the next transceiver in a serial manner then the transmitter of the last transceiver  266  is connected to the receiver  248  of the control unit. 
     The battery fault condition information from failure detector  4  is sent to the transmitter section of optical transceiver  260  for transmission to the optical receiver  248  in the control unit  244  by means of the optical network  254 . The indicator  252  displays a pattern representative of the battery fault condition information received by the receiver  248 . Methods of sending data on an optical cable in the manner described are known to those in the art. The control unit  244  contains a power supply  250  for operating the circuits within. 
     While the invention has been shown with specific embodiments for the purpose of clear and concise, disclosure one skilled in the art could make modifications within the basic teachings of the invention. For example, the LCD elements in FIG. 3 could be varied in size, shape, color and legend depending on the market requirements. In FIGS. 6,  7 ,  8  and  9  several industry standard network interfaces are shown. A multitude of different protocols could be implemented with the optical networks shown. The control unit shown in different forms could contain additional communication processors and related circuits to enable communication with a variety of devices. In many instances, the functions of the control units shown exist in other equipment and the networks  228 ,  232 ,  254  can be directly connected.