Patent ID: 8635038

Claim:
A monitoring system for a battery having a plurality of accumulators, the system comprising: means for measuring the voltage at the terminals of each accumulator; means for measuring the temperature of the battery; means for measuring the current flowing through the battery; means for calculating a voltage difference between a maximum voltage measured on the terminals of one of the accumulators and a minimum voltage measured on the terminals of one of the accumulators; means for comparing the voltage difference with at least one threshold value depending on the measured temperature and current; and means reporting an error if the voltage difference is greater than or equal to said at least one threshold value, wherein the voltage difference (ΔV) is compared with a threshold value (ΔVs 2 ) defined as Δ ⁢ ⁢ Vs ⁢ ⁢ 2 = Δ ⁢ ⁢ R max ⁡ ( T ) × Ibat p wherein p is the number of parallel branches of accumulators of the battery, ΔR max (T) is the maximum tolerated dispersion among the internal resistances of the accumulators, which depends on the temperature, and Ibat is the current flowing through the battery.