Patent ID: 8219333

Claim:
A battery management system for energy efficient operation including energy efficient charging and monitoring of a battery pack comprising a plurality of rechargeable battery cells, said battery management system comprising: a detector coupled to said battery cells and operable for generating first monitoring signals corresponding to cell voltages across said battery cells; a current sensor coupled to said battery pack and operable for generating a second monitoring signal corresponding to a current of said battery pack; and a processor coupled to said current sensor and said detector, and operable for calculating a rate of variation in each cell voltage of said cell voltages according to said first monitoring signals in a predetermined time interval and calculating variation in said current according to said second monitoring signal in said predetermined time interval, operable for comparing said rate of variation with a reference to generate first comparison information, operable for comparing said variation in said current with a preset threshold to generate second comparison information, and operable for determining whether an undesired condition is present according to said first and second comparison information.