Patent ID: 8313850

Claim:
A method of detecting and responding to a battery thermal event within a sealed battery pack, the method comprising the steps of: continuously monitoring a pressure within said sealed battery pack and compiling said pressure into a plurality of sequential pressure data sets, wherein said step of continuously monitoring said pressure is performed at a first sample frequency; detecting a pressure anomaly within one of said plurality of sequential pressure data sets; identifying a pressure peak within said one of said plurality of sequential pressure data sets containing said pressure anomaly; fitting a curve to a trailing edge of said one of said plurality of sequential pressure data sets containing said pressure anomaly; determining if said curve corresponds to an exponential decay curve, wherein if said curve corresponds to said exponential decay curve said method further comprises the step of: determining if a time constant corresponding to said exponential decay curve is within a preset range of time constants, wherein if said time constant is within said preset range of time constants said method further comprises the step of: performing a predetermined battery thermal event response.