Patent ID: 8432133

Claim:
A method for charging a series battery, comprising: charging the series battery, wherein the series battery includes a set of banks that are connected in series, so that a same charging current passes through each bank in the set of banks; wherein the charging involves determining a target voltage for each bank in the set of banks based on one or more of: a measured temperature of the bank, a state-of-charge of the bank, and the bank's open circuit voltage characteristics; measuring a voltage across each bank in the set of banks as the series battery is charging; for each bank in the set of banks, comparing the measured voltage for the bank with the target voltage for the bank by computing a difference between the measured voltage and the target voltage to produce a set of differences for the set of banks; and determining a minimum difference in the set of differences; and adjusting at least one of the charging voltage or the charging current based on the minimum difference.