Patent ID: 8115454

Claim:
A battery comprising: at least one rechargeable electrochemical cell having an internal bore extending longitudinally through the electrochemical cell, with the electrochemical cell having an anode and a cathode; a voltage converter module electrically coupled to the at least one electrochemical cell and disposed within a portion of the internal bore, the voltage converter configured to convert a first voltage produced by the at least one electrochemical cell into a second, different voltage; a first set of terminals to electrically couple inputs of the voltage converter to the anode and cathode of the electrochemical cell; a second, different set of terminals to electrically couple outputs of the voltage converter to external terminals of the battery; and a bypass circuit coupled between one of the terminals of each of the first and second sets of terminals to bypass the voltage converter module during charging of the electrochemical cell to direct charging current applied from an external source to the at least one electrochemical cell.