Patent ID: 8513921

Claim:
A method to adaptively charge a battery, wherein the battery includes at least two terminals, the method comprising: applying a charge signal to the at least two terminals of the battery, wherein the charge signal includes a plurality of pulses; measuring a plurality of voltages between the at least two terminals of the battery, wherein measuring the plurality of voltages includes measuring: a first voltage between the at least two terminals of the battery, which is in response to a first pulse of the charge signal and at a first predetermined time relative to applying the first pulse to the at least two terminals of the battery, and a second voltage between the at least terminals of the battery after applying the first pulse wherein the second voltage is a voltage which correlates to an equilibrium voltage of the battery, wherein equilibrium voltage of the battery corresponds to a voltage between the at least two terminals of the battery which is substantially constant when no charging current is applied to the at least two terminals of the battery; calculating data which is representative of an overpotential of the battery using the first voltage and the second voltage; and adapting one or more characteristics of the charge signal based on or using data which is representative of the overpotential of the battery.