Patent Application
20170366019
The present disclosure generally relates to a battery switching system and method thereof for operating different battery devices; particularly, the present disclosure relates to a battery switching system and method thereof for operating power charging and draining of batteries with differing voltages.
As the world's power usage increases, technologies pertaining to power storage are also rapidly advancing as well. As technologies are becoming more miniaturized and portable, it has become natural to custom design power storages to fit the design of the portable technologies. For instance, traditional personal electric vehicles such as electric scooters are typically designed to have one battery unit, wherein the wattage and physical size and shape of the battery unit is custom to the electric scooter. However, there are problems that are associated with this type of design. One problem is that consumers are not satisfied with having to wait for the long period of time required to fully charge the single battery unit. Another problem is that continually stringent government regulations have often meant that battery sizes typically found in personal electric vehicles are not allowed onto airplanes, which then means that the personal electric vehicle is not truly portable anymore. Subsequently, there is a need to modularize the power storage into smaller units so that the above problems may be overcome to provide a more portable and convenient solution.
It is an objective of the present disclosure to provide a battery switching system and method thereof for operating batteries of different wattages.
It is another objective of the present disclosure to provide a battery switching system and method thereof to decrease size of batteries through modularization.
According to one aspect of the invention, a battery switching system is provided. The battery switching system includes at least one first battery device and one second battery device, and a battery switch device. The first battery device and the second battery device have different voltages. The battery switch device has an accommodating space to accommodate the first battery device and the second battery device. When the battery switch device is in a charge mode, the battery switch device charges the first battery device and second battery device of lower voltage to match the voltage of the other of the first battery device and second battery device of higher voltage before simultaneously charging both the first battery device and second battery device. When the battery switch device is in a power mode, the battery switch device drains the first battery device and second battery device of high voltage to match the voltage of the other of the first battery device and second battery device of lower voltage before simultaneously draining both the first battery device and second battery device.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method for battery operation is provided. The method includes: a) determining if battery switch device is connected to a charger device or a power draining device and generating a mode determination result; b) according to the mode determination result, entering into a charge mode or a power mode; c) charging one of the first battery device and the second battery device of lower voltage until both the first battery device and the second battery device have same voltage if in the charge mode, and then simultaneously charging both the first battery device and the second battery device; d) draining one of the first battery device and the second battery device of higher voltage until both the first battery device and the second battery device have same voltage if in the power mode, and then simultaneously draining both the first battery device and the second battery device.
Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for signaling battery switching system. In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments or examples. These embodiments are only illustrative of the scope of the present invention, and should not be construed as a restriction on the present invention. Referring now the drawings, in which like numerals represent like elements through the several figures, aspects of the present invention and the exemplary operating environment will be described.
The present disclosure provides a battery switching system and method thereof. Preferably, the battery switching system and method may be applicable to any device or vehicle that would require power storage. Devices may include computers, laptops, mobile telephones, and any other related portable devices. Vehicles may include (but not limited to) personal electric vehicles such as electric scooters, power boasted skateboards, and other related personal transportation vehicles.
As illustrated in
In the present embodiment, the battery switch device 110 is used for operating one or multiple of battery devices. For instance, in the embodiment illustrated in
As illustrated in
The following describe the steps in which the battery switching system 100 regulates the power levels of the battery devices (ex. first battery device B1 and second battery device B2).
When one or more battery devices are connected to the battery switch device 110 of the battery switching system 100, the controller device 111 of the battery switch device 110 will note which battery devices are currently connected to the battery switch device 110. In the present embodiment, for simplicity of describing the invention, only two battery devices (first battery device B1 and second battery device B2) will be mentioned. However, in other different embodiments, it can be understood that multiple battery devices may be connected at the same time to the battery switching system 100.
Step 510 includes determining if the battery switch device is connected to a charger device or a power draining device, and generating a mode determination result. In the present embodiment, the controller device 111 of the battery switch device 110 will first determine whether the charger device 120 (exemplarily shown in
Step 520 includes entering into the charge mode or the power mode according to the mode determination result. In the present embodiment, if the controller device 111 detects that the charger device 120 is connected to the battery switching system 100, the mode determination result will reflect this information and the controller device 111 will drive the battery switching system 100 to enter into the charge mode. Likewise, if the controller device 111 detects that the power draining device 130 is connected to the battery switching system 100, the mode determination result will reflect this information and the controller device 111 will drive the battery switching system 100 to enter into the power mode.
Step 530 includes charging the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 if the battery switching system 100 is in the charge mode. In the present embodiment, once the battery switching system 100 is in the charge mode, the controller device 111 will first determine which of the combination of the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 has comparatively lower voltage. Since the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 may or may not have different wattages, the voltage levels in the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 may be different. Under these circumstances, simultaneously charging both the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 would be inadvisable. Accordingly, in the present embodiment, after figuring out which of the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 has lower voltage levels, the controller device 111 will divert power from the charger device 120 to the battery device with lower voltage via the corresponding switch 112 until the voltage level of this battery device matches the voltage level of the other battery device. For instance, if the first battery device B1 was found to have lower voltage than the second battery device B2, the controller device 111 will divert power to the first battery device B1 to charge the first battery device B1 until its voltage level matches the voltage level of the second battery device B2. Once the voltage level of the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 matches, the controller device 111 will then divert power from the charger device 120 to simultaneously charge both the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2. In this manner, different batteries of different wattages can still effectively be charged at the same time in the same battery charging system. This allows users to be able to swap or change different kinds of batteries into the system without having to worry about how the different batteries would operate with each other.
Step 540 includes draining one of the first battery device and the second battery device of higher voltage if the battery switching system 100 is in the power mode. In the present embodiment, if the battery switching system 100 is in the power mode, the controller device 111 will start to divert power from the combination of the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 to the power draining device 130. To accomplish this, the controller device 111 will first determine which of the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 has higher voltage levels. As mentioned above, since the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 may or may not have different wattages, it would be inadvisable to suddenly drain power from both of the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2.
After the controller device 111 has figured out which of the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 has comparatively higher voltage levels, the controller device 111 will divert power from the one of the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 with higher voltage level to the power draining device 130 until both the voltage levels of the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 matches. Once the voltage levels match, the controller device 111 will then simultaneously drain or divert power from both the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 to the power draining device 130.
In another embodiment, when both the charger device 120 and the power draining device 130 are both connected to the battery switching system, priority is given to charging the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 combination. However, in other different embodiments, priority can be given to providing power to the power draining device 130 from the first battery device B1 and the second battery device B2 combination.
In one embodiment, each battery device may be charged or discharged independently of each other. For instance, the battery switching system may charge or discharge (drain) the first battery device B1 completely before charging or discharging the second battery B2. In the scooter example mentioned above, power would be drained from one of the first battery device B1 and second battery device B2 before the other of the first battery device B1 and second battery device B2 is used. In this manner, the battery switching system is able to provide a more efficient power graph since the battery switching system can instantly and selectively switch between the different battery operation modes mentioned here and in previous embodiments depending on user usage behaviors and/or the environment.
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described herein, the above description is merely illustrative. Further modification of the invention herein disclosed will occur to those skilled in the respective arts and all such modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
