Briggs & Stratton, LLC

Jacob Schmalz

Jeffrey Michael Zeiler

Nick Joseph Zeidler

Todd W Johnson

Peter D Shears

Nicholas Zeidler

Ryan T Hahn

Scott A Funke

Kyle Michael Harvey

Robert J Koenen

David W Procknow

Albert Liu

Ryan S Jaskowiak

Christopher Krajewski

Bryan Keith Dandridge

John E Gulke

James Michael Busse

Matthew S Zurawski

David Schulenberg

Robert Pjevach

Carl T Tiefenthaler

Mark Noller

Paul A Leech

Chad J Gartzke

Kenneth R Breitenstein

Nicholas Joseph Ziedler

Brian Poirier

Steve Weber

Steve Avery

Michael Marshall

A battery pack includes a housing having a positive terminal and a negative terminal. Battery cells are located within the housing and are selectively coupled to the positive terminal and coupled to the negative terminal. A battery management system is located within the housing and is configured to operate a first switch within the housing to selectively couple the battery cells and the positive terminal. A bleed circuit is electrically coupled between the positive terminal and the negative terminal. The bleed circuit includes a resistor and a second switch to selectively couple the positive terminal to the negative terminal. The battery management system is configured to open the first switch and close the second switch and measure a voltage drop across the resistor to detect a presence and type of voltage source connected to the positive terminal.

Battery system with parallel joining protection

A battery system includes a battery assembly and an equipment interface. The battery assembly includes a battery pack, a battery housing enclosing the battery pack, a communication gateway, and a first electrical connector. The battery pack includes rechargeable battery cells. The communication gateway is configured to communicate using a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol. The first electrical connector includes a plurality of first terminals. The equipment interface is configured to be coupled to a piece of equipment, and includes a second electrical connector including a plurality of second terminals. The second electrical connector is configured to mate with the first electrical connector to electrically coupled the plurality of first terminals with the plurality of second terminals to electrically couple the battery assembly to the equipment interface.

Battery system and related management system

An outdoor power equipment device, such as a lawn mower, includes a main chassis having first and second pivot joints, a first rocker arm having a caster wheel on a first end portion and a drive wheel on a second end portion, and a second rocker arm having a caster wheel on a first end portion and a drive wheel on a second end portion, wherein the first rocker arm and the second rocker arm are independently pivotally coupled to the respective first and second pivot joints of the main chassis at a location between the caster wheels and the drive wheels.

Lawn mower with pivotal rocker arm assembly

A cell module assembly includes a first frame having a first plurality of pockets, a second frame spaced apart from the first frame and having a second plurality of pockets, a plurality of lithium-ion battery cells coupled to and extending between the second frame and the first frame, a first collector plate electrically connected to the plurality of lithium-ion battery cells and coupled to the first frame by a first curable adhesive, and a second collector plate electrically connected to the plurality of lithium-ion battery cells and coupled to the second frame by a second curable adhesive. Each one of the plurality of lithium-ion battery cells is received within a respective one of the first plurality of pockets and a respective one of the second plurality of pockets.

Cell module assemblies and methods of manufacturing cell module assemblies

A riding lawn mower comprising, a pair of rear drive wheels, a pair of front wheels, a deck positioned between the pair of front wheels and the pair of rear drive wheels, a rotatable cutting blade, and multiple battery packs removably coupled to the riding lawn mower and structured to provide power to the riding lawn mower, each battery pack graspable and removable by a user, wherein the multiple battery packs sequentially provide power to the riding lawn mower.

User-scalable power unit including removable battery packs

A gasoline powered engine configured to operate in a substantially horizontal orientation and to be stored in a generally vertical orientation without leaking of fluid contained in the gasoline powered engine may include an oil sump and a first oil drain port extending in a first direction through a first wall of the sump. The first wall forms a bottom of the sump when the engine is in the vertical orientation.

Vertically storable engine and mower

Ride-on outdoor power equipment includes one or more batteries, one or more electric traction motors electrically connected to the one or more batteries, one or more user input devices, a plurality of sensors, and a controller in communication with the one or more batteries, the electric traction motors and the one or more user input devices, the controller configured to control the electric traction motors to operate the ride-on outdoor power equipment based on inputs received via the user input devices.

Electric outdoor ride-on power equipment

A battery pack includes a cell module assembly, a primary power output, and a secondary output connector. The cell module assembly includes several lithium-ion battery cells connected in parallel. The primary power output includes a pair of terminals for connection to equipment to be powered by the battery pack. The secondary output connector includes a secondary power output for connection to equipment to be powered by the battery pack and includes an enable input. The primary power output is configured to supply electrical power at a voltage higher than the secondary power output connector. The secondary power output is controllable through the enable input to selectively supply electrical power from the secondary power output.

Commercial flexible battery pack with secondary output control

A scalable power unit for powering one or more electric motors of a riding vehicle and/or a piece of outdoor power equipment includes a number of interconnected battery packs. The battery pack are received in a battery tray or stacked to form the scalable power unit. Each battery pack is configured to be removed and used separately or added to a combination of battery packs. A control unit selectively opens and closes switching elements to separately control the connections between the battery packs and an electrical load, such as a motor. During charging, the control unit opens and closes switching elements to control the charging rate of the individual battery packs. When the battery packs are connected to an electrical load, the control unit controls the state of the switching elements to selectively discharge the battery packs to power the riding vehicle and/or electric loads.

An autonomous lawn mower includes removable batteries, one or more electric motors, a cutting blade, one or more wheels, an angle sensor, and a controller. The cutting blade is driven by one of the electric motors. The wheels are driven by one of the electric motors. The controller is configured to allow the lawn mower to perform a grass cutting function at a jobsite without human interaction. The controller is configured to determine whether a roll angle is greater than a first predefined amount using data from the angle sensor. In response to determining the roll angle is greater than the first predefined amount, the controller is configured to stop operation of one of the one or more electric motors configured to provide rotational drive power to the cutting blade.

Systems and devices for lawn care

A cell module assembly includes multiple lithium-ion battery cells connected in parallel and an electronic controller. The electronic controller is programmed to receive useful life data for a useful life indicator of the battery cells, save the life data to memory to create a life data history, determine a life measurement based on the life data history, compare the life measurement to a first end of life threshold, determine if the life measurement has met the first end of life threshold, provide a first end of life output indicating that the life measurement has met the first end of life threshold, compare the life measurement to a second end of life threshold, determine if the life measurement has met the second end of life threshold, and provide a second end of life output indicating that the life measurement has met the second end of life threshold.

Battery packs with cell module assemblies usable in multiple applications

A ride-on vehicle, such as a zero turn radius lawnmower, includes a main chassis having first and second pivot joints, a first rocker arm having a caster wheel on a first end portion and a drive wheel on a second end portion, and a second rocker arm having a caster wheel on a first end portion and a drive wheel on a second end portion, wherein the first rocker arm and the second rocker arm are independently pivotally coupled to the respective first and second pivot joints of the main chassis at a location between the caster wheels and the drive wheels. The ride-on vehicle may also include a modular mower deck assembly with a plurality of mower deck modules having a blade assembly, an electric blade motor configured to provide rotation to the blade assembly, and an attachment assembly configured to enable attachment between adjacent mower deck modules.

Modular mower deck for use with a lawnmower

A riding lawn mower comprising, a pair of rear drive wheels, a pair of front wheels, a deck positioned between the pair of front wheels and the pair of rear drive wheels, a rotatable cutting blade, and multiple battery packs removably coupled to the riding lawn mower and structured to provide power to the riding lawn mower, each battery pack graspable and removable by a user, wherein the multiple battery packs jointly provide power to the riding lawn mower.

A cell module assembly includes a top frame, a bottom frame, multiple lithium-ion battery cells, a top collector plate, a bottom collector plate, and a curable adhesive. The top frame includes protrusions that define first multiple pockets. The bottom frame includes protrusions that define second multiple pockets axially aligned with the first multiple pockets. Each of the first and the second multiple pockets have multiple windows. The battery cells are received within a pocket in each of the first and second multiple pockets. The top collector plate is coupled to the top frame and includes multiple apertures above the first multiple pockets. The bottom collector plate is coupled to the bottom frame. The top collector plate and the bottom collector plate are electrically connected to the battery cells. The curable adhesive is received within each window in the first multiple pockets and couples each battery cell to the top frame.

An outdoor power equipment includes multiple motors and a controller module. The motors include a first motor and a second motor. The first motor is structured to operate a first component of the outdoor power equipment and the second motor is structured to operate a second component of the outdoor power equipment. The controller module includes multiple motor controllers structured to communicate via a network communication bus with each other and operate the first motor and the second motor to operate the first component and the second component based on the communication via the network communication bus.

Growing community of inventors

Milwaukee, WI, United States of America

Jacob Schmalz