U.S. Philips Corporation

Petrus H Notten

Erik Paul Boonekamp

Gerardus J Lippits

Wanda Susanne Kruijt

Robert E Einerhand

Leo H Krings

Hendrik J Bergveld

Johan Van De Ven

Johannes L Daams

A battery management system 100 comprises input means 102 for receiving input signals, such as current or voltage, which represent a physical quantity of a battery. In operation, processing means 105 of the battery management system 100 calculate a physical quantity of the battery, such as the State of Charge, based on the input signals by using an electrochemical/physical model of the battery. The model includes a representation of a main electrochemical storage reaction, whose behaviour is calculated in dependence on a battery temperature. The processing means 105 calculates the battery temperature based on a temperature model of a temperature development in the battery. The battery management system 100 comprises output means 104 for outputting an output signal which is derived from a state of the electrochemical storage reaction. The battery management system 100 is, advantageously, used in a smart battery 10 or a battery charger/discharger 200. The model is, advantageously, also used in a battery simulator.

Battery management system and battery simulator

A description is given of an electro-optical switching device (1) comprising a transparent substrate (3), a switching layer (5) of yttrium hydride as a first electrode, a palladium layer (7), an electrolyte layer of, e.g. Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 (9), a layer of WO.sub.3 hydride as the second electrode (11), and a transparent ITO-layer (13). Under the influence of a potential difference or direct current between the electrodes (5) and (11), the yttrium hydride is electrochemically converted from a low-hydrogen-content state to a high-hydrogen-content state, or vice versa. The conversion between both compositions is reversible, and is accompanied by a change in optical transmission. Apart from Y, other trivalent metals may be used, such as Gd and La.

Electro-optical switching device

A rechargeable electrochemical cell having a negative electrode, whose electrochemically active material comprises an intermetallic compound having the CaCu.sub.5 -structure which forms a hydride with hydrogen, obtains a high loadability and a long life cycle by virtue of the fact that the intermetallic compound comprises a non-stoichiometric metastable phase. The intermetallic compound is, preferably, of the type having the composition AB.sub.m, where m exceeds 5.4.

Electrochemical cell comprising a hydride-forming intermetallic compound

The invention relates to an electrochemical cell comprising a negative electrode of a stable hydride-forming material, in which a large loading capacity at low temperature is obtained by the addition of a catalytic material of the type DE.sub.3, wherein D is one or more of the elements selected from Cr, Mo and W, and wherein E represents Ni and/or Co. The catalytic material can be provided in the form of a eutectic segregation or it can be provided at the surface of powdered hydride-forming material by means of an electrochemical reaction.

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Petrus H Notten