The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 09, 1999
Filed:
Aug. 19, 1997
Daniel Yerkovich, Snohomish, WA (US);
Physio-Control Manufacturing Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for monitoring the capacity of a battery pack (6) is provided. The battery pack (6) is capable of delivering current to a load (R.sub.L). The battery pack (6) includes a monitor cell (C4) and battery cells (C1, C2, and C3). The monitor cell (C4) has a predetermined initial energy level that is lower than the predetermined initial energy level of the battery cells. A monitoring system (22) including an analog-to-digital converter (10) and a microprocessor (12) is connected to the battery pack and monitors the voltage of the battery pack. When the monitoring system detects a voltage change indicating depletion of the monitor cell (C4), the monitoring system provides a signal indicative that the battery pack is nearing depletion.