Lithium Boost Technologies Inc., a provider of innovative systems to monitor and balance Lithium-ion batteries for low speed electric vehicles (LSEVs), has announced the issuance of patent No. 9,213,066 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patent titled “Multiple Cell Voltage Measurement” claims a unique method of determining cell voltages in conjunction with Lithium Boost’s individual cell chargers. This relates to the development of smart Battery Management System (BMS) and individual chargers applicable for powering low-speed electric vehicles and other emerging lithium-ion applications.
The invention of this patent covers the method deployed by Lithium Boost in its BMS to monitor the voltage of each lithium-ion cell in the battery pack individually. Lithium Boost’s technique involves special components in individual cell chargers that are used for the measurement process, and further allow for simplified wiring. The voltages measured are being monitored, and according to the results action can be taken by the BMS to prevent any cell from becoming over discharged during use. The BMS and charger system was designed to control charging and discharging that are essential for yielding maximum stored energy and assuring long life cycle of the lithium cells.
In the course of developing an optimized balancing lithium-charge technology, the basic objective was to identify the tools to detect when the voltage of any individual cell reaches a predetermined limit. One of the challenges was to measure the voltage of each cell in the presence of high and varying common mode voltages. Another challenge was related to the fact that the rate of charge acceptance in lithium cells differ from each cell due to intrinsic manufacturing and chemical characteristics.
Lithium Boost’s unique solution deploys the same wires for charging and for transferring the information to monitor the cell voltage at discharge. A special measurement circuit was built into individual cell chargers to allow them to be connected to any cell, thereby eliminating measurement wiring errors. This charging technique enables easy installation, simple troubleshooting and quick replacement of BMS or charger modules if needed.
“We’re excited to have the patent issued as our lithium-powering solution based on this innovation has been successfully installed in hundreds of low-speed electric vehicles such as golf cars, utility fleets, neighborhood transportation and hunting vehicles from various brands including E-Z-GO, Bad Boy Buggy, Polaris, GEM, Club-Car, Yamaha, and Columbia Parcar”, said John Wade, Lithium Boost Chief Engineer. “We are constantly striving to further improve our products with additional innovative technics that can enhance the performance of low-speed electric vehicles and other emerging lithium-ion applications”.
