FI108322B - A system for monitoring and determining the charge level of batteries, in particular for backup power supply units - Google Patents

Description

108322

System for monitoring battery level and J

The present invention relates to a sophisticated system for monitoring and determining the battery charge level of "backup power supply units", such a unit being able to ensure continuity of power supply to electrical equipment or apparatus and provide the user 10 with battery charge and reliability information.

Electrical and electronic machinery and equipment are known in the prior art, the continuous operation of which is essential in the event of a sudden outage of a normal mains power supply.

It is also known that in emergency situations caused by a sudden interruption of the mains power supply. The "ray units" start to operate automatically, whereby these units are formed by battery groups, with each pair of 20 volt having the same voltage, usually 12 V. The operating state of the equipment can usually be determined by whether the mains power is turned on or not. 25 to charge and maintain the batteries, and in the latter case, the electrical power supply of the batteries starts automatically when the mains power supply is · · · * * switched off. to an inverter which supplies the load current without interruption.

30 At the current technical level, the only solution is • I <. Whereas the problem of verifying the level of charge of individual batteries requires, where appropriate, the use of inspection methods which are not very reliable and in any case very expensive, such as completely discharging the battery 108322 2 at regular intervals during the period of least use; and preventing manual use of the battery pack so that the entire unit can be replaced in the event of faults with a single battery that cannot be verified. This known method is thus unsatisfactory because the standby power supply unit is inoperable during testing and is unable to perform its functions in the event of a power failure due to the inspection and because the possibility of verifying the actual and efficient operation of the battery unit becomes reduced by locating a single faulty component.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a special circuit for checking the batteries, wherein one rotationally automatically selected battery is alternately subjected to a discharge cycle at a predetermined amperage using a discharge current operated discharge device. The battery in question will then be recharged.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an acoustic and / or optical signal to indicate the need for replacement when the battery has not met the requirements for discharge and thus independent operation.

: Another additional purpose is to make the selection of the individual batteries of the supply unit 25, when practically disconnected from this supply unit, by means of electrical devices or current relays whose operation is • controlled by the chronological order of the operations to be performed. for which electronic timer.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, referring to the accompanying drawings, which, by way of example, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagram of components of a backup power supply system and a unit for monitoring and determining the charge level; 3, 108322

Fig. 2 is a diagram of components of a battery unit circuit for a backup power supply unit, monitoring and determining this circuit one battery at a time.

5 Under normal operating conditions, the load current is supplied from the mains to the load device either directly through a wiring line or inverter / inverter (see sections 1 and 3), whereupon power is supplied to rectifier 1 for maintaining the battery level of unit 2. In the absence of mains voltage, the battery unit 2 supplies the load current directly through the inverter 3 directly to the user without interruption.

The load device is connected to the mains via a static parallel conductor 4 to satisfy current surge requirements 15 and a manual parallel conductor 5 which disconnects the batteries during inspection and maintenance operations. Component 6 comprises a battery charge and discharge monitor circuit.

The battery circuit activates under normal conditions of continuous power supply 20 with mains power off as relays 8 and 18 are usually in the open position, and feeds the power line to unit: 2 via a series of 10 individual batteries, whereby this line The terminals are supplied with a total voltage of 25, which is a multiple of the individual voltage of the batteries.

»» «. ·. ·. As shown in Fig. 2, which shows the monitoring function of the battery 11 • · · t «, the current relays 9 and 13 change their position. and seal the battery into 11 separate circuits. In this way · · ... 30 the battery 11 is disconnected from the unit circuit and the charge and discharge monitoring and • activated.

Block 6 comprises in more detail: 35 - a test monitoring circuit 7 which supplies control signals 4 108322 via a microprocessor to a battery charger simulated load circuit 14 and the aforementioned relays, this test monitoring circuit 7 receiving a clock signal 15 and a signal 16 indicating a network signal.

- a battery charger-simulated load circuit that performs alternate functions of discharging the battery under reference conditions (at a predetermined amperage) and recharging the battery.

10 This circuit is supplied with direct current from the rectifier bridge to the contacts 17, 17 '.

The circuit of the current integrator 18, the drive amplifiers 19, 19 ', the DEMUX 20, and the logic electrodes 21 provides the user with the results of tests performed by the system via the LED display 22.

Subsequent operations are triggered by relay contactors 9 and 13 which are moved from positions 8 and 12 via timers that control the sequence of actions to be performed by control signals 20.

Acoustic and / or optical signals indicate non-normal batteries.

::: The output signal to the voltage meter 24 is obtained from the backup power supply unit as shown in Figure 2.

25 It is obvious that periodic disconnection of one component from the battery unit does not cause a reduction in system reliability since its remaining »f · components are fully capable of supplying the electrical power that may be required in the event of a power outage.

30 The benefits of eliminating manual controls by the user • · ··· 1 and identifying or replacing a single component of a battery pack instead of the entire unit are obvious. It is necessary to discharge the battery as it is generally a lead-acid battery and the voltage measurement 35 is not sufficient to assess the efficiency of the battery since the battery 5 108322 contains a voltage at the rated voltage even at its terminals.

The present invention achieves the above objectives, and in particular makes the backup power supply 5 as reliable as possible by self-monitoring functions which do not adversely affect the continuity or efficiency of the system operation on a temporary basis, but allow very economical operation control without costly operations. an unreliable component can be replaced.

The invention, as described and described above by way of example, is to be understood as embracing all further modifications within its scope.

The invention may be practically implemented using structures, connections and materials according to the respective claims, whereby the technical details may be replaced by other corresponding technical details without departing from the scope defined in the appended claims 20.

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Claims (3)

A backup electricity supply system, which system comprises a plurality of batteries (2) which can be connected to an output line e, characterized in that the system comprises a discharge and auxiliary recharging unit (6) and a device (8, 9, 12). , 13) for coupling each battery (11) in turn for a predetermined time from said output line and for connecting the battery in question to said unit (6) when it is switched on in this way . System according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a device (18, 19, 20, 21) for defining the operating condition of the battery connected to said unit (6). System according to claim 2, characterized in that it "comprises a device which responds to the operation of the defining device (18, 19, 20, 21) to keep the battery disconnected from the output line. • t I • · · ♦ ♦ 1 • · • · «• · 1« ♦ «1 1 <> • · 2 2 I · • · • ·« * • · · • ♦ · • · ·