Executive Summary

Introduction
Battery Intelligence™ Incorporated was formed in February 2001 to commercialize Fuzzy Logic methodology for the determination of state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) of batteries and fuel cells. Fuzzy logic methodology accurately determines SOC and SOH from coulomb counts or from impedance values of cell and batteries. It is code efficient, requires only a small amount of code and will determine the SOC and SOH of rechargeable cells and will determine SOC of primary cells. The latter is attractive because it does not involve any discharge whatsoever of the primary cell.

Background
US Nanocorp®, Inc., (USN) and Villanova University (VU) have collaborated in the development of fuzzy logic-based methodology for measurement of state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH) for primary and secondary batteries, capacitors, and SOH for fuel cells. Battery chemistries already evaluated and documented are Li/SO2, Li/MnO2, Pb/Acid, and Ni/MH. Other chemistries are being added. In fuel cells, the PEM system has been evaluated with regard to SOH and preliminary algorithms are almost complete on small stacks of the order of 10 watts to implement real-time corrections to performance decay trends. Work by USN and VU has resulted in almost 30 publications and 4 patents issued in the U.S. and Taiwan. USN has a worldwide exclusive license agreement with VU to commercialize the technology. Battery Intelligence Incorporated, an Alliance company with USN, has been formed to implement commercialization. Battery Intelligence will license the technology or will form manufacturing partnerships to bring this exciting methodology to the marketplace.

Technology Readiness
The first technology implementation of Battery Intelligence's technology was the measurement of SOC of primary Li/SO2 cells. Two SOC meters were successfully designed, built and tested. The first type of SOC meter is an “attached” device that is a coulomb counting “fuel gauge”. Available capacity is compensated for variations in temperature and discharge rate of the cell. The second type does not have to be attached all the time. A partially discharged cell’s impedance is measured at two frequencies and one phase angle, and fuzzy logic interprets these data to provide accurate SOC. This technique has demonstrated an accuracy of +/- 5% over a variety of cells from different production lots. For Li/SO2, Battery Intelligence has developed an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) as a dedicated fuzzy logic processor for determining the SOC.
As an example of custom design, Battery Intelligence has measured the impedance characteristics and developed fuzzy logic for three rechargeable battery systems: (1) A spirally wound Pb/Acid D-cell, (2) 100 Ah sealed 12v Pb/Acid batteries, and (3) A series string of three 2.7 Ah Ni/MH cells. Systems (1) and (3) have been characterized over their entire cycle lives while system (2) has been characterized but has not evaluated over their lives.

Custom Design
Custom design can be applied to totally new battery systems that are not characterized elsewhere. For custom design, the procedure is to (1) characterize the battery, (2) develop the fuzzy logic methodology, and (3) develop or select the hardware for software installation.

Product and Business Strategy
The technology is available for license to customers who wish to install the software into their own microcontrollers. If the technology is one that is already developed by Battery Intelligence, the methodology will be provided by fee-based license. If the technology is new, requiring some custom design and implementation, it will be provided via a fee-based license plus a fee for the design and development work.
Fuel gauges will be designed and constructed using either commercial microprocessors or custom fabricated ASIC chips. These will be available for purchase and direct installation on battery systems. The design will be by Battery Intelligence but fabrication will be by contract or by an alliance partner.
Battery Intelligence is actively seeking partners to develop a manufacturing capability in the field of battery diagnostics. The market is considerable. Hybrid Electric Vehicles need SOC and SOH. Defibrillators are becoming a requirement in public areas, including all commercial aircraft. These will require careful determination of both SOC and SOH. Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) for computers, and Telecom float battery backup require critical SOC/SOH data. These data can be obtained accurately and conveniently by fuzzy logic processing without requiring a discharge of the float batteries. These are just a few of the applications for BII fuzzy logic methodology that emphasize the opportunities that are at hand for a manufacturing partnership.