A valve regulated lead acid battery management system (VMS)

This paper describes the valve regulated lead acid battery management system (VMS) which is designed to manage and control a standby battery's needs rather than simply monitor the battery's behavior. In order to accomplish this goal, the following system design objectives were initiated: perform discharge tests; normal response to emergency conditions; float charge using constant current; boost charge using constant current; temperature compensate float current; low voltage/battery disconnect; automatic operation/user friendly; local or remote data retrieval and override; invisible to load voltage; cost effective; noninvasive; and failsafe. The paper briefly describes what each design objective tries to accomplish and then describe in detail how the VMS accomplishes those objectives.