Battery pack assembly having a status indicator for use during mechanical ventilation

What is this patent about?

’626 is related to the field of medical device power management, specifically regarding the monitoring and switching of battery power sources for mechanical ventilators. In life-critical applications like ventilation, maintaining a continuous power supply during patient transport or power outages is essential. The invention addresses the difficulty of monitoring battery health and charge levels when batteries are docked inside a machine, where status lights are often obscured or require the removal of the battery to be checked.

The underlying idea behind ’626 is to integrate a dedicated status display directly onto the portion of the battery pack that remains exposed when fully inserted into the ventilator, while utilizing a dual-power logic for the indicators. By allowing the ventilator's controller to drive the battery's LEDs when docked and the battery's own internal fuel gauge to drive them when standalone, the system ensures that real-time charge visibility is maintained without interrupting therapy. This creates a seamless transition between internal and external power monitoring without requiring the user to interact with the ventilator’s main software interface to check basic battery readiness.

The claims of ’626 focus on a method and system for managing multiple battery packs by monitoring individual cell statuses and executing an automated failover. The independent claims describe receiving status data from a first battery pack, detecting a low-voltage condition via that data, and automatically disconnecting the failing pack to switch the load to a second battery pack. Crucially, the claims require that each battery pack independently displays its own status on an exposed exterior surface, ensuring that the physical state of the backup power system is always transparent to the clinician.

In practice, the system employs a specialized connector with varying pin lengths to support hot-swappable functionality. When a battery is pulled, shorter pins disconnect first, signaling the controller to switch power sources before the main power contacts break, which prevents electrical arcing and protects the circuitry. The indicator panel on the battery includes specific LEDs for 'in-use' status and 'fault' conditions, which are powered by the ventilator's own electronics when the battery is docked, ensuring the display does not unnecessarily drain a battery that is already in a low-power state.

This approach differs from prior solutions where battery status was either hidden inside the battery compartment or only accessible through the ventilator’s primary digital display. By placing the intelligence and the visual feedback on the battery pack itself, the invention provides a redundant monitoring layer. This allows a technician or clinician to instantly identify which specific battery in a multi-pack array needs replacement or has failed, even if the ventilator's main screen is off or occupied with patient data, thereby increasing the safety and reliability of mobile ventilation.