Patent attributes
An apparatus for monitoring battery swelling includes a conductive layer adhered to a battery pack, a surface opposite the battery pack, a flex layer adhered to the bottom of the surface, and a resistance measurement circuit. The conductive layer includes one or more conductive strips. The flex layer includes a resistive pattern with one or more serially connected resistive segments. Each resistive segment is aligned to a respective conductive strip. The surface is positioned over the battery pack so that initially the resistive pattern is not in contact with and is electrically separated from the conductive layer. The resistance measurement circuit is connected to the resistive pattern to detect changes in resistance of the resistive pattern. When the battery pack swells, the resistive pattern comes in contact with the conductive layer, thereby shorting a resistive segment, and causes the resistance measurement circuit to detect the change in the resistance.