CN111316532B

CN111316532B - Charging device

Info

Publication number: CN111316532B
Application number: CN201980005493.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邓强; 陈明明; 钱泓宇
Original assignee: Positec Power Tools Suzhou Co Ltd
Current assignee: Positec Power Tools Suzhou Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-07-27
Filing date: 2019-07-29
Publication date: 2022-08-12
Anticipated expiration: 2039-07-29
Also published as: WO2020020378A1; CN111316532A

Abstract

A charging system, comprising: a battery pack (25) and a charger. This charger includes: a power supply circuit (21) and a charging circuit (22); the battery pack (25) comprises an energy storage unit; the charging system further comprises a first electronic switch (23) in the charger and a second electronic switch (24) in the battery pack (25); the charging system further comprises a monitoring circuit (26) for monitoring the states of the battery pack (25), the charging circuit (22) and the power supply circuit (21); and a control circuit (27) that controls the operating state of the charging system based on the monitoring result of the monitoring circuit (26); when the monitoring circuit (26) monitors that the preset state occurs, the control circuit (27) controls the charging system to perform at least two of the following actions: 1) -turning off the first electronic switch (23); 2) turning off the second electronic switch (24); 3) the DC power supply output of the power supply circuit (21) is reduced or turned off. The beneficial effect of this scheme is through carrying out two shutoff actions guarantee when needing to shut down the charging process whether electronic switch is invalid can effectively prevent to charge unusual production or deterioration.

Description

Charging unit

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of charging, in particular to a charger capable of preventing an electronic switch from failing and a charging system.

Background

The conventional charger controls the on-off of a single electronic switch through a controller to realize the on-off of a charging circuit, however, the electronic switch is often required to work under the conditions of large current, high power and frequent on-off in the charging process, so that the electronic switch is easy to generate a short circuit failure phenomenon, namely, the electronic switch cannot be normally turned off, when the charging process is abnormal or a battery pack is fully charged, the charging of the battery pack needs to be stopped, but the failed electronic switch cannot be turned off in a controllable manner, the charging circuit cannot terminate the charging of the battery pack, and finally, the overcharge of the battery pack can be caused, so that the service life of the battery pack is damaged and even a safety risk is generated; in addition, the electronic switch is not known to be out of work before charging is started, and if charging is carried out normally, potential safety hazards are buried for charging; in order to solve the above problems, a conventional method is to connect at least two electronic switches in series at the same position of a charging circuit, and to control the on/off of the at least two electronic switches by using the same control signal, so as to prevent a single electronic switch from failing, but the method of connecting a plurality of electronic switches in series is costly, and it is difficult for an enterprise manufacturing products in large quantities to obtain great economic benefits.

In addition, in the charging system with the adapter separated from the charging seat, because the control circuit and the power circuit are independent, namely the control circuit cannot directly control the output of the power circuit, the difficulty is increased for the processing of the failure of the electronic switch.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a charger capable of effectively preventing an electronic switch from failing.

To achieve the above object of the present invention, there is provided a charger for charging a battery pack, comprising: the power supply circuit receives external power supply input and converts the external power supply into direct current power supply output matched with the charging voltage of the battery pack; a charging circuit operable to output the DC power for charging the battery pack, the charging circuit including a first electronic switch that is in both an off state and an on state, the charging circuit being operable to charge the battery pack when the first electronic switch is in the on state, the charging circuit being operable to disable charging of the battery pack when the first electronic switch is in the off state; a monitoring circuit that monitors the states of the battery pack, the charging circuit, and the power supply circuit; the control circuit can control the working state of the charger according to the monitoring result of the monitoring circuit; when the monitoring circuit monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charger to execute the following actions: and turning off the first electronic switch, and reducing or turning off the direct current power supply output of the power supply circuit.

Preferably, the control circuit includes a controller, and the controller sends out control signals from at least two pins to control the operating states of the first electronic switch and the power supply circuit.

Preferably, the control signal includes at least one set of high level signals and one set of low level signals.

Preferably, the control signal comprises at least one set of periodically varying signals.

Preferably, the charger further includes a one-way conduction element located between the first electronic switch and the battery pack, and the one-way conduction element is conducted along a charging current direction.

Preferably, the power supply circuit comprises a power supply processor and a PWM regulating circuit, and the power supply processor can control the PWM regulating circuit to reduce or turn off the dc power supply output of the power supply circuit according to the control signal.

Preferably, the power supply circuit includes a power supply processor, a PWM adjusting circuit, and an auxiliary power supply circuit, the auxiliary power supply circuit provides a working power supply for the power supply processor, the power supply processor can control the PWM adjusting circuit to adjust the dc power supply output of the power supply circuit when obtaining power supply, the power supply circuit does not have the dc power supply output when the power supply processor cannot obtain power supply, and the auxiliary power supply circuit can cut off the power supply to the power supply processor according to the control signal.

Preferably, the charger further comprises a second electronic switch, and the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn on the second electronic switch, so that the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the direct-current power supply output by the power supply circuit are in short circuit.

Preferably, the power circuit includes a power processor, and when the power processor detects an output short circuit, the power processor enters a protection locking mode to turn off the output.

Preferably, the preset states at least include abnormal charger, abnormal battery pack and full battery pack.

Preferably, the charger abnormality includes power supply circuit abnormality, charging circuit abnormality, monitoring circuit abnormality and control circuit failure, the battery pack abnormality includes battery pack over-temperature, battery pack over-charging and battery pack voltage unbalance, and the battery pack full charge state is that the battery pack voltage reaches the nominal voltage.

Preferably, the charging circuit abnormality includes overcurrent of the charging circuit and failure of any electronic device of the charging circuit.

The present invention also provides a charger including: a power circuit configured to convert an ac input to a controllable dc output; a charging circuit configured to be operable to use the dc output to charge the battery module, the charging circuit comprising an electronic switch that is in both an off state and an on state, the charging circuit being operable to charge the battery module when the electronic switch is in the on state, the charging circuit being operable to disable charging of the battery module when the electronic switch is in the off state; the control circuit is configured to monitor the states of the battery module and the charging circuit, and when any preset state is monitored, the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn off the electronic switch; a feedback circuit configured to feed back a control signal of the control circuit to the power supply circuit; when the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn off the electronic switch, the control circuit simultaneously outputs a control signal to the feedback circuit, the feedback circuit feeds the control signal back to the power circuit, and the power circuit reduces or turns off the direct current output.

Preferably, the plurality of preset states in the charging process at least include charging circuit abnormality, battery module abnormality, and battery module full charge state.

Preferably, the abnormal state of the charging circuit is an overcurrent state, the abnormal state of the battery module includes an over-temperature state and a single-section over-charge state of the battery module, and the full-charge state of the battery module is when the voltage of the battery module reaches a nominal voltage.

Preferably, the feedback circuit includes an optical coupler circuit, the power supply circuit includes a PWM adjusting circuit, the optical coupler circuit feeds back a control signal output by the control circuit to the PWM adjusting circuit, and the PWM adjusting circuit reduces or turns off the dc output.

The present invention also provides a charger including: a power circuit configured to convert an ac input to a controllable dc output; a charging circuit configured to be operable to use the dc output to charge the battery module, the charging circuit comprising a first electronic switch, the first electronic switch having an off state and an on state, the charging circuit being operable to charge the battery module when the first electronic switch is in the on state, the charging circuit being operable to disable charging of the battery module when the first electronic switch is in the off state; the control circuit is configured to monitor the states of the battery module and the charging circuit, and when any preset state is monitored, the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn off the electronic switch; a feedback circuit configured to feed back a control signal of the control circuit to the power supply circuit; the charger further comprises a failure detection circuit configured to detect an electrical parameter of the charging circuit when the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn off the first electronic switch, the control circuit determines whether the first electronic switch fails according to the electrical parameter, and if the control circuit determines that the first electronic switch fails, the power supply circuit reduces or turns off the direct current output.

Preferably, the abnormal state of the charging circuit is an overcurrent state, the abnormal state of the battery module includes an over-temperature state and a single-section over-charging state of the battery module, and the full-charge state of the battery module is that the voltage of the battery module reaches a nominal voltage.

Preferably, the failure detection circuit detects whether a voltage exists at a preset node on one side of the first electronic switch, and determines that the first electronic switch fails if the voltage exists at the preset node.

Preferably, the failure detection circuit detects whether a current exists in the charging circuit, and determines that the first electronic switch is failed if the current exists in the charging circuit.

Preferably, before the start of charging, the first electronic switch is in an off state, the failure detection circuit detects the voltage of the preset node or the current of the charging circuit, if it is determined that the first electronic switch fails, the control circuit outputs a control signal to the feedback circuit, the feedback circuit feeds the control signal back to the power supply circuit, and the power supply circuit turns off the dc output.

Preferably, the feedback circuit includes an optical coupler circuit, the power supply circuit includes a PWM adjusting circuit, the optical coupler circuit feeds back a control signal output by the control circuit to the PWM adjusting circuit, and the PWM adjusting circuit turns off a direct current output and prohibits charging on.

Preferably, in the charging process, if it is determined that the first electronic switch is failed, the control circuit outputs a control signal to the feedback circuit, the feedback circuit feeds the control signal back to the power supply circuit, and the power supply circuit reduces or turns off the dc output.

Preferably, it is characterized in that: the control circuit is independent of the power circuit, and the power circuit is electrically connected with the control circuit and the charging circuit through the positive and negative poles of the direct current output of the power circuit. In the charging process, if the first electronic switch is judged to be invalid, the control circuit outputs a control signal to the feedback circuit, the feedback circuit enables the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the direct current output of the power circuit to be in short circuit, and the power circuit is switched off to output.

Preferably, the feedback circuit includes a second electronic switch, and the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn on the second electronic switch, so that the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the dc output of the power supply circuit are short-circuited.

Preferably, the power supply circuit includes a power supply processor, and the power supply processor enters a protection locking mode when detecting that the charging circuit is short-circuited, and turns off the output.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a charging system including a battery pack and a charger for charging the battery pack, the charger including: the power supply circuit receives an external power supply input and converts the external power supply into a direct-current power supply output matched with the charging voltage of the battery pack; a charging circuit operable to output the DC power for charging the battery pack; the battery pack includes: the energy storage unit stores the direct-current power supply output by the charging circuit; the charging system comprises at least one of a first electronic switch positioned on the charger and a second electronic switch positioned on the battery pack, the first electronic switch and the second electronic switch have two states of off and on, when the first electronic switch and the second electronic switch are in the on state, the charging circuit can charge the battery pack, and when the first electronic switch or the second electronic switch is in the off state, the charging circuit cannot charge the battery pack; the charging system also comprises a monitoring circuit for monitoring the states of the battery pack, the charging circuit and the power supply circuit; the charging system further comprises a control circuit, and the working state of the charging system can be controlled according to the monitoring result of the monitoring circuit; when the monitoring circuit monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charging system to execute at least two of the following preset actions;

1) turning off the first electronic switch;

2) turning off the second electronic switch;

3) and reducing or shutting down the direct current power supply output of the power supply circuit.

Preferably, the charging system includes a first electronic switch located on the charger, and when the monitoring circuit monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charging system to execute the following preset actions: and turning off the first electronic switch, and reducing or turning off the direct current power supply output of the power supply circuit.

Preferably, the charging system includes a second electronic switch located in the battery pack, and when the monitoring circuit monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charging system to execute the following preset actions: and turning off the second electronic switch, and reducing or turning off the direct current power supply output of the power supply circuit.

Preferably, the charging system includes a first electronic switch located in the charger and a second electronic switch located in the battery pack, and when the monitoring circuit monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charging system to execute the following preset actions: the first electronic switch is turned off and the second electronic switch is turned off.

Preferably, the control circuit includes a controller, and the controller sends out control signals from at least two pins to control the operating states of the first electronic switch, the second electronic switch, and the power circuit.

Preferably, the charging system further includes a unidirectional conducting element located between the first electronic switch or the second electronic switch and the at least one energy storage unit, and the unidirectional conducting element is conducted along a charging current direction.

Preferably, the charging system further includes a third electronic switch, and the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn on the third electronic switch, so that the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the dc power supply output by the power supply circuit are short-circuited.

Preferably, the preset states include abnormal charger, abnormal battery pack, full battery pack, abnormal monitoring circuit and failure of control circuit.

Preferably, the abnormality of the charger includes abnormality of a power supply circuit and abnormality of a charging circuit, the abnormality of the battery pack includes over-temperature of the battery pack, over-charging of the battery pack, unbalanced voltage of the energy storage unit and failure of the energy storage unit, and the full charge state of the battery pack is that the voltage of the battery pack reaches a nominal voltage.

In addition, the invention also provides a charging system, which comprises a battery pack and a charger for charging the battery pack; the charger includes: the power supply circuit receives external power supply input and converts the external power supply into direct current power supply output matched with the charging voltage of the battery pack; a charging circuit operable to output the DC power for charging the battery pack; the battery pack includes: the energy storage unit stores the direct-current power supply output by the charging circuit; the charging system comprises at least one of a first electronic switch positioned on the charger and a second electronic switch positioned on the battery pack, the first electronic switch and the second electronic switch have two states of off and on, when the first electronic switch and the second electronic switch are in the on state, the charging circuit can charge the battery pack, and when the first electronic switch or the second electronic switch is in the off state, the charging circuit cannot charge the battery pack; the charging system also comprises a monitoring circuit for monitoring the states of the battery pack, the charging circuit and the power supply circuit; the charging system further comprises a control circuit, the working state of the charging system can be controlled according to the monitoring result of the monitoring circuit, and when the monitoring circuit monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn off at least one of the first electronic switch and the second electronic switch; the charging system further comprises a failure detection circuit, which is used for detecting whether voltage exists at a preset node at the charging current outflow side of the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch when the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn off at least one of the first electronic switch and the second electronic switch, and if the voltage exists at the preset node, the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch is judged to be failed, and the control circuit outputs a control signal to reduce or turn off the direct-current power supply output of the power supply circuit.

Preferably, the preset state at least comprises abnormal charger, abnormal battery pack, full battery pack, abnormal monitoring circuit and failure of control circuit.

Preferably, the charging system further includes a one-way conduction element located between the first electronic switch or the second electronic switch and the energy storage unit, and the one-way conduction element is conducted along a charging current direction.

Preferably, before the charging is started, the power circuit has a dc power output, the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch is in an off state, and if it is determined that the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch is failed, the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn off the dc power output of the power circuit, so as to prevent the charging from being turned on.

Preferably, in the charging process, if it is determined that the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch is/are failed, the control circuit outputs a control signal to reduce or turn off the dc power output of the power supply circuit.

Preferably, the power supply circuit includes a power supply processor, a PWM adjusting circuit, and an auxiliary power supply circuit, the auxiliary power supply circuit provides a working power supply for the power supply processor, the power supply processor can control the PWM adjusting circuit to adjust the dc power supply output of the power supply circuit when obtaining power supply, the power supply circuit does not have dc power supply output when the power supply processor can not obtain power supply, and the auxiliary power supply circuit can cut off the power supply to the power supply processor according to a control signal.

Preferably, the control circuit and the power circuit are independent from each other, and if it is determined that the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch is/are failed, the control circuit outputs a control signal to short-circuit the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the direct-current power supply output of the power circuit.

The technical solutions of the present invention will be more readily understood by referring to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows one of the block configuration diagrams of the charger of the first embodiment.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a power circuit module structure.

Fig. 3 shows a second module structure of the charger of the first embodiment.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of the controller output control signal.

Fig. 5 shows one of the block configuration diagrams of the charging system of the second embodiment.

Fig. 6 shows a second block diagram of the charging system according to the second embodiment.

Fig. 7 shows a third schematic block diagram of a charging system according to a second embodiment.

Fig. 8 shows a fourth block diagram of the charging system according to the second embodiment.

Fig. 9 shows a control flowchart of the first embodiment and the second embodiment.

Fig. 10 shows one of the block configuration diagrams of the charging system of the third embodiment.

Fig. 11 shows one of the control flow charts of the third embodiment.

Fig. 12 shows a second block diagram of the charging system according to the third embodiment.

Fig. 13 shows a second control flowchart of the third embodiment.

Fig. 14 shows a third schematic block diagram of the charging system according to the third embodiment.

Fig. 15 shows a fourth block diagram of the charging system according to the third embodiment.

Fig. 16 shows a fifth block diagram of the charging system according to the third embodiment.

Detailed Description

Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways.

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a charger according to a first embodiment of the present invention, which is used for charging a battery pack 15, and includes: a power circuit 11, configured to receive an input of an external power source 10, and convert the input of the external power source 10 into a dc power output matching with a charging voltage of a battery pack, where the external power source 10 may be an ac power source or a dc power source higher than the charging voltage of the battery pack; the charger further includes a charging circuit 12 operable to use the dc power output of the power circuit 11 to charge a battery pack 15, the charging circuit including a first electronic switch 13 that is controllable to be in an off or on state, the charging circuit 12 being operable to charge the battery pack when the first electronic switch 13 is in the on state and being operable to not charge the battery pack when the first electronic switch 13 is in the off state, wherein in some exemplary embodiments, the first electronic switch may include, but is not limited to, a controllable electrical switching element such as a MOS transistor, a relay, an IGBT, or the like.

Further, the charger may further include a monitoring circuit 16 and a control circuit 17, where the monitoring circuit 16 is configured to monitor states of the battery pack 15, the charging circuit 12, and the power circuit 11, where the states may be understood as a normal operating state when the above-mentioned parts operate normally and an abnormal state when an abnormality occurs, and the battery pack state may be directly detected by the monitoring circuit 16 through a battery pack interface, or may be detected by a related circuit arranged inside the battery pack to detect the operating state of the battery pack and transmit a detected result to the monitoring circuit; the control circuit 17 further controls the working state of the charger according to the monitoring result of the monitoring circuit 16, and the control of the working state of the charger by the control circuit 17 may include, but is not limited to, the following situations: processing of monitoring results, regulation of power supply circuits, state switching of electronic switches, etc.

When the monitoring circuit 16 monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit 17 outputs a control signal to control the charger to execute the following two preset actions: the first electronic switch 13 is turned off and the dc power output of the power circuit 11 is reduced or turned off. The battery pack charging method comprises the following steps that various preset states include but are not limited to charger abnormity, battery pack abnormity and battery pack full charge, wherein the charger abnormity comprises power supply circuit abnormity, charging circuit abnormity, monitoring circuit abnormity and control circuit failure, the battery pack abnormity comprises battery pack over-temperature, battery pack over-charge and battery pack voltage unbalance, the battery pack full charge state is that the battery pack voltage reaches a nominal voltage, and the charging circuit abnormity comprises charging circuit overcurrent and any electronic device of the charging circuit fails.

In the charging process, when the monitoring circuit 16 monitors at least one of the preset states, the control circuit 17 outputs a control signal to turn off the first electronic switch 13 and to reduce or turn off the dc power output of the power circuit 11, it can be understood that two preset processing actions of turning off the first electronic switch 13 and reducing or turning off the dc power output of the power circuit 11 may be executed by the control circuit 17 outputting the control signal at the same time, or the control circuit may output a group of control signals to execute one processing action and then output another group of control signals to execute another processing action, and no other judgment condition needs to be added in an interval between the two processing actions executed successively. According to the scheme, when the situation that charging needs to be stopped occurs, through executing two preset turn-off actions, the turn-off state of one of the two places does not need to be detected, and the circuit structure and the control flow are effectively simplified.

Specifically, when the charger performs the preset operation of reducing or turning off the dc power output of the power circuit 11, the following two cases can be divided:

1. as shown in fig. 1, the control circuit 17 may directly control the dc power output of the power circuit 11, a feedback circuit 18 may be disposed in the charger, the control circuit 17 outputs a control signal to the feedback circuit 18, and the feedback circuit 18 feeds back the control signal to the power circuit 11 to change the output of the power circuit 11; as shown in fig. 2, the power circuit 11 may include a power processor 111, a PWM adjusting circuit 112, and a main transformer 113, where the power processor 111 may receive a control signal of the control circuit and output the control signal to the PWM adjusting circuit 112, and the PWM adjusting circuit 112 changes a duty ratio within a range of 0-100% according to the control signal of the power processor so as to change an output of the main transformer 113, thereby implementing output adjustment of the power circuit, so that when the feedback circuit 18 feeds back the control signal of the control circuit to the power processor 111, the power processor 111 controls the PWM adjusting circuit to reduce the duty ratio below a safety preset value or directly make the duty ratio be 0 to reduce or turn off a dc power output of the power circuit. Further, the power supply circuit may further include an auxiliary power supply circuit 114, where the auxiliary power supply circuit 114 is configured to provide operating power to the power supply processor 111, and may switch on or off power supply according to a control signal of the control circuit 17, and may control the PWM adjusting circuit 112 to change the duty ratio to adjust the dc power output of the power supply circuit when the power supply processor 111 obtains power supply, and when the power supply processor 111 cannot obtain power supply, the power supply circuit will not have the dc power output, so that when the feedback circuit 18 feeds back a control signal of the control circuit 17 to the auxiliary power supply circuit 114, the auxiliary power supply circuit 114 cuts off power supply to the power supply processor 111, thereby turning off the dc power output.

2. As shown in fig. 3, the control circuit 17 and the power circuit 11 are independent from each other, that is, the control circuit 17 cannot directly control the dc power output of the power circuit 11, and the power circuit 11, the control circuit 17 and the charging circuit 12 are electrically connected through the positive and negative poles of the dc power output of the power circuit. In this case, the charging system may further include a second electronic switch 19, one side of the second electronic switch 19 is connected to the positive electrode of the dc output of the power circuit 11, and the other side of the second electronic switch 19 is connected to the negative electrode of the dc output of the power circuit 11, when the second electronic switch 19 is turned on, the dc output of the power circuit 11 enters a short-circuit state, the power circuit 11 further includes a power processor, and the power processor has an output abnormality processing function, and the power processor is combined with the second electronic switch 19 to turn off the dc output of the power circuit 11. When any preset state is monitored to occur, the control circuit 17 outputs a control signal to turn on the first electronic switch 13 and the second electronic switch 19, and the direct current output of the power circuit 11 enters a short-circuit state due to the turn-on of the second electronic switch 19; when the power processor in the power circuit 11 detects an output short circuit, it enters a protection locking mode to turn off the output of the power circuit 11.

In the charger with the adapter separated from the charging seat, the control circuit and the power circuit are mutually independent, and the control circuit cannot control the output of the direct control power circuit in an abnormal state.

As an optimized way of the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, the control circuit 17 of the charger may include a controller (MCU), in order to prevent the Pin of the controller from failing during operation, that is, the Pin is not controlled by the internal chip program to output an uncontrollable level signal that is constant high or constant low, when the controller outputs the control signal through the Pin to control the operating state of the charger, the controller may respectively send out the control signals from at least two pins to control different parts in the charger, wherein the plurality of sets of control signals at least include one set of high level signals, and there is one set of low level signals, as shown in fig. 4(a), Pin1 outputs a low level signal, and Pin2 outputs a high level signal; or the multiple sets of control signals include at least one set of signals with periodically changing signals, as shown in fig. 4(b), Pin1 is a waveform signal with a certain frequency, and Pin2 is a high level signal; as shown in fig. 4(c), Pin1 and Pin2 have opposite waveforms.

In addition, since the output of the power circuit will be reduced in a full or abnormal state of the battery pack, but the battery pack is not taken out from the charger, the battery pack may be discharged to the charger circuit to generate a backflow, and the electric elements in the charger may be easily damaged, for this reason, the charger is provided with a one-way conduction element in the charging circuit at a position between the electronic switch and the battery pack, as shown in fig. 1 and 3, the diode 14 as the one-way conduction element may be turned on in a current direction during charging and turned off in an opposite direction of the charging current, thereby effectively preventing the discharge backflow of the battery pack.

Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a charging system according to a second embodiment of the present invention, which includes a battery pack and a charger for charging the battery pack, wherein the charger includes a power circuit 21 for receiving an input of an external power source 20 and converting the input of the external power source 20 into a dc power output matched with a charging voltage of the battery pack, where the external power source 20 may be an ac power source or a dc power source higher than the charging voltage of the battery pack; the charger further comprises a charging circuit 22 operable to use the dc power output of the power circuit 21 to charge the battery pack; the battery pack comprises at least one energy storage unit 25, and the energy storage unit 25 is used for storing the direct-current power supply output by the charging circuit;

the charging system further comprises at least one of a first electronic switch 23 located in the charger and a second electronic switch 24 located in the battery pack, only one of which is shown in fig. 5, namely, the first electronic switch 23 and the second electronic switch 24 exist at the same time, but the specific scheme of the embodiment is not limited thereto, namely, the first electronic switch 23 alone or the second electronic switch 24 alone can exist (see the detailed description of the cases below); wherein the first electronic switch 23 and the second electronic switch 24 can be controlled to be in an off or on state, when the first electronic switch 23 and the second electronic switch 24 are in the on state, the charging circuit can charge the battery pack, and when the first electronic switch 23 or the second electronic switch 24 are in the off state, the charging circuit 22 cannot charge the battery pack, wherein in some exemplary embodiments, the electronic switches may include, but are not limited to, controllable electrical switching elements such as MOS transistors, triodes, relays, IGBTs, and the like.

Further, the charging system may further include a monitoring circuit 26 and a control circuit 27, wherein the monitoring circuit 26 is configured to monitor states of the battery pack, the charging circuit 22 and the power circuit 21, where the states may be understood as a normal operation state when the above-mentioned parts are normally operated and an abnormal state when an abnormality occurs; the control circuit 27 controls the operating state of the charging system according to the monitoring result of the monitoring circuit 26, and the control of the operating state of the charging system by the control circuit 27 may include, but is not limited to, the following situations: processing of monitoring results, regulation of power supply circuits, state switching of electronic switches, etc.

When the monitoring circuit 26 detects that any one of the preset states occurs, the control circuit 27 outputs a control signal for controlling the charging system to perform at least two of the following preset actions: 1) turning off the first electronic switch 23, 2) turning off the second electronic switch 24, 3) reducing or turning off the dc power output of the power circuit 21. It can be understood that, when the control circuit 27 outputs the control signal to execute the preset action, the control circuit 27 may output the control signal to execute the preset action at the same time, or output a group of control signals to execute one of the processing actions first, and then output another group of control signals to execute another one of the processing actions, and do not need to add other judgment conditions in the interval of executing the two processing actions successively, and by continuously executing the two preset turn-off actions, it is not needed to detect the turn-off state of one of the two turn-off actions, thereby effectively simplifying the circuit structure and the control flow. The battery pack charging method comprises the following steps that various preset states include but are not limited to charger abnormity, battery pack full charge, monitoring circuit abnormity and control circuit failure, furthermore, charger abnormity includes but is not limited to power circuit abnormity and charging circuit abnormity, battery pack abnormity includes battery pack over-temperature, battery pack over-charge, energy storage unit voltage unbalance and energy storage unit failure, the battery pack full charge state is that the battery pack voltage reaches a nominal voltage, and furthermore, the charging circuit abnormity includes that the charging circuit is over-current and any electronic device of the charging circuit fails.

Specifically, the charging system may have the following four implementation manners:

as a first implementation manner, the charging system includes a charger and a battery pack, the charger includes a power supply circuit, a charging circuit, a first electronic switch, a monitoring circuit, a control circuit, and a feedback circuit, the battery pack does not have an electronic switch, and when the monitoring circuit monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charging system to execute the following two actions: the first electronic switch is turned off, and the dc power output of the power circuit is reduced or turned off, which is the same as that described in the first embodiment and will not be described again.

As a second implementation, as shown in fig. 6, the charging system includes a charger and a battery pack, the charger includes a power circuit 21 and a charging circuit 22, the battery pack includes a second electronic switch 24, the monitoring circuit includes a charger monitoring circuit 261 and a battery pack monitoring circuit 262, the control circuit includes a charger control circuit 271 and a battery pack control circuit 272, and it should be noted that there is no first electronic switch in the charger. Wherein, charger monitoring circuit 261 monitors the operating condition of charging circuit 22, power supply circuit 21, battery package monitoring circuit monitors 262 second electronic switch 24, the state of energy storage unit 25, charger control circuit 271 can learn the monitoring result of charger monitoring circuit 261 and control the operating condition of charger, battery package control circuit 272 can control the state of second electronic switch 24, and can learn the monitoring result of battery package monitoring circuit 262 and transmit the monitoring result to charger control circuit 271, further charger control circuit 271 can also output control signal for battery package control circuit 272 in order to switch over the state of second electronic switch 24.

When the battery pack monitoring circuit 262 monitors that there is an abnormality in the battery pack, the battery pack control circuit 272 performs a preset action of turning off the second electronic switch 24, and transmits the abnormal state to the charger control circuit 271, and the charger control circuit 271 performs a preset action of reducing or turning off the dc power output of the power supply circuit 21; when the charger monitoring circuit 261 monitors that the charger is abnormal, the charger control circuit 271 executes a preset operation of reducing or turning off the dc power output of the power supply circuit 21, and outputs a control signal to the battery pack control circuit 272 to execute a preset operation of turning off the second electronic switch 24.

As a third implementation manner, as shown in fig. 7, the charging system includes a charger and a battery pack, the charger includes a power circuit 21, a charging circuit 22, and a first electronic switch 23, the battery pack includes a second electronic switch 24 and an energy storage unit 25, the monitoring circuit includes a charger monitoring circuit 261 and a battery pack monitoring circuit 262, and the control circuit includes a charger control circuit 271 and a battery pack control circuit 272. The charger monitoring circuit 27 monitors the working states of the first electronic switch 23, the charging circuit 22 and the power supply circuit 21, the battery pack monitoring circuit 262 monitors the states of the second electronic switch 24 and the energy storage unit 25, the charger control circuit 271 can acquire the monitoring result of the charger monitoring circuit 261 and control the working state of the charger, the battery pack control circuit 272 can control the state of the second electronic switch 24, acquire the monitoring result of the battery pack monitoring circuit 262 and transmit the monitoring result to the charger control circuit 271, and the further charger control circuit 271 can also output a control signal to the battery pack control circuit 272 to switch the state of the second electronic switch 24.

When the battery pack monitoring circuit 262 monitors that there is an abnormality in the battery pack, the battery pack control circuit 272 performs a preset action of turning off the second electronic switch 24, and transmits the abnormal state to the charger control circuit 271, and the charger control circuit 271 performs a preset action of turning off the first electronic switch 23; when the charger monitoring circuit 261 monitors that the charger is abnormal, the charger control circuit 271 executes a preset action of turning off the first electronic switch 23, and outputs a control signal to the battery pack control circuit 272 to execute a preset action of turning off the second electronic switch 24.

In a fourth implementation manner, as shown in fig. 7, the composition of the charging system is the same as that of the charging system in the third implementation manner, when the battery pack monitoring circuit monitors that there is an abnormality in the battery pack, the battery pack control circuit 272 performs a preset action of turning off the second electronic switch 24, and transmits the abnormal state to the charger control circuit 271, and the charger control circuit 271 performs a preset action of turning off the first electronic switch 23 and a preset action of reducing or turning off the dc power output of the power supply circuit 21; when the charger monitoring circuit 261 monitors that the charger is abnormal, the charger control circuit 271 executes a preset action of turning off the first electronic switch 23 and a preset action of reducing or turning off the dc power output of the power supply circuit 21, and outputs a control signal to the battery pack control circuit 272 to execute a preset action of turning off the second electronic switch 24.

Specifically, when the charging system performs the preset operation of reducing or turning off the dc power output of the power supply circuit 21, the following two cases can be divided:

1. the charger control circuit 271 can directly control the dc power output of the power circuit 21, as shown in fig. 6 and 7, a feedback circuit 28 can be disposed in the charging system, the power circuit 21 can further include a power processor, a PWM adjusting circuit, a main transformer, and an auxiliary power supply circuit, and the control of the power circuit output is realized by combining the control signal with each part of the feedback circuit and the power circuit, which is the same as that described in the first embodiment, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted.

2. As shown in fig. 8, the charger control circuit 271 and the power circuit 21 are independent from each other, that is, the charger control circuit 271 cannot directly control the dc power output of the power circuit 21, and the power circuit 21, the charger control circuit 271 and the charging circuit 22 are electrically connected through the positive and negative poles of the dc output of the power circuit. In this case, the charger may be further provided with a third electronic switch 30, the third electronic switch 30 is connected to the positive and negative dc output poles of the power supply circuit, the power supply circuit 21 further includes a power supply processor, and the power supply processor has an output abnormality processing function, and the power supply processor is combined with the third electronic switch 30 to turn off the dc output of the power supply circuit 21. The specific implementation is the same as that described in the first embodiment, and therefore, the detailed description is omitted.

Similarly, in the second, third, and fourth implementation manners of this embodiment, the battery pack control circuit 272 may include a battery pack controller, and the charger control circuit 271 may include a charger controller, and in order to prevent the pins of the controller from failing, the controller may be configured to respectively send out control signals from at least two pins to control the electrical elements in the charger or in the battery pack.

In addition, because the output of the power circuit will be reduced when the battery pack is fully charged or in an abnormal state, which may cause the battery pack to discharge to the charger circuit and generate a backflow, and may easily damage the electrical components in the charger, for this reason, the charger has a one-way conduction element disposed in the charging circuit between the electronic switch and the battery pack, and the diode 29 as the one-way conduction element may be turned on in the current direction during charging and turned off in the opposite direction of the charging current, so as to effectively prevent the backflow of the discharge of the battery pack.

It is easily understood that, by adopting the technical solutions of the first and second embodiments (the second embodiment includes various implementation forms), when it is detected that the charging needs to be stopped, such as the preset abnormality, the full charge, etc., during the charging process, two preset turn-off actions are executed, so even if one turn-off function fails, the other turn-off function is in an off or low output state, and the generation or the deterioration of the abnormal state can be prevented, and in this solution, other redundant backup electronic switches, or a detection circuit and a protection circuit for detecting whether the electronic switch fails are not needed, thereby greatly simplifying the circuit structure and reducing the production cost of the charger.

In order to intuitively and clearly reflect the specific scheme for preventing the electronic switch from failing in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, fig. 9 shows an exemplary control flow chart, when the monitoring circuit monitors that the electronic switch is in an abnormal, full or other preset state requiring stopping charging, after the control circuit outputs a turn-off signal to the electronic switch, the electronic switch failure prevention program 1 starts, step 101 is performed to determine whether the electronic switch control signal is turned off, if the control circuit determines that the electronic switch control signal is a turn-off signal at the time, step 102 is performed to allow the control circuit to output a control signal to the feedback circuit, step 103 is performed to allow the power circuit to perform an operation of reducing or turning off the dc output according to the control signal of the feedback circuit, and then the electronic switch failure prevention program is ended. It should be understood that the above-mentioned flow is only an exemplary illustration, and it is assumed that one preset action is executed first, and another preset action is executed, but the implementation process in the above-mentioned embodiment may also employ two preset actions executed simultaneously.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram showing one of the schematic block structures of a charging system according to a third embodiment of the present invention, which includes a battery pack and a charger for charging the battery pack; the charger includes a power circuit 31 for receiving an input of an external power source, and converting the input of the external power source into a dc power output matched with a charging voltage of the battery pack, where the external power source may be an ac power source or a dc power source higher than the charging voltage of the battery pack; the charger further comprises a charging circuit 32 operable to use the dc power output of the power circuit 31 for charging the battery pack; the battery pack comprises a plurality of energy storage units 35, and the energy storage units 35 are used for storing the direct-current power supply output by the charging circuit;

the charging system further includes at least one of a first electronic switch 33 located in the charger and a second electronic switch 34 located in the battery pack, only one of which is shown in fig. 10, that is, the first electronic switch 33 and the second electronic switch 34 are both present, but the specific scheme of the embodiment is not limited thereto, that is, the first electronic switch 33 alone or the second electronic switch 34 alone may be present (see the detailed description below); wherein the first electronic switch 33 and the second electronic switch 34 can be controlled to be in an off or on state, when the first electronic switch 33 and the second electronic switch 34 are in the on state, the charging circuit 32 can charge the battery pack, and when the first electronic switch 33 or the second electronic switch 34 are in the off state, the charging circuit 32 cannot charge the battery pack, wherein in some exemplary embodiments, the electronic switches may include, but are not limited to, controllable electrical switching elements such as MOS transistors, triodes, relays, IGBTs, etc.

Further, the charging system may further include a monitoring circuit 36 and a control circuit 37, where the monitoring circuit 36 is configured to monitor states of the battery pack, the charging circuit, and the power circuit, where the states may be understood as a normal operating state when the above-mentioned components operate normally and an abnormal state when an abnormality occurs, the control circuit 37 further controls an operating state of the charging system according to a monitoring result of the monitoring circuit, and the control of the charging system by the control circuit may include, but is not limited to, the following situations: acquiring and processing a monitoring result, adjusting a power supply circuit, switching the state of an electronic switch and the like; when the monitoring circuit 36 detects that any one of the preset states occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to turn off at least one of the first electronic switch 33 and the second electronic switch 34.

The battery pack charging method comprises the following steps that various preset states include but are not limited to charger abnormity, battery pack full charge, monitoring circuit abnormity and control circuit failure, furthermore, charger abnormity includes but is not limited to power circuit abnormity and charging circuit abnormity, battery pack abnormity includes battery pack over-temperature, battery pack over-charge, energy storage unit voltage unbalance and energy storage unit failure, the battery pack full charge state is that the battery pack voltage reaches a nominal voltage, and furthermore, the charging circuit abnormity includes that the charging circuit is over-current and any electronic device of the charging circuit fails.

Therefore, it is understood that the purpose of turning off the electronic switch when any one of the preset states is monitored is to stop the charging process when an abnormal state occurs in the charging system or the battery pack is fully charged. However, since it is unknown whether the electronic switch is failed at this time, it is unknown whether the charging system actually stops charging, and if the electronic switch is failed, the charging will continue, which may cause abnormal deterioration and overcharge of the battery pack, thereby bringing about a potential safety hazard.

For this purpose, the charging system further comprises a failure detection circuit 38 for detecting an electrical parameter of the charging circuit 32 when the control circuit 37 outputs a control signal to turn off the electronic switches (33, 34) (which is not specifically described herein and hereinafter refers to at least one of the first electronic switch 33 or the second electronic switch 34), the control circuit 37 determines whether the electronic switch fails according to the detected electrical parameter, and if the electronic switch fails, the control circuit outputs the control signal to reduce or turn off the dc power output of the power circuit.

As a first application scenario of the present embodiment, the failure detection circuit 38 is configured to detect the electrical parameter in the charging circuit 32 before the charging is started, and the specific detection manner is as described above and will not be described in detail. It should be noted that the condition that should be met before the start of charging is that the power circuit 31 has been connected to an ac power source such as the mains 220 v or other high voltage dc power source and produces a dc power output suitable for charging the battery pack that has been installed in the charging dock, and the control circuit 37 outputs a control signal to turn off the electronic switches (33, 34); since the electronic switches (33, 34) should be in the off state before the charging is started, the presence of the corresponding electrical parameter should not be detected, and if the failure detection circuit 38 detects the presence of the corresponding electrical parameter, the control circuit 37 can determine that the electronic switches (33, 34) have failed, and the control circuit 37 outputs a control signal to turn off the dc output of the power circuit 31. Thereby avoiding that charging will continue in case of failure of the electronic switches (33, 34). If the failure detection circuit 38 does not detect the presence of a corresponding voltage or current, indicating that the electronic switches (33, 34) are normal, the control circuit 37 outputs a control signal to turn on the electronic switches (33, 34), so that the dc power output from the power circuit 31 is supplied to the battery pack via the charging circuit, and the battery pack starts to be charged.

As a second application scenario of the present embodiment, in the charging process, when the monitoring circuit 36 monitors at least one of the above-mentioned multiple preset states, the control circuit 37 outputs a control signal to turn off the electronic switches (33, 34), and after the control circuit 37 outputs a turn-off signal, the failure detection circuit 38 detects the electrical parameter in the charging circuit 32, and the specific detection manner is as described above and is not described in detail. It should be noted that, in the case where the control circuit 37 outputs the control signal to turn off the electronic switches (33, 34), the electronic switches (33, 34) should be in the off state, so that the existence of the corresponding electrical parameter should not be detected, and if the failure detection circuit 38 detects the existence of the corresponding electrical parameter, the control circuit 37 can thus judge that the electronic switches (33, 34) have failed, and the control circuit 37 will output the control signal to adjust the dc output of the power supply circuit 31.

Specifically, when the charging system performs the preset operation of reducing or turning off the dc power output of the power supply circuit 31, the following two cases can be divided:

1. the control circuit 37 may directly control the dc power output of the power circuit 31, as shown in fig. 10, a feedback circuit 39 may be disposed in the charging system, the power circuit further includes a power processor, a PWM adjusting circuit, a main transformer, and an auxiliary power supply circuit, and the control of the power circuit output is realized by combining the control signal with the feedback circuit 39 and each part of the power circuit, which is the same as that described in the first embodiment, and therefore, the implementation is not described again.

Fig. 11 shows the main control flow of the above-described scheme. In a first application scenario, directly entering an electronic switch failure prevention program 2 before charging; in a second application scenario, when the monitoring circuit monitors that the electronic switch is abnormal, full or in other preset states where charging needs to be stopped, the control circuit outputs a turn-off signal to the electronic switch, and the electronic switch enters the electronic switch failure prevention program 2. After the electronic switch failure prevention program is started, step 201 is entered to judge whether the electronic switch control signal is off, if the control circuit judges that the electronic switch control signal is off, step 202 is entered to judge whether the electronic switch is failed by the control circuit, the failure detection circuit detects the electrical parameter of the charging circuit; if the electronic switch is judged not to be failed, ending the electronic switch failure prevention program; if the electronic switch is judged to be failed, step 203 is entered, the control circuit outputs a control signal to the feedback circuit, step 204 is entered, the power supply circuit executes the operation of reducing or turning off the direct current output according to the control signal of the feedback circuit, and then the electronic switch failure prevention program is ended.

2. As shown in fig. 12, the control circuit 37 and the power circuit 31 are independent from each other, that is, the control circuit 37 cannot directly control the dc power output of the power circuit 31, and the power circuit 31, the control circuit 37 and the charging circuit 32 are electrically connected only by the positive and negative poles of the dc output of the power circuit. In this case, a third electronic switch 41 may be additionally provided in the charging system, one side of the third electronic switch 41 is connected to the positive electrode of the dc output of the power circuit, and the other side is connected to the negative electrode of the dc output of the power circuit, so that when the third electronic switch 41 is turned on, the dc output of the power circuit is short-circuited, and the power circuit 31 further includes a power processor having an output abnormality processing function, and the power processor and the third electronic switch are combined to turn off the dc output of the power circuit. Specifically, when the control circuit 37 determines that the first electronic switch 33 and/or the second electronic switch 34 have failed, the control circuit 37 outputs a control signal to turn on the third electronic switch 41, and the dc output of the power circuit 31 enters a short-circuit state; when the power processor in the power circuit 31 detects an output short circuit, it enters a protection lock mode to turn off the output of the power circuit 31.

In the charger with the adapter separated from the charging seat, because the control circuit and the power circuit are mutually independent, when the control circuit detects that the electronic switch is invalid, the control circuit can not directly control the power circuit to adjust the output.

Fig. 13 shows the main control flow of the above-described scheme. In the first application scenario, the electronic switch failure prevention program is directly entered before charging starts, and in the second application scenario, when the monitoring circuit monitors that the charging state is abnormal, full or other preset states need to be stopped, the control circuit outputs a turn-off signal to the electronic switch to enter the electronic switch failure prevention program 3. After the electronic switch failure prevention program is started, step 301 is entered, whether the control signal of the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch is turned off or not is judged, if the control circuit judges that the control signal of the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch is the turn-off signal at the moment, step 302 is entered, and the failure detection circuit detects the electrical parameter of the charging circuit so as to judge whether the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch is failed or not; if the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch are/is judged not to be failed, the electronic switch failure prevention program is ended; if the first electronic switch and/or the second electronic switch is judged to be invalid, the step 303 is carried out, the control circuit outputs a control signal to the feedback circuit to switch on the third electronic switch, the step 304 is carried out, the power supply processor detects an output short circuit, the step 305 is carried out, the power supply processor enters a protection locking mode, and the output of the power supply circuit is switched off; the electronic switch failure prevention routine is then ended.

More specifically, the charging system may have the following three implementation manners:

as a first implementation manner, as shown in fig. 14, the charging system includes a charger and a battery pack, the charger includes a power supply circuit 31, a charging circuit 32, and a first electronic switch 33, the battery pack includes an energy storage unit 35, the monitoring circuit includes a charger monitoring circuit 361 and a battery pack monitoring circuit 362, the control circuit includes a charger control circuit 371 and a battery pack control circuit 372, and the failure detection circuit includes a charger failure detection circuit 381. It should be noted that the charger monitoring circuit 361, the charger control circuit 371, and the charger failure detection circuit 381 are located in the charger, the battery pack monitoring circuit 362 and the battery pack control circuit 372 are located in the battery pack, and there is no second electronic switch in the battery pack. Wherein, charger monitoring circuit 361 monitors the operating condition of charging circuit, power supply circuit, and battery package monitoring circuit 362 monitors the state of battery package, and charger control circuit 371 can learn the monitoring result of charger monitoring circuit 361 and the testing result of charger failure detection circuit 381 to control the operating condition of charger, battery package control circuit 372 can learn the monitoring result of battery package monitoring circuit 362 and transmit the monitoring result for charger control circuit 371.

When the battery pack monitoring circuit 362 monitors that the battery pack has an abnormality, the battery pack control circuit 372 transmits the abnormal state to the charger control circuit 371, and the charger control circuit 371 outputs a control signal to turn off the first electronic switch 33, or when the charger monitoring circuit 361 monitors that the charger has an abnormality, the charger control circuit 371 outputs a control signal to turn off the first electronic switch 33; after the charger control circuit 371 turns off the first electronic switch 33, the charger failure detection circuit 381 detects an electrical parameter of the charging circuit 32, specifically, the charger failure detection circuit 381 may detect whether a voltage exists at a preset node on one side of the first electronic switch 33, where a charging current flows when the electronic switch 33 is normally turned on; alternatively, the charger failure detection circuit 381 may detect whether there is a current in the charging circuit 32, the detection of the current is not limited to a fixed node; since the charger control circuit 371 has outputted the control signal to turn off the first electronic switch 33, there should be no voltage at the preset node or no current in the charging circuit, and if the charger failure detection circuit 381 detects the presence of voltage at the preset node or detects the presence of current in the charging circuit 32, the charger control circuit 371 can thus judge that the first electronic switch 33 has failed, and the charger control circuit 371 will output the control signal to adjust the dc output of the power supply circuit 31.

As a second implementation manner, as shown in fig. 15, the charging system includes a charger and a battery pack, the charger includes a power circuit 31 and a charging circuit 32, the battery pack includes a second electronic switch 34 and an energy storage unit 35, the monitoring circuit includes a charger monitoring circuit 361 and a battery pack monitoring circuit 362, the control circuit includes a charger control circuit 371 and a battery pack control circuit 362, and the failure detection circuit includes a battery pack failure detection circuit 382. It should be noted that the charger monitoring circuit 361 and the charger control circuit 371 are located in the charger, there is no first electronic switch in the charger, and the battery pack monitoring circuit 362, the battery pack control circuit 372 and the battery pack failure detection circuit 382 are located in the battery pack. Wherein, charger monitoring circuit 361 monitors charging circuit 32, the operating condition of power supply circuit 31, battery package monitoring circuit 362 monitors second electronic switch 34, energy storage unit 35's state, charger control circuit 371 can learn the monitoring result of charger monitoring circuit 361 and control the operating condition of charger, battery package control circuit 372 can control second electronic switch 34's state, and can learn the monitoring result of battery package monitoring circuit 362 and the testing result of battery package failure detection circuit 382, and transmit monitoring result and testing result to charger control circuit 371, further charger control circuit can also export control signal and give battery package control circuit 372 with the state of switching second electronic switch 34.

When the battery pack monitoring circuit 362 monitors that there is an abnormality in the battery pack, the battery pack control circuit 372 outputs a control signal to turn off the second electronic switch 34, or, when the charger monitoring circuit 361 monitors that the charger is abnormal, the charger control circuit 371 outputs a control signal to the battery pack control circuit 372 to turn off the second electronic switch 34 through the battery pack control circuit 372; after the first electronic switch 34 is turned off by the battery pack control circuit 372, the battery pack failure detection circuit 382 detects the electrical parameter of the charging circuit, which is described above and will not be described in detail. Since the battery pack control circuit 372 outputs the control signal to turn off the second electronic switch 34, it should not detect the existence of the corresponding electrical parameter, if the battery pack failure detection circuit 382 detects the existence of the corresponding electrical parameter, the battery pack control circuit 372 can determine that the second electronic switch 34 has failed, the battery pack control circuit 372 outputs the failure detection result to the charger control circuit 371, and the charger control circuit 371 outputs the control signal to adjust the dc output of the power circuit 31.

As a third implementation manner, as shown in fig. 16, the charging system includes a charger and a battery pack, the charger includes a power supply circuit 31, a charging circuit 32, and a first electronic switch 33, the battery pack includes a second electronic switch 34 and an energy storage unit 35, the monitoring circuit includes a charger monitoring circuit 361 and a battery pack monitoring circuit 362, the control circuit includes a charger control circuit 371 and a battery pack control circuit 372, and the failure detection circuit includes a charger failure detection circuit 381 and a battery pack failure detection circuit 382. Note that the charger monitor circuit 361, the charger control circuit 371, and the charger failure detection circuit 381 are located in the charger, and the battery pack monitor circuit 362, the battery pack control circuit 372, and the battery pack failure detection circuit 382 are located in the battery pack. The charging system now includes both a first electronic switch 33 located in the charger and a second electronic switch 34 located in the battery pack, as well as a failure detection circuit 381 located in the charger and a failure detection circuit 382 located in the battery pack. Wherein, charger monitoring circuit 361 monitors first electronic switch 33, charging circuit 32, the operating condition of power supply circuit 31, battery package monitoring circuit 361 monitors second electronic switch 34, the state of energy storage unit 35, charger control circuit 371 can learn the monitoring result of charger monitoring circuit 361 and the testing result of charger failure detection circuit 381, and control the operating condition of charger, battery package control circuit 372 can control the state of second electronic switch 34, and can learn the monitoring result of battery package monitoring circuit 362 and the testing result of battery package failure detection circuit 382, and transmit monitoring result and testing result to charger control circuit 371, further charger control circuit 371 can also export control signal and give battery package control circuit 372 with the state of switching second electronic switch 34.

When the charger monitoring circuit 361 monitors that there is an abnormality in the charger, the charger control circuit 371 outputs a control signal to turn off the first electronic switch 33, and after the charger control circuit 371 turns off the first electronic switch 33, the charger failure detection circuit 381 detects an electrical parameter of the charging circuit, and a specific detection mode is as described above and will not be described in detail. Since the charger control circuit 371 has already output the control signal to turn off the second electronic switch 33, the existence of the corresponding electrical parameter should not be detected, and if the charger failure detection circuit 381 detects the existence of the corresponding electrical parameter, the charger control circuit 371 can thus determine that the first electronic switch 33 has failed, and the charger control circuit 371 will output the control signal to adjust the dc output of the power circuit 31.

Or when the battery pack monitoring circuit 362 monitors that there is an abnormality in the battery pack, the battery pack control circuit 372 outputs a control signal to turn off the second electronic switch 34, and after the battery pack control circuit 372 turns off the second electronic switch 34, the battery pack failure detection circuit 382 detects an electrical parameter of the charging circuit, where the specific detection method is as described above and is not described in detail. Since the battery pack control circuit 372 outputs the control signal to turn off the second electronic switch 34, the presence of the corresponding electrical parameter should not be detected, if the battery pack failure detection circuit 382 detects the presence of the corresponding electrical parameter, the battery pack control circuit 372 can thus determine that the second electronic switch 34 has failed, the battery pack control circuit 372 outputs the failure detection result to the charger control circuit 371, and the charger control circuit 371 outputs the control signal to adjust the dc output of the power circuit 31.

Similarly, in this embodiment, the battery pack control circuit 372 may include a battery pack controller, and the charger control circuit 371 may include a charger controller, and in order to prevent the pins of the controller from failing, the controller may be configured to respectively send out control signals from at least two pins to control electrical elements in the charger or the battery pack.

In addition, because the output of the power circuit will be reduced when the battery pack is fully charged or in an abnormal state, which may cause the battery pack to discharge to the charger circuit and generate a backflow, and may easily damage the electrical components in the charger, for this reason, the charger has a unidirectional conducting element disposed in the charging circuit between the electronic switch and the battery pack, and the diode 40 as the unidirectional conducting element may be turned on in the current direction during charging and turned off in the opposite direction of the charging current, so as to effectively prevent the backflow of the discharge of the battery pack.

The above-described embodiments represent only a few embodiments of the present invention, and since there are no actual limitless possible configurations due to the limited language of the present invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous modifications and variations can be made without departing from the principles of the invention, which are deemed to be within the scope of the invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A charger for charging a battery pack, comprising:

the power supply circuit receives an external power supply input and converts the external power supply into a direct-current power supply output matched with the charging voltage of the battery pack;

a charging circuit operable to output the DC power for charging the battery pack, the charging circuit including a first electronic switch that is in both an off state and an on state, the charging circuit being operable to charge the battery pack when the first electronic switch is in the on state, the charging circuit being operable to disable charging of the battery pack when the first electronic switch is in the off state;

a monitoring circuit that monitors the states of the battery pack, the charging circuit, and the power supply circuit;

the control circuit can control the working state of the charger according to the monitoring result of the monitoring circuit;

the method is characterized in that: when the monitoring circuit monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charger to execute the following actions: turning off the first electronic switch and reducing or turning off the direct current power supply output of the power supply circuit;

the charger further comprises a second electronic switch, and the control circuit outputs a control signal to conduct the second electronic switch so as to enable the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the direct-current power supply output by the power supply circuit to be in short circuit.

2. The charger of claim 1, wherein the control circuit comprises a controller that issues control signals from at least two pins to control the operating states of the first electronic switch and the power circuit, respectively.

3. The charger of claim 2, wherein the control signals comprise at least one set of high level signals and one set of low level signals.

4. The charger of claim 2, wherein the control signal comprises at least one set of periodically varying signals.

5. The charger according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a one-way conducting element between the first electronic switch and the battery pack, the one-way conducting element conducting in a charging current direction.

6. The charger according to claim 1, wherein the power circuit comprises a power processor, a PWM regulating circuit, and the power processor controls the PWM regulating circuit to reduce or turn off the dc power output of the power circuit according to the control signal.

7. The charger of claim 1, wherein the power circuit comprises a power processor, a PWM regulator circuit, and an auxiliary power circuit, the auxiliary power circuit providing operating power to the power processor, the power processor being powered by the operating power supply and being operable to control the PWM regulator circuit to regulate the dc power output of the power circuit, the power circuit being unpowered when the power processor is not powered by the operating power supply, the auxiliary power circuit being operable to cut off power to the power processor based on the control signal.

8. The charger of claim 7, wherein the power circuit comprises a power processor that automatically enters a protection lockout mode to turn off the output when it detects a short circuit in the output.

9. The charger of claim 1, wherein the predetermined conditions include at least one of charger abnormality, battery pack abnormality, and battery pack full.

10. The charger according to claim 9, wherein the charger abnormality comprises a power circuit abnormality, a charging circuit abnormality, a monitoring circuit abnormality, and a control circuit failure, the battery pack abnormality comprises a battery pack over-temperature, a battery pack over-charging, and a battery pack voltage imbalance, and the battery pack full charge state is when the battery pack voltage reaches a nominal voltage.

11. The charger of claim 10, wherein the charging circuit anomalies include charging circuit overcurrent, failure of any electronics of the charging circuit.

12. A charging system comprising a battery pack and a charger for charging the battery pack, characterized in that:

the charger includes:

the power supply circuit receives external power supply input and converts the external power supply into direct current power supply output matched with the charging voltage of the battery pack;

a charging circuit operable to provide the DC power supply output to the battery pack for charging;

the battery pack includes:

the energy storage unit is used for storing the electric energy supplied by the charging circuit and providing the electric energy for the electric device when needed;

the charging system comprises at least one of a first electronic switch positioned on the charger and a second electronic switch positioned on the battery pack, the first electronic switch and the second electronic switch have two states of off and on, when the first electronic switch and the second electronic switch are in the on state, the charging circuit can charge the battery pack, and when the first electronic switch or the second electronic switch is in the off state, the charging circuit cannot charge the battery pack;

the charging system also comprises a monitoring circuit for monitoring the states of the battery pack, the charging circuit and the power supply circuit;

the charging system further comprises a control circuit, and the working state of the charging system is controlled according to the monitoring result of the monitoring circuit;

when the monitoring circuit monitors that any preset state occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charging system to execute at least two of the following preset actions;

1) turning off the first electronic switch;

2) turning off the second electronic switch;

3) reducing or shutting down the DC power output of the power circuit;

the charging system further comprises a third electronic switch, and the control circuit outputs a control signal to conduct the third electronic switch so as to enable the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the direct-current power supply output by the power supply circuit to be in short circuit.

13. The charging system of claim 12, wherein the charging system includes a first electronic switch located on the charger, and when the monitoring circuit detects any one of the preset states, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charging system to perform the following preset actions: and turning off the first electronic switch, and reducing or turning off the direct current power supply output of the power supply circuit.

14. The charging system of claim 12, wherein the charging system includes a second electronic switch located on the battery pack, and when the monitoring circuit detects that any one of the preset states occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charging system to perform the following preset actions: and turning off the second electronic switch, and reducing or turning off the direct current power supply output of the power supply circuit.

15. The charging system of claim 12, wherein the charging system comprises a first electronic switch located on the charger and a second electronic switch located on the battery pack, and when the monitoring circuit monitors that any one of the preset states occurs, the control circuit outputs a control signal to control the charging system to perform the following preset actions: the first electronic switch is turned off and the second electronic switch is turned off.

16. The charging system of claim 12, wherein the control circuit comprises a controller that issues control signals from at least two pins to control the operating states of the first electronic switch, the second electronic switch, and the power circuit, respectively.

17. The charging system of claim 16, wherein the control signal comprises at least one set of high level signals and one set of low level signals.

18. The charging system of claim 16, wherein the control signal comprises at least one set of periodically varying signals.

19. The charging system of claim 12, further comprising a one-way conducting element between the first electronic switch or the charging circuit and the battery pack, the one-way conducting element conducting in a charging current direction.

20. The charging system of any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the power circuit comprises a power processor, a PWM regulating circuit, the power processor being operable to control the PWM regulating circuit to reduce or turn off the dc power output of the power circuit in response to the control signal.

21. The charging system according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the power supply circuit comprises a power supply processor, a PWM regulating circuit, and an auxiliary power supply circuit, the auxiliary power supply circuit provides operating power to the power supply processor, the power supply processor can control the PWM regulating circuit to regulate the dc power output of the power supply circuit when power is supplied, the power supply circuit has no dc power output when power is not supplied to the power supply processor, and the auxiliary power supply circuit can cut off power supply to the power supply processor according to the control signal.

22. The charging system of claim 21, wherein the power circuit comprises a power processor that automatically enters a protection lockout mode to turn off the output when it detects a short circuit in the output.

23. The charging system of claim 12, wherein the predetermined conditions include charger anomaly, battery pack full, monitoring circuit anomaly, and control circuit failure.

24. The charging system of claim 23, wherein the charger anomalies comprise power circuit anomalies and charging circuit anomalies, the battery pack anomalies comprise battery pack over-temperature, battery pack over-charge, energy storage unit voltage imbalance and energy storage unit failure, and the battery pack full state is when the battery pack voltage reaches a nominal voltage.

25. The charging system of claim 24, wherein the charging circuit anomalies comprise charging circuit overcurrent, failure of any electronics of the charging circuit.