CN112688388B

CN112688388B - Charging device, electronic equipment and charging method

Info

Publication number: CN112688388B
Application number: CN202011511030.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 贾峰
Original assignee: Oppo Chongqing Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Oppo Chongqing Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-18
Filing date: 2020-12-18
Publication date: 2023-11-28
Anticipated expiration: 2040-12-18
Also published as: CN112688388A

Abstract

The disclosure provides a charging device, electronic equipment and a charging method, and relates to the technical field of charging. The charging device includes: a rechargeable battery having a cell; n charging circuits, N is a positive integer not less than 2; the charging interfaces are in one-to-one correspondence with the charging circuits; one end of each charging circuit is connected with the corresponding charging interface, and the other end of each charging circuit is connected with the rechargeable battery; and a charging switching piece is arranged between two adjacent charging circuits in the N charging circuits and used for controlling the two adjacent charging circuits to perform series connection and parallel connection switching. The method and the device can break through the limitation of the specification of the single charging interface, improve the total charging power and the rate, flexibly switch the serial-parallel connection relation of the charging circuit and improve the charging efficiency.

Description

Charging device, electronic equipment and charging method

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the field of charging technologies, and in particular, to a charging device, an electronic device, and a charging method.

Background

With the improvement of the performance and the increase of the functions of the mobile terminal, the power consumption of the mobile terminal is also increased. How to increase the charge rate of the battery is a big problem facing the industry.

The charge rate of the battery is proportional to the charge power, and the larger the charge power is, the higher the charge rate is. The current charging power can reach about 50W at most, which is difficult to realize further improvement due to the limitation of battery volume, the specification of charging interfaces such as USB (Universal Serial Bus ) and the like, the influence of safety and the like.

Disclosure of Invention

The disclosure provides a charging device, an electronic device and a charging method, and further improves the charging rate of a battery at least to a certain extent.

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned in part by the practice of the disclosure.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a charging device comprising: a rechargeable battery having a cell; n charging circuits, N is a positive integer not less than 2; the charging interfaces are in one-to-one correspondence with the charging circuits; one end of each charging circuit is connected with the corresponding charging interface, and the other end of each charging circuit is connected with the rechargeable battery; and a charging switching piece is arranged between two adjacent charging circuits in the N charging circuits and used for controlling the two adjacent charging circuits to perform series connection and parallel connection switching.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device comprising: a housing; the charging device of the first aspect described above; the charging interface of the charging device is located on the shell, and other parts of the charging device are located in the shell.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a charging method for controlling the charging device of the first aspect to charge a rechargeable battery; the method comprises the following steps: determining a charging interface which is powered on in N charging interfaces of the charging device; and controlling a charging circuit corresponding to the charging interface of the connected power supply to charge the rechargeable battery.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device comprising: a processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; the charging device of the first aspect described above; wherein the processor is configured to: determining a charging interface which is powered on in N charging interfaces of the charging device; and controlling a charging circuit corresponding to the charging interface of the connected power supply to charge the rechargeable battery.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the charging method of the third aspect described above and possible implementations thereof.

The technical scheme of the present disclosure has the following beneficial effects:

in the first aspect, the rechargeable battery can be charged through the plurality of charging circuits, and each charging circuit is configured with a corresponding charging interface, so that the limitation of the specification of a single charging interface is broken through, and the total charging power and the total charging rate are improved. In the second aspect, only a single cell is arranged in the rechargeable battery, and under the limit of the volume of the battery, the utilization rate of the single cell to the space is higher than that of multiple cells, so that the total electric quantity of the battery is improved. In the third aspect, the charging switching piece is arranged to control the adjacent two charging circuits to switch between series connection and parallel connection, so that charging current or charging voltage can be flexibly adjusted, requirements of different charging stages are met, and charging efficiency is improved. In a fourth aspect, the present solution does not require modification of the charging interface or the charger, and the manufacturing cost of the single-cell rechargeable battery is lower than that of the multi-cell rechargeable battery, so that the present solution has lower implementation cost and higher practicability.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the drawings in the following description are merely examples of the disclosure and that other drawings may be derived from them without undue effort.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a charging device in the present exemplary embodiment;

fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a charging device provided with a charging switch in the present exemplary embodiment;

fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a charging circuit in the present exemplary embodiment;

fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a charging device provided with a function switching member in the present exemplary embodiment;

fig. 5 shows a structural diagram of an electronic device in the present exemplary embodiment;

fig. 6 shows a structural diagram of an electronic device provided with a motherboard and a small board in the present exemplary embodiment;

fig. 7 shows a structural diagram of an electronic apparatus provided with a function switching member in the present exemplary embodiment;

fig. 8 shows a flowchart of a charging method in the present exemplary embodiment;

fig. 9 shows a sub-flowchart of a charging method in the present exemplary embodiment;

fig. 10 shows a block diagram of an electronic device in the present exemplary embodiment.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments may be embodied in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced with one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, devices, steps, etc. In other instances, well-known technical solutions have not been shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the present disclosure.

Furthermore, the drawings are merely schematic illustrations of the present disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar parts, and thus a repetitive description thereof will be omitted. Some of the block diagrams shown in the figures are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically separate entities. These functional entities may be implemented in software or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits or in different networks and/or processor devices and/or microcontroller devices.

In the related art, the charging rate can be improved by modifying the charging interface, and the method specifically comprises two schemes:

one solution is to add a pin of the charging interface, such as the USB Type-C interface typically 24 pins, to 26 or 28 pins, which increases the charging current. However, adding pins to the interface would result in a significant increase in production costs, and would also require additional custom-made mating chargers, which are difficult to popularize for the user.

Another solution is to strengthen the charging interface, such as strengthening part of the pins, to withstand higher currents. However, this causes acceleration loss of the charging member and more serious heat generation, and in practice, it is generally necessary to reduce the charging rate after the charged amount reaches 60% to protect the battery, so that the effect of accelerating the charging can be achieved only in a limited manner.

In view of one or more of the problems described above, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide a charging device. The charging device may be configured in an electronic device using a rechargeable battery, including but not limited to a smart phone, tablet computer, portable game console, wearable device, drone, camera, etc.

The charging device may include a rechargeable battery, N charging circuits, and N charging interfaces. N is a positive integer not less than 2. The rechargeable battery has a battery cell, such as a lithium ion battery cell, a lithium polymer battery cell, etc. The charging circuits are in one-to-one correspondence with the charging interfaces, one end of each charging circuit is connected with the corresponding charging interface, and the other end of each charging circuit is connected with the rechargeable battery. And a charging switching piece is arranged between two adjacent charging circuits in the N charging circuits and used for controlling the two adjacent charging circuits to perform series connection and parallel connection switching.

The structure of the charging device will be specifically described with reference to fig. 1. As shown in fig. 1, the charging device 100 may include one rechargeable battery 110, two charging circuits (a first charging circuit 1210 and a second charging circuit 1220), two charging interfaces (a first charging interface 1310 and a second charging interface 1320), and two charging switches (a first charging switch 1410 and a second charging switch 1420).

The rechargeable battery 110 includes a battery cell 1101, where the battery cell 1101 is a storage portion and generally includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, an electrolyte, a separator, and the like, and fig. 1 shows the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the battery cell 1101, that is, the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the battery cell 1101 are the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the rechargeable battery 110.

The first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220 are used to charge the rechargeable battery 110, and may function to protect the rechargeable battery 110, for example, to be turned off when the voltage or current is too high, so as to prevent damage to the rechargeable battery 110. Taking the first charging circuit 1210 as an example, one end of the first charging circuit is connected to the first charging interface 1310, and the other end of the first charging circuit is connected to the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the battery 1101. The first charging interface 1310 may be powered, thereby providing current flow into the battery 1101 through the first charging circuit 1210 to effect charging. The connection condition of the second charging circuit 1220 is the same. When both the first and second charging interfaces 1310 and 1320 are powered on, the rechargeable battery 110 is charged simultaneously through the first and second charging circuits 1210 and 1220, thereby greatly increasing the charging rate.

In an alternative embodiment, the first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220 may be connected to the rechargeable battery 110 separately, e.g., the two charging circuits are connected to different locations on the electrode of the cell 1101 separately.

In an alternative embodiment, the first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220 may be combined into one line and connected to the rechargeable battery 110.

It should be noted that, the first charging interface 1310 and the second charging interface 1320 may be any standard interfaces, and for the mobile terminal, a USB interface may be used, including but not limited to a USB Type-C interface, a Micro-USB interface, and the like. In an alternative embodiment, different charging interfaces may also be provided in different interface forms to accommodate different charger plugs.

The first charge switching element 1410 is disposed on the negative electrode of the first charge circuit 1210, and the second charge switching element 1420 is disposed on the positive electrode of the second charge circuit 1220. The first charge switch 1410 and the second charge switch 1420 can be used to control the serial-parallel relationship between the first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220.

In an alternative embodiment, when the charging switch is in the first switching state, the negative electrode of one of the adjacent two charging circuits is in communication with the positive electrode of the other, so as to form a series connection of the adjacent two charging circuits; when the charging switching piece is in the second switching state, the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the two adjacent charging circuits are connected to the rechargeable battery to form parallel connection of the two adjacent charging circuits.

As shown in fig. 1, when the first charging switch 1410 and the second charging switch 1420 are in the first switch state (i.e., the solid line position in fig. 1), the negative electrode of the first charging circuit 1210 is in communication with the positive electrode of the second charging circuit 1220, such that the two charging circuits are connected in series. And, the first charging circuit 121The positive electrode of 0 is connected with the positive electrode of the battery cell 1101, and the negative electrode of the second charging circuit 1220 is connected with the negative electrode of the battery cell 1101, so that the direct current power supplies in the two charging circuits are connected in series between the two poles of the rechargeable battery 110, and a high charging voltage is realized. For example, the voltages of the first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220 are both U ₀ The current is I ₀ The voltage obtained after the series connection is 2U ₀ The current is still I ₀ . When the first charging switch 1410 and the second charging switch 1420 are in the second switching state (i.e. the position of the dotted line in fig. 1), the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the first charging circuit 1210 and the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the second charging circuit 1220 are both connected to the rechargeable battery 110, specifically, the positive electrodes of the two charging circuits are connected to the positive electrode of the battery 1101, and the negative electrodes of the two charging circuits are connected to the negative electrode of the battery 1101, so that the two charging circuits are connected in parallel, which is equivalent to connecting the dc power sources in the two charging circuits in parallel between the two poles of the rechargeable battery 110, and realizing a higher charging current. For example, the voltages of the first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220 are both U ₀ The current is I ₀ The current obtained after parallel connection is 2I ₀ The voltage is still U ₀ . Therefore, through serial-parallel switching, the charging current or the charging voltage can be flexibly adjusted, the requirements of different charging stages are met, and the charging efficiency is improved.

Note that, the first charging switch 1410 and the second charging switch 1420 shown in fig. 1 are single pole double throw switches. Other forms of charge switches may also be employed. For example, referring to fig. 2, a charging switch 1430 is provided between the negative electrode of the first charging circuit 1210 and the positive electrode of the second charging circuit 1220, a charging switch 1440 is provided between the negative electrode of the first charging circuit 1210 and the negative electrode of the cell 1101, and a charging switch 1450 is provided between the positive electrode of the second charging circuit 1220 and the positive electrode of the cell 1101, all three of which are single pole single throw switches. The solid line position of the three charging switches in fig. 2 realizes the parallel connection of the first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220, and the broken line position realizes the series connection of the first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220. In addition to the switching between the series connection and the parallel connection, all three charging switching elements may be turned off to disconnect the first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220 from the rechargeable battery 110, so as to control the number of charging circuits actually operated as the charging switching elements. Alternatively, a charge switching member in the form of a double pole double throw switch or a double pole multiple throw switch may be provided between the first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220, whereby the number of charge switching members may be reduced.

In the charging device of the present exemplary embodiment, in the first aspect, the rechargeable battery may be charged by a plurality of charging circuits, and each charging circuit is configured with a corresponding charging interface, so as to break through the limitation of the specification of a single charging interface, and improve the total charging power and rate. In the second aspect, only a single cell is arranged in the rechargeable battery, and under the limit of the volume of the battery, the utilization rate of the single cell to the space is higher than that of multiple cells, so that the total electric quantity of the battery is improved. In the third aspect, the charging switching piece is arranged to control the adjacent two charging circuits to switch between series connection and parallel connection, so that charging current or charging voltage can be flexibly adjusted, requirements of different charging stages are met, and charging efficiency is improved. In a fourth aspect, the present solution does not require modification of the charging interface or the charger, and the manufacturing cost of the single-cell rechargeable battery is lower than that of the multi-cell rechargeable battery, so that the present solution has lower implementation cost and higher practicability.

Fig. 1 shows that two charge switching members are provided between two adjacent charge circuits to perform switching between series connection and parallel connection. The N charging circuits of the charging device may be numbered according to a positional relationship or other logic relationship (such as a priority order of use of the charging circuits), and the two adjacent charging circuits refer to two charging circuits with adjacent numbers. In practical applications, two charging switches may be disposed between every two adjacent charging circuits of the N charging circuits, for example, the first charging switch 1410 and the second charging switch 1420 shown in fig. 1, so that 2N-2 charging switches are disposed in total. The positive pole of the first charging circuit of N charging circuits is communicated with the positive pole of the rechargeable battery, and the negative pole of the N charging circuit is communicated with the negative pole of the rechargeable battery. Thus, by controlling the switching state of each charging switching member, the N charging circuits can be made to form a diversified serial or parallel relationship. For example, N charging circuits may be connected in series as one charging circuit, connected to a rechargeable battery, or may be connected in parallel entirely, and connected to the rechargeable battery, or may be connected in series as one charging circuit, and N/2 charging circuits after being connected in series may be connected in parallel to the rechargeable battery. Therefore, different charging voltages or charging currents can be adjusted more flexibly, and different charging modes are realized.

In the charging process, the switching state of the charging switching piece can be adjusted according to the state of the rechargeable battery, the heating state in the charging circuit, the actual charging strategy and the like, so that different charging modes are realized, the charging efficiency is improved, and the battery performance is protected.

In an alternative embodiment, when the charging device is in the first charging mode, the N charging circuits are connected in series, for example, all charging switches may be switched to the first switching state, in which case a higher charging voltage may be achieved, and the first charging mode may be, for example, a constant voltage charging mode. When the charging device is in the second charging mode, the N charging circuits are connected in parallel, for example, all charging switching elements can be switched to the second switching state, and at this time, a higher charging current can be realized, and the second charging mode can be, for example, a constant current charging mode.

The constant voltage charging mode is generally used for the first stage in the charging process, and the constant current charging mode is generally used for the second stage. In the first stage, the terminal voltage of the rechargeable battery is lower, a constant voltage charging mode is adopted to achieve higher charging current, and the charging rate is improved in the first stage; the present exemplary embodiment can further increase the charge voltage and the charge rate by employing the charge circuit connected in series in the constant voltage charge mode. And as the charging is carried out, the terminal voltage of the rechargeable battery gradually rises, and when the terminal voltage of the rechargeable battery reaches the cut-off voltage or the electric quantity reaches the threshold electric quantity, the first stage enters the second stage. In the second stage, the terminal voltage of the rechargeable battery is high, and the charging current is low in the constant-voltage charging mode, so that the constant-current charging mode is needed. The constant current charging mode is adopted to achieve higher charging voltage, and the charging rate is improved in the second stage; the present exemplary embodiment can further increase the charging current and the charging rate by adopting the parallel charging circuit in the constant current charging mode.

In an alternative implementation mode, the rechargeable battery can be charged in a sectional constant current charging mode, and different charging switching pieces can be correspondingly controlled at different stages to control the serial-parallel connection relation of N charging circuits, so that the requirements of constant current charging at different stages are met. For example, in the charging start stage, all charging switching pieces are placed in a second switching state, so that all charging circuits are connected in parallel to realize high charging current; when entering the next constant current charging stage, a part of charging switching pieces can be switched to a first switching state, so that a part of charging circuits are changed into series connection and then are connected with other charging circuits in parallel, thereby reducing the charging current and improving the charging voltage; with the gradual rise of the voltage of the rechargeable battery terminal, more charging switching pieces are continuously switched to a first switching state, so that more charging circuits are changed into series connection, the charging current is gradually reduced to correspond to different constant current charging stages, and the charging voltage is gradually increased, so that higher charging rate can be realized in each constant current charging stage, and the total charging time is shortened.

In an alternative embodiment, each charging circuit may include a charge pump for regulating the current and voltage of the charging circuit. Referring to fig. 3, taking the first charging circuit 1210 as an example, a charge pump 1211 may be disposed in the first charging circuit 1210, and after a current flows through the charge pump 1211, the voltage may be reduced, and the current may be increased, for example, the current obtained by the first charging circuit 1210 from the first charging interface 1310 is 10V/4A, and after entering the charge pump 1211, the current is converted into a current of 5V/8A, and finally flows into the rechargeable battery 110. The first charging circuit 1210 and the second charging circuit 1220 both provide a current of 5V/8A, thereby forming a charging power of 80W, which greatly increases the charging rate.

The charge pump can reduce voltage in the charging process, reduce power loss and improve charging conversion efficiency; the external inflow standardized current can be regulated according to actual requirements so as to adapt to different types of batteries or charging modes.

Generally, a charge pump generates high heat during charging. In the related art, a plurality of charge pumps are usually connected in parallel in one charging circuit, and the positions of the charge pumps are centralized, so that local heating is serious. In contrast, the charge pumps in the present exemplary embodiment are located in different charging circuits, so that the charge pumps can be disposed in a relatively dispersed manner, which is beneficial to improving the heat dissipation effect and reducing the local heat generation.

In an alternative embodiment, the charge switching element may be disposed at the rear end of the charge pump, i.e. in the connection line between the charge pump and the rechargeable battery, so as to switch between serial connection and parallel connection of the charge pumps of the plurality of charging circuits, i.e. between serial connection and parallel connection of the direct current power supplies of the plurality of charging circuits.

In an alternative embodiment, the charging device may further include N flexible circuit boards, which are in one-to-one correspondence with the charging circuits. Each charging circuit is connected to a rechargeable battery through a corresponding flexible circuit board. For example, the circuit portion at the rear end of the charge pump may be disposed on the flexible circuit board, that is, one end of the flexible circuit board is connected to the charge pump, and the other end is connected to the rechargeable battery, for example, a protection circuit of the rechargeable battery is disposed on the flexible circuit board, so as to connect the charge pump and the battery cell. Or the charging circuit may be partially or even entirely disposed on the flexible circuit board, such as the charge pump, depending on the actual structure of the charging circuit. The flexible circuit board can be freely bent and folded, is suitable for being arranged according to the inner space of the charging device, is favorable for realizing the assembly and connection integration of the inner components of the charging device, and is favorable for reducing the size of the charging device.

In an alternative embodiment, a function switching element may be provided at least one charging interface of the charging device for controlling the switching of the connection path of the at least one charging interface. For example, the function switching member may be a switch that controls on/off of the charging interface and the charging circuit, or controls switching of connection of the charging interface in a different circuit, such as switching from connecting the charging circuit to connecting other functional circuits, or the like. It should be noted that, a plurality of charging interfaces may be controlled by one function switching element, and different charging interfaces may also be controlled by different function switching elements.

In an alternative embodiment, the number of the function switching pieces may be N, and the function switching pieces are in one-to-one correspondence with the charging interfaces; each function switching piece is used for controlling the corresponding charging interface to switch the connecting passage. Referring to fig. 4, the charging device 100 includes a first function switching member 1510 and a second function switching member 1520. The first function switching element 1510 is disposed at a connection portion between the first charging interface 1310 and the first charging circuit 1210, when the first function switching element is closed, the first charging interface 1310 is connected to the first charging circuit 1210, so as to form charging, and when the first function switching element is opened, the first charging circuit 1210 is not used. The second function switching member 1520 has the same function and controls the on-off of the second charging interface 1320 and the second charging circuit 1220.

It should be noted that, the function switching element has a different function from the charging switching element, and the charging switching element is used for controlling the connection state between the charging circuits, such as switching between series connection and parallel connection; the function switching piece is used for controlling the connection state of the charging interface, such as the on-off of the charging interface and the charging circuit.

Through the arrangement of the function switching piece, more flexible control can be realized in the charging process, for example, when the temperature of the rechargeable battery is detected to be higher, the connection between a part of charging circuits and the charging interface can be properly disconnected, the number of actually charged circuits is reduced, and thus, the charging current is reduced. Further, by switching the charging interface to be connected to a circuit other than the charging circuit, the charging interface can be fully utilized.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure also provide an electronic device, which may be the above-described smart phone, tablet computer, portable game machine, wearable device, unmanned aerial vehicle, camera, or the like. Referring to fig. 5, the electronic device 200 may include: a housing 210 and the charging device 100. Wherein the charging interfaces 1310, 1320 of the charging device 100 are located on the housing 210, and other parts of the charging device 100 are located in the housing 210. The rechargeable battery 110 may be used to power the electronic device 200. Accordingly, based on the quick charge of the charging device 100, the quick charge of the electronic apparatus 200 can be achieved.

Each charging interface may be disposed at any position on the housing of the electronic device, for example, all of the charging interfaces may be disposed on a lower bezel, or different charging interfaces may be disposed on different bezels.

In an alternative embodiment, referring to fig. 6, the charging device 100 includes a first charging circuit 1210 and a second charging circuit 1220, a first charging interface 1310 and a second charging interface 1320. In the electronic device 200, the first charging interface 1310 is disposed on an upper frame of the housing 210, and the second charging interface 1320 is disposed on a lower frame.

Referring to fig. 6, the electronic device 200 may further include a motherboard 220 and a small board 230. Motherboard 220 and die 230 are two circuit boards within electronic device 200 that house different components. For example, motherboard 220 may have integrated thereon one or more of a processor, memory, camera module, sensor module; one or more of a speaker, microphone, keys, indicators may be integrated onto the tablet 230. Motherboard 220 and platelet 230 are distributed at different locations within electronic device 200, e.g., motherboard 220 is located at an upper portion, near an upper bezel, and platelet 230 is located at a lower portion, near a lower bezel. The first charging circuit 1210 is located on the motherboard 220, and the second charging circuit 1220 is located on the small board 230. The charging circuit is one of main heating sources in the charging process, and the two charging circuits are respectively arranged on different circuit boards, so that the metal heat conduction performance of the circuit boards can be fully utilized, the heat dissipation effect is improved, and the equipment temperature control is optimized.

In an alternative embodiment, the charging device may include N function switching elements, where the function switching elements are in one-to-one correspondence with the charging interfaces. When the function switching piece is switched to a third switching state, the corresponding charging interface is connected with the charging circuit; when the function switching piece is switched to the fourth switching state, the corresponding charging interface is connected with a functional module of the electronic equipment, such as an audio module and the like. Therefore, the functions of the charging interfaces can be expanded, and each charging interface can be used as a socket of the functional module, so that more full and effective utilization is realized.

As illustrated in fig. 7, the charging device 100 includes a first function switching member 1510 and a second function switching member 1520, and both the function switching members can be switched to a third switching state or a fourth switching state. Taking the first function switching element 1510 as an example, when it switches to the third switching state (the solid line position in fig. 7), the first charging interface 1310 is connected to the first charging circuit 1210 to form charging; when it is switched to the fourth switching state (the position of the dotted line in fig. 7), the first charging interface 1310 is connected to the audio module 240, where the first charging interface 1310 may be used to insert an audio device such as a headset, a speaker, etc. It should be noted that, different function switches may be in different switch states, for example, the first function switch 1510 is in the third switch state, so that the first charging interface 1310 is used for charging, and the second function switch 1520 is in the fourth switch state, so that the second charging interface 1320 is used for inserting the earphone.

In the related art, the charging interface and the earphone interface of most electronic devices such as smartphones are combined into one (for example, USB Type-C interface of Android device and lighting interface of iOS device), so that the interfaces are occupied and the earphone cannot be inserted during charging. In the present exemplary embodiment, a plurality of charging interfaces are provided, and in the charging process, a user may set aside a charging interface to connect with the earphone, so as to meet the requirements of audio and video, and realize listening to music or watching video while charging.

The first and second switching states are position switching states of the charging switching element, the third and fourth switching states are position switching states of the function switching element, and the two types of position switching states are independent of each other. In addition, more position switching states may be set for the charging switch, or more position switching states may be set for the function switch, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a charging method that may be used to control the above-described charging device. Fig. 8 shows an exemplary flow of the charging method, which may include:

step S810, determining a charging interface which is powered on in N charging interfaces of the charging device;

Step S820, controlling the charging circuit corresponding to the charging interface with the power on to charge the rechargeable battery.

Wherein, the power on of the charging interface means: the charging interface is inserted into a charger, and the charger is connected with a power supply. A current or voltage detection element may be provided at the charging interface to detect whether the charging interface is powered on. When the charging interface is connected with a power supply, the corresponding charging circuit can be controlled to form a passage so as to realize charging. Therefore, the user can selectively connect different charging interfaces with the power supply according to actual demands, for example, when the electric quantity of the rechargeable battery is very low, the user connects all the charging interfaces with the power supply to achieve the maximum charging power and speed, and when the electric quantity reaches a certain value, the user can disconnect a part of the charging interfaces.

In an alternative embodiment, the charging method may further include the steps of:

and controlling a charging switching piece of the charging device to control two adjacent charging circuits in the N charging circuits to switch between series connection and parallel connection.

For example, the charging switch may be controlled according to the current charging mode, for example, when the system determines that the first charging mode is adopted, the charging switch is triggered to switch to the first switching state to form a series connection of two adjacent charging circuits, and when the system determines that the second charging mode is adopted, the system triggers the charging switch to the second switching state to form a parallel connection of two adjacent charging circuits; the first charging mode may be a constant voltage charging mode, and the second charging mode may be a constant current charging mode. Thus, efficient intelligent charging can be realized.

In an alternative embodiment, the charging device may include N function switching elements, where the function switching elements are in one-to-one correspondence with the charging interfaces. Referring to fig. 9, the charging method may further include:

step S910, when detecting that the charging interface is powered on, the function switching element corresponding to the charging interface is switched to the third switching state, so that the charging interface is connected to the charging circuit corresponding to the charging interface.

The third switching state of the function switching member may be shown with reference to the solid line positions of the first function switching member 1510 and the function switching member 1520 in fig. 7. When the charging interface is detected to be powered on, a signal can be sent to the function switching element, for example, the signal can trigger the switching element to be placed in a high-resistance state, which corresponds to a third switching state, so that the charging interface is communicated with the charging circuit for charging.

In an alternative embodiment, referring to fig. 9, the charging method may further include:

step S920, when detecting that the charging interface is not powered on, switching the function switching element corresponding to the charging interface to a fourth switching state, so that the charging interface is connected with the function module.

The fourth switching state of the function switching member may be shown with reference to the dashed positions of the first and second function switching members 1510 and 1520 in fig. 7. In the fourth switching state, the charging interface is connected with the functional modules such as audio and the like to realize other functions except charging.

In an alternative embodiment, the switching of the function switch may also be controlled by detecting whether the charging interface is plugged into the audio device. Specifically, when the charging interface is detected not to be inserted into the audio equipment, the function switching piece corresponding to the charging interface is switched to a third switching state, so that the charging interface is connected with the charging circuit; when the charging interface is detected to be inserted into the audio equipment, the function switching piece corresponding to the charging interface is switched to a fourth switching state, so that the charging interface is connected with the audio module.

In an alternative embodiment, the control command related to the switching may also be displayed in the user interface, for example, the current connection state of each charging interface is displayed, and the user may select to connect to the charging circuit or the audio module, thereby controlling the third switching state or the fourth switching state to which the corresponding function switching element is switched.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure also provide another electronic device, including: processor, memory, and above-mentioned charging device. The memory is used for storing executable instructions of the processor and can also store application data. The processor is configured, when executing the executable instructions, to implement the above-described charging method, as performing the method steps shown in fig. 8 or 9.

The configuration of the above-described electronic device will be exemplarily described below using the mobile terminal 1000 in fig. 10 as an example.

As shown in fig. 10, the mobile terminal 1000 may specifically include: processor 1010, internal memory 1021, external memory interface 1022, USB interfaces 1031 and 1032, charge management module 1040, power management module 1041, rechargeable battery 1042, antenna 1, antenna 2, mobile communication module 1050, wireless communication module 1060, audio module 1070, speaker 1071, receiver 1072, microphone 1073, ear speaker interface 1074, sensor module 1080, display screen 1090, camera module 1091, indicator 1092, motor 1093, keys 1094, and SIM (Subscriber Identification Module, subscriber identity module) card interface 1095, and the like.

The processor 1010 may include one or more processing units, such as: the processor 1010 may include an AP (Application Processor ), modem processor, GPU (Graphics Processing Unit, graphics processor), ISP (Image Signal Processor ), controller, encoder, decoder, DSP (Digital Signal Processor ), baseband processor, and/or NPU (Neural-Network Processing Unit, neural network processor), and the like.

In some implementations, processor 1010 may include one or more interfaces through which connections are made with other components of mobile terminal 1000.

The internal memory 1021 may be used to store computer executable program code including instructions. The processor 1010 performs various functional applications and data processing of the mobile terminal 1000 by executing instructions stored in the internal memory 1021 and/or instructions stored in a memory provided in the processor.

External memory interface 1022 may be used to connect external memory, such as a Micro SD card, to enable expansion of the memory capabilities of mobile terminal 1000. The external memory communicates with the processor 1010 through an external memory interface 1022 to perform data storage functions, such as storing files of music, video, etc.

USB interfaces 1031 and 1032 are two interfaces that conform to the USB standard specification, and may be used to connect a charger to charge mobile terminal 1000, and may also connect headphones or other electronic devices.

The charge management module 1040 is for receiving charge input from a charger. In an alternative embodiment, the charging management module 1040 may control the function switching element corresponding to the USB interface 1031 or the USB interface 1032 to switch the USB interface 1031 or the USB interface 1032 to be connected to the charging circuit or the audio module 1070. In an alternative embodiment, the charge management module 1040 may also control the charging circuitry, such as adjusting the settings of the charge pump, to optimize the charging voltage and current.

The charging management module 1040 may also supply power to the device through the power management module 1041 while charging the rechargeable battery 1042; the power management module 1041 may also monitor the status of the rechargeable battery 1042.

The wireless communication function of the mobile terminal 1000 can be implemented by the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 1050, the wireless communication module 1060, a modem processor, a baseband processor, and the like. The antennas 1 and 2 are used for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals. The mobile communication module 1050 may provide a solution for wireless communication, including 2G/3G/4G/5G, applied to the mobile terminal 1000. The wireless communication module 1060 may provide wireless communication solutions including WLAN (Wireless Local Area Networks, wireless local area network) (e.g., wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity, wireless fidelity) network), BT (Bluetooth), GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System ), FM (Frequency Modulation, frequency modulation), NFC (Near Field Communication, short range wireless communication technology), IR (Infrared technology), etc. applied on the mobile terminal 1000.

The mobile terminal 1000 can display a user interface by implementing a display function through a GPU, a display 1090, an AP, and the like.

The mobile terminal 1000 may realize a photographing function through an ISP, a camera module 1091, an encoder, a decoder, a GPU, a display 1090, an AP, etc., and may also realize an audio function through an audio module 1070, a speaker 1071, a receiver 1072, a microphone 1073, an earphone interface 1074, an AP, etc.

The sensor module 1080 may include a depth sensor 1081, a pressure sensor 1082, a gyroscope sensor 1083, a barometric sensor 1084, etc. to implement different sensing functions.

The indicator 1092 may be an indicator light, which may be used to indicate a state of charge, a change in charge, an indication message, a missed call, a notification, or the like. The motor 1093 may generate vibration cues, may also be used for touch vibration feedback, and the like. The keys 1094 include a power key, a volume key, and the like.

The mobile terminal 1000 can support one or more SIM card interfaces 1095 for interfacing with a SIM card for voice and data communications, among other functions.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer readable storage medium, which may be implemented in the form of a program product comprising program code for causing a processor of an electronic device to perform the above-described charging method, as shown in fig. 8 or 9, when the program product is run on the electronic device. The readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The program product may employ any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium can be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or a combination of any of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, random Access Memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The computer readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave with readable program code embodied therein. Such a propagated data signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium that is not a readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Program code for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computing device, partly on the user's device, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computing device, partly on a remote computing device, or entirely on the remote computing device or server. In the case of remote computing devices, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device through any kind of network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., connected via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any adaptations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following the general principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be effected without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A charging device, characterized by comprising:

a rechargeable battery having a cell;

n charging circuits, N is a positive integer not less than 2; and

the charging interfaces are in one-to-one correspondence with the charging circuits;

one end of each charging circuit is connected with the corresponding charging interface, and the other end of each charging circuit is connected with the rechargeable battery;

a charging switching piece is arranged between two adjacent charging circuits in the N charging circuits and used for controlling the two adjacent charging circuits to switch between series connection and parallel connection;

when the charging switching piece is in a first switching state, the negative electrode of one of the two adjacent charging circuits is communicated with the positive electrode of the other charging circuit so as to form a series connection of the two adjacent charging circuits; when the charging switching piece is in a second switching state, the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the two adjacent charging circuits are connected to the rechargeable battery to form parallel connection of the two adjacent charging circuits;

In the charging starting stage, all the charging switching pieces are placed in the second switching state; gradually switching more and more charging switching pieces to the first switching state along with gradual rise of terminal voltage of the rechargeable battery;

each charging interface is provided with a function switching piece, and the function switching pieces are in one-to-one correspondence with the charging interfaces; when the function switching piece is switched to a third switching state, the corresponding charging interface is connected with a charging circuit; when the function switching piece is switched to a fourth switching state, the corresponding charging interface is connected with a function module of the electronic equipment; the state of the function switching member is controlled by a user interface.

2. The charging device of claim 1, wherein each of said charging circuits includes a charge pump for regulating the current and voltage of said charging circuit.

3. The charging device of claim 1, further comprising N flexible circuit boards, the flexible circuit boards in one-to-one correspondence with the charging circuits;

wherein each of the charging circuits is connected to the rechargeable battery through the corresponding flexible circuit board.

4. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the charging switch comprises a single pole double throw switch.

5. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the number of the charging switching members is 2N-2, and two charging switching members are provided between every two adjacent charging circuits.

6. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the N charging circuits are in series when the charging device is in a first charging mode;

when the charging device is in the second charging mode, the N charging circuits are connected in parallel.

7. The charging device of claim 6, wherein the first charging mode comprises a constant voltage charging mode and the second charging mode comprises a constant current charging mode.

8. The charging device of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the charging interface comprises a universal serial bus port.

9. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing;

a charging device according to any one of claims 1 to 8;

the charging interface of the charging device is located on the shell, and other parts of the charging device are located in the shell.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the charging means comprises two charging circuits and two charging interfaces.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, further comprising:

a motherboard and a small board;

one of the two charging circuits is positioned on the main board, and the other charging circuit is positioned on the small board.

12. A charging method for controlling the charging device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 to charge a rechargeable battery; the method comprises the following steps:

determining a charging interface which is powered on in N charging interfaces of the charging device;

and controlling a charging circuit corresponding to the charging interface of the connected power supply to charge the rechargeable battery.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

when the charging interface is detected to be powered on, the function switching piece corresponding to the charging interface is switched to a third switching state, so that the charging interface is connected with the charging circuit corresponding to the charging interface.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

When the charging interface is detected to be not powered on, the function switching piece corresponding to the charging interface is switched to a fourth switching state, so that the charging interface is connected with the function module.

16. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

a charging device according to any one of claims 1 to 8;

wherein the processor is configured to: