GB2535328A

GB2535328A - A battery assembly, and a battery carriage for use in a power tool and a battery charger

Info

Publication number: GB2535328A
Application number: GB1602225.3A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Rowe Tyler; Miller Stuart; Luke Jenkins J; Corbin Matthew; Norton Nicholas; Campbell Sean; j bowen Daniel; Keith Long Charles
Original assignee: Techtronic Industries Co Ltd
Current assignee: Techtronic Industries Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-02-10
Filing date: 2016-02-08
Publication date: 2016-08-17
Anticipated expiration: 2036-02-08
Also published as: FR3032558B3; FR3032558A3; GB2535328B; GB201602225D0; DE202016100637U1; AU2016100139A4

Abstract

Battery assembly 100 for a power tool, comprising a casing 102 containing a battery 104 and having a connection terminal 106 for communication with the tool. The casing has a handle 108 and a fixing structure 110, and can be fixed to a fixing member 114 on a carriage 112 on a power tool using the fixing structure. The assembly may comprise a controller board 116 with its own connection terminal. The member on the carriage may comprise ribs 122, with the structure on the casing comprising corresponding grooves 124. Additionally or alternatively, the member may comprise a tongue 128 and the structure may comprise a corresponding slot 126. The casing may be substantially cuboid. Also provided are a carriage for attaching a battery assembly to a power tool, and a charger to which a battery assembly may be attached.

Description

A Battery Assembly, and A Battery Carriage for Use in a Power tool and A Battery Charger

Technical Field

This invention relates to a battery assembly and a battery carriage for use in power tools and more specifically, relates to a battery carriage with open structures for use in power tools and a battery assembly for use in power tools.

Background art

Battery assembly(s) may be installed in a battery compartment provided in power tools when a user needs to operate a power tool with a cordless power source. The battery compartment is usually provided with a fixed size to accommodate battery assembly(s) with a specific matching size. Some power tools may be driven by a larger energy source, thus the size and weight of the battery assembly will correspondently increase and the compartment provided in the power tools also correspondently needs to he enlarged so as to accommodate the battery assembly with larger size. Therefore the size of the power tools will also become larger. Besides, a greater effort is required to move or install the heavy battery assembly to the tools, which may cause strain to the users and causes the operation for the cordless power tools with become less sufficient.

Summary of the invention

Therefore, this invention provides embodiments of a battery assembly and a battery carriage for use in power tools to overcome the above-mentioned technical problems.

In one aspect, this invention provides a battery assembly for use in a power tool, comprising: a battery assembly casing; a battery deposited in the battery assembly casing; and a battery connection terminal arranged to electrically communicate with a driving component of the power tool and the battery in the battery assembly casing; characterized in that: a battery assembly handle and a battery assembly fixing structure are provided on the battery assembly casing; wherein the battery assembly is arranged to be detachably fixed on a battery carriage provided on the power tool; when upon the battery assembly is positioned on the battery carriage, the battery assembly fixing structure is arranged to cooperate with a battery assembly fixing member provided on the battery carriage so as to fix the battery assembly on the battery carriage, and the battery electrically communicates with the driving component via the battery connection terminal.

Preferably, the battery assembly further comprises a battery controller hoard arranged to control the operation of the battery assembly.

Preferably, the battery controller hoard is provided with a battery assembly connection terminal.

Preferably, the battery assembly fixing member comprises a rib structure and the battery assembly fixing structure comprises a groove structure arrange to cooperate with the rib structure on the battery carriage.

Preferably, the battery assembly fixing member comprises a locking tongue and the battery assembly fixing structure comprises a locking slot arranged to cooperate with the locking tongue of the battery carriage.

Preferably, the battery assembly casing is in a substantially cuboid shape.

In another aspect, this invention provides a battery carriage for a power tool, wherein the battery carriage is arranged to separately fix a battery assembly to the power tool, comprising: a battery carriage casing; a battery assembly fixing member provided on the battery carriage casing; and a connection terminal arranged to electrically communicate with a driving component of the power tool and the battery assembly; characterized in that: a battery assembly fixing structure is provided on the battery assembly; when upon the battery assembly is positioned on the battery carriage, the battery assembly fixing member is arranged to cooperate with the battery assembly fixing structure so as to fix the battery assembly on the battery carriage, and the battery assembly electrically communicates with the driving component via the battery connection terminal.

Preferably, the battery assembly fixing member comprises a rib structure and the battery assembly fixing structure comprises a groove structure arranged to cooperate with the rib structure on the battery carriage.

Preferably, the battery assembly fixing member comprises a locking tongue and the battery assembly fixing structure comprises a locking slot arranged to match with the locking tongue of the battery carriage.

Preferably, the battery assembly fixing member also comprises an actuator configured to release the lock caused by the cooperation of the locking tongue and the locking slot.

Preferably, the battery assembly fixing member also comprises an resilient member configured to restore the locking tongue and/or the actuator when the actuator is released.

Preferably, the battery carriage comprises an at least partially open structure and when the battery assembly is mounted on the battery carriage, at least a portion of the battery assembly is not surrounded by the battery carriage casing.

In another aspect, this invention provides a battery charger arranged to recharge a battery assembly for use in power tool, comprising: a battery charger casing; a battery assembly fixing member provided on the battery charger casing; and a connection terminal arranged to electrically communicate with a charging circuit of the battery charger and the battery assembly; characterized in that: a battery assembly fixing structure is provided on the battery assembly; when upon the battery assembly is positioned on the battery charger, the battery assembly fixing member is arranged to cooperate with the battery assembly fixing structure so as to fix the battery assembly on the battery charger, and the battery assembly electrically communicates with the charging circuit via the battery connection terminal.

Preferably, the battery charger comprises a battery carriage in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; and the battery carriage casing forms at least a portion of the battery charger casing.

Therefore, the battery assembly and the battery carriage for use in power tools in this invention provides a number of advantages, among which one is that the battery carriage with open structure can contain and mount battery assemblies with different shapes and sizes so as to enable the users to connect battery assembly with different sizes to operate the power tools in accordance with different requirements. The battery assembly fixing member on the battery carriage consists of simple and effective members/structures which can firmly connect to the battery assembly and allow the users to mount the battery assembly on the battery carriage easily with these fixing members or to unload the battery assembly quickly by unlocking the battery assembly using the button/actuator on the battery carriage. Meanwhile, the battery carriage can be implemented in different power tools, so the battery assembly and battery carriage for use in power tools are suitable for any type of power tools. Besides, the battery assembly has a handle, so the user can use the handle to hold the battery assembly with a certain weight and avoid unnecessary strain established on the user's body during mounting and demounting operations or when moving of the battery assembly, which provides great convenience for the users to handle the power tools and improves the efficiency of the operation.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Further understanding for the property and the advantage of this invention can he obtained by referring to the resting part and drawing of the specification; and the same member in these figures are denoted with the same reference number. Under some circumstances, the suffix appending a reference number is used to show one among the many similar components. When a reference number without specifying an already existing suffix is used, it refers to all of these similar components.

Fig. 1 shows the perspective view of the battery assembly and battery carriage in one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 shows the perspective view of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows another angle perspective view of the battery assembly shown by Fig. Fig. 4 shows the perspective view of the bottom of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 2; Fig. 5 shows the decomposition perspective view of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 2; Fig. 6 shows the perspective view of the internal members of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 2; Fig. 7 shows another angle perspective view of the internal members of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 6; Fig. 8 shows the side view of the internal members of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 6; Fig. 9 shows another angle view of the internal members of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 6; Fig. 10 shows the perspective view of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 1; Fig. 11 shows another angle view of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 10; Fig. 12 shows the front view of the battery assembly shown by Fig. 10; Fig. 13 shows the cross-section perspective view of the battery carriage shown by Fig. 10; Fig. 14 shows the cross-section perspective view of the battery carriage shown by Fig. 13; Fig. 15 shows the cross-section perspective view of the battery carriage shown by Fig. 10 when it is another operational state; Fig. 16 shows the cross-section perspective view of the battery carriage shown by Fig. 15; Fig. 17 shows the perspective view of the battery charger in one embodiment of this invention; Fig. 18 shows another angle perspective view of the battery charger shown by Fig. 17; Fig. 19 shows the front vies of the battery charger shown by Fig. 17; and Fig. 20 shows the perspective view of the internal members of the battery charger shown by Fig. 17.

Description of Embodiments

The embodiments in this invention adopt the battery assembly and the battery carriage for use in power tools. Other different merits and advantages provided by each embodiment of this invention can be learned easily from the following di sc losures.

Referring to Fig. 1 to 9, this invention provides a battery assembly 100 for use in a power tool, comprising: a battery assembly casing 102; a battery 104 deposited in the battery assembly casing 102; and a battery connection terminal 106 arranged to electrically communicate with a driving component of the power tool and the battery 104 in the battery assembly casing 102; wherein a battery assembly handle 108 and a battery assembly fixing structure 110 are provided on the battery assembly casing 102; wherein the battery assembly 100 is arranged to separately fixed on a battery carriage 112 provided on the power tool; when upon the battery assembly 100 is positioned on the battery carriage 112, the battery assembly fixing structure 110 is arranged to cooperate with a battery assembly fixing member 114 provided on the battery carriage 112 so as to fix the battery assembly 100 on the battery carriage 112, and the battery 104 electrically communicates with the driving component via the battery connection terminal 106.

As is shown by Fig. 1 to 5, the battery assembly 100 mainly comprises the battery assembly casing 102 and the battery 104 that is configured within the battery assembly casing 102. The battery assembly casing 102 substantially comprises a front casing 102A and a casing 102B which are fixed firmly by the screws 102C or other known ways such as the snap-fit fastening, the adhesive and bolts. Preferably, the battery assembly casing 102 and the battery 104 may he made of any rigid materials, and the battery assembly casing 102 has certain strength to fix and protect the battery 104 within the battery assembly casing 102. Preferably, the battery assembly casing 102 is in a substantially cuboid shape, which is suitable to contain the battery 104 with the same substantially cuboid shape and the assembly 120 consisted by other members such as the battery controller board 116 and the wire 118. Or, the battery assembly casing 102 may be in other shapes with different forms to contain the assembly 120 consisted by different forms by other combinations/arrangements. Alternatively, the battery assembly casing 102 can be made up by other different combinations/amounts of pieces of casings to form a battery assembly casing 102 substantially entire-surrounding the assembly 120 having the battery 104 and other internal members as shown in the above-mentioned example.

Preferably, the battery assembly casing 102 is provided with a battery assembly handle 108. As shown by Fig. 5, the battery assembly handle 108 may be attached to the surface above the battery assembly casing 102 or any one of the surfaces and is fixed firmly to the battery assembly casing 102 with screws 108C (or the above-mentioned other ways). The battery assembly handle 108 and the battery assembly casing 102 are made with the same plastics or the same rigid materials or other different materials. Alternatively, the battery assembly handle 108 can be integrally formed on the battery assembly casing 102. Optionally, the surface of the battery assembly handle 108 may he wrapped by anti-skid materials or the surface may be defined with anti-skid texture. Preferably, the users can use the battery assembly handle 108 to hold the battery assembly 100 so there is no need to hold/move/install and uninstall the battery assembly 100 of certain weight with gestures that may not he ergonomic and therefore minimizing the strain to the users caused by unsuitable gestures or damage to the battery assembly 100/power tools caused by inappropriate operations.

Preferably, the battery assembly casing 102 comprises a fixing structure 110. As shown in Fig. 1, the battery assembly 100 can be configured to be separably fixed on the battery carriage 112 such as on the battery carriage 112 of the power tools. For example, when the battery assembly 100 is placed on the mentioned battery carriage 112, the fixing structure 110 of the battery assembly cooperates with the battery assembly fixing member 114 on the battery carriage 112 of the power tools to fix the battery assembly 100 to the battery carriage 112. Referring to Fig. 2 to 3, the battery assembly fixing structure 110 on the battery assembly casing 102 may comprise a groove structure 124 that matches with the rib structure 122 on the battery carriage 112, and/or a locking slot 126 that matches with the locking tongue 128 of the battery carriage 112. The specific operation of these fixing structures 110 and fixing members 114 will be explained in more details in other examples.

Preferably, the battery assembly 100 also comprises a battery assembly connection terminal 106 and a battery controller board 116 controlled by the battery assembly 100. As shown by Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, the battery assembly connection terminal 106 of the battery assembly is positioned on the battery controller board 116 within the battery assembly casing 102 and is configured to connect with another group of connection terminal 132 (such as the connection terminal connected to the driving assembly of the power tools) through an opening 130 placed substantially near the bottom of the battery assembly casing 102. The battery assembly connection terminal 106 comprises at least one metallic member having a clamp structure. For example, the four metal clamps 106 as shown in the drawings are connected to the corresponding four connection pins (such as power supply (+), power supply (-), information (+), information (-) or other possible pin definitions) on the power tools. Preferably, this design may decrease the connecting leads between the battery assembly connection terminal 106 and the battery controller board 116 / the battery 104 so as to simplify the manufacturing process of the battery assembly 100. According the different circuit design/application requirements, the battery assembly 100 may not include a battery controller board 116 while the battery 104 can be connected directly to the battery assembly connection terminal 106 and electrically connected to the driving assembly of the power tools through the battery assembly connection terminal 106. Alternatively, the battery assembly connection terminal 106 can be located in other positions. For example, the battery assembly connection terminal 106 may be provided on the battery assembly casing 102 and may be connected to the battery controller board 116 and/or the battery 104 within the battery assembly casing 102 via additional electrical connection means.

The battery controller hoard 116 can control the operation of the battery assembly 100 such as controlling the operation parameters including operation voltage, electricity, power, etc. during discharging or charging, or it can generate suitable adjustments/conversions (such as increasing/decreasing the voltage and stabilizing the voltage/current) to the output power such that the power is most suitable for the operation of power tools and/or the charging/discharging operation of the battery 104. Besides, the battery controller board 116 may be arranged to monitor the operation condition of the battery assembly 100 on different parameters such as the temperature of the battery/battery assembly 100, the operation voltage, the current, the power and the remaining capacity. As shown by Fig. 2 and Fig. 5, the battery controller hoard comprises at least one indicator 116L operable to indicate/display the operation condition of the battery assembly 100 such as the operation condition of charging/discharging and the remaining capacity. The indicators 116L may be observed by users through the opening or a translucent portion of the battery assembly casing 102. Besides, a switch 116P is deposited beside the indicator(s) 116L. Users may press the switch 116P through the actuating part 102P on the battery assembly casing 102 to operate the battery assembly 100. The four indicators 116L shown as examples can indicate the remaining capacity of the battery assembly 100. When the user presses the switch 116P, the indicator 116L (such as two indicators may light up when half capacity was remained) indicating the remaining capacity, so the user may perform charging/discharging operations in accordance with the remaining capacity.

As is shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 9, the battery assembly 100 comprises a plurality of batteries 104. These batteries 104 are in a substantially cylindrical shape and arranged in specific arrays such as a 4x8 matrix shown by these embodiments which are electrically connected with specific connection ways such as in series and/or parallel configurations. The electrical connections among the various batteries 104 can be those with the connection members 134 shown as 2x2 (134A), 1x4 (134B) or 1x2 (134C) in the figures and the batteries are connected to the battery controller board 116. As examples, 32 batteries with the operation voltage of 3.6 V can be connected in the way of 2 in parallels and 16 in series to the form a battery 104 with an operation voltage to be 58 V and the power may be transferred to the connected power tools through suitable adjustments/conversions by the battery controller hoard 116 and thus drives the driving assembly. Preferably, the arrays consisted by various batteries 104 are supported by the fixing mount 136 while other members such as connection members 134 and the battery controller board 116 can be installed on the fixing mount 136 to constitute the battery assembly 120. Besides, the battery assembly 120 can also be configured to contain other connection members such as the flexible wire 118 to connect to the different battery 104 and/or the battery controller board 116. Alternatively, the battery assembly 100 can comprise different amounts or different shapes (such as tabulate) of the battery 104 in such rechargeable batteries or single-use batteries as one or more polymer lithium batteries, lithium ion batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries and nickel-cadmium batteries and constitute the battery assembly 120 with different shapes, operation voltages, current, power and electric capacity in the same or different connection ways of tandem and/or parallel.

Referring to Fig. 1, Fig. 10 and Fig. 16, this invention provides a battery carriage 112 for a power tool, wherein the battery carriage 112 is arranged to separately fix a battery assembly 100 to the power tool, comprising: a battery carriage casing 138; a battery assembly fixing member 114 provided on the battery carriage casing 138; and a connection terminal 132 arranged to electrically communicate with a driving component of the power tool and the battery assembly 100; wherein a battery assembly fixing structure 110 is provided on the battery assembly 100; when upon the battery assembly 100 is positioned on the battery carriage 138, the battery assembly fixing member 114 is arranged to cooperate with the battery assembly fixing structure 110 so as to fix the battery assembly 100 on the battery carriage 138, and the battery assembly 100 electrically communicates with the driving component via the connection terminal 132.

As shown in Fig. 10 and Fig. 12, the battery carriage 112 comprises a battery carriage casing 138 having a main portion 138A and a bottom portoin 138B as well as side portions 138C. The materials for making the battery carriage casing 138 are preferably plastics or other materials with certain strength. Preferably, the internal surface of the battery carriage casing 138 is provided with the battery assembly fixing member 114, which includes a rib structure 122 configured within the side portion 138C and a groove structure 124 configured to match with the side of the battery assembly 100 shown by Fig. 1 to 4, so as to fix the battery assembly 100 to the battery carriage 112 and prohibiting movement in the left, right, forward or backward direction of the battery assembly 100 relative to the battery carriage 112. At the same time, the fixing structures may ensure that only a suitable battery assembly 100 may be installed to the right position of the battery carriage 112 in the right direction. As shown in the figure, each of the left and right side portions 138C of the battery carriage casing 138 comprises a rib structure 122, which is for matching with the groove structures 124 on both the left and right side portions of the battery assembly casing 102. Or the battery carriage 112 can be provided with groove structures to cooperate with rib structures provided on the battery assembly 100. Optionally, the battery carriage 112 and the battery assembly 100 may different numbers of ribs/groove structure in corresponding positions. Preferably, the rib structure 122 may be integrally formed with the battery carriage casing 138 or may be provided on the surface of the battery carriage casing 138 by different connecting means. Preferably, the battery carriage 112 comprises an at least partially open structure. When the battery assembly 100 is fixed on the battery carriage 112, at least a portion of the battery assembly 100 is not surrounded by the battery carriage casing 138. Preferably, the open structure may allow the battery carriage 112 to contain battery assemblies with different sizes/capacities such as ones with the same operation voltage of 58 V with 16 cells, 48 cells or 64 cells, therefore it may fit different applications.

Optionally, the battery carriage casing 138 is provided with mounting holes 140 which may cooperate fixing members such as the screw to mount the battery carriage 112 to the different casings/surfaces such as the casing of the power tools. Or the battery carriage 112 may he fixed/installed on the casing of the power tools by other fixing means. The battery carriage casing 138 may also be integrally formed with other casings or members of the power tool.

Preferably, the battery carriage 112 further comprises connection terminal 132. As shown in Fig. 10-12, the connection terminal is located on the main portion 138A at a position substantially near the bottom part 138B of the battery carriage casing 138 and includes the metal pins passing through the external surface 138E and internal surface 1381 of the battery carriage casing 138. For example, one end of the connection terminal 132 located on the external surface 138E of the battery carriage casing 138 and is arranged to connect the driving assembly of the power tools (or the control circuit/member of the power tools) while the other end of the connection terminal 132 is located on the internal surface 1381 of the battery carriage casing 138 and is arranged to connect the battery assembly 100. The battery assembly connection terminal 106 is provided on the battery assembly 100 shown as Fig. 1 to 4, and when the battery assembly is mounted to the battery carriage 112, the battery carriage 100 connects to the driving assembly through the connection terminal 132. The connection terminal 132 may comprise more than one metal pins and a shape corresponds to the connection terminal to be connected. For example, the connection terminal 132 may comprise four of metal pins, corresponding to the metal clamps of power supply (+), power supply (-), information (+), information (-) pins of the battery assembly 100 respectively as shown in Fig. 1 to 4 and/or the metal clamp within the power tools. Alternatively, the connection of the connection terminal 132 and the driving assembly in the power tools (or the controlling circuit/member of the power tools) can be completed by other means such as soldering.

Preferably, the fixing member 114 of the battery assembly further comprises a locking tongue 126. Referring to Fig. 10 to 16, the locking tongue 126 comprises a certain length and is located on the external surface 138E on the main portion 138A of the battery carriage casing 138. It penetrates the main portion 138A of the battery carriage casing 138 through an opening and extrudes to the internal surface 1381. Preferably, the locking tongue 126 may be made of the same material as those in the battery carriage casing 138 or by different materials. The locking tongue can comprise a cross-section with a substantially "L" or "T" shape and is hinged to the battery carriage casing 138 on the external surface 138E of the main portion 138A so that the locking tongue 126 may operate between a locking position (the locking tongue 126 extrudes to the internal surface 1381) and an unlocked position (the locking tongue 126 does not extrude to the internal surface 1381). When the battery assembly 100 is mounted on the battery carriage 112, the locking tongue 126 is configured to cooperate with the locking slot 128 of the battery assembly 100 so as to fix the battery assembly 100 on the battery carriage 112 and hence prevent the up and down movements of battery assembly 100 relative to the battery carriage 112.

Alternatively, the battery assembly fixing member 114 further comprises an actuator 142, which includes an unlocking tougue 142B extending downward from a press button part 142A, and is positioned on the external surface 138E of the main portion 138A of the battery carriage casing 138 above the upper locking tongue 126. As shown in Fig. 15 and Fig. 16, when the button 1 42A is pressed, the unlocking tongue 142B pushes the locking tongue 126 outward, and releases the lock caused by the cooperation of the locking tongue 126 of the battery carriage 112 and the locking slot 128 of the battery carriage 100, and hence allows the removal the battery assembly 100 from the battery carriage 112. The battery assembly fixing member 114 also comprises a resilient member 144 such as a torsional spring 144A arranged with the hinge of the locking tongue 126 and/or a compression spring 114B connecting the button 142A of the actuator 142, which is used to reset the locking tongue 126 and/or the actuator 142 when the actuator 142 (the button I 42A) is released. When the battery assembly 100 is mounted on the battery carriage 112 again, it will be locked on the battery carriage 112 by the cooperation of the extruding locking tongue 126 and the locking slot 128. Alternatively, the actuator 142 can he located differently to actuate the locking tongue 126.

In an example operation, a user may firstly use the handle 108 of the battery assembly to lift the battery assembly 100 and align the battery assembly 100 with the groove structure 124 on both sides of the battery assembly 100 aligning the rib 122 on both sides of the battery carriage 112, then mount the battery assembly 100 by sliding the battery assembly 100 downward to the bottom of the battery carriage 1 1 2 long the direction of the groove structure 124 and the rib structure 122. The locking tongue 116 pushed by torsional spring 144A, extrudes through the opening on the carriage and cooperates with the locking slot 128 to lock the battery assembly 100 to the battery carriage 112. Besides, the connection terminal 132 of the battery carriage 112 couples with the battery assembly connection terminal 106 so that the battery 104 within the battery assembly 100 and the driving assembly of the power tool can be electrically connected so as to drive the power tool. When the user needs to unmount the battery assembly 100 from the power tool/the battery carriage 112, the user may press the actuator 142/button 142A and release the lock of the battery assembly 100 and the battery carriage 112, and then lifts the battery assembly 100 relative to the battery carriage 112 with the battery assembly handle 108 and removes the battery assembly 100 from the battery carriage 112/power tools.

Referring to Fig. 1 and Fig. 17 to 20, this invention provides a battery charger 170 arranged to recharge a battery assembly 100 for use in power tool, comprising: a battery charger casing 172; a battery assembly fixing member 114 provided on the battery charger casing 172; and a connection terminal 132 arranged to electrically communicate with a charging circuit 174 of the battery charger 170 and the battery assembly 100; wherein a battery assembly fixing structure 110 is provided on the battery assembly 100; when upon the battery assembly 100 is positioned on the battery charger 170, the battery assembly fixing member 114 is arranged to cooperate with the battery assembly fixing structure 110 so as to fix the battery assembly 100 on the battery charger 170, and the battery assembly 100 electrically communicates with the charging circuit 174 via the battery connection terminal 132.

As shown in Fig. 17 to 20, the battery charger 170 comprises the battery carriage 112 as shown in Fig. 10. The battery carriage casing 138 of the battery carriage 112 may constitute part of the battery charger casing 172 and it may be integrally formed with the battery charger casing 172 or the battery carriage 112 may be mounted to the battery charger casing 172 by suitable fixing members such as the using screws mounted through the mounting holes 140. The battery charger casing 172 can be made up of the same or different materials with the battery carriage casing 138 in accordance with different requirements.

Referring to Fig. 20, the battery charger 170 comprises a charging circuit 174 that provided on a circuit board and converts power delivered to the battery charger 170 to power that is suitable for charging the battery assembly 100. For example, the charging circuit 174 may convert the 110V-220V alternating current supplied by the power line 176 connected to the power grid to direct current at about 58V (or any suitable charging voltage/current) and may deliver the direct current to charge the battery assembly 100. Optionally, the charging circuit 174 may include other functions such as monitoring the charging current, the voltage, the temperature and the remaining capacity of the battery assembly 100. Preferably, the charging circuit 174 is connected to the connection terminal 132 of the battery carriage 112 with connection wire 178, so when the battery assembly 100 is placed on the battery charger 170/the battery carriage 112, the battery assembly 100 and the charging circuit 178 are electrically connected with connection wire 178 through the connection terminal 132. The battery charger may also comprise other components such as a fan 180 for dissipating heat of the battery charger 170 and indicators 182 for indicating the charging state. In addition, the battery charger casing 172 may be provided with openings 184 in suitable positions to facilitate these heat dispassion/indication functions.

In an example operation, a user may firstly use the handle 108 of the battery assembly to lift the battery assembly 100 and align the battery assembly 100 with the groove structure 124 on both sides of the battery assembly 100 aligning the rib 122 on both sides of the battery carriage 112, then slide the battery assembly 100 downward to the bottom of the battery carriage 112 long the direction of the groove structure 124 and the rib structure 122. The locking tongue 116 is pushed by the torsional spring 144A and extrudes thought the opening on battery carriage and matches with the locking slot 128 so as to lock the battery assembly 100 on the battery charger 170 / the battery carriage 112. Besides, the connection terminal 132 of the battery charger 170 / the battery carriage 112 couples with the battery assembly connection terminal 106 so that the battery 104 within the battery assembly 100 and the charging circuit 174 of the battery charger 170 are electrically connected and the battery 104 starts receiving the charging power delivered from the charging circuit 174. When a user needs to unmount the battery assembly 100 from the battery charger 170 / the battery carriage 112, the user may press the actuator 142 / button 142A and release the lock of the battery assembly 100 and the battery charger 170 / the battery carriage 112, then lifts the battery assembly 100 relative to the battery charger 170 / the battery carriage 112 with the battery assembly handle 108 and remove the battery assembly 100 from the battery charger 170 / the battery carriage 112.

Therefore, by introducing several embodiments, those skilled in the art can know that all different changes as well as other structures and equivalents can be adopted without deviating from the essence of this invention. Correspondently, the above description shall not be regarded as the restrictions to the claims in this application defined by this invention.