JP2001006755A - Battery capacity check device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To check maximum battery capacity of a NiCd battery in an actual using condition. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a constant current circuit 52 discharging a battery 30 of a NiCd battery, a voltage detection circuit 51 for detecting termination voltage of the battery 30 and a timer circuit 60 for measuring discharge time from a discharge start by the constant current circuit 52 to a detection of termination voltage by the voltage detection circuit 51. Because a discharge time from the discharge start discharging the battery 30 to the detection of termination voltage by the voltage detection circuit 51 is measured, the maximum capacity of the battery 30 can be obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery capacity check device which requires a battery backup and is applicable to a computer system having a secondary battery capable of charging a battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Nickel cadmium (NiCd), which is called a NiCad battery, is used as a backup for memory in a computer.
Cd) Batteries are often used. Regarding the charging of the nickel-cadmium battery, full charge can be known from a voltage change and a temperature change.

[0003] However, the discharge voltage characteristics and temperature characteristics of the NiCd battery are flat, and there is no means for measuring the maximum capacity depending on the aging and the use environment.

[0004]

Therefore, when adopting a nickel-cadmium battery, it is only necessary to select a battery having a sufficient margin for the required capacity and to replace the battery at an early stage. Did not.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the current situation regarding the battery as described above, and an object thereof is to provide a battery capacity check device capable of checking the maximum capacity under actual use conditions of a battery. is there. Another object is to provide a battery capacity check device capable of checking the maximum capacity of a battery while maintaining a backup function.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a battery capacity check device, comprising: a battery; a constant current circuit for discharging the battery; a voltage detection circuit for detecting an end voltage of the battery; and a backup by the battery. One or more switches for switching between flowing a current from the battery to the backup circuit and flowing a current from the battery to the constant current circuit; and connecting the constant current circuit when connected to the constant current circuit by the switch. Means for checking a maximum capacity of the battery by measuring a discharge time from the start of discharge by the current circuit to the detection of the end voltage by the voltage detection circuit. Thus, the discharge time from the start of the discharge for discharging the battery to the detection of the end voltage by the voltage detection circuit is measured, and the maximum capacity of the battery can be obtained.

A battery capacity check device according to the present invention includes a battery, a constant current circuit for discharging the battery, and a flow of current from the battery to a backup circuit backed up by the battery, or a flow from the battery to the constant current circuit. One or more switches for switching whether current flows, discharging means for discharging the battery by the constant current circuit for a predetermined time when the switch is connected to the constant current circuit, and discharging by the discharging means And a voltage detection circuit for detecting the voltage of the battery at the end of the operation. Thus, the battery is discharged by the constant current circuit for a predetermined time, the voltage of the battery at the end of the discharge is detected, and it is possible to check whether the maximum capacity of the battery has a required capacity.

Further, in the battery capacity check device of the present invention, the battery is constituted by a backup dedicated battery and a capacity check dedicated battery, a backup circuit is backed up by the backup dedicated battery, and the capacity check dedicated battery is used. It is characterized by flowing a current to a constant current circuit. This makes it possible to cope with the need for a capacity check and a backup at the same time.

Further, in the battery capacity check device according to the present invention, the battery comprises a first battery and a second battery having the same characteristics as the first battery, and the backup circuit of the backup circuit is provided by one of the two batteries. And flowing current to the constant current circuit using the other battery. Thus, the two batteries can be exchanged for capacity check and backup.

Further, in the battery capacity check device of the present invention, the battery is constituted by n + 1 batteries having the same characteristics, and a current is supplied to a constant current circuit using any one of the n + 1 batteries; The backup circuit is backed up by the other n batteries. Thus, capacity check can be performed using one battery, and backup can be performed using another battery.

Further, by selecting one battery in order from the (n + 1) batteries and conducting a current check to the constant current circuit to check the capacity, a plurality of batteries are used in sequence.
It is possible to extend the life.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A battery capacity check device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each drawing, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted. FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a battery capacity check device according to the first embodiment. As shown in the figure, a backup circuit 40 composed of a memory of a computer system is backed up by a battery 30 composed of a NiCd battery or the like via a backup power supply line 9.

The battery 30 is connected to the backup circuit 4
0, one of the discharge circuit 50 and the charge circuit 70 via a charge switch 90. The switching of the charge switch 90 is controlled by the battery check control circuit 80.
And from the backup circuit 40 via the backup instruction control line 10.

The discharge circuit 50 includes a voltage detection circuit 51 and a constant current circuit 52. The voltage detection circuit 51 and the constant current circuit 52 can be connected to the battery 30 via a charge / discharge switch 90. . Voltage detection circuit 51
Monitors the voltage of the battery 30 and detects an end voltage when the battery 30 has finished discharging. The constant current circuit 52 is a load that discharges the battery 30 with a predetermined constant current. Note that the current flowing through the constant current circuit 52 does not need to be the same value as the current flowing through the backup circuit 40.

The timekeeping circuit 60 starts timekeeping in response to an instruction given from the battery check control circuit 80 via the timekeeping instruction control line 1, and terminates voltage given from the voltage detection circuit 51 via the voltage detection notification line 4. The timing is stopped by the arrival of the detection signal, and the time information from the start to the stop of the timing is supplied to the battery check control circuit 80 via the timing result reading line 2.

The operation of the battery capacity check device configured as described above will be described. This device uses a battery 30
Is the normal state, and the battery 30 is charged from the charging circuit 70 via the charging power supply line 5, the charge / discharge changeover switch 90, and the battery power supply line 6.
On the other hand, when a power failure or the like occurs on the backup circuit 40 side and the need for backup occurs, the backup circuit 40 switches the charge / discharge switch 90 via the backup instruction control line 10 so that the battery 30
Battery power line 6, charge / discharge changeover switch 90,
A voltage is applied to the backup circuit 40 via the backup power supply line 9 to perform backup.

When the backup circuit 40 does not switch the charge / discharge switch 90 via the backup instruction control line 10, the battery check control circuit 80 switches to the charge / discharge switch 90 via the charge / discharge switch control line 3. The instruction becomes valid, and the battery 30 is connected to the constant current circuit 52 via the battery power line 6, the charge / discharge switch 90, and the discharge power line 7. As a result, a constant current flows from the battery 30 to the constant current circuit 52. At this time, the voltage detection circuit 51 starts monitoring the discharge voltage via the discharge voltage detection line 8.

At the same time as switching the charge / discharge changeover switch 90, the battery check control circuit 80
An instruction to start timing by the timing circuit 60 is issued via the timing instruction control line 1. As a result, the clock circuit 60 is reset and starts clocking. On the other hand, the voltage detection circuit 51 monitors the discharge voltage via the discharge voltage detection line 8 and
Is detected, the detection of the end voltage is notified to the timing circuit 60 via the voltage detection notification line 4.

The timer circuit 60 that has received the notification stops the timer operation and sends the time information measured so far to the battery check control circuit 80 via the timer result readout line 2. For example, the battery check control circuit 80 transmits the time information and the constant current flowing to the constant current circuit 52 automatically or in response to an operator's request to a display provided in the computer system. , Available for b hours ".

FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram of a battery capacity check device according to a second embodiment. In this embodiment,
It has a check dedicated battery 31A and a backup dedicated battery 31B having the same characteristics. The check dedicated battery 31A is switched between the charging circuit 70 and the discharge circuit 50 by a charge / discharge switch 90A, and the backup dedicated battery 31B is charged. Switching between the charging circuit 70 and the backup circuit 40 is performed by the discharge changeover switch 90B.

The operation of the battery capacity check device according to the second embodiment will be described. In this device, the backup dedicated battery 31B is in a charged state in preparation for backup, and charging is performed. On the other hand, when a power failure or the like occurs on the backup circuit 40 side and backup becomes necessary, the backup circuit 40 switches the charge / discharge changeover switch 90B via the backup instruction control line 10 to change the battery power from A voltage is applied to the backup circuit 40 via the line 6, the charge / discharge switch 90, and the backup power supply line 9, and backup is performed.

On the other hand, for the check battery 31A charged by the charging circuit 70, an instruction to switch from the battery check control circuit 80 to the charge / discharge changeover switch 90A by the charge / discharge changeover switch control line 3 and a timing instruction control line In response to an instruction to start timekeeping by the timekeeping circuit 60 via 1, the capacity check is executed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

According to the second embodiment, backup to the backup circuit 40 is performed in parallel with the battery check, and in the first embodiment, only one of the battery check and the backup to the backup circuit 40 can be performed. The problem can be solved.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration diagram of a battery capacity check device according to a third embodiment. This embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the battery check and the backup to the backup circuit 40 are performed using different batteries having the same characteristics but different characteristics. In view of the same characteristics, the first
Battery 30A and the second battery 30B,
When the battery check of the battery 30A is performed, the backup to the backup
The backup of the backup circuit 40 is performed by the first battery 30A when the battery check of the second battery 30B is performed.

For this purpose, the first battery 30A and the second battery 30A
Battery 30B, charging circuit 70, discharging circuit 50,
A charge / discharge changeover switch 91 that can be connected to any of the backup circuits 40 is provided. And
The first battery 3 is controlled by the battery check control circuit 80.
When performing the 0A battery check, the first battery 30A and the discharge circuit 50 are connected by the charge / discharge changeover switch 91, and the second battery 30B is connected to the charge circuit 70 to prepare for backup to the backup circuit 40. . When a power failure or the like occurs in the backup circuit 40 and backup becomes necessary, the backup circuit 40 switches the charge / discharge switch 91 via the backup instruction control line 10 and switches the second battery 30.
From B, a voltage is applied to the backup circuit 40 via the battery power supply line 6, the charge / discharge changeover switch 91, and the backup power supply line 9, so that backup is achieved.

When the battery check of the second battery 30B is performed by the battery check control circuit 80, the charge / discharge switch 91 connects the second battery 30B and the discharge circuit 50 and the first battery 30A Is connected to the charging circuit 70 to prepare for backup to the backup circuit 40. When a power failure or the like occurs in the backup circuit 40 and backup is required, the backup circuit 40 switches the charge / discharge switch 91 via the backup instruction control line 10,
From the first battery 30A, the battery power line 6, the charge / discharge switch 91, the backup power line 9
, A voltage is applied to the backup circuit 40 to perform backup.

Check the capacity of the first battery 30A and the second battery 30B in the third embodiment.
Is checked in the same manner as in the first embodiment. For example, the capacity is displayed in the same manner as described above.

In the third embodiment, it is necessary to provide the first battery 30A and the second battery 30B, taking into consideration that a mounting area is required and that the cost of two batteries is required. There is a need to. To solve this, a fourth embodiment is provided.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration diagram of a battery capacity checking device according to a fourth embodiment. In this battery capacity check device, the number of battery cells (simply called cells) used for backup is n, and one battery has n + 1 cells because one is used for battery check. The n cells have the same characteristics. Here, the battery 32 is provided with four cells, and the backup circuit 40 is backed up using any three of the four cells.

As described above, any three of the four cells of the battery 32 are connected to the backup circuit 40, and the remaining one cell is connected to the discharge circuit 5 for battery check.
A charge / discharge changeover switch 92 for connecting to zero is provided. When the battery check control circuit 80 performs a battery check on the cell 1 in the battery 32, the charge / discharge switch 92 controls the battery 3.
2 is connected to the discharge circuit 50, and the cells 2, 3, and 4 in the battery 32 are connected to the charging circuit 70 to prepare for backup to the backup circuit 40. When a power failure or the like occurs in the backup circuit 40 and backup is required, the backup circuit 40 switches the charge / discharge switch 9 via the backup instruction control line 10.
2 from the cells 2, 3, 4 in the battery 32,
Battery power supply line 6, charge / discharge changeover switch 92,
A voltage is applied to the backup circuit 40 via the backup power supply line 9 to achieve backup.

When the battery check control circuit 80 performs a battery check on the cell 2 in the battery 32, the charge / discharge switch 92 connects the cell 2 in the battery 32 to the discharge circuit 50, and
The cells 1, 3, and 4 in the battery 32 are connected to the charging circuit 70 to prepare for backup to the backup circuit 40. When a power failure or the like occurs in the backup circuit 40 and the need for backup occurs, the backup circuit 40 switches the charge / discharge switch 92 via the backup instruction control line 10 and switches the cells 1, 3, 4 in the battery 32.
Then, the voltage is applied to the backup circuit 40 via the battery power line 6, the charge / discharge changeover switch 92, and the backup power line 9, thereby performing backup.

When the battery check is performed on the cell 3 or the cell 4 in the battery 32, the battery check and the backup can be appropriately realized by switching the charge / discharge switch 92 similar to the above.

With the above configuration, only one battery 32 is required, so that no space is required for mounting, the size can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced as compared with the third embodiment. Then, by performing a battery check on each cell sequentially, even during the battery check, the remaining one cell can be prepared for an emergency backup. If the mounting space and cost are not taken into consideration, it is also possible to use n + 1 batteries, apply one battery to the battery check, and back up with n batteries.

FIG. 5 shows a configuration diagram of a battery capacity check device according to a fifth embodiment. In this battery capacity check device, even if a constant current is discharged for a certain period of time, the battery is not completely discharged, that is, it is a battery of an appropriate capacity and a battery that can withstand use by discharging a constant current for a certain period of time. To check.

In this embodiment, the battery check control circuit 85 sends a signal from the voltage detection circuit 51 to the voltage detection notification line 4.
, The end voltage is directly detected. The time keeping circuit 65 includes a battery check control circuit 8.
5 is started, and when a predetermined time is measured, the battery check control circuit 85 is notified of the lapse of the predetermined time by using the time completion notification line 2A. The operation of the battery capacity check device configured as described above will be described.
Also in this device, the point that the battery 30 is charged from the charging circuit 70 and supplies power to the backup circuit 40 when necessary is the same as in the first embodiment.

When performing a battery check, the battery check control circuit 85 instructs the time keeping circuit 65 to start time keeping. At the same time, the battery check control circuit 85
The charge / discharge switch 90 is instructed to switch to the discharge circuit 50. The clock circuit 65 notifies the battery check control circuit 85 of completion of the clock after a predetermined time has elapsed. Battery check control circuit 8 that has received the timing completion
5 reads a voltage detection result from the voltage detection circuit 51.
If the voltage detection result is equal to or higher than the end voltage of the battery, it can be checked that the battery 30 has the maximum capacity equal to or higher than the required capacity. In other words, it can be checked that the battery 30 does not completely discharge even if the constant current is discharged for a certain period of time, that is, that the battery 30 has an appropriate capacity and can withstand the use of discharging a constant current for a certain period of time. Therefore, the battery check control circuit 85 automatically or in response to an operator's request, for example, on a display provided in the computer system, such as "current a ampere, available for b hours or more" Display the capacity.

The backup check control circuit 85, the clock circuit 65, and the voltage detection circuit 5 in the fifth embodiment.
2 is applied to the configuration of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, even if a constant current is discharged for a certain period of time, the battery does not completely discharge, that is, the battery has a proper capacity. In addition, it is possible to configure a battery capacity checking device capable of checking that the battery can be used for discharging a constant current for a fixed time.

[0038]

As described above, according to the battery capacity check device of the present invention, a battery, a constant current circuit for discharging the battery, a voltage detection circuit for detecting an end voltage of the battery, One or a plurality of switches for switching between flowing the current from the battery to the backup circuit backed up by the battery and flowing the current from the battery to the constant current circuit, and being connected to the constant current circuit by the switch Means for measuring the discharge time from the start of discharge by the constant current circuit to the detection of the end voltage by the voltage detection circuit and checking the maximum capacity of the battery, from the start of discharge to discharge the battery. , The discharge time until the end voltage is detected by the voltage detection circuit is measured, so that the maximum capacity of the battery is obtained. Door can be.

According to the battery capacity checking device of the present invention, whether the current flows from the battery to the battery, the constant current circuit for discharging the battery, and the backup circuit backed up by the battery, One or more switches for switching whether current flows from the battery to the circuit, and discharging means for discharging the battery for a predetermined time by the constant current circuit when connected to the constant current circuit by the switch; A voltage detecting circuit for detecting the voltage of the battery at the end of discharging by the discharging means; discharging the battery by a constant current circuit for a predetermined time; detecting the voltage of the battery at the end of discharging; It is possible to check whether the required capacity is provided.

According to the battery capacity check device of the present invention, the battery is constituted by a backup dedicated battery and a capacity check dedicated battery, and a backup circuit is backed up by the backup dedicated battery. Since the current is passed to the constant current circuit by using this, it is possible to cope with the case where the capacity check and the backup are simultaneously required.

Further, in the battery capacity check device according to the present invention, the battery is constituted by a first battery and a second battery having the same characteristics as the first battery, and the backup circuit of the backup circuit is provided by one of the two batteries. And the current is passed to the constant current circuit using the other battery. Therefore, the two batteries can be exchanged for capacity check and backup, and the two batteries can be properly checked.

Further, in the battery capacity check device according to the present invention, the battery is constituted by n + 1 batteries having the same characteristics, and a current flows to the constant current circuit using any one of the n + 1 batteries. The backup circuit is backed up by the other n batteries, the capacity is checked using one battery, one battery is selected in order from the (n + 1) batteries, and the capacity is checked by flowing a current to the constant current circuit. Therefore, backup can be supported by another battery.

Also, by selecting one battery in order from the (n + 1) batteries and passing a current to the constant current circuit to check the capacity, a plurality of batteries are used in sequence.
It is possible to extend the life.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a battery capacity check device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a battery capacity check device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a battery capacity check device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a battery capacity check device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a battery capacity check device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

30, 32 Battery 30A First Battery 30B Second Battery 31A Check Battery 31B Backup Battery 40 Backup Circuit 50 Discharge Circuit 51 Constant Current Circuit 52 Voltage Detection Circuit 60, 65 Timekeeping Circuit 70 Charge Circuit 80, 85 Battery Check Control Circuit 90, 90A, 90B, 91, 92 Charge / discharge switch

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tomoaki Tokunaga 2-9-9 Suehirocho, Ome-shi, Tokyo Inside the Toshiba Ome Plant (72) Inventor Koji Agawa 2-9-9 Suehirocho, Ome-shi, Tokyo Stock F-term in Toshiba Ome Plant (reference) 2G016 CA07 CB23 CC07 CC10 CC12 CC23 5G003 AA01 BA01 BA02 CC02 DA07 EA05 EA06 EA09 5H030 AA00 AS11 FF41 FF44 FF52

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A battery, a constant current circuit for discharging the battery, a voltage detection circuit for detecting an end voltage of the battery, and whether a current flows from the battery to a backup circuit backed up by the battery. One or more switches for switching whether a current flows from the battery to a current circuit, and when connected to the constant current circuit by the switch,
Means for measuring the discharge time from the start of discharge by the constant current circuit to the detection of the end voltage by the voltage detection circuit to check the maximum capacity of the battery. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the battery comprises a backup battery and a capacity check battery, the backup circuit backs up a backup circuit, and a current flows to the constant current circuit using the capacity check battery. The battery capacity check device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The battery according to claim 1, wherein said battery is a first battery.
And a second battery having the same characteristics as the second battery, wherein one of the two batteries performs backup of a backup circuit, and the other battery supplies a current to the constant current circuit. A battery capacity check device according to claim 1. 4. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the battery comprises n + 1 batteries having the same characteristic, and a current flows to the constant current circuit using any one of the n + 1 batteries. 2. The battery capacity check device according to claim 1, wherein a backup circuit is backed up, one battery is selected in order from n + 1 batteries, and a current is passed to the constant current circuit to check the capacity. 5. A battery, a constant current circuit for discharging the battery, and switching between flowing a current from the battery to a backup circuit backed up by the battery and flowing a current from the battery to the constant current circuit. One or more switches to perform, and when connected to the constant current circuit by the switch,
A battery capacity check device comprising: a discharging unit that discharges the battery by the constant current circuit for a predetermined time; and a voltage detection circuit that detects a voltage of the battery when the discharging by the discharging unit ends. 6. The battery comprises a backup battery and a capacity check battery. The backup battery backs up the backup circuit, and a current flows to the constant current circuit using the capacity check battery. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein
A battery capacity check device according to claim 1. 7. A battery comprising a first battery and a first battery.
And a second battery having the same characteristics as the second battery, wherein one of the two batteries performs backup of the backup circuit, and the other battery supplies a current to the constant current circuit. 6. The battery capacity check device according to 5. 8. The battery according to claim 1, wherein said battery comprises n + 1 batteries having the same characteristic, a current flows to said constant current circuit using one of said n + 1 batteries, and said battery is supplied by another n batteries. 6. The battery capacity check device according to claim 5, wherein a backup circuit is backed up, one battery is selected in order from n + 1 batteries, and a current is passed to the constant current circuit to check the capacity.