JP2002209339A - Charging method and charging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remarkably shorten an complementary charging time by realizing quick charging and simultaneous complementary charging with a single charger for batteries having different charging current characteristics and charging voltage characteristics. SOLUTION: A lithium battery 21 is quickly charged by controlling a first charging switching circuit 301 with a microcomputer 303. Moreover, a second charging switching circuit 302 is controlled with the microcomputer 303 to quickly charge a nickel-hydrogen battery 22. After the lithium ion battery 21 and nickel-hydrogen battery 22 are once charged quickly, a charging timing and a charging process in a different charging time are set for each battery with the microcomputer 303, respectively, and the first and second switching circuits 301, 302 are controlled by defining such a charging process as one cycle. Consequently, the lithium ion battery 21 and nickel-hydrogen battery 22 can be simultaneously charged complementarily on the time division basis.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charging method and a charging apparatus for charging a plurality of secondary batteries such as a lithium ion battery and a nickel hydride battery, and more particularly, to a method for rapidly charging these secondary batteries individually. Thereafter, the present invention relates to a charging method and a charging device that enable these secondary batteries to be supplementarily charged to a full charge at the same time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a rechargeable secondary battery is generally used as a power supply for a consumer VTR-integrated video camera. Since such a secondary battery is stored in, for example, a video camera body, its shape, capacity, and the like are limited, and a battery having a too large shape and capacity cannot be adopted. For this reason, when using such a secondary battery, a plurality of fully charged secondary batteries are prepared, and these are sequentially replaced and used.

[0003]

However, since the conventional charging device is configured to charge only one battery at a time, one battery must be charged to charge a plurality of batteries. Each time it is completed, it must be replaced with an uncharged battery and charged. Therefore, if the time required to charge one battery is, for example, 3 hours, the time required to charge all the batteries to be used is the number of batteries × 3, which is a long time. Therefore, a charging device capable of simultaneously charging a plurality of batteries of the same type is conceivable. However, such a charging device requires a large charging current and has a problem that the charging device becomes large.

[0004] On the other hand, a secondary battery applied to a power supply of a video camera or the like includes a lithium ion battery and a nickel hydrogen battery. When charging these batteries, first, about 90
% By a rapid charge to a capacity of about 10%, and thereafter, about 10% at a small charge current at a charge rate at which the temperature of the battery does not rise.
Supplementary charging is performed to 0% capacity. In addition, since the charge current at the time of supplementary charge in the lithium ion battery naturally decreases from the charge current characteristic of the lithium ion battery,
Although there is no particular need to perform setting control, the charging current in the auxiliary charging of the nickel-metal hydride battery is 1/10 to 1/1 / that of the rapid charging.
It is necessary to control the setting to 20. It takes 60 to 120 minutes to supplement the charge of these batteries. If such supplementary charging can be performed simultaneously for the lithium-ion battery and the nickel-metal hydride battery, the time required for the supplementary charging can be significantly reduced. However, these lithium-ion batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries cannot be simultaneously charged by a single charging device because the battery terminal voltage after rapid charging is different and the current characteristics of auxiliary charging current are different. is there.

[0005] Lithium-ion batteries have excellent characteristics as secondary batteries. However, in some countries, they are prohibited from being taken out of the country because of the use of rare metals. There is a limit. On the other hand, since video cameras that place importance on portability are used in various countries and various places, the superiority of nickel-metal hydride batteries that are not restricted in handling is becoming important.
In particular, a charging device that is important as a secondary battery used in a professional video camera and that can charge both a lithium ion battery and a nickel hydride battery is desired.

An object of the present invention is to enable quick charging and simultaneous supplementary charging with a single charger even for batteries having different charge capacity characteristics and charge voltage characteristics such as lithium ion batteries and nickel hydrogen batteries, and An object of the present invention is to provide a charging method and a charging device that can significantly reduce the auxiliary charging time.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a charging method for charging a plurality of secondary batteries, wherein the quick charging individually charges the secondary batteries to a predetermined voltage. And a supplementary charging step of charging each secondary battery after being charged to the predetermined voltage by the rapid charging until the secondary battery is fully charged, wherein in the supplementary charging step, each of the secondary batteries is Charging steps with different charging timings and charging times are set, and the charging is repeated for a predetermined time with the charging step as one cycle, whereby the secondary batteries are simultaneously supplementarily charged in a time-division manner.

The present invention also relates to a charging device for charging a plurality of secondary batteries, wherein a quick charging means for rapidly charging the secondary batteries individually to a predetermined voltage; After the rapid charging of the battery is completed, charging steps having different charging timings and charging times are set for each of the secondary batteries, and charging is repeated for a predetermined time with the charging step as one cycle, whereby each secondary battery is charged for a predetermined time. And a supplementary charging means for supplementarily charging the next battery at the same time in a time sharing manner.

In the charging method according to the present invention, each secondary battery is rapidly charged to a predetermined voltage individually in the quick charging step. Further, in the secondary charging after the end of the rapid charging, in the auxiliary charging step, a charging step having different charging timing and charging time is set for each of the secondary batteries, and this charging step is defined as one cycle for a predetermined time. By repeating charging, each 2
The next battery is simultaneously supplementarily charged in a time-sharing manner until it is fully charged. Therefore, a single charger can perform rapid charging and simultaneous supplementary charging even for batteries having different charging capacity characteristics and charging voltage characteristics, such as lithium-ion batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries, and significantly increase the supplementary charging time. Can be shortened to

In the charging device of the present invention, each secondary battery is rapidly charged to a predetermined voltage by the quick charging means.
In addition, each of the secondary batteries after the quick charging is set by the auxiliary charging means to a charging step having different charging timing and charging time for each of the secondary batteries, and this charging step is defined as one cycle for a predetermined time. By repeating the charging, the secondary batteries are simultaneously supplementarily charged in a time-sharing manner until the secondary batteries are fully charged. Therefore,
Quick charging and simultaneous supplementary charging are possible with a single charger even for batteries with different charging capacity characteristics and charging voltage characteristics such as lithium-ion batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries, and the supplementary charging time is greatly reduced. it can.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is a preferred specific example of the present invention, and various technically preferable limitations are added. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the present invention in the following description. It is not limited to these embodiments unless otherwise stated.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an example of the configuration of a charging apparatus to which the charging method of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a graph showing charging characteristics of a lithium ion battery, and FIG. 3 is a graph showing charging characteristics of a nickel hydrogen battery. FIG. 4 is an explanatory time chart showing an example of a pattern of allocating a charge time for supplementary charging to a lithium ion battery and a nickel hydride battery according to the present invention. FIG. 5 shows a state of charge of the lithium ion battery and the nickel hydride battery according to the present invention. FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a switching power supply for generating electric power for charging a battery from commercial alternating current (AC). A primary winding 201 of a converter transformer 200 is connected to an output terminal of the switching power supply 100. The charging device 300 is connected to the secondary side of the converter transformer 200. The charging device 300 includes a first charging switching circuit 301 for charging the lithium ion battery 21.
And a second charging switching circuit 302 for charging the nickel-metal hydride battery 22, and controlling the second and second charging switching circuits 301 and 302 to rapidly charge the lithium-ion battery 21 and the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 individually. The microcomputer 303 further includes a microcomputer 303 for controlling the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydride battery 22 after the rapid charging until the battery is fully charged, a power control circuit 304 for controlling the output of the switching power supply 100, and the like. The first charging switching circuit 301, the second charging switching circuit 302, and the microcomputer 303 constitute a quick charging unit and an auxiliary charging unit.

The microcomputer 303 sets a supplementary charging time from the time when the lithium-ion battery 21 and the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 are individually rapidly charged to a predetermined voltage (about 90% of the charging end voltage) to the time when they are fully charged. A first timer 303A to be set and a second timer 30 to set a charging time T during time-division auxiliary charging of the lithium ion battery 21
3B and a third timer 303C for setting a charging time t during time-division supplementary charging of the nickel-metal hydride battery 22.

The first charging switching circuit 301
Are the pnp transistor Q1 and the npn transistor Q
2, the base of the transistor Q1 and the collector of the transistor Q2 are connected via a resistor. Further, the emitter of the transistor Q1 is connected to one end of the first secondary winding 202 of the converter transformer 200 via a backflow preventing diode D1 and a charging power supply rectifying diode D2, and the collector of the transistor Q1 is connected to a lithium ion battery 21. Is connected to the (+) terminal of the battery holder 23 to be mounted. The emitter of the transistor Q2 is connected to the other end of the first secondary winding 202 and the (-) terminal of the battery holder 23. Further, the base of the transistor Q2 is connected to the output pin 9 of the microcomputer 303 via a resistor, whereby the charging control signal S1 is supplied from the output pin 9 of the microcomputer 303 to the transistor Q2. .

The second charging switching circuit 302
Has a pnp transistor Q3 and an npn transistor transistor Q4. The base of the transistor Q3 and the collector of the transistor Q4 are connected via a resistor. The emitter of the transistor Q3 is a backflow prevention diode D3 and a charging power supply rectification diode D2.
Via the first secondary winding 2 of the converter transformer 200
02, and a collector of the transistor Q3 is connected to a battery holder 24 on which the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 is mounted.
(+) Terminal. Also, the transistor Q
The emitter No. 4 is connected to the other end of the first secondary winding 202 and the (-) terminal of the battery holder 24. Further, the base of the transistor Q4 is connected to the microcomputer 30 via a resistor.
3 is connected to the output pin 8 of the
The charging control signal S2 is supplied to the transistor Q4 from the output pin 8 of No. 3.

The (+) terminal of the battery holder 23 and the input pin 6 of the microcomputer 303 are connected, and the battery voltage generated at both ends of the lithium ion battery 21 is applied to the microcomputer 303 as a measured value. The (+) terminal of the battery holder 24 is connected to the input pin 4 of the microcomputer 303, and the battery voltage generated at both ends of the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 is applied to the microcomputer 303 as a measured value. Further, the emitter of the transistor Q1 in the first charging switching circuit 301 is connected to the input pin 7 of the microcomputer 303 so that the charging voltage supplied to the first charging switching circuit 301 is applied to the microcomputer 303 as a measured value. It has become. The emitter of the transistor Q3 in the second charging switching circuit 302 is connected to the input pin 5 of the microcomputer 303 so that the charging voltage supplied to the second charging switching circuit 302 is applied to the microcomputer 303 as a measured value. It has become.

The input terminal 3 of the power control circuit 304 includes:
The other end of the first secondary winding 202 and the (−) of the battery holder 23
The voltage generated at both ends of the charging current detection resistor R1 connected to the ground line L1 connecting the terminal and the (−) terminal of the battery holder 24 is input as a charging current detection signal S3, and power control is performed. The input terminal 7 of the circuit 304 has a charging voltage detecting resistor R connected between the cathode of the rectifying diode D2 and the input terminal 7 of the power control circuit 304.
2 is input as a charging voltage detection signal S4. This charging current detection signal S
By controlling the photocoupler 25 connected between the power control circuit 304 and the control input terminal of the switching power supply 100 based on the charging voltage detection signal S4 and the charging voltage detection signal S4, the charging current and the charging voltage output from the switching power supply 100 are changed to lithium. Control can be performed according to the charging of the ion battery 21 and the nickel-metal hydride battery 22. The input terminals 5 and 6 of the power control circuit 304 are connected to the charging voltage switching signal S5 output from the output pins 2 and 3 from the microcomputer 303.
And a charging current switching signal S6. The switching power supply 100 is controlled by controlling the power control circuit 304 and the photocoupler 25 based on the charging voltage switching signal S5 and the charging current switching signal S6.
The switching of the charging current and the charging voltage output from the battery according to the lithium-ion battery 21 and the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 can be controlled. That is, the charging voltage switching signal S
5 controls the output voltage of the switching power supply 100 so as to supply a charging voltage corresponding to the charging end voltage of each battery, and the charging current switching signal S6 controls the rapid charging current in accordance with the battery capacity of each battery. It controls the output voltage of the switching power supply 100 so that it can be supplied.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 26 denotes a 5 V regulator which constitutes a power supply for operation of the microcomputer 303. The output terminal of the regulator 26 is connected to a power supply terminal 1 of the microcomputer 30.
10 and the input of the regulator 16 is
Both ends of the second secondary winding 203 of the converter transformer 200 are connected via rectifying diodes D4. A resistor RL is connected in series between the input pin 11 of the microcomputer 303 and the cathode of the battery connected to the (−) terminal of the battery holder 23.
The resistor RB1 is connected in series between the output terminal of the regulator 26 and the output terminal of the regulator 26. The resistors RL and RB1 detect whether or not a battery is mounted on the battery holder 23 and detect whether the battery is mounted on the battery holder 23 by detecting a change in the voltage (5 V) applied from the regulator 26 to the input pin 11 of the microcomputer 303 by these resistors. The microcomputer 303 can determine the type of the battery that has been used. Also, the microcomputer 303
A resistor RN is connected in series between the input pin 12 of the microcomputer 303 and the cathode of the battery connected to the (-) terminal of the battery holder 24. Further, the input pin 12 of the microcomputer 303 and the regulator 26 are connected.
The resistor RB2 is connected in series between the output terminals. The resistors RN and RB2 detect whether or not a battery is mounted on the battery holder 24 and detect whether the battery is mounted on the battery holder 24 by detecting a change in the voltage (5 V) applied to the input pin 12 of the microcomputer 303 from the regulator 26 by the resistance. The microcomputer 303 can determine the type of the battery that has been used. The microcomputer 303 and the resistor RL,
RN, RB2 and RB2 constitute a determination means described in the claims.

Next, the operation of the charging apparatus according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, when the switching power supply 100 is connected to a commercial power supply and turned on in a state where the lithium ion battery 21 is mounted on the battery holder 23 and the nickel hydride battery 22 is mounted on the battery holder 24, the microcomputer 303 Reset. Accordingly, the microcomputer 303 sets its input pin 1
1 and 12 to detect the voltage applied to the battery holder 2
It is determined whether or not a battery is attached to 3, 24. Here, when batteries are not mounted in the battery holders 23 and 24, the (−) terminals of the battery holders 23 and 24 are open, and the values of the resistances RL and RN are almost infinite. As a result, the output voltage of the regulator 26 (5 V)
Is not divided by the resistors RL and RB1 or the resistors RN and RB2, and
Microcomputer 12 is added to the battery holder 2
It is determined that the batteries are not mounted in 3, 24. Also,
When batteries are mounted in the battery holders 23 and 24,
Since the connection ends of the resistors RL and RN to the battery cathode are connected to the ground without being opened, the output voltage (5
V) is divided by the resistors RL and RB1 or the resistors RN and RB2. As a result, the input pins 11, 1
The voltage applied to 2 is, for example, 4.5 or lower, which is lower than the output voltage (5 V) of the regulator 26. This allows
The microcomputer 303 determines that the batteries are mounted on the battery holders 23 and 24. At the same time, the battery holder 23,
The type of the battery attached to 24 is determined.

For example, when the lithium ion battery 21 is mounted on the battery holder 23, the connection end of the resistor RL to the battery cathode is grounded through the cathode of the lithium ion battery 21 and the (-) terminal of the battery holder 23. Therefore, the output voltage (5V) of the regulator 26 is divided by the resistors RL and RB1 and becomes a value of, for example, 2.727V and is applied to the input pin 11 of the microcomputer 303. As a result, the microcomputer 303 determines that the battery mounted on the battery holder 23 is the lithium ion battery 21 by detecting this voltage value. Accordingly, the microcomputer 303 shifts to the control for rapidly charging the lithium ion battery 21. When the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 is mounted on the battery holder 24, the connection end of the resistor RN to the battery cathode is grounded through the cathode of the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 and the (-) terminal of the battery holder 24. 2
6 is divided by the resistors RN and RB2 and becomes a value of, for example, 2.253V, which is applied to the input pin 12 of the microcomputer 303. As a result, the microcomputer 303
By detecting this voltage value, the battery holder 23
It is determined that the battery mounted on the is a nickel-metal hydride battery 22. Then, after the rapid charging of the lithium ion battery 21 ends, the microcomputer 303
Is controlled to be rapidly charged.

When the lithium ion battery 21 is rapidly charged, a voltage and a current necessary for the rapid charging of the lithium ion battery 21 are obtained from the switching power supply 100.
The power control circuit 304 is controlled by the charging voltage switching signal S5 output from the output pin 2 of the microcomputer 303, and
The control signal output from the output pin 1 of the power control circuit 304 operates the photocoupler 25 and controls the switching power supply 100. The charging control signal S1 output from the output pin 9 of the microcomputer 303
As a result, the transistors Q1 and Q2 of the first charging switching circuit 301 are turned on, and rapid charging of the lithium ion battery 21 is started. The charging current at this time is monitored by taking the charging current detection signal S3 detected by the current detection resistor R1 into the power control circuit 304. The charging voltage is monitored by taking the charging voltage detection signal S4 detected by the charging detection resistor R2 into the power control circuit 304.

FIG. 2 shows the charging characteristics of the lithium ion battery 21, wherein a curve 31 represents the terminal voltage of the lithium ion battery 21 and a curve 32 represents the charging current of the lithium ion battery 21. As is clear from FIG.
When the charging voltage of the lithium-ion battery 21 becomes about 70% of the charging end voltage, the charging current of the lithium-ion battery 21 starts to decrease rapidly. Therefore, at the time of rapid charging of the lithium ion battery 21, constant current charging is performed until the charging voltage becomes about 70% of the charging end voltage, and thereafter, switching to constant voltage charging is performed, and the capacity of the lithium ion battery 21 is reduced to about 90%. %, The rapid charging is continued. And
When it is detected from the measured value of the battery voltage taken from the input pin 6 of the microcomputer 303 that the lithium ion battery 21 has been charged to about 90%, the microcomputer 303 stops the rapid charging of the lithium ion battery 21 and Switching to quick charging of the battery 22 is performed.

When the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 is rapidly charged, the switching power supply 100
The power control circuit 304 is controlled by the charging voltage switching signal S5 output from the output pin 2 of the microcomputer 303 so that the voltage / current necessary for rapid charging of the power control circuit 304 is obtained. The photocoupler 25 is operated and the switching power supply 100 is controlled by the control signal output from the control circuit. And the microcomputer 30
The transistors Q3 and Q4 of the second charging switching circuit 302 are turned on by the charging control signal S2 output from the output pin 8 of No. 3 to start rapid charging of the nickel-metal hydride battery 22. The charging current at this time is the current detection resistor R1
The charging current detection signal S3 detected by the
4 to be monitored. The charging voltage is the charging voltage detection signal S detected by the charging detection resistor R2.
4 is taken into the power control circuit 304 and monitored.

FIG. 3 shows the charging characteristics of the nickel-metal hydride battery 22. A curve 41 represents the terminal voltage of the nickel-metal hydride battery 22, and a curve 42 represents the charging current of the nickel-metal hydride battery 22. As is clear from FIG. 3, the rapid charging is continued by the constant current of the large rapid charging current I until the capacity of the nickel hydrogen battery 22 becomes about 90%. Then, the measured value of the battery voltage taken from the input pin 6 of the microcomputer 303 or the change in battery voltage at the time of 90% charging shown by the curve 41 in FIG.
, The nickel-metal hydride battery 22 becomes approximately 90
% Is detected, the microcomputer 303
Stops the rapid charging of the nickel-metal hydride battery 22. After that, the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydrogen battery 22
It shifts to simultaneous supplementary charge of.

Next, the operation when the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydride battery 22 are supplementarily charged to about 100% will be described. When the individual quick charging for the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydride battery 22 is completed, the microcomputer 303 sets charging steps with different charging timings and charging times for the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydride battery 22, respectively. By repeating charging for a predetermined time (approximately 60 minutes) with one cycle of the charging process, control is performed such that the lithium-ion batteries 21 and the nickel-metal hydride batteries 22 are simultaneously supplementarily charged in a time-division manner.

That is, when the microcomputer 303 shifts to the auxiliary charge control of the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydrogen battery 22, the first to third timers 303A to 303C start operating. By the operation of the first timer 303A, the down counting of the preset auxiliary charging time from the end of the rapid charging of both batteries to the full charging thereof is started. When the auxiliary charging by the charging device 100 is started, first, the first switching circuit 301
Operated by the charge control signal S1 from the battery charger 03, the lithium-ion battery 21 is supplementarily charged in a time-division manner by the second timer 303B according to the charge current along the curve 32 from the start of the supplementary charge shown in FIG. At this time, the charging time T for the lithium ion battery 21 is counted by the second timer 303B, and the counted value is set to a predetermined time T.
(5 minutes in the embodiment), the lithium ion battery 21
The auxiliary charging to the battery is stopped, and the auxiliary charging by the charging device 100 is switched to the nickel-metal hydride battery 22.

In the nickel-metal hydride battery 22, the second switching circuit 302 is operated by the charge control signal S2 from the microcomputer 303, and follows the charge current along the curve 42 from the start of the auxiliary charge shown in FIG. Is supplementarily charged by the third timer 303C in a time sharing manner. The charging time t for the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 at this time
Is counted by the third timer 303C, and when the counted value reaches a preset time t (30 seconds in the embodiment), the supplementary charge to the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 is stopped, and the supplementary charge by the charging device 100 is lithium. The mode is switched to the ion battery 21. At this time, the auxiliary charging current value for the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 is 1/10 of the rapid charging current I. The switching of the auxiliary charging current is performed by outputting a charging current switching signal S6 from the microcomputer 303 to the power control circuit 304.

By repeating the above-mentioned supplementary charging operation in the same manner, the lithium ion battery 21 is charged for T time (5 minutes) and is halted for t time (30 seconds) as shown in FIG. Is performed continuously for the time set by the first timer 303A. As a result, the lithium ion battery 21 is fully charged to a capacity of about 100%. Lithium-ion battery 2 at this time
The total charging time for 1 is 5 × 12 = 60 minutes. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4B, the first timer 303A charges the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 for time t (30 seconds) and pauses for T time (5 minutes).
Continue for the time set in. As a result, the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 is fully charged to a capacity of about 100%. At this time, the total charging time for the nickel metal hydride battery 22 is 0.5 × 12 = 6 minutes. Although FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which three nickel-metal hydride batteries 22 are connected in series to perform rapid charging and supplementary charging at the same time, the present invention is not limited to this. You may. When the capacities of the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydride battery 22 are different, the ratio of the charging times T and t shown in FIG. 4 is changed, or the quick charging current of the smaller battery capacity is reduced. Note that the first timer 3
When the time of 03A has expired, the supplementary charging of the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydride battery 22 ends.

Therefore, the state of charge of the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydride battery 22 is as shown in FIG. As apparent from FIG. 5, the lithium-ion battery 21 and the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 are individually and rapidly charged to a capacity of about 90%,
And the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 at the same time in a time-division manner, the lithium-ion battery 21 and the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 of different types can be supplementarily charged by the same charging device 300 and the time required for charging these batteries Is 60 + 6 = 66 minutes in the case of the embodiment, which can be reduced to about の of the case where the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydride battery 22 are separately supplementarily charged. In addition, in the auxiliary charging of the nickel-metal hydride battery 22, time-division charging is performed for charging for a time t (for 30 seconds) and pausing for a time T (for 5 minutes).
= Average charging current allows supplementary charging without increasing battery temperature.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory time chart showing another example of the allocation pattern of the charging time for auxiliary charging when the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 is mounted on each of the battery holders 23 and 24. As shown in FIG. 6A, time-division charging is performed on the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 mounted on the battery holder 23, as shown in FIG. Also, for the nickel-metal hydride battery 22 mounted on the battery holder 24, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6B, with the delay time Δt (about T / 2) shifted from the case shown in FIG.
(Seconds) and time-division charging is performed for a pause of T hours (5 minutes). Thereby, the two nickel-metal hydride batteries 22
Can be simultaneously charged in a time-division manner. The delay time Δ of the charging timing for the nickel-metal hydride battery 22
The time t is not limited to the above time T / 2, but may be an appropriate delay time Δt equal to or less than T−t. Also, the battery holders 23, 2
As another method of supplementarily charging the nickel-metal hydride batteries 22 mounted on each of the batteries 4, the charging current of these batteries may be doubled as compared to the case of one nickel-metal hydride battery, and both batteries may be supplementarily charged at the same time. .

It should be noted that the charging method and apparatus of the present invention correspond to the lithium ion battery 21 and the nickel hydrogen battery 22 described above.
The present invention can be applied to not only the charging of the lithium ion battery 21 but also the charging of the lithium ion battery 21 alone, and the number of batteries to be charged is not limited to two, and can be applied to the charging of two or more batteries. Further, the charging device according to the present invention is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0033]

As described above, according to the charging method and apparatus of the present invention, a single charger can be used for batteries having different charge capacity characteristics and charge voltage characteristics, such as lithium ion batteries and nickel hydrogen batteries. Thus, rapid charging and simultaneous auxiliary charging can be performed, and the auxiliary charging time can be significantly reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a configuration of a charging device to which a charging method of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing charging characteristics of a lithium ion battery.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing charging characteristics of a nickel-metal hydride battery.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory time chart showing an example of an allocation pattern of a supplementary charging time for a lithium ion battery and a nickel hydride battery according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing charging states of a lithium ion battery and a nickel hydride battery according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory time chart showing another example of a pattern of allocating a charging time for auxiliary charging to a nickel-metal hydride battery according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 switching power supply, 200 converter transformer, 300 charging device, 301 first charging switching circuit, 302 second charging switching circuit, 303 microcomputer, 304 power control circuit, 2
1 ... lithium ion battery, 22 ... nickel hydrogen battery, 303A ... first timer, 303B ... second timer, 303C ... third timer.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5G003 AA01 BA02 CA03 CA14 CA17 FA07 GC04 GC05 5H030 AA02 AA03 AA10 AS11 BB04 DD09 FF51 FF52

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A charging method for charging a plurality of secondary batteries, comprising: a quick charging step of rapidly charging the secondary batteries individually to a predetermined voltage; and a charging method for charging the secondary batteries to the predetermined voltage by the quick charging. And a supplementary charge step of charging each of the secondary batteries until the battery is fully charged. In the supplementary charge step, different charge steps with different charge timings and charge times are set for the respective secondary batteries, A charging method comprising: charging the secondary batteries at the same time in a time-division manner by repeating charging for a predetermined time in a cycle of the process. 2. The charging method according to claim 1, wherein the charging time set for each of the secondary batteries differs for each capacity and type of the secondary batteries. 3. The charging method according to claim 1, wherein the charging time set for each of the secondary batteries is set by a timer. 4. The charging method according to claim 1, wherein said secondary batteries are a lithium ion battery and a nickel hydride battery. 5. When the secondary battery is a lithium-ion battery and a nickel-metal hydride battery, the charging time set for the nickel-metal hydride battery is sufficiently shorter than the charging time set for the lithium-ion battery. The charging method according to claim 1. 6. The charging method according to claim 5, wherein a charging current for supplementarily charging the nickel-metal hydride battery is smaller than a charging current for rapid charging. 7. The charging method according to claim 1, wherein the presence / absence and / or type of the secondary battery to be charged is determined. 8. A charging device for charging a plurality of secondary batteries, comprising: a quick charging means for rapidly charging the secondary batteries individually to a predetermined voltage; and a rapid charging means for each of the secondary batteries by the quick charging means. After the charging is completed, charging steps having different charging timings and charging times are set for each of the secondary batteries, and charging is repeated for a predetermined time with the charging step as one cycle, whereby each secondary battery is timed. And a supplementary charging means for performing supplementary charging simultaneously in a divided manner. 9. The charging time set for the secondary battery is:
9. The charging device according to claim 8, wherein the charging device differs for each capacity and type of the secondary battery. 10. The charging device according to claim 8, wherein the charging time of the secondary battery is set by a timer. 11. The charging device according to claim 8, wherein the secondary batteries are a lithium ion battery and a nickel metal hydride battery. 12. When the secondary battery is a lithium-ion battery and a nickel-metal hydride battery, the charging time set for the nickel-metal hydride battery is sufficiently shorter than the charging time set for the lithium-ion battery. 9. The charging device according to claim 8, wherein 13. The charging device according to claim 12, wherein a charging current for supplementarily charging the nickel-metal hydride battery is smaller than a charging current during rapid charging. 14. The presence or absence of the secondary battery to be charged and / or
9. The charging device according to claim 8, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine a type.