JP2004098756A - Electrolyte monitoring device for lead-acid battery - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electrolyte monitoring device for a lead-acid storage battery capable of preventing damage of the lead-acid battery by monitoring decrease of electrolyte of the lead-acid battery. <P>SOLUTION: This device is provided with a charge/discharge current detection means S10 detecting charge/discharge current supplied from a generator to the lead-acid battery, a charge/discharge current integrating means S14 integrating charge/discharge current detected by the charge/discharge current detection means S10, a determination means S16 determining that electrolyte of the lead-acid buttery decreased by a designated amount when an integrated value of charge/discharge current integrated by the charge/discharge current integration means S14 becomes more than a designated value, and an alarm means S18 urging replacement of electrolyte of the lead-acid battery when it is determined by the determination means S16 that electrolyte of the lead-acid battery decreased by the designated amount. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a lead-acid battery electrolyte monitoring device, and more particularly to a technique for monitoring the amount of electrolyte reduction in a lead-acid battery to prevent breakage of the lead-acid battery.
[0002]
[Related background art]
A vehicle is equipped with a storage battery (battery) for supplying power to various electrical components, and a lead storage battery is generally used as the storage battery. The vehicle is equipped with a generator driven by an internal combustion engine for driving the vehicle, and the electric power generated by the generator is supplied to the lead storage battery, whereby power is stored in the lead storage battery.
[0003]
In addition, regarding such a storage battery, a device is known which has a configuration in which the operation of the alternator is minimized, the charge and discharge of the storage battery are suppressed, the fuel efficiency is improved, and the life of the storage battery is suppressed from being shortened. Reference 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2001-169476 [0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, the lead storage battery is filled with an electrolytic solution so that the electrode plate is immersed. Generally, when the electrolytic solution exceeds 1 Ah (ampere hour), about 0.34 g of water is electrolyzed. It has been confirmed that the liquid is reduced.
If the battery is drained every time it is charged in this way, if the power consumption of the lead-acid battery is large and the amount of charge is large, the electrolyte rapidly decreases and the electrode plates are exposed, and the lead-acid battery is damaged. This is not preferable because there is a possibility that it may occur.
[0006]
For example, in recent years, the number of vehicles that perform an idle stop when the vehicle is stopped or the like has increased, but in such vehicles that perform an idle stop, the power generator also stops while the idle stop is being performed. Is consumed, but the power consumption is large, the charge amount after restarting the internal combustion engine is large, and the lead storage battery is likely to be damaged.
[0007]
In particular, recently, a maintenance-free battery that can be used for a relatively long time without replenishment of the electrolyte has been frequently used. Since there is a tendency not to pay attention to the solution, the electrolyte solution reaches the lower limit without knowing, and the above problem is remarkable.
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object of the present invention is to monitor the amount of electrolyte reduction in a lead-acid battery and prevent the lead-acid battery from being damaged. It is to provide a liquid monitoring device.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, an electrolyte monitoring device for a lead-acid battery according to claim 1, wherein a generator driven by an internal combustion engine to supply power to the lead-acid battery and an electric load, and a charge / discharge current of the lead-acid battery are provided. A charging / discharging current detecting means for detecting, a charging / discharging current integrating means for integrating the charging / discharging current detected by the charging / discharging current detecting means, and an integrated value of the charging / discharging current integrated by the charging / discharging current integrating means being a predetermined value A determination unit that determines that the electrolyte amount of the lead storage battery has decreased by a predetermined amount; and a determination unit that determines that the electrolyte amount of the lead storage battery has decreased by a predetermined amount. And an alarm means for prompting replenishment of the electrolyte.
[0009]
That is, as described above, it has been confirmed that when the charge exceeds 1 Ah (ampere hour), about 0.34 g of water is electrolyzed and the electrolyte is reduced, so that the lead-acid battery is detected by the charge / discharge current detection means. By detecting the charge / discharge current of the battery, the amount of decrease in the electrolytic solution can be known. Therefore, the charge / discharge current detected by the charge / discharge current detection means is integrated by the charge / discharge current integration means, and the integrated charge / discharge current is calculated. When the integrated value of the current, that is, the difference between the integrated value of the charging current and the integrated value of the discharging current is equal to or more than a predetermined value, it is determined by the determining means that the electrolyte amount of the lead storage battery has decreased by the predetermined amount based on the above relationship, and an alarm is issued. A warning is issued by the means to replenish the electrolyte.
[0010]
Therefore, it is possible to easily and surely grasp that the amount of the electrolyte of the lead storage battery is reduced, and to replenish the electrolyte, so that damage to the lead storage battery is suitably prevented.
Further, in the lead-acid battery electrolyte monitoring device according to claim 2, the charge / discharge current detection means includes a consumption current detection means for detecting a consumption current of the electric load, and a generation current detection for detecting a generation current of the generator. Means for detecting a charging / discharging current based on a difference between the current consumption detected by the current consumption detecting means and the generated current detected by the generated current detecting means.
[0011]
Therefore, the charge / discharge current can be easily calculated from the difference between the current consumption of the electric load detected by the current consumption detection means and the power generation current of the generator detected by the power generation current detection means.
In a third aspect of the present invention, the charge / discharge current detecting means detects a charge / discharge current flowing into and out of the lead storage battery.
[0012]
Therefore, the charge / discharge current can be directly and easily detected.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a schematic configuration diagram of an electrolyte monitoring device for a lead storage battery according to the present invention mounted on a vehicle. The configuration will be described.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 1, an alternator (generator) 2 that rotates and generates electric power by the driving force of the engine 1 is provided near an engine (internal combustion engine) 1 for driving the vehicle. The electric wire 3 extending from the output terminal is connected to a positive terminal of the battery 10. Thereby, the generated current Ip generated by the alternator 2 is supplied to the battery 10, and the battery 10 is charged. The alternator 2 is provided with a power generation control mechanism that controls the amount of power generation according to the operating state of the alternator 2 in order to prevent damage due to excessive power generation.
[0015]
Here, the battery 10 is a lead storage battery filled with an electrolytic solution so as to immerse the electrode plate, and has a rated voltage of, for example, 12V.
As shown in the figure, an electric wire 4 is branched from the electric wire 3 and extends, and the electric wire 4 is connected to input terminals of various electric loads 20 mounted on the vehicle. Thus, the current from the battery 10 or the generated current Ip generated by the alternator 2 flows through the various electric loads 20. Actually, since the generated voltage of the alternator 2 is higher than the output voltage of the battery 10 (for example, 14.2 V), a part of the generated current Ip from the alternator 2 is supplied to the battery 10 during the operation of the alternator 2. The remaining power is supplied to the various electric loads 20 as the consumed current Iw. Here, as the various electric loads 20, for example, lamps, audio equipment, wipers, and the like are fried.
[0016]
An ammeter (power generation current detection means) 5 for detecting the current value of the power generation current Ip from the alternator 2 is interposed at a portion of the wire 3 closer to the alternator 2 than the branch from the wire 4. An ammeter (consumption current detection means) 6 for detecting the current value of the consumption current Iw supplied to the electric load 20 is interposed in 4.
Further, a temperature sensor 12 for detecting the temperature of the battery 10 is attached to the battery 10.
[0017]
An ECU (electronic control unit) 30 including an input / output device, a storage device (ROM, RAM, nonvolatile RAM, and the like), a central processing unit (CPU), a timer counter, and the like is provided. Comprehensive control of the electrolytic solution monitoring device including 1 is performed.
On the input side of the ECU 30, in addition to the ammeter 5, the ammeter 6, the temperature sensor 12, the output of the power generation control mechanism of the alternator 2, and the like, an accelerator position for detecting the operation amount of the accelerator pedal 32 (accelerator opening) is provided. Various sensors such as a sensor (APS) 34, an idle switch (idle SW) 36, and an idle stop switch (idle stop SW) 38 are connected. On the output side, an input of the power generation control mechanism of the alternator 2 is provided. Various devices such as an alarm 40 are connected in addition to the unit and the electric load 20.
[0018]
The idle stop SW 38 is for operating a so-called idle stop function for stopping the operation of the engine 1 when the vehicle stops due to a signal waiting or the like, and the accelerator pedal 32 is not operated according to information from the APS 34. If the idle stop switch 38 is turned on while the idle switch 36 is turned on, an engine stop signal is output from the ECU 30 and the fuel supply to the engine 1 is temporarily stopped, and the operation of the engine 1 is stopped. Is done. The engine 1 that has been stopped is configured to restart when the accelerator pedal 32 is operated again on condition that the clutch (not shown) is disconnected.
[0019]
Hereinafter, the operation of the electrolytic solution monitoring device for a lead-acid battery configured as described above will be described.
As described above, when the idle stop function is activated, the operation of the engine 1 is stopped. Therefore, while the engine 1 is stopped, the operation of the alternator 2 is also stopped, and the electric power stored in the battery 10 is It becomes one side consumed by the load 20 and greatly decreases.
[0020]
As described above, when the power stored in the battery 10 is greatly reduced, when the engine 1 is restarted and the alternator 2 is restarted, the power generated from the alternator 2 is supplied to the battery 10 to supplement the consumed power. Will be charged quickly.
By the way, as described above, in the battery 10, it has been confirmed that when the charge exceeds 1 Ah (ampere hour), about 0.34 g of water is electrolyzed and the amount of the electrolytic solution is reduced. When the electric power of the electrolyte greatly decreases and the amount of charge increases to compensate for this, the decrease in the amount of the electrolyte tends to increase.
[0021]
Referring to FIG. 2, the amount of fluid decrease ΔW during the period when the ignition switch is on after the start of use of the battery 10 (IGON time) is compared between the case where the idle stop function is provided and the case where the idle stop function is not provided. However, when the battery has the idle stop function as described above, the electrolyte reduction amount ΣW is large, and the electrolyte reduction limit amount ΣWmax is reached early, the electrode plate is exposed, and the battery 10 is discharged. It may be damaged.
[0022]
Therefore, in the present invention, the amount of reduction of the electrolyte of the battery 10 is monitored, and an electrolyte monitoring method according to the present invention will be described below.
Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a flowchart of a control routine of the electrolytic solution monitoring control according to the present invention, which will be described below along the flowchart.
In step S10, the charge / discharge current Ic supplied to the battery 10 is calculated based on the difference between the generated current Ip detected by the ammeter 5 and the consumed current Iw detected by the ammeter 6 (Ic = Ip-Iw). ) (Charging current detecting means).
[0023]
In step S14, the charge / discharge current Ic thus obtained is integrated to obtain an integrated value ΣIc (charge / discharge current integrating means). As shown in FIG. 2, the integration of the charge / discharge current Ic is continuously performed over a period (IGON time) in which the ignition switch is on after the start of use of the battery 10. Further, since the integrated value ΣIc is stored in the nonvolatile RAM of the ECU 30, the storage is maintained even while the ignition switch is off.
[0024]
The integration of the charging / discharging current Ic is based on the relationship between the charging / discharging current and the reducing amount of the electrolytic solution, except for obtaining the reducing amount ΔW after the use of the battery 10 is started. By determining the value ΣIc, the liquid reduction amount ΣW is obtained.
In step S16, it is determined whether the integrated value ΣIc of the charging / discharging current Ic thus obtained is equal to or greater than a predetermined allowable value ΣIcmax (determination means). Here, the allowable value ΔImax is set to a value corresponding to the above-mentioned liquid reduction limit amount ΣWmax or the liquid reduction amount ΣW slightly smaller than the above-mentioned liquid reduction limit amount ΣWmax (see FIG. 2). If the determination result is false (No) and the integrated value ΣIc has not yet reached the predetermined allowable value ΣImax, the routine is repeatedly executed. On the other hand, if the result of the determination is true (Yes) and it is determined that the integrated value ΣIc has reached the predetermined allowable value ΣIcmax, the process proceeds to step S18.
[0025]
In step S18, when the integrated value ΣIc has reached the predetermined allowable value ΣImax, an electrolyte replenishment alarm is output to the alarm device 40 (alarm means). That is, the fact that the integrated value ΣIc has reached the predetermined allowable value ΣIcmax means that the liquid reduction amount ΣW has reached or is approaching the liquid reduction limit amount ΣWmax, and the liquid reduction amount ΣW has reached the liquid reduction limit amount ΣWmax. Or before the battery reaches, the driver of the vehicle or the like is notified that the electrolyte of the battery 10 should be replenished.
[0026]
This allows the driver or the like to replenish the battery 10 with the electrolytic solution, thereby preventing the battery 10 from being damaged by a simple configuration and extending the life of the battery 10. In particular, when the battery 10 is a maintenance-free battery, the driver and the like tend not to pay attention to the electrolyte, and the effect of the present invention is effective.
When the battery 10 is replenished with the electrolyte, the integrated value ΣIc of the charge / discharge current Ic is reset to a zero value.
[0027]
The description of the embodiment is finished above, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the idle stop function is particularly provided has been described.However, this is because the amount of the electrolytic solution to be reduced is particularly large. Effectively applicable.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the lead-acid battery electrolyte monitoring device of claim 1 of the present invention, when the charge exceeds 1 Ah (ampere hour), about 0.34 g of water is electrolyzed and Based on the relationship of decrease, the charge / discharge current is integrated, and when the integrated value of the integrated charge / discharge current is equal to or more than a predetermined value, it is determined that the electrolyte amount of the lead storage battery has decreased by the predetermined amount, and the replenishment of the electrolyte is prompted. Since the alarm is issued, it is possible to easily and surely grasp that the electrolyte of the lead storage battery has been reduced, and to replenish the electrolyte, and it is possible to suitably prevent the breakage of the lead storage battery.
[0029]
According to the lead-acid battery electrolyte monitoring device of the second aspect, the charge / discharge current is detected based on the difference between the current consumption of the electric load and the current generated by the generator. Can be calculated.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the charge / discharge current flowing into and out of the lead storage battery is detected, so that the charge / discharge current can be directly and easily detected.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an apparatus for monitoring an electrolyte of a lead storage battery according to the present invention mounted on a vehicle.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a comparison between a case in which an idle stop function is provided and a case in which an idle stop function is not provided, for a reduced amount of fluid ΔW during a period in which an ignition switch is turned on (IGON time) after starting use of a battery. FIG. 10 is a graph showing an integrated value ΣIc of the charge / discharge current Ic.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control routine of electrolyte monitoring control according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 engine 2 alternator (generator)
5 Ammeter (generation current detection means)
6 Ammeter (current consumption detection means)
10 Battery (storage battery)
20 electric load 30 ECU (electronic control unit)
40 alarm (alarm means)

Claims (3)

A generator driven by the internal combustion engine to supply power to the lead storage battery and the electric load;
Charge / discharge current detecting means for detecting a charge / discharge current of the lead storage battery,
Charge / discharge current integrating means for integrating the charge / discharge current detected by the charge / discharge current detecting means,
When the integrated value of the charge / discharge current integrated by the charge / discharge current integration means is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, a determination unit that determines that the electrolyte amount of the lead storage battery has decreased by a predetermined amount,
When the determination unit determines that the electrolyte amount of the lead storage battery has decreased by a predetermined amount, an alarm unit that prompts replenishment of the electrolyte solution of the lead storage battery,
An electrolytic solution monitoring device for a lead storage battery, comprising: The charging / discharging current detecting means includes a consumed current detecting means for detecting a consumed current of the electric load, and a generated current detecting means for detecting a generated current of the generator, wherein the consumed current detected by the consumed current detecting means is included. 2. The lead-acid battery electrolyte monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein a charge / discharge current is detected based on a difference between a current and a generated current detected by the generated current detecting means. The electrolyte monitoring device for a lead-acid battery according to claim 1, wherein the charge / discharge current detecting means detects a charge / discharge current flowing into and out of the lead-acid battery.

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