JP2009240066A - Charger - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that, for nickel plating to a charging terminal of a charger or to a terminal of a secondary battery, an oxide coating is formed or stain is adhered on the nickel plating when the nickel plating is left for a long period, and a contact resistance is increased if the oxide coating or stain is not removed from the plating, impairing a charging function. <P>SOLUTION: A charger includes a battery accommodating section for accommodating a battery, charging terminals electrically connected to the battery, and terminal exposing holes for guiding the charging terminals therethrough. When the battery is accommodated in the battery accommodating section, the charging terminals are pushed into the terminal exposing holes in parallel with the holes at a certain angle to the battery accommodation direction A. In accommodating the battery, the contact points between the battery terminals and the charging terminals move laterally from the start of contact to the completion of battery accommodation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a charger, and more particularly to a mechanism for electrically connecting a battery and a charging terminal.

  In recent years, secondary batteries that can be used repeatedly are suitably used for portable electronic devices such as digital still cameras. Chargers for charging these secondary batteries are always required to have a highly reliable electrical connection, and it is necessary to maintain a stable charging function.

Therefore, in order to obtain a stable connection to the charging terminal that bears the electrical connection, a method such as nickel plating on the surface has been taken. However, if the nickel plating surface is left for a long period of time, the formation of an oxide film or adhesion of dirt occurs, and if it is not removed, the contact resistance increases and the charging function is impaired. Therefore, as a mechanism for removing these oxide films and dirt (cleaning mechanism), when storing the battery, a protrusion different from the charging terminal comes into contact with the battery terminal surface, and the oxide film and dirt on the battery terminal surface are scraped off ( For example, refer to Patent Document 1), and a method of scraping an oxide film or dirt on a contact by friction between a battery terminal and a charging terminal using vertical movement of the battery has been proposed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-185827

  However, in the mechanism like the charger of the above-mentioned conventional patent document 1, it is difficult to apply to a battery in which the terminal is arranged on the battery end face, and the effect on the terminal on the charger side cannot be expected. Moreover, since the vertical movement of the battery and the movement direction of the terminals are the same, there is a problem that a sufficient contact distance cannot be expected.

  In order to solve the above conventional problems, the charger of the present invention includes a current circuit unit that supplies a charging current to a battery, a voltage circuit unit that supplies a charging voltage, and an operation that controls the current circuit unit and the voltage circuit unit. In the charger having the charging control circuit unit constituted by the unit, the input / output terminal of the charger is arranged so as to be obliquely in contact with the terminal surface of the battery.

  According to the present invention, the contact between the battery terminal and the charging terminal moves in the lateral direction from the state in which the battery terminal and the charging terminal start to contact when the battery is stored until the battery is completely stored. By optimally setting the angle of the terminal exposure hole, it is possible to move the contact sufficiently to exert the cleaning effect, and it is possible to maintain a stable and good contact state for a long period of time.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment)
1-4, when the same thing is shown, the same number is provided.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view seen from above of a charger to which the present invention is applied.

  The terminal exposure hole 11 of the charger 10 according to the present invention is provided in a direction with a certain angle that is not the same direction as the storage direction A of the battery 20, and the charging terminal 23 has the contact portion 21 in the direction of the terminal exposure hole 11. It is attached to move.

  When the charging terminal 23 is rubbed obliquely in this way and the charging terminal 23 is contaminated or dust is attached, the rubbing pressure can cause the surface to become dirty and prevent the dirt and dust from adhering.

  2 and 3, the battery 20 is housed in the battery housing portion 24 of the charger 10, and the battery terminal 22 of the battery 20 and the contact portion 21 of the charging terminal 23 start to contact, and the battery 20 is in the battery housing portion 24. It is sectional drawing which shows the state accommodated in.

  When moving from FIG. 2 to FIG. 3, the contact portion 21 of the charging terminal 23 is pushed in the direction of the terminal exposure hole 11 due to the load pushed in the storage direction A by the battery 20 and the shape of the terminal exposure hole 11.

  At this time, the contact portion 21 moves sideways while maintaining the state in which the surface of the battery terminal 22 of the battery 20 is in contact.

  FIG. 4 shows details of the terminal operation, and shows the process of the contact portion 21 from FIG. 2 to FIG.

  In FIG. 4A, the contact position 25 is the contact position 25 at the start of contact, and when the battery 20 is pushed in the storage direction A, the contact position 26 in the battery 20 storage state is obtained.

  FIG. 4B shows a cross section of the battery terminal 22 and the charging terminal 23.

  In this figure, an example of four terminals is shown. However, regardless of the number of terminals, only three terminals are arranged in the same manner regardless of the number of terminals. In addition, the lengths of the charging terminals 23 and the battery terminals 22 may be equal, or if the contact pressure is specially required, the lengths of the charging terminals 23 and the battery terminals 22 may be made non-uniform. Measures against dirt and dust can be taken.

  It is also possible to make a groove so that the battery can be easily moved to the battery storage portion 24 of the charger 10 in the battery storage direction.

  Further, in order to obtain a stable connection with a charging terminal that normally takes electrical connection, a method such as nickel plating on the surface is used.

  However, in nickel plating, if the surface is left for a long period of time, it tends to cause oxide film formation and dirt adhesion, etc. If it is not removed, contact resistance will increase and problems may occur if the charging function is impaired There is sex.

  Therefore, as a mechanism for removing these oxide films and dirt, for example, as a cleaning mechanism, when storing the battery, a protrusion different from the charging terminal comes into contact with the surface of the battery terminal, and a method of scraping off the oxide film and dirt on the battery terminal surface. However, even if it is the terminal structure of this invention, what kind of effect can be expected.

  Therefore, it is possible to use a method in which the oxide film and dirt on the contact are scraped off by friction between the battery terminal and the charging terminal using the vertical movement of the battery.

Sectional drawing of the charger shown in embodiment of this invention Sectional drawing when the contact between the battery terminal and the charging terminal when the battery of the charger shown in the embodiment of the present invention is stored is started Sectional drawing when storing a battery in a charger according to an embodiment of the present invention (A) The figure of the contact part of the battery terminal and charging terminal by embodiment of this invention, (b) Sectional drawing of the charging terminal by embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Charger 11 Terminal exposure hole 20 Battery 21 Contact part 22 Battery terminal 23 Charging terminal 24 Battery storage part 25 Contact position of starting contact 26 Contact position of storage state

Claims (4)

In a charger having a current circuit unit that supplies a charging current to a battery, a voltage circuit unit that supplies a charging voltage, and a charging control circuit unit that includes the current circuit unit and a calculation unit that controls the voltage circuit unit. The charger is characterized in that the input / output terminals of the battery are arranged so as to be in contact with the terminal surface of the battery at an angle. 2. The charger according to claim 1, wherein, in the plurality of input / output terminals of the charger, at least one of the input / output terminals has a shorter terminal that contacts the battery. 2. The battery charger according to claim 1, wherein a battery insertion groove that obliquely contacts the battery terminal with respect to an input / output terminal of the battery charger is provided in the battery charger. 4. The charger according to claim 3, wherein the insertion groove is provided in parallel with an input / output terminal of the charger.

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