JP2011101484A - Rechargeable battery, charger, and charging system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rechargeable battery, along with a charger and charging system, capable of facilitating confirming history of use. <P>SOLUTION: The rechargeable battery is provided with a battery portion that can be repeatedly charged and a display portion that displays the history of use of the battery portion. The display portion can be provided by electronic paper. The rechargeable battery is provided with a memory device for storing the history of use of the battery portion and thus the history of use of the battery portion can be stored on the rechargeable battery side. As a result, it is possible to easily confirm the history of use of the rechargeable battery and further enhance the convenience of the rechargeable battery. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a rechargeable battery, a charger, and a charging system, and more particularly, to a rechargeable battery, a charger, and a charging system that can easily check a usage history.

  In recent years, with the miniaturization of electronic devices, portable electronic devices have become widespread. Accordingly, the frequency of use of batteries for driving electronic devices is increasing. As batteries, primary batteries such as manganese batteries and alkaline batteries, and secondary batteries (rechargeable batteries) that can be reused repeatedly by charging are widely used, but they can be recharged in terms of price and environment. The use of certain rechargeable batteries is expanding. Further, with the expansion of the use of rechargeable batteries, it has been proposed to provide various functions in the structure and charging system of rechargeable batteries (for example, Patent Document 1), and the use ratio of rechargeable batteries will increase more and more in the future. It is expected to continue.

  Although the rechargeable battery cannot be used indefinitely and the number of times of charging is determined, the number of times of charging has been dramatically increased with the recent advancement of technology. However, as the rechargeable battery is repeatedly charged many times and used for a long period of time, there is a problem that the usage history such as the number of times the rechargeable battery is charged becomes unknown. Therefore, the user has a problem that it is inconvenient because it cannot know the approximate lifetime of the rechargeable battery. In particular, when using a plurality of rechargeable batteries in combination, it is difficult to distinguish between a new (low charge) rechargeable battery and an old (high charge) rechargeable battery, which is very inconvenient. It was.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-21768

  The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and an object thereof is to provide a rechargeable battery, a charger, and a charging system capable of easily confirming a use history of the rechargeable battery.

  One aspect of the rechargeable battery of the present invention includes a battery unit that can be repeatedly charged and a display unit that displays a usage history of the battery unit. According to this configuration, it is possible to easily check the usage history of the rechargeable battery and further increase the convenience of the rechargeable battery.

  In one embodiment of the rechargeable battery of the present invention, the display portion is preferably provided with electronic paper.

  In one aspect of the rechargeable battery according to the present invention, the rechargeable battery includes a first electrical contact electrically connected to the battery unit and a second electrical contact electrically connected to the display unit, It is preferable that the contact and the second electrical contact are provided independently.

  In one embodiment of the rechargeable battery of the present invention, it is preferable to have a storage device that stores a use history. Moreover, it is preferable that it is a memory as a memory | storage device.

  One aspect of the charger of the present invention is to charge the above-described rechargeable battery, and includes a power supply circuit that supplies power to the battery unit, and charge management that updates a usage history of the battery unit displayed on the display unit. Circuit.

  One aspect of the charger of the present invention is for charging the above-described rechargeable battery, and is displayed on a power supply circuit that supplies power to the battery unit, a sensor unit that optically reads the display unit, and a display unit. And a charge management circuit for updating the usage history.

  One aspect of the charger of the present invention is to charge the above-described rechargeable battery, and includes a power supply circuit that supplies power to the battery unit, a storage device that stores a usage history of the battery unit, A charge management circuit that recognizes the identification number and updates the use history stored in the storage device.

  One aspect of the charging system of the present invention is a charging system that charges a rechargeable battery using a charger, and the rechargeable battery includes a battery unit and a display unit that displays a usage history of the battery unit. The charger supplies power to the battery unit and updates the usage history of the battery unit displayed on the display unit.

  In one aspect of the charging system of the present invention, the rechargeable battery has a storage device that stores the usage history of the battery unit, and the charger receives the usage history data of the battery unit stored in the storage device. The feature is that the usage history is updated.

  In one aspect of the charging system of the present invention, the charger has a sensor unit, and the display unit is optically read by the sensor unit, thereby receiving battery unit usage history data.

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, the use history of the rechargeable battery can be easily confirmed by providing the display unit that displays the use history of the rechargeable battery in the rechargeable battery.

FIG. 9 illustrates a rechargeable battery according to an embodiment. The figure explaining charge with the rechargeable battery and charger which concern on embodiment. The figure explaining charge with the rechargeable battery and charger which concern on embodiment. The figure explaining charge with the rechargeable battery and charger which concern on embodiment. The flowchart explaining the flow of the charging system which concerns on embodiment. The flowchart explaining the flow of the charging system which concerns on embodiment.

  The present inventor has provided a display unit for displaying the usage history of the rechargeable battery on the rechargeable battery, so that the usage history of the rechargeable battery can be easily confirmed visually at any time. In addition, by forming the display unit with a display medium that has memory characteristics and zero standby power consumption, it is possible to display the usage history without consuming the power of the rechargeable battery.

  In addition, by rewriting the display portion provided in the rechargeable battery using a charger when charging the rechargeable battery, it is possible to eliminate the necessity of mounting a complicated circuit on the rechargeable battery. Thereby, the cost increase of the rechargeable battery which is a consumable can be suppressed. Hereinafter, a rechargeable battery, a charger, and a charging system will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Rechargeable battery>
FIG. 1A illustrates an example of a rechargeable battery according to this embodiment.

  The rechargeable battery 100 can include a battery portion 102 that can be repeatedly charged and a display portion 101 that displays a use history of the battery portion 102 (see FIG. 1A).

  The battery unit 102 only needs to have a battery that can be repeatedly charged and discharged. For example, the battery unit 102 is formed of a battery such as a lithium ion battery, a lithium ion polymer battery, a lead storage battery, a nickel hydride storage battery, or nickel cadmium. Can do.

  The display unit 101 is preferably provided using a display medium having a memory property. By using a display medium having a memory property, the usage history of the battery unit 102 of the rechargeable battery 100 can be easily visually confirmed at any time. In addition, the display unit 101 may be provided integrally with the battery unit 102, or the display unit 101 may be separately provided and attached to the battery unit 102. As an example, the display portion 101 can be provided on a film-like sheet, and the film-like sheet can be attached and provided so as to wrap the battery portion 102.

  The display unit 101 is preferably provided using a display medium that can hold a display even when power is not supplied (standby power consumption is zero). Thereby, the usage history of the battery unit 102 can be displayed without supplying power from the battery unit 102. Electronic paper is preferably used as such a display medium. By providing the display unit 101 with electronic paper, the display of the display unit 101 can be switched with low power, and after switching the display, the display can be held without requiring power supply. It becomes.

  Any type of electronic paper applied to the display unit 101 may be used. For example, an electrophoresis method, a twist ball method, a magnetophoresis method, an electronic powder fluid method, a charged toner method, a liquid crystal display method, or the like can be applied.

  The usage history of the battery unit 102 displayed on the display unit 101 can be, for example, the number of times the battery unit 102 has been charged. In FIG. 1, a case where the number of times of charging of a rechargeable battery that can be charged 1000 times is displayed on the display unit 101 as the rechargeable battery 100 is shown. Note that the usage history of the battery unit 102 may be configured to display not only the number of times of charging but also the health state of the battery (the degree of battery deterioration) and the like.

  In the rechargeable battery 100 described in this embodiment, an electrical contact electrically connected to the battery portion 102 (hereinafter, referred to as a “first electrical contact”) is electrically connected to the display portion 101. The electrical contacts (hereinafter referred to as “second electrical contacts”) can be provided separately and independently. In this case, charging can be performed by supplying power to the battery unit 102 via the first electrical contact, and the display on the display unit 101 can be switched via the second electrical contact. In this manner, by separately providing an electrical contact for rewriting the display unit 101 and an electrical contact for charging the rechargeable battery 100, the voltage and waveform at the time of charging and the electricity for rewriting the content of the display unit are provided. The signal can be different. In addition, the display unit 101 may be rewritten by a non-contact method.

  In addition, the rechargeable battery 100 may be provided with a storage device that stores a use history such as the number of times the battery unit 102 has been charged. In this case, the rechargeable battery 100 may be provided with an information acquisition unit that acquires the usage history of the battery unit 102, and the usage history stored in the storage device may be displayed on the display unit 101 via the information acquisition unit. it can.

  As the storage device, a rewritable nonvolatile memory or a write-once memory or the like can be used. When it is desired to prevent the usage history of the battery unit 102 from being tampered with, a write-once memory that cannot be rewritten can be used.

  When the storage device is provided in the rechargeable battery 100, the usage history of the battery unit 102 can be held and managed on the rechargeable battery 100 side. Thereby, even if it is a case where the rechargeable battery 100 is charged using a different charger, the use history of the battery unit 102 can be accurately displayed on the display unit 101. Note that writing of information to the storage device provided in the rechargeable battery 100 (update of usage history) can be performed using a charger.

  Further, when the rechargeable battery 100 is charged using the same charger, a storage device that stores the usage history of the battery unit 102 may be provided on the charger side instead of the rechargeable battery 100. For example, by assigning an individual identification number to the rechargeable battery 100 and recognizing the identification number of the rechargeable battery 100 during charging, the usage history of the battery unit 102 can be managed. In this case, the information acquisition unit provided in the rechargeable battery 100 can acquire the usage history information stored in the storage device of the charger and reflect it on the display unit 101. The assignment of the individual identification number can be realized by providing the rechargeable battery 100 with a ROM or the like in which the identification number is stored.

  Although FIG. 1A shows the case where the display portion 101 is provided on the side surface of the rechargeable battery 100, the place where the display portion 101 is provided is not limited thereto. For example, it can be set as the structure provided in the surface in which the positive or negative electrode of the rechargeable battery 100 was formed. In particular, since the positive electrode side has a convex portion, as shown in FIG. 1B, the rechargeable battery 100 is formed by forming the display portion 101 so as to surround the convex portion (for example, a donut shape). It is possible to provide the display unit 101 without changing the overall length.

  Further, the shape of the display portion 101 is not limited to a rectangular shape, and can be provided in various shapes. For example, it may be configured to change the color of a logo character instead of a rectangular scale (see FIG. 1C). In this case, the usage history of the rechargeable battery 100 can be confirmed without restricting the display of the logo.

  In addition, an alarm function that alerts the user when the number of times the rechargeable battery 100 has been charged exceeds a predetermined number may be provided. For example, when the number of times the rechargeable battery 100 is charged exceeds a predetermined number, a display unit formed in a portion different from the scale portion can be displayed. In addition, the scale portion may be displayed in a different color when the predetermined number of times is reached. For example, by enclosing electrophoretic particles colored other than white or black (for example, red) in the latter half of the scale, the user can be alerted.

<Charger and charging system>
Next, the case where the rechargeable battery 100 described above is charged using a charger will be described.

  FIG. 2 shows a case where the rechargeable battery 100 is charged using the charger 200. In FIG. 2, the rechargeable battery 100 includes a battery unit 102, a usage history display unit 120 including a display unit 101, an information acquisition unit 103, and a storage device 104, and the charger 200 includes a power circuit. 201 and a charge management circuit 202.

  The battery unit 102 is charged when electric power is supplied from the power supply circuit 201 of the charger 200 via the first electrical contact 105. Further, when the battery unit 102 is charged, the use history displayed on the display unit 101 of the rechargeable battery 100 is updated by the charge management circuit 202 provided in the charger 200. Specifically, the charge management circuit 202 reads the usage history information of the battery unit 102 stored in the storage device 104 of the rechargeable battery 100, and updates the usage history information of the storage device 104 when the battery unit 102 is charged. To do. Subsequently, the updated usage history information of the storage device 104 is displayed on the display unit 101 via the information acquisition unit 103. The display on the display unit 101 can be switched during or after the battery unit 102 is charged. The power supply to the usage history display unit 120 is supplied from the power supply circuit 201 via the second electrical contact 106. Can be done. In addition, when the display unit 101 is switched in a non-contact manner, the rechargeable battery 100 and the charger 200 may be provided with an antenna.

  In addition, the electrical contact of the battery unit 102 and the electrical contact of the usage history display unit 120 may be provided in common, but in this case, the usage history is limited to the period when the rechargeable battery 100 is attached to the charger 200. It is preferable that power be supplied to the display unit 120. Thereby, even if it is a case where the display part 101 grade | etc., Is provided in the rechargeable battery 100, it can prevent that the usage time of the rechargeable battery 100 falls.

  In addition, when an electrophoresis method or the like is used as electronic paper applied to the display unit 101, when switching the display of the display unit 101, the entire surface of the display unit 101 is once displayed in black and / or white. It is good also as a structure which performs the display according to a usage history. Thereby, aggregation and burn-in of electrophoretic particles can be suppressed.

  In addition, an alarm function that alerts the user when the number of times of charging the battery unit 102 of the rechargeable battery 100 exceeds a predetermined number may be provided on the charger 200 side. For example, the display unit 203 may be provided in the charger 200, and the display unit 203 may be displayed according to the number of times of charging of the battery unit 102 of the attached rechargeable battery 100 (FIGS. 3A and 3B). )reference). Specifically, when the rechargeable battery 100 is attached to the charger 200, the charge management circuit 202 reads the usage history information of the battery unit 102 stored in the storage device 104, and exceeds a predetermined number of times. Alternatively, the display unit 203 can be turned on.

  In addition, the charger 200 is provided with a sensor unit 204 that optically reads the display unit 101 of the rechargeable battery 100, and the usage history information of the battery unit 102 displayed on the display unit 101 is read using the sensor unit 204. Thus, the charger 200 may receive usage history information of the battery unit 102 (see FIG. 4). In this case, since the display unit 101 serves as the storage device 104, the storage device 104 can be omitted.

  Next, the flow of the charging system for charging the rechargeable battery 100 using the charger 200 will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, it is confirmed whether or not the rechargeable battery 100 is set in the charger 200 (step 11). When the rechargeable battery 100 is set, charging is started (step 12). Next, the charge amount of the set rechargeable battery 100 is measured (step 13), and it is confirmed whether or not the charge amount of the rechargeable battery 100 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value (step 14). Thereafter, whether to count up the number of times the rechargeable battery 100 is charged is determined according to the measurement result of the charge amount. Specifically, when the charge amount of the rechargeable battery 100 is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount, the information in the storage device 104 provided in the rechargeable battery 100 is rewritten (step 15), and based on the information in the storage device 104 The display unit 101 is also rewritten (step 16), and charging is completed (step 17). When the charge amount of the rechargeable battery 100 does not reach a predetermined value or more, charging is completed without counting up the number of times of charging. As a result, when the rechargeable battery 100 that has been used only slightly after charging is charged again, it is possible to suppress the number of times of charging from being counted up and to reflect an accurate usage history on the display unit 101. It should be noted that the condition for counting up can be appropriately set in consideration of voltage, capacity, etc., depending on the type of battery.

  Next, the flow of the charging system when an alarm is displayed on the charger 200 side when the number of times of charging of the rechargeable battery 100 exceeds a predetermined number will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, it is confirmed whether or not the rechargeable battery 100 is set in the charger 200 (step 21). When the rechargeable battery 100 is set, the number of times the rechargeable battery 100 has been charged so far is determined by the charger 200. Is detected (step 22), and it is confirmed whether the number of times of charging is equal to or less than a predetermined number (step 23). When the number of times of charging is equal to or greater than the predetermined number, the display unit 203 on the charger 200 turns on and warns (step 24). Thereafter, charging of the rechargeable battery 100 is started, and charging is completed through steps 12 to 17 in FIG.

  As described above, the use history of the rechargeable battery can be easily confirmed by the rechargeable battery, the charger, and the charging system described in this embodiment, and the convenience of the rechargeable battery can be further increased.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change can be implemented. In addition, the material, quantity, and the like in the above embodiment are examples, and can be changed as appropriate. In addition, the present invention can be appropriately modified and implemented without departing from the technical idea of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Rechargeable battery 101 Display part 102 Battery part 103 Information acquisition part 104 Memory | storage device 105 1st electrical contact 106 2nd electrical contact 120 Usage history display part 200 Charger 201 Power supply circuit 202 Charge management circuit 203 Display part 204 Sensor part

Claims (12)

A battery part that can be repeatedly charged
A rechargeable battery comprising: a display unit that displays a usage history of the battery unit.   The rechargeable battery according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is provided with electronic paper. A first electrical contact electrically connected to the battery part;
A second electrical contact electrically connected to the display unit,
The rechargeable battery according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first electrical contact and the second electrical contact are provided independently.   The rechargeable battery according to claim 1, further comprising a storage device that stores the usage history.   The rechargeable battery according to claim 4, wherein the storage device is a memory. A charger for charging the rechargeable battery according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A power supply circuit for supplying power to the battery unit;
A charger having a charge management circuit for updating the usage history displayed on the display unit. A charger for charging the rechargeable battery according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A power supply circuit for supplying power to the battery unit;
A sensor unit for optically reading the display unit;
A charger having a charge management circuit for updating the usage history displayed on the display unit. A charger for charging the rechargeable battery according to claim 4 or 5,
A power supply circuit for supplying power to the battery unit;
A charger having a charge management circuit that reads out the use history stored in the storage device and updates the use history stored in the storage device. A charger for charging the rechargeable battery according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A power supply circuit for supplying power to the battery unit;
A storage device storing a usage history of the battery unit;
A charger having a charge management circuit for recognizing an identification number of the battery unit and updating the use history stored in the storage device. A charging system for charging a rechargeable battery using a charger,
The rechargeable battery includes a battery unit and a display unit that displays a usage history of the battery unit.
The charger is configured to supply power to the battery unit and update a use history of the battery unit displayed on the display unit. The rechargeable battery has a storage device that stores a use history of the battery unit,
The charging system according to claim 10, wherein the charger updates the usage history after receiving the usage history data of the battery unit stored in the storage device. The charger has a sensor part;
12. The charging system according to claim 10, wherein use history data of the battery unit is received by optically reading the display unit by the sensor unit.

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