JP2017163808A - Battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a battery pack capable of knowing the cause of a failure even without disassembling and knowing beforehand that an abnormal load has occurred.SOLUTION: The battery pack includes: an abnormality detection unit 32 for detecting occurrence of an abnormal load; a nonvolatile memory 33 for storing whether the abnormality detection unit 32 detects an abnormal load; and an abnormality notifying unit for notifying abnormality on the basis of the information stored in the memory 33.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery pack used for a target device such as a power tool, and more particularly to a battery pack capable of reporting an abnormal state.

  This type of battery pack causes malfunction when an abnormal load is applied. For example, when it is used in a wet state, the battery cell is corroded or the connection terminal is short-circuited, causing a malfunction. Further, when a large impact is applied due to dropping or the like, the terminal is broken or the contact of the terminal is deteriorated, which causes a malfunction. Further, when used in a high temperature state, a safety mechanism that mechanically interrupts the current path is activated, and charging / discharging cannot be performed.

  Such a phenomenon occurs even if there is no change in the appearance of the battery pack, so it is difficult to identify the problem from the appearance. The battery pack is formed so that it cannot be easily disassembled for safety, and it is difficult for the user to determine the cause of the failure by looking inside.

  Regarding such problems, Patent Document 1 discloses that a battery system including a lithium battery, a lithium battery control circuit, and a battery using device is provided with an acceleration sensor fixed to the battery body or the battery using device, and processes the signal of the acceleration sensor. Thus, a structure for predicting and diagnosing an abnormality in a device and shutting off a battery circuit is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-40205

  However, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1 described above, the control circuit predicts and diagnoses an abnormality and shuts down the battery circuit. Therefore, the user cannot know the cause of the battery pack being unusable. For example, it is impossible to determine whether the battery circuit has been shut off by the predictive diagnosis or whether the battery pack has failed for other reasons. Therefore, there has been a problem that the cause of the failure of the battery pack cannot be known unless the battery pack maker or the like sends it for repair. In addition, battery pack manufacturers have a problem that the cause of the failure of the battery pack is not known unless it is disassembled.

  Further, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1 described above, the user knows that an abnormal load that causes a malfunction is generated only when the battery pack cannot be used. Therefore, there is a problem that it is impossible to know in advance that an abnormal load has occurred.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a battery pack that can know the cause of a failure without disassembling and know in advance that an abnormal load has occurred.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is characterized by the following.

  The invention according to claim 1 is an abnormality detection unit that detects that an abnormal load has occurred, a nonvolatile memory that stores whether or not the abnormality detection unit has detected an abnormal load, and a memory that stores the abnormal load And an abnormality notifying unit for notifying of abnormality based on the information thus obtained.

  The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that, in addition to the feature of the invention described in claim 1, the remaining amount display unit for displaying the remaining battery level is used as the abnormality notification unit.

  The invention according to claim 3 includes a plurality of connection terminals for electrically connecting the battery pack and the target device in addition to the features of the invention according to claim 1 or 2, and the abnormality. The detection unit detects water wetting by detecting a change in the voltage value of the connection terminal.

  The invention according to claim 1 is as described above, and an abnormality detection unit that detects that an abnormal load has occurred, and a nonvolatile memory that stores whether or not the abnormality detection unit has detected an abnormal load And an abnormality notifying unit for notifying abnormality based on the information stored in the memory. Therefore, by using the abnormality notification unit when a failure occurs, the cause of the failure can be known without being disassembled. Also, even at the timing before the failure occurs, whether or not an abnormal load has occurred at the present time is stored in the memory, so it is possible to know in advance that an abnormal load has occurred using the abnormality notification unit it can.

  Further, the invention according to claim 2 is as described above, and the remaining amount display unit for displaying the remaining battery level is used as the abnormality notification unit. According to such a configuration, since it is not necessary to add a part only to realize the abnormality notification unit, the number of parts can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  The invention according to claim 3 is as described above, and the abnormality detection unit detects water wetting by detecting a change in the voltage value of the connection terminal. That is, when the connection terminal gets wet, the signal terminal and the power supply terminal become conductive, and a voltage is applied to the signal terminal to which no voltage is originally applied. The abnormality detection unit detects this voltage change, and thereby stores the occurrence of water wetting in the memory. Therefore, it is possible to confirm whether or not there is water wetting using the abnormality notification unit.

  As a method for detecting water wetting, a water wetting seal or the like is known, but it is necessary to attach the water wetting seal to a sealed space or the like in order to prevent erroneous detection due to moisture or the like. For this reason, it was necessary to disassemble the battery pack in order to confirm water wetting. In this regard, according to the present invention, water wetting can be confirmed without disassembling the battery pack.

It is an external view of a battery pack. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of a battery pack. It is a block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of a battery pack. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of abnormality notification.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The battery pack 10 according to the present embodiment is used as a power source for an external device after being charged by a charger (not shown), and is used by being attached to a target device such as a charger or an electric tool. . As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the battery pack 10 accommodates a plurality of battery cells 14 inside a box formed by combining an upper cover 11 and a lower cover 12. Arranged above the plurality of battery cells 14 are a latch 13 used when the battery pack 10 is attached to a target device, and a substrate 20 for performing charge / discharge control of the battery cell 14 and the like.

  On the upper surface of the upper cover 11, a terminal cover portion 11 a that covers a connection terminal 21 that will be described later, a slide portion 11 b that is used when the battery pack 10 is attached to the target device, and a button switch 22 that will be described later are covered so as to be pressed. A button cover portion 11c, an LED window 11d that covers a lighting state of the LED 23, which will be described later, are provided, and a latch opening 11e for projecting the latch 13 so as to protrude and retract.

  The terminal cover portion 11a covers the connection terminal 21 in a state where the front of the connection terminal 21 is open, and is formed so that a terminal of a charger or an electric device can be inserted from the front and connected to the connection terminal 21.

  The slide part 11b is for guiding the battery pack 10 so as to be slidable when the battery pack 10 is attached to and detached from the target device. By sliding the battery pack 10 along the slide portion 11b, a latch 13 described later is engaged with and disengaged from the target device, and the battery pack 10 can be attached and detached.

  The button cover portion 11c covers the button switch 22 and is formed of a soft member. When the button cover portion 11c is pressed, the button switch 22 disposed below is pressed.

  The LED window 11d covers the upper side of the LED 23 and is formed of a translucent member. When the LED 23 is turned on, the lighting state of the LED 23 can be confirmed through the LED window 11d.

  The latch 13 projects through the latch opening 11e so as to protrude from the top surface of the upper cover 11, and is always urged in the projecting direction by a spring. When the battery pack 10 is mounted on the target device, the battery pack 10 is slid with respect to the target device, and the latch 13 is engaged with a recess formed on the bottom surface of the mounting portion of the target device. Thereby, the battery pack 10 is attached to the target device. Although not particularly illustrated, an operation portion for operating the latch 13 is provided on the rear surface of the battery pack 10, and the engagement between the latch 13 and the recess can be released by operating this operation portion. Yes. Therefore, when removing the battery pack 10 from the target device, the battery pack 10 is slid and removed while operating the operation unit.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the substrate 20 is disposed so as to face the back surface of the upper cover 11, and includes a connection terminal 21, a button switch 22, and an LED 23 on the top surface.

  The connection terminal 21 is a terminal for electrically connecting the battery pack 10 and the target device. The discharging to the electric tool, the charging from the charger, the signal exchange with the electric tool or the charger, etc. are executed via the connection terminal 21. In the present embodiment, eight connection terminals 21 of the first connection terminal 21a to the eighth connection terminal 21h are provided side by side. Of the eight connection terminals 21, the first connection terminal 21 a and the second connection terminal 21 b are used as power supply terminals for supplying power to the battery cell 14 or supplying power from the battery cell 14. The remaining six connection terminals 21 (third connection terminal 21c to eighth connection terminal 21h) are used as signal terminals for exchanging control signals with the charger or the electric device.

  The button switch 22 is a push button that is operably provided to display the remaining battery level. When the button switch 22 is pressed, a predetermined display is executed by the display control unit 34 described later.

  The LED 23 is used for displaying the remaining battery level and notifying abnormality. When the above button switch 22 is pressed, the light is turned on under the control of the display control unit 34 described later. In the present embodiment, three LEDs 23 are provided, and the remaining amount display unit 40 is configured by these three LEDs 23. The remaining amount display unit 40 also functions as an abnormality notification unit that notifies abnormality.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a control device 30 configured with an arithmetic device such as an MPU is mounted on the substrate 20 described above. The control device 30 includes a charge / discharge control unit 31 that controls charging / discharging of the battery pack 10, an abnormality detection unit 32 that detects that an abnormal load has occurred, and whether or not the abnormality detection unit 32 has detected an abnormal load. A non-volatile memory 33 that stores such information, and a display control unit 34 that controls the remaining battery level display and abnormality notification when the button switch 22 is pressed.
The charge / discharge control unit 31 receives a signal output from the target device via the connection terminal 21 and controls charge / discharge based on the received signal.

  The abnormality detection unit 32 detects water wetting by detecting a change in the voltage value of the connection terminal 21. The abnormality detection unit 32 according to the present embodiment monitors the voltage value of a specific signal terminal among the signal terminals, and determines that water wetting has occurred when the voltage value changes beyond a predetermined threshold.

  That is, normally, a large voltage is not applied to the signal terminal, but a large voltage is applied when the signal terminal is electrically connected to the power supply terminal due to water wetting. By detecting this, wetting is detected. The signal terminal monitored by the abnormality detection unit 32 is desirably a signal terminal adjacent to the power supply terminal. Since the signal terminal adjacent to the power supply terminal is easily connected to the power supply terminal when wet, it is easy to detect the wetness by monitoring the signal terminal adjacent to the power supply terminal.

The abnormality detection unit 32 stores a water wetting history in the memory 33 when detecting water wetting. In addition, the water wetting history may only memorize whether or not there has been water wetting, memorize how many times the water has been wet, or memorize when there has been water wetting. Also good.
Note that when the abnormality detection unit 32 detects an abnormality, the abnormality notification unit may immediately notify the abnormality.

  The abnormality detection by the abnormality detection unit 32 may be performed, for example, when the button switch 22 is pressed. Alternatively, the abnormality detection unit 32 may always detect abnormality while the control device 30 is activated.

  The display control unit 34 controls the remaining amount display unit 40. Specifically, when the button switch 22 is pressed, the remaining battery level is displayed by confirming the remaining battery level and turning on the LED 23 in a predetermined manner. In addition, the abnormality (water wetting) is notified by reading the water wetting history stored in the memory 33 and turning on the LED 23 in a predetermined manner.

The abnormality notification by the display control unit 34 is, for example, when the button switch 22 is operated in a specific manner (when the button switch 22 is pressed for a predetermined time or longer, or when the button switch 22 is continuously pressed a predetermined number of times, Etc.). Alternatively, when the button switch 22 is pressed, an abnormality notification may be made after the battery remaining amount display.
Hereinafter, an example of the processing flow of the display control unit 34 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, as shown in step S100 of FIG. 4, it is detected that the button switch 22 has been pressed. Then, the process proceeds to step S101.

  In step S101, the remaining battery level is confirmed and the remaining battery level is displayed. For example, the remaining amount of the battery is determined in stages, and the remaining amount of the battery is displayed by turning on the number of LEDs 23 corresponding to the step. Then, the LED 23 is turned off, and the process proceeds to step S102.

  In step S102, it is determined whether or not the button switch 22 is pressed for a predetermined time or longer (for example, whether or not the button switch 22 is pressed for 2 seconds or longer). If the button switch 22 has not been pressed for a predetermined time or more, the process is terminated. If the button switch 22 is pressed for a predetermined time or longer, the process proceeds to step S103.

  In step S103, it is checked whether or not a water wetting history is stored in the memory 33. If the water wetting history is not stored, the process is terminated. If the water wetting history is stored, the process proceeds to step S104.

  In step S104, abnormality notification according to the water wetting history is executed. The abnormality notification is not particularly limited as long as the LED 23 is turned on in a manner different from the battery remaining amount display, and various forms are conceivable. For example, the abnormality notification may be performed by controlling the three LEDs 23 to turn on and off in order. Then, the LED 23 is turned off, and the process ends.

  In the above example, the abnormality notification is not executed when the water wetting history is not stored. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the water wetting history is stored when the water wetting history is not stored. An abnormality notification indicating that the error has not occurred may be executed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the abnormality detection unit 32 that detects that an abnormal load has occurred, and the nonvolatile memory that stores whether or not the abnormality detection unit 32 has detected an abnormal load. 33 and an abnormality notifying unit for notifying abnormality based on information stored in the memory 33. Therefore, by using the abnormality notification unit when a failure occurs, the cause of the failure can be known without being disassembled. In addition, since the memory 33 stores whether or not an abnormal load is generated at the current time even before the failure occurs, it is possible to know in advance the occurrence of the abnormal load using the abnormality notification unit. Can do.

  Moreover, the remaining amount display part 40 which displays a battery remaining charge was used as an abnormality alerting | reporting part. According to such a configuration, since it is not necessary to add a part only to realize the abnormality notification unit, the number of parts can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  Further, the abnormality detection unit 32 detects water wetting by detecting a change in the voltage value of the connection terminal 21. That is, when the connection terminal 21 gets wet, the signal terminal and the power supply terminal become conductive, and a voltage is applied to the signal terminal to which no voltage is originally applied. The abnormality detection unit 32 detects this voltage change, and causes the memory 33 to store the occurrence of water wetting. Therefore, it is possible to confirm whether or not there is water wetting using the abnormality notification unit.

  As a method for detecting water wetting, a water wetting seal or the like is known, but it is necessary to attach the water wetting seal to a sealed space or the like in order to prevent erroneous detection due to moisture or the like. For this reason, it was necessary to disassemble the battery pack 10 in order to confirm water wetting. In this regard, according to the present embodiment, water wetting can be confirmed without disassembling the battery pack 10.

  In the above-described embodiment, the abnormality detection unit 32 detects water wetting by detecting a change in the voltage value of the connection terminal 21, but detects other abnormalities by other methods. It may be.

  For example, an acceleration sensor may be provided inside the battery pack 10 and a drop impact may be detected by the acceleration sensor. Then, when the impact of the drop exceeds a predetermined level, the contents may be stored in the memory 33.

  Further, a temperature measuring sensor may be provided inside the battery pack 10 and the high temperature may be detected by the temperature measuring sensor. Then, when the temperature exceeds a predetermined level, the contents may be stored in the memory 33.

  When a plurality of types of abnormalities are stored in the memory 33, the LED 23 may be turned on in a different display mode for each abnormality content.

  The target device to which the battery pack 10 of the present invention is attached is not limited to an electric tool. The target equipment to which the battery pack 10 of the present invention is attached includes power equipment such as agricultural equipment, horticultural equipment, cleaners, compressors, lanterns, acoustic equipment (radio), and the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Battery pack 11 Upper cover 11a Terminal cover part 11b Slide part 11c Button cover part 11d LED window 11e Latch opening 12 Lower cover 13 Latch 14 Battery cell 20 Board | substrate 21 Connection terminal 21a 1st connection terminal 21b 2nd connection terminal 21c 3rd connection terminal 21d 4th connection terminal 21e 5th connection terminal 21f 6th connection terminal 21g 7th connection terminal 21h 8th connection terminal 22 Button switch 23 LED
30 control device 31 charge / discharge control unit 32 abnormality detection unit 33 memory 34 display control unit 40 remaining amount display unit (abnormality notification unit)

Claims (3)

An anomaly detector that detects that an abnormal load has occurred;
A non-volatile memory that stores whether or not the abnormality detection unit has detected an abnormal load;
An abnormality notifying unit for notifying abnormality based on the information stored in the memory;
A battery pack comprising:   The battery pack according to claim 1, wherein a remaining amount display unit that displays a remaining battery level is used as the abnormality notification unit. A plurality of connection terminals for electrically connecting the battery pack and the target device,
The battery pack according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality detection unit detects water wetting by detecting a change in the voltage value of the connection terminal.

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