JPH05260676A - Battery device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a battery device that its number of times of charge can be recognized by the display of count. CONSTITUTION:This battery device comprises a central processing means 1, a battery 2, a charge condition discrimination means 3, and a display 4. The charge condition discrimination means 3 discriminates whether it is in charge condition or not. The display displays the number of counts of a counting means 15. The central processing means includes a battery voltage calculating means 11, which calculates the charge voltage value (e) of a battery at every specified times, a voltage drop discrimination means 12, which discriminates whether the calculated charge voltage value (e) of a battery has dropped by a specified voltage value or more from the maximum voltage value or not and outputs drop pulses (b) when it has dropped, and the counting means 15, which counts the drop pulses (b).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery which is charged by a battery charger, and more particularly to a battery device having a nickel cadmium battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The characteristics of a battery constituting a conventional battery device have been measured on the battery charging device side, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-24466. An example of the characteristic of this measured battery voltage is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7, the battery charging voltage shows a maximum value at time t1 and gradually decreases after time t1. In this case, if the charging is stopped before the time t1, the charging becomes insufficient, so that the charging time is extended to the full charging by extending the charging time to the time t4 or t2 at which the voltage drops below the maximum charging voltage.

Judgment of the battery life in such a battery charging method is made on the basis of experience. For example, when the charging voltage value in full charging due to multiple charging becomes 50% or less of the initial voltage value, it is considered to be the life. Life (charging voltage characteristic deteriorates from characteristic A to B as the number of times of charging increases as shown in FIG. 6) or when the usable time after full charging (dischargeable time) becomes half of the initial life Was considered.

[0005]

As described above, the conventional judgment of life is based on experience and is inaccurate. Therefore, there has been a demand for a battery device that can more accurately determine the life of the battery by recognizing the number of times the battery has been charged.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a battery device capable of recognizing the number of times of charging of a battery by a count display.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, a battery device having a battery charged by a battery charger is provided with a charge number detection circuit for detecting the number of times of charging of the battery, The charge number detection circuit includes a charge state determination unit that determines whether or not the battery is in a charge state, a battery voltage calculation unit that calculates the battery charge voltage value at predetermined time intervals, and the calculated battery charge voltage value is the maximum voltage. From the value, it is determined whether or not the voltage drops by a predetermined voltage value or more, and when the voltage drops by the predetermined voltage value or more, a drop voltage determination means that generates and outputs a drop pulse, a counting means that counts the drop pulse, and a count of this counting means And a display unit for displaying the number.

Further, the invention is characterized in that a prohibiting means for prohibiting the transmission of the falling pulse from the falling voltage discriminating means to the counting means within a predetermined time after the generation of the falling pulse is added.

Further, the display means in the above-mentioned two inventions,
It is characterized in that it is provided on the battery main body for accommodating the battery or outside the battery main body.

[0010]

In the battery device according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, when the charging state determining means 3 detects the charging current i generated by the charging voltage supplied to the terminals T1 and T2 from the battery charger (not shown), When it is determined that the battery is in the charged state, a signal a indicating charging is output to the battery voltage calculation means 11 of the central processing means 1.

The battery voltage calculation means 11 calculates a potential difference e1-e2 = e (battery charge voltage value) between the positive side battery potential e1 and the negative side battery potential e2 which are input while the signal a indicating charging is being input. Calculate and drop voltage determination means 12
Output to.

The voltage drop determining means 12 stores the maximum value emax of the battery charging voltage value e, and the maximum value emax is stored.
And the current calculated battery charging voltage value e (emax-
e) A pulse (falling pulse) when the voltage drop value is equal to or higher than a predetermined voltage value, that is, when the full charge is completed.
Output b.

This falling pulse b is input to the prohibiting means 13. The prohibiting means 13 outputs a gate closing signal f for closing the gate means 14 for a predetermined time by the falling pulse b. This gate closing signal f causes the falling pulse b
Transmission to the counting means 15 is prohibited.

The counting means 15 cumulatively counts the falling pulse b supplied when the gate means 14 is "open", and outputs a pulse number signal c indicating the cumulative number of pulses to the display means 4 and a terminal via the buffer 16. Output from T3 to the outside.

The display means 4 displays the integrated pulse number.

By counting and displaying the number of times of full charging in this way, the number of times of charging of the battery can be recognized, and the life of the battery can be accurately determined.

[0017]

Next, one embodiment of the battery device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. At the time of charging, the charging voltage is supplied from the battery charger (not shown) to the terminals T1, T of the battery device BT.
2 to supply the charging current i to the battery 2.
Based on this charging current i, the charging state determination means 3 determines that the charging state is present, and outputs a charging state signal a indicating the charging state to the battery voltage calculation means 11 of the central processing means 1.

The battery voltage calculation means 11 uses the charge state signal a
While inputting, the battery charging voltage value e, which is the potential difference (e1−e2) between the positive side battery potential e1 and the negative side battery potential e2 to be input, is calculated, and the voltage drop determining means 1
Output to 2.

The voltage drop determining means 12 stores the maximum value emax of the battery charging voltage value e (corresponding to, for example, the peak voltage values P1 and P2 in FIG. 6), and this maximum value em
The difference between the ax and the currently calculated battery charging voltage value e (ema
xe) is a predetermined voltage value ΔE (FIG. 6).
(See reference) or more, that is, when the full charge is completed, the pulse (falling pulse) b is output.

The falling pulse b sets the timer of the count protect timer 13 as a prohibition means to a predetermined time.

The count protect timer 13 outputs a gate closing signal f for closing the gate means 15 for a predetermined time in response to the falling pulse b. Since the gate closing signal f is generated slightly later than the falling pulse b, the falling pulse b
After passing through the gate means 14, the further transmission of the falling pulse b from the gate means 14 to the counting means 15 is prohibited. This is because it is considered that recharging performed within a predetermined time (for example, 20 minutes) after the completion of full charging does not affect the battery life, so that the falling pulse generated by such recharging is not counted. Is.

When the gate means 14 is "open" (when the gate close signal f is not output from the count protect timer 13), the falling pulse b is input to the count means 15. The counting means 15 inputs the falling pulse b
Pulse count signal c indicating the total number of pulses
Is output to the display unit 4 and is also output to the outside from the terminal T3 via the buffer 16.

The display 4 displays the integrated pulse number.
The battery operator can accurately judge the life of the battery based on the cumulative number of pulses displayed on the display 4, that is, the number of times of charging.

The battery charging voltage value e calculated by the battery voltage calculating means 11 is slightly higher than the actual battery charging voltage value due to the charging current i flowing through the charging state judging means 3 and its internal resistance. Is the voltage drop Δe
Is a relative value, it does not affect the full charge determination.

The central processing means 1 shown in FIG. 1 can be constituted by a CPU. The CPU operation at this time is shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, it is determined whether or not the battery is being charged by the charge state signal a (step S1), and when the battery is being charged, it is then determined whether or not the voltage drop Δe is equal to or more than a predetermined voltage value ΔE (step S2).

When Δe ≧ ΔE, it is determined whether or not the count is prohibited, that is, when Δe ≧ ΔE of the previous time is satisfied and the current Δ is changed.
It is determined whether or not the elapsed time until e ≧ ΔE is satisfied is within a predetermined time (step S3), and if the predetermined time has elapsed,
"1" is added to the accumulated count value up to the previous time to perform a count-up to obtain a new accumulated count value (step S
4) The new integrated count value is displayed on the display 4 and is output to the outside through the terminal T3 (step S).
5). After that, time counting from zero is started (step S6). This is because, as described in step S3, it is determined at the next charging whether or not the time elapsed from the current Δe ≧ ΔE to the next Δe ≧ ΔE is satisfied is within a predetermined time.

When the count is prohibited in step S4,
The above count-up is not performed, and the time counting from zero is started as in the case of step S6 (step S6).
7).

By thus counting the number of times of full charge and displaying it on the display unit 4, the number of times of charge of the battery can be recognized, and the life of the battery can be accurately determined.

The indicator 4 in the above embodiment may be attached to the battery main body 5 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the indicator 4 and the battery body 5 may be connected via the connector 5a. The battery body 5 has the battery 2 built therein as shown in FIGS.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the charging frequency detection circuit 6 of the battery device BT (the components 1, 3, 4 in FIG.
And the display 9 of the battery charger 7 may be connected via the interface 8 and the number of times of charging detected and output by the charging number detection circuit 6 may be displayed on the display 9.

[0032]

As described above, since the battery device according to the present invention displays the number of times the battery has been charged, there is an effect that the life of the battery can be accurately determined based on the number of times the battery has been charged.

Further, since the number of recharges immediately after the completion of charging, which does not affect the battery life, is removed from the number of times of charging, there is an effect that the life of the battery can be judged more accurately.

Further, by providing the indicator in the battery main body or separately from the battery main body, it is possible to increase the degree of freedom in mounting the battery device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a battery device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation when the battery device of FIG. 1 has a CPU configuration.

FIG. 3 is an external view showing an example of the external appearance of the battery device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an external view showing another example of the external appearance of the battery device shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a connection diagram showing the connection between the charge count detection circuit of the battery device and the indicator of the battery charger.

FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram showing a general charging voltage characteristic.

FIG. 7 is a charging voltage characteristic diagram for explaining a conventional charging method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 BT battery device 1 central processing means 2 battery 3 charge state determination means 4 indicator 11 battery voltage calculation means 12 drop voltage determination means 13 count protect timer 14 gate means 15 counting means 16 buffers T1, T2, T3 terminals

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A battery device having a battery to be charged by a battery charger, comprising a charge number detecting circuit for detecting the number of times of charging of the battery, and the charge number detecting circuit for determining whether or not the battery is in a charged state. Determining means, battery voltage calculating means for calculating the battery charging voltage value at predetermined time intervals, and determining whether or not the calculated battery charging voltage value has dropped from a maximum voltage value by a predetermined voltage value or more, A battery device comprising: a falling voltage determining means for generating and outputting a falling pulse when the voltage drops by a voltage value or more, a counting means for counting the falling pulse, and a display means for displaying an integrated count number of the counting means. .. 2. A battery device having a battery to be charged by a battery charger, comprising a charge number detection circuit for detecting the number of times of charge of the battery, and the charge number detection circuit for determining whether or not the battery is in a charge state. Determining means, battery voltage calculating means for calculating the battery charging voltage value at predetermined time intervals, and determining whether or not the detected battery charging voltage value has dropped from the maximum voltage value by a predetermined voltage value or more, Falling voltage determination means for generating and outputting a falling pulse when the voltage drops by more than the voltage value, counting means for counting the falling pulse, display means for displaying the integrated count number of the counting means, and a predetermined time after the falling pulse is generated. Inside is a prohibiting means for prohibiting the transmission of the falling pulse from the falling voltage determining means to the counting means. Battery apparatus characterized in that it comprises a. 3. The battery device according to claim 1, wherein the display means is provided in a battery main body accommodating a battery or outside the battery main body.