JPH07184326A - Electronic appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect abnormality in the loading state of battery by monitoring the battery voltage. CONSTITUTION:When only a power supply detecting circuit 4 is driven, current demand is low and the voltage drop of power supply voltage is low. When a battery is loaded erroneously, the power supply voltage drops significantly. At the time of power-up, the power supply detecting circuit 4 detects the voltage of a battery 1 connected in series. The electronic appliance is also provided with a function for turning OFF the power supply when the detected voltage value represents the abnormally loaded state of battery.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for detecting abnormal battery connection in electronic equipment using a battery as a power source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In electronic devices, particularly appliances in the field of household appliances and consumer products, a manganese battery, a dry battery such as an alkaline battery, a nickel cadmium battery (nickel cadmium battery) or the like is often used as a power source. Moreover, since a single battery has a low battery voltage, a plurality of these batteries are often connected in series and used.

However, the battery mounting method differs depending on the device due to design restrictions and functional restrictions.
Therefore, on the user side, the battery insertion direction, that is, +
Misuse such as improperly mounting the direction of the pole and the-pole may be considered. When such misuse is performed, the device may be destroyed, or depending on the type of battery, an abnormal state such as heat generation or liquid leakage may occur. For this reason, conventionally, a method of calling attention to the user by a cautionary note and preventing the battery from being mounted in the reverse direction due to the shape of the battery mounting portion have been used.

On the other hand, electrically, there has been adopted a method of detecting an abnormality in the mounting of the battery by detecting the voltage of each battery.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, when three or more batteries can be mounted, the mounting direction of the battery cannot be restricted by the shape of the battery mounting portion. In addition, since a battery terminal is required for each battery to detect the voltage of each battery, energy loss occurs due to the contact resistance between the battery and the terminal, and a new circuit for specifying the battery to be detected is newly required, resulting in cost reduction. There was a problem such as this.

The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to detect the battery voltage between both ends of batteries connected in series so that the polarity of one battery can be determined. On the contrary, it is to provide a method for detecting a battery abnormality such as mounting.

[0007]

An electronic device of the present invention is an electronic device which supplies a power source by connecting a plurality of batteries in series, by means of a battery voltage detecting means and information detected by the detecting means. It is characterized by having a means for determining that the connection state of the battery is abnormal.

[0008]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below based on examples. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device using the present invention. Specifically, the characters input from the input unit 8
The device has a function of displaying information such as symbols on the display unit 7 and printing by the printer unit 9 and the motor unit 10. Reference numeral 1 denotes a source power source of this electronic device, which is formed by connecting six alkaline dry batteries in series. Reference numeral 2 is a mechanical power switch for operating the electronic device.
Reference numeral 3 denotes an electrical switch used when the operation of the electronic device is terminated and the power is turned off. The electronic device also has a power supply circuit 5 for driving the electronic device control circuits of the backup power supplies 11 and 6, and a power supply circuit 13 for driving the printer section. Reference numeral 12 is an electrical switch for controlling the supply of source power to the printer unit power supply. The power supply control circuit 4 monitors the power supply voltage for logic, the source voltage input to the printer unit power supply, and the source power supply voltage. By monitoring the logic power supply voltage, if the logic power supply goes out of the guaranteed operating voltage of the electronic device control circuit, the power supply control circuit is used to prevent heat generation and device damage due to equipment runaway or abnormal operation. Turn off the device. This condition occurs when the source voltage is below about 3.5V.

Further, by controlling the supply of the source voltage supplied to the printer drive power supply circuit only when a print request is made, and by monitoring the supplied source voltage, the printer does not print and the motor goes out of step. The power supply control circuit also has a function of giving a warning to the user when a problem such as an incorrect print result occurs. These problems also occur when the source voltage value is about 5.0 V or less.

Further, when the power switch of the electronic device is turned on, the power supply control circuit determines whether the mounting method of the mounted battery is correct by monitoring the source voltage, and the mounting state is reversed, that is, It has a function of turning off the power when the polarity of the battery is incorrect.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how the source voltage value when six alkaline dry batteries are mounted in series depends on the mounting method. 14 shows the case where all six batteries are connected in the correct direction. Reference numeral 15 shows a case where any one of the six batteries is mounted in the reverse direction. Similarly, 16 indicates two batteries, 17 indicates 3 batteries, 18 indicates 4 batteries, 19 indicates 5 batteries, and 20 indicates that all batteries are mounted in the reverse direction. In any case, when the battery is reversely mounted, the source voltage is lower than that in the case where the battery is normally mounted.

On the other hand, when the power supply is turned on in the power supply control circuit, the source power supply is detected. This power supply control circuit is the only circuit operating at this point. Therefore, the required current capacity is about several mA. Therefore,
Even if the battery is judged to be at the end of its life when the printer cannot be driven like this equipment, if the required current capacity is small, the terminal voltage drop of the battery is caused by mounting the battery in reverse. Not big compared to.

Therefore, the voltage value at which the battery is normally mounted and the voltage value when the battery is reversely mounted can be discriminated from each other. In this case, about 7 V is set, and the voltage across the batteries connected in series is set. The abnormality can be detected by detecting and comparing with the previously set voltage value. If an abnormality is detected, turn off the power to the equipment.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent abnormal mounting of a battery from being abnormally mounted due to the shape of the mounting portion, by detecting the voltage of all mounted batteries, and the like. Without adding a circuit
This can be achieved by a simple method such as detecting the battery voltage across the mounted battery. Therefore, there is an effect that the reverse mounting of the battery can be performed reliably and can be detected at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device using the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship of voltage values depending on a mounting method of a battery.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Alkaline batteries connected in series 2 Mechanical power switch 3 Electrical power switch 4 Power control circuit 5 Power supply circuit for logic 6 Electronic device control circuit 7 Display unit 8 Input unit 9 Printer unit 10 Motor 11 Power supply circuit for backup 12 Printer power switch 13 Printer drive power circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electronic device in which a plurality of batteries are connected in series and which is supplied with power, a battery voltage detecting means and a battery connection state which is abnormal based on the information detected by the detecting means. An electronic device having a means for discriminating.