JPH087931A - Charging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable fast electrification using a power supply small in capacity and low in cost by simultaneously supplying current from a current supply means and current from a built-in battery charger. CONSTITUTION:A charging means is connected to a power supply used in the home and the like, if a built-in battery charger 13 is in a charged condition, the battery charger is connected to an external charging terminal 14. Charge current is increased by a charge control section 11, and concurrently the built-in battery charger 13 is connected to the charge control section 11 via a charge output control section 12, so that current from a power supply 10 and the built-in battery charger 13 is thereby fed to the external charging terminal 14. As mentioned above, fast electrification can be performed with the power supply used, which is small in capacity and low in cost, by supplying current with an auxiliary battery charger built in the inside of a charging device main body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charging device for charging a rechargeable battery used in electronic equipment such as video cameras.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a high-speed charging device capable of charging a rechargeable battery in a short time is composed of a large-capacity power supply unit and a charge control unit controlling the power supply unit.

The power source is for supplying current to the rechargeable battery. Since the capacity of the power supply unit can be charged to the rechargeable battery at one time, when the capacity of the power supply unit is equal to or less than the capacity of the rechargeable battery, the larger the capacity of the power supply unit, the shorter the charging time.

The charging control unit grasps the progress of charging of the rechargeable battery by measuring the voltage of the rechargeable battery, and when the charging is completed, the current supply from the power supply unit is stopped and the user Was informed to that effect.

[0005]

However, in the conventional charging device, the power supply unit itself is large and expensive in order to increase the capacity of the power supply unit. There has been a problem that it hinders reduction in size and weight and cost reduction that have been required in recent years.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a charging device which is small in size, light in weight and low in cost and capable of high-speed charging.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, a charging device of the present invention has a rechargeable battery mounted on a charging device main body, and a battery terminal provided on the rechargeable battery and the charging device main body. A charging means for charging the rechargeable battery by connecting an external charging terminal to the rechargeable battery, a current supplying means for supplying a current to the rechargeable battery, and a storage means for storing a current to be supplied to the rechargeable battery in advance. And a control unit for controlling the current supplied from the current supply unit and the current stored in the storage unit to be supplied to the external charging terminal at the same time.

Further, the storage means may be constituted by a built-in rechargeable battery having a charging function, and the built-in rechargeable battery may be installed in the charging device main body.

Further, the charging device body may be provided with a charging output control means for controlling the built-in rechargeable battery by the current supply means when the rechargeable battery is not connected to the external charging terminal. Good.

[0010]

In the charging device of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the control means is provided so as to simultaneously supply the current supplied by the current supply means and the current stored by the storage means to the external charging terminal connected to the rechargeable battery. Controlled by.

Further, the rechargeable battery is charged by the built-in rechargeable battery installed in the main body of the apparatus and the current supply means.

Further, when the rechargeable battery is not connected to the external charging terminal, the charge output control means controls to charge the built-in rechargeable battery by the current supply means.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the charging device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the configuration of the charging device of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The charging device according to the present embodiment has a power supply unit 10 as a current supplying means for supplying a current to a rechargeable battery, an external charging terminal for simultaneously supplying a current supplied from the current supplying means and a current stored in the storage means. 14, a charging control unit 11 as a control unit for controlling to supply the rechargeable battery, a built-in rechargeable battery 13 as a storage unit for storing a current supplied to the rechargeable battery, an external charging terminal 14, and a status display unit 15. Has been done.

The power supply unit 10 converts a household AC power supply into a direct current and supplies a current to the rechargeable battery via the charging control unit 11 and an external charging terminal, and is connected to the charging control unit 11. There is.

The charge control unit 11 charges the rechargeable battery with a constant current, and at the end of charging, the voltage of the rechargeable battery drops due to the gas generated immediately before the end of charging. Therefore, it is well known to detect this voltage drop. The detection is performed using the −ΔV method, and the supply of current to the external charging terminal 14 is stopped. After that, if the rechargeable battery is left as it is, the rechargeable battery is discharged and the desired charging is not performed. Therefore, the charging is switched to the minute charging with the constant voltage and constant current to perform the charging.

The charging control unit 11 is connected to the power supply unit 10, the status display unit 15, the external charging terminal 14, and the charging output control unit 12.

The charging output control unit 12 includes an external charging terminal 14
If the rechargeable battery is not connected to the internal rechargeable battery, the built-in rechargeable battery 13 is connected to the output of the charge control unit 11. If the rechargeable battery is connected to the external charging terminal 14, the built-in rechargeable battery 13 is connected to the charge control unit 1.
The input is switched to 1, and the charging control unit 11 is informed that the rechargeable battery is connected.

The built-in rechargeable battery 13 is used as an auxiliary power source for the power source section 10 and is provided inside the apparatus body. Further, the built-in rechargeable battery 13 is connected to the charge output control unit 12.

The status display section 15 includes a power lamp indicating that the power is on, a charging lamp indicating that the rechargeable battery is being charged, a charge end lamp indicating that the rechargeable battery has been charged, and an abnormality in the charging device or , An abnormal lamp that shows the abnormality of the rechargeable battery,
It is composed of a ready lamp indicating the ready state of the charging device. Each lamp is composed of a light emitting diode.

Next, the charging operation of the charging device of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, when the charging device is connected to the power source wired in the home, the power lamp of the status display section 15 is turned on (step 1, hereinafter, step is represented by S).

After that, in S2, the state of the charging device is checked, and if there is an abnormality, the abnormality lamp of the state display unit 15 is turned on (S3). If there is no abnormality, the next S
The process shifts to No. 4.

Next, the charging state of the built-in rechargeable battery 13, that is, the voltage of the built-in rechargeable battery 13 is confirmed (S4), and if the charged state of the built-in rechargeable battery 13 is appropriate, the ready lamp is turned on (S4).
5) If the state of charge of the built-in rechargeable battery 13 is not appropriate,
The ready lamp is caused to blink (S6), and the process proceeds to S9 described later. Then, it is checked whether or not a rechargeable battery is connected to the external charging terminal 14 (S7). If connected, prepare the following charging. First, the built-in rechargeable battery 1 connected to the charging output control unit 12 is increased by increasing the magnitude of the current supplied from the charging control unit 11 to the external charging terminal 14.
3 is connected to the input of the charge control unit 11. In this way, current can be supplied from the power supply unit 10 and the built-in rechargeable battery 13. Next, turn off the charging end lamp,
The charging lamp is turned on (S8).

On the other hand, when the rechargeable battery is not connected to the external charging terminal 14, the charging controller 11 moves the external charging terminal 1 to the external charging terminal 1.
The magnitude of the current supplied to 4 is set to the current value of only the power supply unit 10, and the built-in rechargeable battery 13 is connected to the output of the charging control unit 11 (S9).

Next, the built-in rechargeable battery 13 or the rechargeable battery is charged with a constant current (S10). After that, the end of charging is detected by using the well-known −ΔV method (S11), and when the end of charging is detected, the trickle charging is performed by switching to a constant current of a constant current (S12).

Then, it is checked whether or not the charging lamp is turned on (S13). If the charging lamp is turned on, the charging lamp is turned off and the charging end lamp is turned on (S1).
4). If it is not lit, the process proceeds to step S15.

Next, it is checked whether or not the ready lamp is blinking (S15), and if it is blinking, the ready lamp is turned on (S16). After that, or when the ready lamp does not blink in the process S15, the process is performed in S2.
Move to.

As is apparent from the above description, the charging device of this embodiment has a built-in rechargeable battery for assisting charging in the main body of the charging device, so that a small capacity and low cost power source is used. Fast charging, light weight,
It can be miniaturized.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described in detail above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, in the present embodiment, the charging method performed by the charging control unit 11 is constant current charging. However, constant voltage charging, constant voltage constant current charging, pulse charging, constant current pulse charging or constant current charging is performed. Either method of voltage pulse charging or constant voltage constant current pulse charging may be used.

As a method for detecting the end of charging, since the temperature of the rechargeable battery rises just before the end of charging, the ΔT method for detecting the temperature rise, a time control method using a timer, or before the end of charging In addition, any method such as the + ΔV method for detecting that the rate of increase in the voltage of the rechargeable battery becomes moderate may be used.

Further, although the built-in rechargeable battery 13 is used as the storage means, a condenser may be used.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the charging apparatus of the present invention, the current supplied by the power supply means and the current stored by the storage means are simultaneously connected to the rechargeable battery. Since the control means controls so as to supply to the charging terminal, a large-capacity power supply unit is not required, so that the charging device can be downsized.

Further, since the built-in rechargeable battery for storing the current supplied to the rechargeable battery is installed in the main body of the apparatus, the charging apparatus can be provided with a simple structure and at a low cost.

Further, when the rechargeable battery is not connected to the external charging terminal, the charging output control means controls the built-in rechargeable battery to be charged from the current supply means, so that the rechargeable battery can be charged at high speed at any time. It is possible to obtain effects such as being able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a charging device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the charging device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Power Supply Section 11 Charging Control Section 12 Charging Output Control Section 13 Built-in Rechargeable Battery 14 External Charging Terminal 15 Status Display Section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A charging method for charging a rechargeable battery by mounting the rechargeable battery on a charging device main body and connecting a battery terminal provided on the rechargeable battery and an external charging terminal provided on the charging device main body. In the device, a current supply unit that supplies a current to the rechargeable battery, a storage unit that stores the current supplied to the rechargeable battery in advance, a current supplied from the current supply unit and a current stored in the storage unit. And a control means for controlling so as to simultaneously supply the charge to the external charging terminal. 2. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the storage means is composed of a built-in rechargeable battery having a charging function, and the built-in rechargeable battery is installed in a main body of the charging device. 3. The charging device main body is provided with a charging output control means for controlling the current supply means to charge the built-in rechargeable battery when the rechargeable battery is not connected to the external charging terminal. The charging device according to claim 2, wherein: