JPH10271692A - Charger - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To supply a power to a load apparatus with a secondary battery attached to a charger and switch an operation between a charging mode and a power supply mode quickly. SOLUTION: A charger has a charging mean 4 which controls an operation to charge a secondary battery 10, a power supply means 3 which controls power supply to a load apparatus 9 connected to the charging means 4 and a mode changeover switch 6 which switches an operation mode between a charging mode for the operation to charge the secondary battery 10 and a discharging mode for the operation to supply a power to the load apparatus 9. When the mode is switched to the charging mode by the mode changeover switch 6, the charging means 4 is made to operate to charge the secondary battery 10. When the mode is switched to the discharging mode, the power supply means 3 is made to operate to supply a power to the load apparatus 9 from the secondary battery 10 with the secondary battery 10 attached to the charger.

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 secondary battery used as a power source for electronic equipment and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional charging apparatus generally has a function of charging a secondary battery and a function of DC output for supplying power to a connected device (hereinafter referred to as a load device).

FIG. 4 shows an example of a conventional charging device. FIG.
, 24 is a charging device for charging the secondary battery, 25
Is a secondary battery, 26 is a DC output jack, 27 is a DC plug, 28 is a DC coupler, and 29 is a load device.

When charging the secondary battery 25, the secondary battery 2 is charged with the DC output plug 26 removed from the charging device 24.
5 is charged for charging.

When a DC output is performed to a load, a DC plug 27 is mounted, and a DC coupler 28 is connected to a load device 29 such as an electronic device to perform DC driving. This DC output is obtained by converting the AC input into DC, and is not supplied from the secondary battery. When the load device 29 is driven by using the secondary battery 25, the charging device 2
4, the secondary battery 25 is removed, and the secondary battery 25 is mounted on the load device 29.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when the load device is driven by using the secondary battery after charging the secondary battery (hereinafter, referred to as secondary battery drive), the charging device is temporarily recharged from the charging device. There has been a problem that the secondary battery must be removed and replaced with a load device. For this reason, it was difficult to drive the load device promptly using the secondary battery according to the state of charge of the secondary battery.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an operation capable of supplying power to a load device even while a secondary battery is mounted on a charging device, and performing a switching operation between a charging operation and a power supply operation as appropriate. An object of the present invention is to provide a charging device having good operability.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a charging apparatus for charging a secondary battery, wherein the charging of the secondary battery is performed. Charging means for controlling operation; power supply means for supplying power to a load device connected to the charging device; a charging mode for controlling a charging operation to the secondary battery; and supplying power to the load device. Mode switching means for switching between a discharging mode to be performed, and, when the mode is switched to the charging mode by the mode switching means, operating the charging means to charge the secondary battery,
When switching to the discharge mode, control means for operating the power supply means while the secondary battery is mounted on the charging device to supply power from the secondary battery to the load device. It is characterized by the charging device provided.

According to the invention described in claim 2 of the present application, in claim 1, during the operation of the charging means,
A charging device is characterized in that the power supply means is controlled to be in an inactive state.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the charging device is configured such that the charging means is controlled to be in an inactive state while the power supply means is operating. Features.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the charging device is characterized in that the secondary battery is detachable from the charging device.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the charging device is characterized in that the mode switching means is constituted by a manual switch which can be manually switched.

According to the invention described in claim 6 of the present application, in claim 1 or 6, the apparatus further comprises a power reduction judging means for detecting a power reduction state of the secondary battery, and the control means includes a power reduction judging device. When it is determined by the determination means that the secondary battery is not in the reduced power state, a mode is set in accordance with the switching state of the mode switching means. When it is determined that the secondary battery is in the reduced power state, the mode is set. Regardless of the state of the switching means, the charging device is characterized by operating the charging means and forcibly switching to a mode to charge the secondary battery.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a drawing which best illustrates the features of the present invention. In FIG.
A power supply unit for rectifying the power supply and converting it to a DC power supply, 3 is a discharge control unit as a power supply unit for controlling power supply from the secondary battery to the load, and 4 is a charge for controlling a charging current to the secondary battery. Charge control unit as means, 5 ON / OFF of charging
A transistor as a switching element constituting a switch, 6 is a mode switching switch as mode switching means for switching between a charging mode and a discharging mode (secondary battery driving), and 7 is a switching constituting a switch for turning on / off the secondary battery driving. A transistor as an element; 8 a resistor for detecting a charging current by detecting a charging current;
9 is a load device, and 10 is a secondary battery to be charged.

The charging device 1 charges the secondary battery 10 when there is an AC input and when the mode changeover switch 6 is on the charging side. That is, the charging mode is set. The charge control unit 4 detects the state of the mode changeover switch 6 and charges ON / OF.
The control of the F switch 5 is performed, and the charging is continued until the charging of the secondary battery 10 is completed unless the mode changeover switch 6 is switched to the discharging side.

When the changeover switch 6 is set to the discharging side, power is supplied from the secondary battery 10 to the load device 9 to drive the secondary battery. That is, the discharge mode is set. At this time, the charge control unit 4 detects the state of the mode changeover switch 6 and turns off the charge ON / OFF switch 5, and informs the discharge control unit 3 by using the communication means C that the secondary battery drive is selected. introduce. The processing by the charging control unit 4 corresponds to the control means in the claims of the present invention. Here, the communication means may be a high / low signal or data transmission by serial communication or the like, and is determined according to the system configuration.

The discharge control unit 3 receives the communication from the charge control unit 4, performs ON control of the discharge ON / OFF switch 7, and outputs an output from the secondary battery 10 to the load device 9.

FIG. 2 shows the charging output of the constant voltage / constant current method performed by the charging device 1 in the charging state. In FIG. 2, the vertical axis represents the charging voltage and the charging current, respectively, and the horizontal axis represents the charging elapsed time. 11 is a charging voltage curve of the secondary battery, and 12 is a charging current curve of the secondary battery. At time T1, the charging voltage reaches the charging set voltage Vmax, and the charging current starts to drop due to the characteristics of the battery. At time T2, the charging current has decreased to the set current value, indicating that charging has been completed.

FIG. 3 is an example of a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention. The processing of this flowchart is performed by the charging control unit 4
, And may be shared with the discharge control unit 3 using the communication means C described above.
In step 13, AC is input and the apparatus is in a standby state, indicating the start of processing. When the secondary battery 10 is connected in step 14, the mode changeover switch 6 is detected in step 15.

If the mode changeover switch 6 is set to the charging side, it is determined in step 16 whether or not the battery is a fully charged secondary battery.

If the battery is not fully charged, charging is started in step 17 and a control signal is sent to the discharge control unit 3 via the communication means C to turn off the transistor 7 (discharge switch 7: OFF, charge switch 5: ON), the charging control unit 4 detects the charging voltage and the charging current in step 18, and a full charge determination is performed in step 19.

If the secondary battery is not fully charged, the flow returns to step 15 to continue the charging operation. If the condition for full charge is satisfied, a charge completion display is made in step 20 and the process returns to step 15.

If it is determined in step 15 that the mode changeover switch 6 is set to the discharge side, step 2
The process branches to 1 and the battery voltage of the secondary battery is measured in step 21. If it is determined in step 22 that the battery voltage is in the reduced power state, the process proceeds to step 17 and charging is performed until the battery voltage recovers.

Here, the reduced power state refers to a state in which the lower limit voltage is set in advance or is near the lower limit of the usable state of the secondary battery. If the power is not reduced in step S22, the process proceeds to step S23. In step S23, the driving of the secondary battery is started (charge switch: OFF, discharge switch: ON),
Return to step 15. That is, the power is continuously supplied to the load.

In the above-described embodiment, the charging of the secondary battery charged by the constant voltage / constant current charging and the driving control state of the secondary battery have been described. However, this is the case of the nickel cadmium type battery performing the constant current charging. Control is also possible.

Further, in the present embodiment, charging or discharging is selected by operating the mode changeover switch 6, but it may be automatically switched according to the condition of the secondary battery. In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which, even when the changeover switch is set to the discharging side, charging is performed until the battery voltage recovers if the battery voltage is in a reduced power state. In the present embodiment, the mode switching switch is described as a function for switching between charging and driving of the secondary battery. However, switching may be performed by reading a microcomputer using a tact switch or the like, or switching control may be performed using discrete components such as transistors and FETs.

[0027]

As described above, according to the invention described in each of the claims of the present application, the secondary battery can be switched from the charging device only by performing the switching operation while the secondary battery is mounted on the charging device. The load device can be easily driven by the secondary battery without performing a complicated operation of replacing the load device with the detached load device.

Further, even when the secondary battery is in the discharge mode, the charge mode is forcibly set in the power reduction state, which is the limit of use, so that malfunction due to the power reduction can be prevented beforehand. A highly reliable system can be realized.

Further, since the secondary battery can be attached and detached,
Suitable for large-current load devices that can only be driven by a secondary battery, secondary batteries of any size can be charged in common if the contacts of the secondary battery are common, and the contacts of the load device can be If they are commonly used, they can be commonly used for various load devices.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a charging device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a charging output of a charging device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of the charging device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a conventional charging device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Charger 2 Power supply part 3 Discharge control part 4 Charge control part 5 Charge ON / OFF switch 6 Mode switch (charge / discharge switch) 7 Discharge ON / OFF switch 8 Charge current detection resistor 9 Load device 10 Secondary battery 11 Charge voltage curve 12 Charge current curve

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Akira Fukushima 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A charging device that charges a secondary battery, a charging unit that controls a charging operation of the secondary battery, and a power supply unit that controls power supply to a load device connected to the charging device. A mode switching unit for switching between a charging mode for performing a charging operation on the secondary battery and a discharging mode for supplying power to the load device; and when the mode is switched to the charging mode by the mode switching unit. Operates the charging means to charge the secondary battery, and operates the power supply means in a state where the secondary battery is mounted on the charging device when the mode is switched to the discharging mode. Control means for causing the secondary battery to supply power to the load device. 2. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the power supply unit is controlled to be in an inactive state while the charging unit is operating. 3. The charging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the charging unit is controlled to be in an inactive state while the power supply unit is operating. 4. The charging device according to claim 3, wherein the secondary battery is detachable from the charging device. 5. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the mode switching means is constituted by a manual switch that can be manually switched. 6. The power supply according to claim 1, further comprising a power reduction determining unit configured to detect a power reduction state of the secondary battery, wherein the control unit determines that the secondary battery is not in a power reduction state by the power reduction determination unit. When it is determined that the mode setting means is switched according to the switching state of the mode switching means, when it is determined that the power is reduced, regardless of the state of the mode switching means, the charging means is set. A charging device characterized in that the charging device is configured to operate and forcibly switch to a mode so as to charge the secondary battery.