JPH1094177A - Charger for rechargeable battery - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the erroneous use of an abnormal battery by a user by judging and indicating the existence of abnormality of a rechargeable battery at the same time when it starts the charging. SOLUTION: When a rechargeable battery 101 and a charger 1 are connected, a switch 7 closes, and charging battery is started by a charger 2, and when the charging is completed, the switch 7 opens, and a switch 8 closes, and it is discharged by a discharger 3. At the same time, the terminal voltage detected with a discharging voltage detector 4 is supplied to a microcomputer 5, and it judges whether there is abnormality of the rechargeable battery or not form the charging of terminal voltage, and when it judges the battery abnormal, it indicates the results of judgment on a display 5a, and opens the switch 8 and stops the discharging. Moreover, when it judges the charging of the terminal voltage normal, it discharges that until the discharging of the battery is completed, and when the discharging is completed, the charging is started again by the charger, and when the charging is completed, it indicates the completion of charging on a display 6b.

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.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a charging device used for charging a rechargeable battery (hereinafter simply referred to as a "charger") has been charged by a built-in indicator or the like when a predetermined charging operation is completed. Is configured to be displayed. Then, a series of operations from the start of charging to the end of charging are performed similarly for a normal rechargeable battery and an abnormal (broken) rechargeable battery.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of the operation performed by the conventional charging apparatus. First, when the charging operation is started, the charging operation is continued until the charging is completed (step S101). Then, when the charging is completed, a message indicating that the charging is completed is displayed on the display device (step S102), and the charging operation is completed.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional charger, a new rechargeable battery can be used even when the rechargeable battery which has been used over the service life and cannot be used normally is charged. In order to perform the same charging operation as when the battery is charged, there is a disadvantage that the battery is not known to be broken unless the user actually starts using the charged battery.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to start charging of a rechargeable battery and, at the same time, determine whether or not the rechargeable battery is damaged and display the same.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a rechargeable battery charger capable of preventing a user from using a broken battery by mistake and improving usability.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a charging means for charging a rechargeable battery, a discharging means for discharging the charged rechargeable battery, and the discharging means. A discharge voltage detecting means for detecting both terminal voltages of the rechargeable battery when the charged rechargeable battery is discharged, and monitoring both terminal voltages of the rechargeable battery detected by the discharge voltage detecting means. When the monitored voltage at both terminals is abnormal, the first display means indicates that the voltage is abnormal, while when the monitored voltage at both terminals is normal, the voltage is normal on the second display means. And control means for controlling so as to display a message to the effect.

[0007] Preferably, the first display means and the second display means are constituted by one display means, and the control means is provided when the monitored two-terminal voltage is abnormal or normal. The display states to be displayed on the one display means are different from each other depending on the case.

[0008]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a charger 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a charger 1 includes a rechargeable battery 1.
01, a discharging device 3 for discharging the rechargeable battery 101 charged by the charging device 2, and a rechargeable battery when the rechargeable battery 101 is discharged by the discharging device 3. A discharge voltage detecting device 4 for detecting a voltage between both terminals of the battery 101; a microcomputer 5 which is a control device for controlling the entire charger 1; and a display device 6a for displaying that the rechargeable battery 101 is abnormal. And a display device 6b for displaying that the rechargeable battery 101 has been normally charged.
And switches 7 and 8. And
The various components 2 to 8 are connected as shown in the figure, and the rechargeable battery 101 and the charger 1 are electrically connected by connection terminals 10a and 10b.

When the rechargeable battery 101 is charged by the charger 1 configured as described above, first, the connection terminals 10a,
The rechargeable battery 101 and the charger 1 are connected via 10b. When the rechargeable battery 101 and the charger 1 are connected, the switch 7 is closed and the charging device 2 starts charging the rechargeable battery 101. When the charging is completed, the switch 7 is opened, then the switch 8 is closed, and the discharging device 3 starts discharging the charged rechargeable battery 1. At this time, the discharge voltage detecting device 4 simultaneously detects the terminal voltage of the rechargeable battery 101 and supplies the detected terminal voltage to the microcomputer 5.

The microcomputer 5 monitors the terminal voltage supplied from the discharge voltage detecting device 4, and determines whether the rechargeable battery 101 is normal or abnormal (broken) based on a change in the terminal voltage. When the microcomputer 5 determines that the rechargeable battery 101 is abnormal, the microcomputer 5 displays the determination result on the display device 6a connected to the microcomputer 5 and simultaneously opens the switch 8 to stop the discharging operation. On the other hand, when the microcomputer 5 determines that the change in the terminal voltage is normal, the discharging device 3 discharges until the discharge of the rechargeable battery 101 is completed. When the discharge is completed, the switch 8 opens, the switch 7 closes, and the charging apparatus 2 starts charging the rechargeable battery 101 again. When charging is completed, the microcomputer 5 displays the display device 6b.
Indicates that charging is completed.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of the above-described control operation executed by the charger 1.

In FIG. 1, first, when the rechargeable battery 101 and the charger 1 are connected, the charging device 2
1 is started, and it is confirmed whether or not the charging is completed (step S1). When the charging is not completed, the charging operation is continued until the charging is completed. On the other hand, when the charging is completed, the discharging device 3 starts discharging the rechargeable battery 101 (step S2).

Next, the discharge voltage detecting device 4 is a rechargeable battery 1
01 is supplied to the microcomputer 5 and the microcomputer 5 determines whether the rechargeable battery 101 is normal or not based on the detected change in the terminal voltage (step S3).

When the microcomputer 5 determines that the rechargeable battery 101 is abnormal (broken), the fact is displayed on the display device 6a (step S8), and the charging operation is completed. On the other hand, when the microcomputer 5 determines that the rechargeable battery 101 is normal, the discharging device 4
The discharging operation is continued until the discharge of No. 01 is completed (step S4), and when the discharge is completed, the charging device 2 starts charging the rechargeable battery 101 again (step S5). Then, the charging operation is continued until the charging is completed (step S6),
When the charging is completed, the microcomputer 5 displays on the display device 6b that the charging is normally completed (step S7).
The charging operation ends.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the user performs the charging operation of the rechargeable battery, the charger 1 automatically determines whether or not the battery is normal and displays the result. Even if it is a rechargeable battery that can not determine whether it is normal or broken from the appearance alone, it is possible to prevent users from accidentally using the broken rechargeable battery, Thereby, usability can be improved.

Next, another embodiment of the battery charger of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the charger of the present embodiment. Charger 21 of the present embodiment
1 differs from the charger 1 of FIG. 1 only in that the display device is changed to one display device and the control operation by the microcomputer 5 is changed. In FIG. 3, the elements corresponding to those in FIG. And description thereof is omitted.

That is, according to the state of the rechargeable battery as a result of monitoring the change of the discharge voltage by the microcomputer 5, the microcomputer 5
Controls the display device (for example, LED) 22 to blink or light up, for example.

Specifically, in the flowchart of FIG. 2, for example, the LED 22 is turned on and off at the time of NG display (step S8), and the LDE 22 is turned on at the end display (step S7).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the display of whether the rechargeable battery is normally charged or broken is performed by one display device. And cost reduction can be realized.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the rechargeable battery is charged by the charging means, the rechargeable battery is discharged by the discharging means, and both terminal voltages of the rechargeable battery are detected by the discharge voltage detecting means, and both ends of the detected rechargeable battery are detected. The slave voltage is monitored, and when the monitored two-terminal voltage is abnormal, the first display means indicates that the voltage is abnormal. On the other hand, when the monitored two-terminal voltage is normal, the second voltage is displayed. Since the display indicating that the battery is normal is made, it is possible to prevent the user from erroneously using the broken battery and to improve the usability.

[0024] Preferably, the indication of whether the rechargeable battery is broken or normal is made by one display device, so that the charger can be realized at a small size and at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a charger according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a control operation performed by the charger of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a charger according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a control operation performed by a conventional charger.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Charger 2 Charging device 3 Discharge device 4 Discharge voltage detection device 5 Microcomputer 6a Display device 6b Display device 7 Switch 8 Switch 10a Connection terminal 10b Connection terminal 21 Charger 22 Display device 101 Rechargeable battery

Claims (2)

[Claims] A charging unit for charging the rechargeable battery; a discharging unit for discharging the charged rechargeable battery; and a discharging unit for discharging the charged rechargeable battery by the discharging unit. Discharging voltage detecting means for detecting both terminal voltages of the rechargeable battery; and monitoring both terminal voltages of the rechargeable battery detected by the discharging voltage detecting means. A control means for displaying an indication of abnormality on the first display means, and controlling the indication on the second display means to indicate that the voltage is normal, when the monitored terminal voltages are normal. A charging device for a rechargeable battery, comprising: 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first display means and the second display means are constituted by one display means, and the control means is provided when the monitored both terminal voltages are abnormal or normal. 2. The rechargeable battery charging device according to claim 1, wherein display states to be displayed on said one display means are made different from each other in accordance with the condition.