TWI777284B - Power supplying module - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a power supply module comprising a battery pack and a connecting wire. The battery pack comprises a battery, a first circuit board, and a first connection terminal. The first circuit board is coupled with the battery and the first connection terminal respectively. The first connection terminal comprises a first high voltage port group, a first low voltage port group, and a first communication port group. The first high voltage port group and the first low voltage port group comprise first high voltage ports and first low voltage ports for transmitting electric energy respectively. The first communication port group, arranged between the first high voltage port group and the first low voltage port group, comprises first communication ports for transmitting communication signals. The connecting wire comprises a first male connector and a second male connector, and the first male connector is detachably coupled to the first connection terminal.

Description

Power supply module

The present invention relates to a power supply module, in particular, the present invention relates to a power supply module for pluggable and pluggable transformation of connecting wires.

In order to avoid disaster accidents caused by poor design or improper use of products, most countries and regions have formulated safety regulations (hereinafter referred to as safety regulations) for various products, and due to the differences in geographical environment and voltage of various countries/regions, safety regulations are not complete. same. Generally, in order to ensure the safety of batteries, governments of various countries often require batteries to be submitted for inspection before they are put on the market, and can only be legally sold after passing the safety inspection and obtaining the safety mark.

Each country and region may have different safety requirements, and the safety items covered are also different. Common safety regulations include North American UL, EU CE, Taiwan BSMI, and mainland CCC. Take the UL 2054 and IEC 62368 safety inspection of the battery pack (BATTERY PACK) as an example, the cost of inspection is about 20,000 US dollars. For products that need to be sold across countries, such as laptops and laptop batteries, it often costs hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single model to go through various security checks in different countries.

At the same time, in recent years, the update speed of electronic products has become faster and faster. Take notebook computers (hereinafter referred to as notebook computers) as an example. In order to highlight the product image, notebook computer manufacturers put ink on the appearance and the design of input and output ports. , making it a selling point. However, the adjustment of the appearance and the design of the input and output ports will require corresponding adjustments to the shape of the motherboard inside the notebook, and the length or shape of the battery pack's connection cable must be changed accordingly. Since variations in the connectors and their wires, circuit boards, batteries, and appearance of the battery pack will affect the safety certification of the battery pack, even just fine-tuning the length of the connecting wire Or the shape, it is still necessary to re-certify the safety regulations for the entire battery pack, which makes the cost of changing the design extremely high and hinders the development of new products.

For example, please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B , which are schematic diagrams of connecting the first circuit board and the second circuit board in the battery pack by connecting wires of different lengths in an electronic device of the prior art, respectively. It can be seen from the figure that the battery 911 is electrically connected to the first circuit board 912 of the battery pack 910 in the electronic device of the prior art. At the same time, a plurality of connection lines 914 are welded to the power contacts of the first circuit board 12, and each connection The end of the wire 914 is connected to a connector 915 , and the connector 915 is used for electrical connection with the second connection terminal 21 of the second circuit board (mother board) 20 . If the second circuit board 20 shown in FIG. 1A needs to be adjusted to the design of FIG. 1B , the length of the connecting wire 914 needs to be adjusted, and according to the current safety regulations, the battery pack 910 will need to be re-checked for security verification, resulting in changes Design costs remain high.

On the other hand, the aforementioned battery pack 910 directly solders the connector (CONNECTOR) 115 to the contacts on the first circuit board 912 via the connecting wires 914 as a part of the battery pack 910 that cannot be separated, so the pins of the connector 915 or The number of ports must correspond to the number of contacts on the first circuit board 912 of the battery pack 910. Taking the number of contacts on the first circuit board 912 of the battery pack 910 as 16 as an example, the number of pins or ports of the connector 915 must also be The number of ports is 16, and correspondingly, the number of ports of the second connection terminals 21 on the second circuit board 20 should also be 16. However, when the specifications of the second circuit board 20 are adjusted, for example, when the number of ports of the second connection terminals 21 on the second circuit board 20 is adjusted from 16 to 14, the number of pins or ports of the connector 915 of the battery pack 910 is required. Correspondingly, the battery pack 910 is adjusted accordingly, resulting in a change in the specifications of the battery pack 910 , which requires the battery pack 910 to be re-certified for safety regulations. In addition, the safety certification process usually takes several months, so even a very small adjustment of product specifications will delay the launch of the entire product to the market and affect the sales schedule.

The invention provides a power supply module, which can separate the battery from the connecting wire, so that the battery does not need to be re-certified for safety regulations due to the change of the connecting wire. In addition, the power supply module provided by the present invention has a special design for the first connection terminal, so that the battery can correspond to more circuit boards of different specifications.

The invention provides a power supply module, which includes a battery pack and a connecting wire. The battery pack includes a battery, a first circuit board and a first connection terminal. The first circuit board is electrically connected to the battery. The first connection terminal is electrically connected to the first circuit board, and the first connection terminal includes a first high-potential port group, a first low-potential port group and a first communication port group. The first high-potential port group includes a plurality of first high-potential ports for transmitting electrical energy. The first low-potential port group includes a plurality of first low-potential ports for transmitting electrical energy. The first communication port group includes a plurality of first communication ports for transmitting communication signals. The connecting wire includes a first male connector and a second male connector, the first male connector is pluggable and electrically connected to the first connection terminal, the first male connector includes a plurality of first pins, and the second male connector includes a plurality of first pins. a second pin. The first communication port group is arranged between the first high-potential port group and the first low-potential port group.

In some specific embodiments, the number of the first high-potential ports and the first low-potential ports may be the same. Here, the number of the first pins is the same as the total number of the first high potential port, the first low potential port and the first communication port, and the first communication port group is located at the center of the first connection terminal. In addition, the number of the first pins can be different from the number of the second pins. In this case, the second pins are electrically connected to all the first communication ports in the first communication port group and part of the first high-potential port group. The first high potential port of the first low potential port and a part of the first low potential port in the first low potential port group. The number of the first high-potential ports that are electrically connected may be the same as the number of the first low-potential ports that are electrically connected.

In short, in order to overcome the problem in the prior art that after the design of the second circuit board is changed, the battery pack needs to be re-certified for safety regulations, which is costly and time-consuming. The present invention abandons the design of directly welding the connector to the power supply contact of the first circuit board of the battery pack through the connecting wire in the prior art, and instead uses the first circuit board to provide a terminal with a female end, so that the battery pack can be placed on the first circuit board. There is no need to include connecting wires when leaving the factory. In this way, only the circuit board and battery part of the battery pack can be certified for safety regulations. Even if the subsequent motherboard design changes and the connecting wires of different shapes and lengths are required, the battery pack will not be affected. safety certification. On the other hand, in an embodiment of the present invention, by using the connection terminal as the connection port, the The communication port group is placed in the middle, and the high-potential port group and the low-potential port group are located on the left and right sides, which can simultaneously support a variety of connection lines with different pin numbers, which further improves the versatility of the battery pack.

1: Electronic device

10: Power supply module

110: battery pack

111: battery

112: First circuit board

113: The first terminal

1131: The first high potential port group

1131A: The first high potential port

1132: The first low potential port group

1132A: The first low potential port

1133: The first communication port group

1133A: The first communication port

114: connecting line

115: Connector

120: connecting line

121: The first male connector

122: Second male connector

123: Wiring Department

20: Second circuit board

21: The second terminal

211: The second high potential port group

211A: The second high potential port

212: The second low potential port group

212A: The second low potential port

213: The second communication port group

213A: The second communication port

910: Prior Art Battery Pack

911: Prior Art Batteries

912: The first circuit board of the prior art

914: Prior Art Connection Wire

915: Prior Art Connectors

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are schematic diagrams of connecting a circuit board in a battery pack and an external motherboard by connecting wires of different lengths according to the prior art, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the part more related to the power supply module in the electronic device of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the interface connection relationship between the circuit board, the connecting wire and the motherboard in an electronic device according to a specific embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a connection interface of a first connection terminal according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the properties of each port in the first connection terminal according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a connection interface of a first connection terminal according to another embodiment.

7A to 7D are schematic diagrams of various possible designs of connecting lines in a specific embodiment, respectively.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the connection relationship between the first connection terminal, the connection wire and the second connection terminal according to a specific embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the connection relationship between the first connection terminal, the connection wire and the second connection terminal according to another specific embodiment.

The features, objects and functions of the present invention will be further disclosed below. However, the following descriptions, unless otherwise defined, are only examples of the present invention, and should not be used to limit the scope of the present invention. The gist of the present invention does not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention, so it should be regarded as a further embodiment of the present invention. In the present invention, what is said to include one can be understood to include at least one or more unless otherwise defined (for example, it is expressly expressed as including only one).

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the part more related to the power supply module in the electronic device of an embodiment. The electronic device 1 of the present invention may be, for example, various types of notebooks, projectors, mobile phones, or automobiles, etc. that include a battery pack 110 therein. In this specific embodiment, the electronic device 1 is a notebook computer. As shown in the figure, the electronic device 1 at least includes a power supply module 10 and a second circuit board 20 . In this specific embodiment, the second circuit board 20 refers to the motherboard of the notebook computer. Of course, this embodiment is not limited to the notebook computer. In practice, the second circuit board 20 can also be the motherboard of other devices. Such as mobile phones, tablets, etc. The power supply module 10 may be used to supply power to the components on the second circuit board 20 , such as various components such as a central processing unit and a memory, which are not limited in this embodiment.

The design of the power supply module 10 is described below. The power supply module 10 includes a battery pack 110 and a connecting wire 120 , and the size and shape of the power supply module 10 are not limited in this embodiment. In practice, the battery pack 110 can be wrapped in a casing (not shown in the figure) of the power supply module 10, and the connecting wires 120 are exposed from the casing. In one example, the casing is used for accommodating the battery 111 and the first circuit board 112 , and the first connection terminal 113 can be exposed from a specially designed opening of the casing to allow the connection wire 120 to connect to the first connection terminal 113 from the outside. . The battery 111 is used for storing and outputting electrical energy, and it can be a common battery cell such as a lithium-ion battery (Li-ion), a nickel-metal hydride battery (Ni-MH), or a lithium polymer battery (Li-polymer). It can be assumed that the battery 111 is a lithium-ion battery. The first circuit board 112 is used to carry and electrically connect the battery 111 and the first connection terminal 113 , and may also include a charging and discharging protection circuit and an energy management circuit in practice, which is not limited in this embodiment. For example, the protection circuit is used to protect the battery 111 from overload when the battery 111 is charged and discharged, and the energy management circuit is used to measure the increase or decrease of the accumulative power of the battery 111, and can calculate the power of the battery 111, perform battery 111 Communicate with external devices and manage battery usage. The functions of the protection circuit and the energy management circuit described above are not essential elements of the present invention, and can be selectively adjusted or omitted, so the present invention does not limit them.

The first connection terminal 113 is used for connecting the connection wire 120 . The first connection terminal 113 includes a port (or a jack) into which a plurality of pins (first pins) on the connecting wire 120 can be inserted. That is, the first connection terminal 113 is a female terminal. Please refer to FIG. 4 . FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a connection interface of a first connection terminal according to a specific embodiment. As can be seen from the figure, the first connection terminal 113 of the battery pack 110 includes a plurality of ports, and each port can be divided into three types: a first high-potential port group 1131 , a first low-potential port group 1132 and a first communication port group 1133 according to their functions. . The first high potential port group 1131 includes a plurality of first high potential ports 1131A for transmitting power, and the first low potential port group 1132 includes a plurality of first low potential ports 1132A for transmitting power. The first communication port group 1133 includes a plurality of first communication ports 1133A for transmitting communication signals. As far as the configuration of the connection interface of the first connection terminal 113 is concerned, the first communication port group 1133 can be set at the central position of the connection interface of the first connection terminal 113 , and the first high-potential port group 1131 and the first low-potential port group 1132 They are respectively arranged on both sides of the connection interface. In other words, the first communication port group 1133 may be between the first high-potential port group 1131 and the first low-potential port group 1132 .

More specifically, please refer to FIG. 5 , which is a schematic diagram of the properties of each port in the first connection terminal according to a specific embodiment. As can be seen from FIG. 5 , the first high-potential port group 1131 includes six first high-potential ports 1131A corresponding to high-potentials, and each first high-potential port 1131A can be understood as a contact corresponding to the positive electrode of the battery (marked as BATT+). In addition, the first low-potential port group 1132 includes six first low-potential ports 1132A corresponding to low-potentials, and each first low-potential port 1132A can be understood as a contact corresponding to the negative electrode of the battery (marked as GND- in the figure). , such as electrically connected to ground. It can be seen that the first low-potential port group 1132 and the high-potential port group 1131 are disposed on both sides of the communication port group 1133 and are symmetrically disposed. Here, the first communication port group 1133 includes four first communication ports 1133A corresponding to communication functions, and each first communication port 1133A is used for transmitting system management data. Taking the design in FIG. 5 as an example, port 7 of the battery pack 110 can transmit a temperature signal (marked as TEMP in the figure), port 8 can transmit a voltage signal (marked as VCC 3.3V in the figure), and port 9 and port 10 They correspond to other system management signals (marked as SMBDATA and SMBCLA in the figure). Of course, this embodiment does not limit each first pass According to the function and order of the communication port 1133A, the first communication port 1133A can also be arranged in a different order and provide different functions.

In addition, please refer to FIG. 6 , which is a schematic diagram of a connection interface of the first connection terminal according to another specific embodiment. As can be seen from the figure, different from that shown in FIG. 4 , the first high-potential port group 1131 , the first low-potential port group 1132 and the first communication port group 1133 in the first connection terminal 113 are designed to be arranged in a single row. The embodiment of the present invention also exemplifies an example in which the first connection terminals 113 are arranged in a non-single row, such as two rows as shown in the figure. In one example, as long as the first communication port group 1133 is located between the first high-potential port group 1131 and the first low-potential port group 1132 , this embodiment does not limit the shape or arrangement of the first connection terminals 113 .

The design of the connection line 120 is described below. Please refer to FIG. 3 , FIG. 7A to FIG. 7D , which are schematic diagrams of various possible designs of connecting lines according to a specific embodiment, respectively. As shown in the figure, the connecting wire 120 is used to electrically connect the first connecting terminal 113 of the battery pack 110 and the second connecting terminal 21 of the second circuit board 20 . The connecting wire 120 is, for example, a flat cable with male connectors at both ends or various connecting elements that can achieve the aforementioned connection effect. Among the two male connectors in the connecting wire 120 , the first male connector 121 for connecting the battery pack 110 is called the second male connector 122 , and the first male connector 122 for connecting the second circuit board 20 . 121 and the second male connector 122 are connected via the wiring portion 123 . Since the connecting wire 120 is electrically connected to the first connecting terminal 113 of the battery pack 110 and the second connecting terminal 21 of the second circuit board 20 in a pluggable manner, the length, shape and other parameters of the connecting wire 120 are different from each other. It can be adjusted freely without affecting the safety certification of the battery pack 110 . For example, the wiring portion 123 of FIG. 7A may be longer than the wiring portion 123 of FIG. 7B , the wiring portion 123 of FIG. 7C may be bent, or the wiring portion 123 of FIG. 7D may be any specified shape.

As can be seen from the above, in this embodiment, since the wiring portion 123 can be freely designed, the power supply module 10 is not affected by the adjustment of the specifications of the second circuit board 20 . In one example, the manufacturer of the battery pack 110 may not include the connecting wire 120 when leaving the factory, and the customer only needs to check whether the specification of the battery pack 110 is suitable, and the connecting wire 120 is assembled in the power supply module 10 afterwards. Thereby, the battery pack 110 may be independent The goods are delivered to customers and have independent safety certification, which is not affected by the change of the shape and length of the connecting wire 120. In practice, even if the specifications of the second circuit board 20 need to be adjusted, the design of the battery pack 110 will not be affected, and the battery pack 110 will not need to be re-certified for safety regulations.

The following can demonstrate how the present invention handles the problem that the number of ports/pins needs to be adjusted together due to the adjustment of the specifications of the second circuit board 20 . In one example, since the first communication port group 1133 is disposed between the first high-potential port group 1131 and the first low-potential port group 1132, in practice, when selecting the connection line 120, the The number of ports of the second terminal 21 is taken as a standard. For example, please refer to FIG. 8 , which is a schematic diagram of the connection relationship between the first connection terminal, the connection wire and the second connection terminal according to a specific embodiment. It can be seen from the figure that the number of ports of the first connection terminal 113 and the second connection terminal 21 are the same and correspond one by one, and both are 16. Accordingly, the first male connector 121 and the second male connector 122 at both ends of the connecting wire 120 selected in this embodiment may have 16 pins respectively, that is, the number of the first pins is the same as the number of the second pins. Those skilled in the art can understand that the first high-potential port 1131A of the first high-potential port group 1131 is electrically connected to the second high-potential port 211A of the second high-potential port group 211 in the second circuit board 20 . Each first low potential port 1132A of a low potential port group 1132 is electrically connected to the second low potential port 212A of the second low potential port group 212 in the second circuit board 20 and each first communication port of the first communication port group 1133 The 1133A is electrically connected to each second communication port 213A of the second communication port group 213 in the second circuit board 20 .

Here, the number of the first pins of the first male connector 121 is the same as the total number of the first high potential port 1131A, the first low potential port 1132A and the first communication port 1133A, and the first communication port group 1133 is located in the first connection The central position of the terminal 113 . Since the first pin of each of the first male connectors 121 in this embodiment can be electrically connected to the second pin of a second male connector 122 , it can be seen that the signal of the first connection terminal 113 can pass through the connecting wire 120 , is completely transmitted to the second terminal 21 . In addition, when the number of ports of the first connection terminal 113 and the second connection terminal 21 are different, the number of the first pins can be different from the number of the second pins, and the second pins are only electrically connected at this time. all The first communication port 1133A is not electrically connected to all the first high-potential ports 1131A and the first low-potential ports 1132A. Please refer to FIG. 9 . FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the connection relationship between the first connection terminal, the connection wire and the second connection terminal according to another specific embodiment. When the number of ports of the first connection terminal 21 of the second circuit board 20 is adjusted to 6, the connecting line 120 with the number of pins of the first male connector 121 and the second male connector 122 both having 6 pins can be used for connection. The first connection terminal 113 and the second connection terminal 21 . That is to say, the number of the first pins or the second pins of the first male connector 121 and the second male connector 122 of the connecting wire 120 may be equal to the number of ports included in the first connection terminal 113 or the second connection terminal 21 . the smaller of the number. During connection, in this embodiment, the first male connector 121 of the connecting wire 120 can be connected to the central position of the first connecting terminal 113 , especially to cover the whole of the first communication port group 1133 with the communication function.

Since each of the first communication ports 1133A has a corresponding special and designated function, in this embodiment, in order to avoid losing any communication signal, it is necessary to connect all the first communication ports 1133A. However, the number of the first high-potential ports 1131A and the first low-potential ports 1132A hardly affects the power transmission. Those skilled in the art can understand that as long as there is one first high-potential port 1131A and one first low-potential port 1132A, generally can supply power normally. In other words, when the number of ports of the second connection terminal 21 of the second circuit board 20 is reduced, the connection cable 120 can still normally obtain the communication signal from the first communication port group 1133 at the central position of the first connection terminal 113 , and Power is obtained from the first high-potential port 1131A and the first low-potential port 1132A on both sides thereof. To sum up, in the case where the connection line 120 of this embodiment is connected to all the first communication ports 1133A, and each is connected to a first high-potential port 1131A and a first low-potential port 1132A, it is possible that the communication function does not work. Normal power supply in case of impairment.

Following the above, as long as the connecting wire 120 is aligned with the central position of the first connecting terminal 113, even if the outermost first high-potential port 1131A and the first low-potential port 1132A of the first connecting terminal 113 are not connected, practically Does not affect the power supply function. With this design, when the specifications of the second circuit board 21 are adjusted (for example, 6 ports remain), the present embodiment does not need to redesign the battery pack 110 (for example, changing the first The number of ports of the terminal 113), the original battery pack 110 can be used without adjusting the design. Of course, since there is no change in the battery pack 110, there is no need to re-apply the safety certification. The only changes are the connecting wires 120 with different numbers of pins, which can simplify the safety certification process.

In addition, the connection port on the circuit board of the battery pack 110 can optionally adopt a foolproof design. The pins, the contours of the components are adjusted, or the alignment bumps are arranged to ensure that the first male connector 121 of the connecting wire 120 can be correctly inserted into the middle portion of the first connecting terminal 113 . The mechanism for foolproofing is not limited in this embodiment, and can be freely designed by those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field.

To sum up, in order to overcome the problems in the prior art, after the design of the second circuit board is changed, the battery pack needs to be re-certified for safety regulations, which is costly and time-consuming. The present invention abandons the design of directly welding the connector to the power supply contact of the first circuit board of the battery pack through the connecting wire in the prior art, and instead uses the connecting terminal with the female end on the first circuit board to make the battery pack There is no need to include connecting wires when leaving the factory. In this way, only the circuit board and battery part of the battery pack can be certified for safety regulations. Even if the subsequent motherboard design changes and the connecting wires of different shapes and lengths need to be used, the battery will not be affected. Group safety certification. On the other hand, in a specific embodiment of the present invention, by arranging the communication port group in the connection terminal used as the connection port, and arranging the high-potential port group and the low-potential port group on the left and right sides, that is, It can support a variety of cables with different pin numbers at the same time, which further improves the versatility of the battery pack.

1: Electronics 110: Battery Pack 111: Battery 112: First circuit board 113: The first terminal 120: connecting wire 121: The first male connector 122: Second male connector 20: Second circuit board 21: The second terminal

Claims (7)

A power supply module, comprising: A battery pack, including: a battery; a first circuit board electrically connected to the battery; and A first connection terminal is electrically connected to the first circuit board, and the first connection terminal includes: a first high-potential port group, including a plurality of first high-potential ports for transmitting electrical energy; a first low-potential port group, including a plurality of first low-potential ports for transmitting power; and a first communication port group including a plurality of first communication ports for transmitting communication signals; and A connecting wire includes a first male connector and a second male connector, the first male connector is pluggable and electrically connected to the first connection terminal, the first male connector includes a plurality of first pins, the first connector The second male connector includes a plurality of second pins; The first communication port group is arranged between the first high-potential port group and the first low-potential port group. The power supply module of claim 1, wherein the number of the first high-potential ports and the first low-potential ports is the same. The power supply module of claim 1, wherein the number of the first pins is the same as the total number of the first high potential ports, the first low potential ports and the first communication ports. The power supply module of claim 3, wherein the first communication port group is located at a central position of the first connection terminal. The power supply module of claim 4, wherein the number of the first pins is different from the number of the second pins. The power supply module of claim 5, wherein the second pins are electrically connected to all the first communication ports in the first communication port group and some of the first high-potential port group a first high potential port and some of the first low potential ports in the first low potential port group. The power supply module of claim 6, wherein the number of the first high potential ports that are electrically connected is the same as the number of the first low potential ports that are electrically connected.

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