WO2003085411A1

WO2003085411A1 - Battery management system

Info

Publication number: WO2003085411A1
Application number: PCT/JP2002/003480
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hitoshi Katayama
Original assignee: I.D.X Company Ltd.
Priority date: 2002-04-08
Filing date: 2002-04-08
Publication date: 2003-10-16

Abstract

When a battery (2) being set removably in an electronic apparatus, e.g. a video camera (1), is charged by means of a charging unit (3), current capacity of the battery (2) being charged is detected and then the residual capacity of the battery (2) is calculated from the detected current capacity and stored in a storage means built in the battery (2). It is outputted, in a form of data available at a terminal, e.g. a personal computer (4), connected with the charging unit (3) and the personal computer (4) processes data obtained from the charging unit (3) and displays processed data concerning the battery (2) in the form of a figure, a graph, or the like. On the other hand, the processed data is outputted in a form available at an external server (6) connected through a network (5). The external server (6) processes the obtained data, outputs predictive data concerning the lifetime of the battery (2) to the personal computer (4) and registers or stores required data obtained from the personal computer (4).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

Technical field

The present invention relates to a removable type battery management system used for an electronic device such as a video camera.

Background art

In recent years, detachable batteries used in video cameras, etc., have their remaining capacity stored in memory as data and output that data when attached to a video camera, etc. In recent years, data that can display data on the remaining capacity as it is or in the form of, for example, the available shooting time has been used. It goes without saying that a video camera or the like has a display function or the like corresponding to such a function on the battery side. The number of chargers that can detect the remaining capacity of the battery and control it by a program that stores the charging mode in advance is increasing.

However, the data on the detection of the remaining capacity as described above has been limited to the extent that it can be used by electronic devices such as video cameras, batteries that can be attached to and detached from them, and their chargers.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a battery management system for making the above-mentioned data relating to a battery available via a network via a charger.

The present invention also provides a method for detecting a remaining capacity based on data regarding a battery as described above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel mode for data processing.

Disclosure of the invention

In order to achieve the above object, a battery management system according to the present invention includes a charger for charging a battery that is attached to and detached from an electronic device such as a video camera, and a terminal device that can connect the charger and has an arithmetic function. An external processing device connectable to the terminal device via a network, wherein the charger detects a current capacity of the battery and calculates a remaining capacity of the battery from the detected current capacity. The calculated remaining capacity can be stored in a storage unit of the battery and output in a data format usable by the terminal device. The terminal device processes data obtained from the charger. The processing data relating to the battery can be displayed in a diagram, a graph, or the like, and the processing data can be output in a form usable in the external processing device. The external processing device has a database for the battery and a diagnostic processing function for the database obtained from outside, and processes the database obtained from the terminal device for the battery; It is characterized in that it is possible to output prediction data relating to the life and the like to the terminal device, and to register and store required data among the data obtained from the terminal device in the database.

In order to achieve the above object, the battery management system according to the present invention is the battery management system according to claim 1, wherein the charger can calculate the corrected remaining capacity of the battery from the detected current capacity. It is characterized by being. Further, in order to achieve the above object, the battery management system according to the present invention detects a current capacity of a battery to be charged when charging a battery to be attached to and detached from an electronic device such as a video camera with a charger. Calculating the remaining capacity of the battery from the detected current capacity; and storing the calculated remaining capacity in the battery. And output the data in a data format usable by the terminal device connected to the battery charger.The terminal device processes the data obtained from the battery charger and processes the data regarding the battery into a diagram, a graph, or the like. And outputs the processed data in a form usable by an external processing device connected via a network, and the external processing device processes the data obtained from the terminal device for the battery. And outputting prediction data relating to the battery life and the like to the terminal device, and registering and storing required data among the data obtained from the terminal device.

Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, the battery management system according to the present invention is the battery management system according to claim 3, wherein the battery charger calculates the corrected remaining capacity of the battery from the detected current capacity. It is characterized by the following. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing one embodiment of a battery management system according to the present invention. '

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the charge / discharge unit.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing calculation, determination, and communication contents in a battery, a charge / discharge unit, and a personal computer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display on a personal computer.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system of this embodiment includes a video camera 1, a battery 2 attached to and detached from the video camera 1, a charging / discharging unit 3 for charging the video camera 1, a personal computer 4 connectable to the video camera 1, and a personal computer 4. And an external server 6 connected via a network 5. The video camera 1 is of a type that allows the battery for the video camera to be attached and detached, and that can display data related to the battery 2 on the display unit in the viewfinder in the form of the remaining capacity of the battery and the available shooting time. Any system can be used in the system of this embodiment.

The battery 2 is often used as a battery for a video camera, for example, in which a plurality of cells are packed together.However, the battery 2 has a built-in calculation means capable of calculating its own remaining capacity, etc. It is possible to output data such as the remaining capacity, that is, the current capacity, and to input data from the outside, and a storage means such as a memory that can store various data such as its own product name and serial number. What has a temperature sensor etc. should just be used.

Although not shown in detail, the charging / discharging unit 3 has a pit-shaped attaching / detaching portion to which the battery 2 can be attached / detached, for example, and has built-in computing means capable of computing the capacity and the like of the battery 2. Any device that can output at least data such as the remaining capacity of the battery 2, can input data from the outside, and has storage means such as a memory for storing various data can be used.

The charging / discharging unit 3 performs an operation as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the battery 2 is attached to the charging / discharging unit 3 (step 1), the switch for starting the operation is simply turned on (step 2), and the capacity correction mode is entered (step 3). The current capacity is detected, the current capacity is corrected, and the remaining capacity of the battery 2 is calculated. The discharge is started (step 4). When the discharge is completed (step 5), the charging is started (step 6). Stop. Also, in step 2, if the switch is pressed for more than one second, for example, the mode for retrieving data from battery 2 is entered (step 7), and data is retrieved from battery 2 and whether battery 2 has a communication function. Make a decision (Step 8) If the battery 2 is of a type having a communication function, charging is started (Step 9), and after completion of charging is detected (Step 10), discharging is started (Step 11). When the discharging is completed (step 12), the flow returns to step 6 described above, and charging is performed again. If it is determined in step 9 that the battery 2 does not have a communication function, the operation from step 11 onward is performed immediately.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing calculation, determination, and communication contents in the above-described battery 2-charge / discharge unit 3, personal computer 4, and the like.

For the battery 2 not attached to the charging / discharging unit 3, the built-in calculating means calculates the current capacity (N _cap ) as follows. First, pack capacity when the Do One fully charged in the past have been written in the storage unit as the current capacity, the current capacity in the subsequent discharge _(Ν ∞ρ) so changes, the discharge current (I _n. _WD) and voltage (V _n. _w) and the discharge current value efficiency (7? _DISI) discharge ambient temperature efficiency _DI ^ r), quiescent coulometric consisting self-discharge amount of circuit current consumption and battery及Pi battery 2 (W _self) Calculate a new N _cap in about 1 second by the formula using. The operation expression is

Current capacity Ν _∞ρ = (current storage capacity N _eap ) — {(I _nowD ) X (7] _DISI ) X (T) _msr ) X (V one (w _self )

It is. Normally, the battery 2 performs the above-described calculation every 62.5 milliseconds, averages it, and integrates the capacity as an electric energy of 0.5 seconds. The temperature may be sampled every 0.5 seconds to obtain data.

It is well known that the discharge efficiency is affected by the discharge current and the ambient temperature, and the larger the discharge current and the lower the ambient temperature, the smaller the electric capacity that can be extracted and the lower the discharge voltage. The above-mentioned discharge current value efficiency (7i _DISI ) and discharge environment temperature efficiency (7 _DIST ) are adopted to make the table the experimental data obtained by changing the discharge conditions, and these are determined from the table. You can do it. The discharge current (I _n. _WD) and pack voltage product of _{_{(v n. W) (i}} n wD xv nw) is equivalent to the value of the current consumption of the video camera 1, are connected to the battery 2 to the camera Otherwise, the value is 0.

When such a battery 2 is mounted on the video camera 1 and used, the remaining time, that is, the usable time is output from the battery 2 to the video camera 1. The calculation formula for the remaining time RT 1 uses the remaining amount correction value according to the remaining amount compensation values (7?) And the alarm voltage by the current capacity N _cap and the discharge current described above (7I _[nu),

RT 1 = {(Ν _∞Ρ Χ 3 6 0 0) ÷ (I _nowD XV X _brain X? 7 X ÷ _60. Note that the remaining battery correction value (?? _DIST ) based on the battery temperature during discharge and the alarm voltage yo Ru residual correction value (7 AL _V) also, the experimental data obtained by the discharge condition by varying tabulated may be determined from the table.

On the other hand, when the battery 2 is mounted on the charging / discharging unit 3, the capacity is corrected first. The calculation formula for capacity calculation is

Correction _Ν ∞ρ = current storage capacity _{_{N cap - I D X 7]}} DISI X 7) DIST XV now - (W)

It is. The _product of the discharge current (I _n . _WD ), discharge current value efficiency (? ^ _DISI ), discharge environment temperature efficiency (7) _DIST, and pack voltage (V _n . _W ) in the second term is the charge / discharge unit. This corresponds to a discharge load value of 3.

Next, the charge / discharge unit 3 performs discharge for capacity correction using the capacity correction value calculated as described above, discharges the battery to the discharge end voltage (for example, 11.5 V ± 0.1 V), and continuously performs the discharge. When charging is performed and the full charge of battery 2 is detected, the integrated charge amount is recorded. This recording is performed for each of the battery 2 and the charge / discharge unit 3. Note that the full charge of battery 2

Condition (1): The voltage between cell connection terminals is 16 V or more, and

Condition (2): When the charge current of 200 mA or less is detected for 30 seconds or more, What is necessary is just to detect by setting the conditions as follows.

The charge / discharge unit 3 calculates the data obtained from the battery 2 or the data obtained from the battery 2 and transmits the stored data to the personal computer 4 as diagnostic data.

Storage voltage X-bit voltage unit value = Voltage (A)

Storage current X bit current unit value = voltage (B)

A X B = Power

Stored analog voltage X k = analog voltage

Converted to a graph and displayed. The storage voltage, the storage current, and the storage analog voltage are data transmitted from the charge / discharge unit 3 as diagnostic data, and are stored in the digital data. This is data that has been made non-unit by the method. The bit voltage unit value, the bit current unit value, the stored analog voltage, and k are coefficients and constants for converting the unitless data as described above in correspondence with the original data value and displaying the converted data on the personal computer 4. . When the analog voltage value (unitless data) recorded in the calculation means in the charge / discharge unit 3 is set to, for example, “0 to 255”, and the analog voltage value is set to a maximum of 5 V, the constant k is When returning to the original voltage (current) value, the analog voltage value (maximum 5 V) is a value obtained by dividing it into 255 equal parts. That is, 5 (V) ÷ 25 5 = 0.019953125. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display on the personal computer 4.

Further, the external server 6 connected to the personal computer 4 via an appropriate network 5 such as the Internet performs data processing based on the data transmitted from the personal computer 4, and performs further detailed property diagnosis of the battery 2, Perform life expectancy, answer questions, register battery 2 specifications, register customers, etc. The parameters that can be handled in the above-described embodiment system include the number of times of use after capacity correction, the number of times of occurrence of capacity error, the number of effective cycles of remaining time display, the shipping date, the number of high loads, the number of discharges, the history of charge, the number of times of overdischarge, , Overload voltage, maximum load, minimum temperature, maximum temperature, high temperature history, low temperature history, first charge completion date, remaining analog signal output, remaining digital signal output, charging current value, etc. . The correction items include, for example, the offset voltage offset of the charging current value, the offset of the same gain, the offset voltage of the discharging current value, the offset of the same gain, the offset voltage of the battery voltage, and the offset of the temperature reading. Voltage shifts and the like can be mentioned. Further, which of these is used by all of the battery 2, the charging / discharging unit 3, the personal computer 4, and the external server 6, which is data that can be handled only by the personal computer overnight 4 and the external server 6, and which is the battery 2 The data to be recorded by the charging / discharging unit 3 can be freely set.

In the embodiment described above, only the case where one battery 2 is targeted has been described. However, the present invention is also applicable to a case where two or more batteries are connected in parallel and used. . In addition, the battery 2 can be used regardless of whether the remaining amount is output as an analog signal or the digital signal is output.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A charger for charging a battery that can be attached to and detached from an electronic device such as a video camera, a terminal device to which the charger can be connected and which has an arithmetic function, and an external process that can be connected to the terminal device via a network Device

The battery charger detects the current capacity of the battery, calculates the remaining capacity of the battery from the detected current capacity, stores the calculated remaining capacity in storage means of the battery, and stores the calculated remaining capacity in the battery. Can be output in a data format that can be used with

The terminal device can process the data obtained from the charger and display the processed data related to the battery in the form of a diagram, a graph, or the like, and can output the processed data in a form usable in the external processing device. And

The external processing device has a database relating to the battery and a diagnostic processing function of data relating to the battery obtained from outside, processes the data relating to the battery obtained from the terminal device, and predicts data relating to the life of the battery and the like. Can be output to the terminal device, and required data among the data obtained from the terminal device can be registered and stored in the database.

A battery management system, characterized in that:

2. The battery management system according to claim 1, wherein the charger is capable of calculating a corrected remaining capacity of the battery from the detected current capacity.

3. When charging a battery to be attached to or detached from an electronic device such as a video camera with a charger, the current capacity of the battery to be charged is detected, and the remaining capacity of the battery is calculated from the detected current capacity. Note that the battery has the calculated remaining capacity. In the storage means,

Outputting the data in a data format usable by the terminal device connected to the charger, processing the data obtained from the charger in the terminal device, and displaying the processing data relating to the battery in a diagram, a graph, or the like, And outputting the processed data in a form usable by an external processing device connected via a network,

The external processing device processes the data obtained from the terminal device with respect to the battery, outputs prediction data relating to the life of the battery, and the like to the terminal device, and outputs the prediction data obtained from the terminal device. Register and store required data

A battery management system, characterized in that:

4. The battery management system according to claim 3, wherein a corrected remaining capacity of the battery is calculated from the detected current capacity in the charger.