Method for controlling the battery capacity of a secondary battery and battery-driven household electrical appliance

• US 10,038,330 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2016
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Braun GmbH (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Original Assignee: Braun GmbH (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Inventors: Klemm, Torsten, Langsdorf, Jan Christian, Laschinski, Gerd, Loth-Krausser, Hartmut, Ungemach, Christof
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Arun
• Application Number:
  US15/173,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20160365741A1
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 320134
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0063 with circuits adapted for supplying loads from the battery
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007182 in response to battery voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 9/005 using a power saving mode for copiers G03G15/5004

Abstract

Method for controlling the battery capacity of a secondary battery in a battery-driven household electrical appliance and a respective household electrical appliance are described, wherein the battery-driven household electrical appliance has an electrical load and a control means adapted to control the operation of the household electrical appliance and to monitor the capacity of the secondary battery, said method comprising the following steps:

• • recognizing a situation of storage of the household electrical appliance in which the household electrical appliance is not in use;
  • determining the current capacity of the secondary battery;
  • comparing the current capacity of the secondary battery with a desired storage capacity for the electrical household appliance;
  • activating an energy-consuming load in the electrical household appliance if the current capacity of the secondary battery is higher than the desired storage capacity until the current capacity is equal to the desired storage capacity;
  • activating an energy saving stand-by mode of the household electrical appliance until the household electrical appliance is used the next time.

Claims

1. A method for controlling the battery capacity of a secondary battery in a battery-driven household electrical appliance wherein the battery-driven household electrical appliance has an electrical load and a control means adapted to control the operation of the household electrical appliance and to monitor the capacity of the secondary battery, said method comprising the following steps:

recognizing a situation of storage of the household electrical appliance in which the household electrical appliance is not in use;

determining the current capacity of the secondary battery;

comparing the current capacity of the secondary battery with a desired storage capacity for the electrical household appliance;

activating an energy-consuming load in the electrical household appliance if the current capacity of the secondary battery is higher than the desired storage capacity until the current capacity is equal to the desired storage capacity;

activating a controlled discharge state when after charging, the appliance is not used for a predetermined amount of time;

activating an energy saving stand-by mode of the household electrical appliance after the controlled discharge state until the household electrical appliance is used the next time,

wherein activation of the energy-consuming load comprises the activation of a microcontroller of the control means into an operational modus, wherein said energy saving stand-by mode of the household electrical appliance is stopped when the secondary battery of the household electrical appliance is charged.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control means comprises a microcontroller that is driven in a stand-by mode when the household electrical appliance is not operated, wherein during the stand-by mode the microcontroller is operated in a sleep modus interrupted by operation pulses in the operational modus before activating the energy saving stand-by mode.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the energy saving stand-by mode comprises switching off the microcontroller.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a situation of storage of the household electrical appliance is recognized by monitoring the switching off and on of the appliance and/or the charging of the secondary battery of the household electrical appliance, wherein a situation of storage is assumed when the latest switching off and on and/or the latest charging has not occurred in a defined non-use-period before the current point in time.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a situation of storage of the household electrical appliance is recognized by initiation of a storage modus through a command to be executed by the control means.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the desired storage capacity is defined as a capacity range.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein activation of the microcontroller into an operational modus means a mode in which the microcontroller has higher energy consumption than in a mode in which the microcontroller is switched on without any computational operation.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the activation of the energy-consuming load comprises switching on an additional current consuming load.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein reaching the desired storage capacity by activating an energy-consuming load is determined by comparing an actually measured voltage to a threshold voltage that is adapted to the voltage of the secondary battery during activation of the load.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein charging of the secondary battery is activated until the desired storage capacity of the secondary battery is reached if the current capacity of the secondary battery is lower than the desired storage capacity and the user electrical appliance is connected to a charger.

11. The battery-driven household electrical appliance having a secondary battery, an electrical load activated during use of the household electrical appliance, and a control means adapted to control the operation of the household electrical appliance and to monitor the capacity of the secondary battery, wherein the control means is adapted to switch off and on the electrical load of the household user electrical appliance, wherein the control means is further adapted to perform the method according to claim 1.

12. The battery-driven household electrical appliance according to claim 11, wherein the household electrical appliance comprises a secondary load switchable by the control means.

13. The battery-driven household electrical appliance according to claim 11, wherein the control means is adapted to measure the voltage of the secondary battery.

14. The battery-driven household electrical appliance according to claim 11, wherein the secondary battery is a single-cell secondary battery or a multi-cell secondary battery having multiple single cell connected in series.