Charger

• US 20080122400A1
• Filed: 11/20/2007
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ikeda, Masaki, Miwa, Tatsuya, Shimizu, Naoki, Iwamura, Norihiro, Kubota, Atsumasa
• Granted Patent: US 7,986,128 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/106
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00036 Charger exchanging data with battery
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00047 with provisions for charging different types of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007 Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage

Abstract

A battery charger includes an attachment portion capable of being connected to a plurality of battery packs; a connection unit for connecting one of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion to a charging path; a state detection unit for detecting a state of each of the battery packs; a remaining capacity detection unit; and a charging control unit. The remaining capacity detection unit detects a remaining capacity based on the state of the battery pack detected by the state detection unit after each of the battery pack is charged for a specified period of time. Further, the charging control unit assigns priorities to the battery packs such that one whose remaining capacity detected by the remaining capacity detection unit is closer to a fully charged state thereof has a higher priority, and controls the connection unit to charge the battery packs according to the assigned priorities.

Claims

1. A battery charger, comprising:

an attachment portion capable of being connected to a plurality of battery packs;

a connection unit for connecting one of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion to a charging path;

a state detection unit for detecting a state of each of the battery packs;

a remaining capacity detection unit for detecting a remaining capacity of each of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion based on the state of the battery pack detected by the state detection unit after each of the battery pack is charged for a specified period of time; and

a charging control unit for assigning priorities to the battery packs such that one of the battery packs whose remaining capacity detected by the remaining capacity detection unit is closer to a fully charged state thereof has a higher priority, and controlling the connection unit to charge the battery packs according to the assigned priorities.

2. The battery charger of claim 1, further comprising:

a battery type detection unit for determining a pack type specified by at least one of a type of each of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion, the number of cells in said each of the battery packs, and a rated capacity of said each of the battery packs; and

a table storage unit for storing therein tables predefined according to the pack type to indicate a relationship between the state of each of the battery packs and the remaining capacity,

wherein the remaining capacity detection unit elects a table from the tables stored in the table storage unit based on the pack type determined by the battery type detection unit, and detects the remaining capacity of each of the battery packs by referring to the elected table.

3. The battery charger of claim 2, wherein the state detection unit detects a temperature of each of the battery packs as the state of the battery pack, the table indicates a relationship between a rate of temperature change in each of the battery packs and the remaining capacity during a charging, and the remaining capacity detection unit calculates the rate of temperature change based on the temperature detected by the state detection unit to thereby specify the remaining capacity based on the calculated rate of temperature change by referring to the table.

4. The battery charger of claim 2, wherein the state detection unit detects a voltage of each of the battery packs as the state of the battery pack, the table indicates a relationship between a voltage or a rate of voltage change in each of the battery packs and the remaining capacity of each of the battery pack during a charging, and the remaining capacity detection unit specifies the remaining capacity based on the voltage detected by the state detection unit or the rate of voltage change obtained from the voltage by referring to the table.

5. The battery charger of claim 2, wherein the state detection unit detects a voltage of each of the battery packs and a current flowing through the charging path as the state of the battery pack, and, if the pack type determined by the battery type detection unit is a specific type, the charging control unit charges the battery pack at a constant current until the voltage of the battery pack reaches a specified value, and then at a constant voltage after the voltage of the battery pack exceeds the specified value, and

wherein the table indicates relationships between the voltage, the current and the remaining capacity in case of charging the battery pack of the specific type initially at the constant current and then at the constant voltage, and the remaining capacity detection unit specifies the remaining capacity based on the voltage and the current detected by the state detection unit by referring to the table.

9. The battery charger of claim 1, further comprising:

a communications unit for receiving pack type data from the battery pack, the pack type data indicating a pack type of each of the battery packs specified by at least one of a type of each of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion, the number of cells in said each of the battery pack, and a rated capacity of said each of the battery pack,

wherein the battery type detection unit determines the pack type of each of the battery packs based on the pack type data received via the communications unit.

10. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein, if the remaining capacity detection unit determines that every one of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion are in an empty state, the charging control unit detects a rated capacity of each of the battery packs, and charges the battery packs such that one having a lower rated capacity is charged first.

11. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein the state detection unit detects a temperature of each of the battery packs, and, if there is a battery pack whose temperature detected by the state detection unit is higher than a first preset value or lower than a second preset value lower than the first preset value, the charging control unit suspends a charging of the battery pack, and first charges other battery pack whose temperature detected by the state detection unit falls within a range between the first and the second preset value.

6. A battery charger, comprising:

an attachment portion capable of being connected to a plurality of battery packs;

a connection unit for connecting one of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion to a charging path;

a state detection unit for detecting a state of each of the battery packs;

a remaining capacity detection unit for detecting a remaining capacity of each of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion based on the state of the battery pack detected by the state detection unit after each of the battery pack is discharged for a specified period of time; and

a charging control unit for assigning priorities to the battery packs such that one of the battery packs whose remaining capacity detected by the remaining capacity detection unit is closer to a fully charged state thereof has a higher priority, and controlling the connection unit to charge the battery packs according to the assigned priorities.

7. The battery charger of claim 6, further comprising:

a battery type detection unit for determining a pack type specified by at least one of a type of each of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion, the number of cells in said each of the battery packs, and a rated capacity of said each of the battery packs; and

a table storage unit for storing therein tables predefined according to the pack type to indicate a relationship between the state of each of the battery packs and the remaining capacity,

wherein the remaining capacity detection unit elects a table from the tables stored in the table storage unit based on the pack type determined by the battery type detection unit, and detects the remaining capacity of each of the battery packs by referring to the elected table.

8. The battery charger of claim 7, wherein the state detection unit detects a voltage of each of the battery packs as the state of the battery pack, the table indicates a relationship between a voltage or a rate of voltage change in each of the battery packs and the remaining capacity of each of the battery pack during a discharging, and the remaining capacity detection unit specifies the remaining capacity based on the voltage detected by the state detection unit or the rate of voltage change obtained from the voltage by referring to the table.