END-LOADED BATTERY CARRIAGE

• US 20100304188A1
• Filed: 05/29/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Larsen, Glen C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,391,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 429/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/213 adapted for cells having curved cross-section, e.g. round or elliptic H01M50/209, H01M50/216 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/548 on opposite sides of the cell
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/597 Protection against reversal of polarity
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A battery carriage is provided, including first and second dual-contact assemblies. The first dual contact assembly is disposed on a body portion of the battery carriage and the second dual contact assembly is disposed on a separable portion of the battery carriage. Each dual contact assembly includes a positive contact configured to contact a positive terminal of a battery and a negative contact configured to contact a negative terminal of the battery. The separable portion of the battery carriage is selectively moveable into and out of a coupled state with the body portion. When the separable portion is moved into the coupled state, the dual contact assemblies are held spaced apart to define a receptacle in which the dual contact assemblies hold opposing ends of the battery. Movement of the separable portion into the coupled state also establishes electrical conductivity between the positive contacts of each of the dual contact assemblies, and between the negative contacts of each of the dual contact assemblies.

Claims

1. A battery carriage comprising:

a first dual-contact assembly including a positive contact configured to contact a positive terminal of a battery and a negative contact configured to contact a negative terminal of the battery;

a second dual-contact assembly including a positive contact configured to contact the positive terminal of the battery and a negative contact configured to contact the negative terminal of the battery;

a body portion to which the first dual-contact assembly is affixed; and

a separable portion to which the second dual-contact assembly is affixed;

where the separable portion is selectively moveable into and out of a coupled state with the body portion; and

where, in the coupled state, the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly are held in a spaced relationship to define a receptacle in which the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly are operable to receive and hold opposing ends of the battery.

2. The battery carriage of claim 1, where the body portion is disposed on a battery-operated device.

3. The battery carriage of claim 2, where the separable portion is a battery chamber door of the battery-operated device.

4. The battery carriage of claim 3, where the battery chamber door of the battery-operated device is fully detachable from the body portion.

5. The battery carriage of claim 3, where the battery chamber door of the battery-operated device is moveably connected to the body portion.

6. The battery carriage of claim 2, where the first dual-contact assembly is electrically coupled to a positive circuit connection of the battery-operated device and electrically coupled to a negative circuit connection of the battery-operated device.

7. The battery carriage of claim 1, where moving the separable portion into the coupled state establishes electrical conductivity between at least one of:

(a) the positive contact of the first dual-contact assembly and the positive contact of the second dual-contact assembly; and

(b) the negative contact of the first dual-contact assembly and the negative contact of the second dual-contact assembly.

8. The battery carriage of claim 7, further comprising an electrical coupler for establishing the electrical conductivity between the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly, where the electrical coupler includes a first coupling portion electrically coupled to one of the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly and a second coupling portion electrically coupled to the other of the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly, and where the first coupling portion includes one or more spring-loaded connector pins, and where the second coupling portion includes one or more electrical contacts.

9. The battery carriage of claim 1, where the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly define a dual-contact assembly pair for receiving a first battery, the battery carriage further comprising one or more additional dual-contact assembly pairs for receiving one or more additional batteries.

10. A battery-operated device comprising:

a battery chamber defined within a housing which is configured to permit end-loading of a battery into the battery chamber;

a first dual-contact assembly disposed at a first opposing end of the housing and including a positive contact configured to contact a positive terminal of a battery and a negative contact configured to contact a negative terminal of the battery; and

a second dual-contact assembly disposed on a battery chamber door and including a positive contact configured to contact the positive terminal of the battery and a negative contact configured to contact the negative terminal of the battery;

where the battery chamber door is selectively moveable into and out of a coupled state with a second opposing end of the housing;

where, in the coupled state, the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly are held in a spaced relationship to receive and hold opposing ends of the battery; and

where moving the battery chamber door into the coupled state establishes electrical conductivity between the positive contact of the first dual-contact assembly and the positive contact of the second dual-contact assembly and establishes electrical conductivity between the negative contact of the first dual-contact assembly and the negative contact of the second dual-contact assembly.

11. The battery-operated device of claim 10, where the first dual-contact assembly is electrically coupled to a positive circuit connection at the battery-operated device and electrically coupled to a negative circuit connection at the battery-operated device.

12. The battery-operated device of claim 10, further comprising an electrical coupler for establishing electrical conductivity between the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly.

13. The battery-operated device of claim 12, where the electrical coupler includes a first coupling portion electrically coupled to one of the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly and a second coupling portion electrically coupled to the other of the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly.

14. The battery-operated device of claim 13, where the first coupling portion includes one or more spring-loaded connector pins and where the second coupling portion includes one or more electrical contacts.

15. The battery-operated device of claim 10, where the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly define a dual-contact assembly pair for receiving a first battery, the battery-operated device further comprising one or more additional dual-contact assembly pairs for receiving one or more additional batteries that are end-loaded into the battery chamber.

16. A battery carriage, comprising:

a battery chamber defined within a housing configured to permit longitudinal insertion of a plurality of batteries, such that, when installed into the battery chamber, the plurality of batteries define an end-to-end stack having a distal end located at a distal end of the housing and a proximal end located at a proximal end of the housing;

a dual-contact assembly at the distal end of the housing;

a dual-contact assembly disposed on a battery chamber door which is affixable to the proximal end of the housing; and

a spacer assembly disposed within the housing for each adjacent pair of the plurality of batteries, the spacer assembly separating that adjacent pair of the plurality of batteries and having a dual-contact assembly for a first battery of that adjacent pair and a dual-contact assembly for a second battery of that adjacent pair;

wherein the dual-contact assemblies and the one or more spacer assemblies are configured so that each of the plurality of batteries in the end-to-end stack is held in an orientation-neutral battery-length receptacle defined by a pair of the dual-contact assemblies, the orientation-neutral battery-length receptacles being electrically coupled together to produce a desired electrical architecture for the end-to-end stack regardless of how each of the plurality of batteries is inserted into the housing.

17. The battery carriage of claim 16, where the housing is disposed in a battery-operated device and where the dual-contact assembly at the distal end of the housing is electrically coupled to a positive circuit connection at the battery-operated device and electrically coupled to a negative circuit connection at the battery-operated device.

18. The battery carriage of claim 16, where the orientation-neutral battery-length receptacles are electrically coupled together to produce a series circuit.

19. The battery carriage of claim 16, where the orientation-neutral battery-length receptacles are electrically coupled together to produce a parallel circuit.

20. The battery carriage of claim 16, where the spacer assembly is movable between a first state, in which the spacer assembly separates an adjacent pair of batteries in an installed end-to-end stack, and a second state, in which the spacer assembly permits longitudinal passage of batteries through the housing and past the spacer assembly.