ELECTRONIC DEVICE, METHOD OF CHARGING ELECTRONIC DEVICE, PROGRAM, CHARGING CONTROL APPARATUS, AND CHARGING CONTROL METHOD

• US 20120126744A1
• Filed: 08/03/2010
• Published: 05/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kuroda, Yohei, Ishioka, Osamu, Yagi, Nobutaka, Amemiya, Ryoji, Waku, Kenji
• Granted Patent: US 8,963,504 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/107
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0071 with a programmable schedule
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

Provided is an electronic device including a secondary battery, a charging section which charges the secondary battery with power supplied from an external power supply section with a set charging current, a measurement section which measures an amount of charge accumulated in the secondary battery, a time information acquisition section which acquires time information, a storage section which stores charging history information indicating a time period in which a user performs charging, and a control section which has a chargeable time estimation section that estimates chargeable time based on the charging history information and the time information, and a charging current setting section that calculates a restricted charging current which enables the secondary battery to be charged up to a charging capacity within the chargeable time, based on the amount of charge acquired from the measurement section, and sets the restricted charging current in the charging section.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a secondary battery capable of being charged repeatedly;

a charging section which charges the secondary battery with power supplied from an external power supply section with a set charging current;

a measurement section which measures an amount of charge accumulated in the secondary battery;

a time information acquisition section which acquires time information;

a storage section which stores charging history information created from data of a time period in which a user performs charging;

a charging capability detection section which detects whether it is a state in which charging is possible from the power supply section, by transmitting a state notification signal that performs notification of detecting connection and disconnection to the power supply section; and

a control section which has a discharging history information creation section which, when receiving the state notification signal, causes the measurement section to measure an amount of charge, and creates and stores in the storage section discharging history information based on the amount of charge, a charging capacity setting section which sets a charging capacity to a restricted charging capacity, which is restricted, based on the discharging history information, a chargeable time estimation section that estimates chargeable time based on the charging history information and the time information, and a charging current setting section that calculates a restricted charging current which enables the secondary battery to be charged up to the restricted charging capacity within the chargeable time, based on the amount of charge acquired from the measurement section, and sets the restricted charging current in the charging section.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1,

wherein the control section further includes a charging history information creation section which causes the charging capability detection section to acquire charging capability information every predetermined time, and creates and stores in the storage section charging history information based on the charging capability information.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1,

wherein the control section further includes a charging mode determination section which determines, based on at least one of the amount of charge or the charging history information, which of the charging modes is to be used, a normal charging mode using a predetermined normal charging current, or a slow charging mode in which a restricted charging current is set based on the amount of charge and the chargeable time, and

wherein, in a case where the charging mode determination section determines to use the normal charging mode, the charging current setting section sets the normal charging current in the charging section, and in a case where the charging mode determination section determines to use the slow charging mode, the charging current setting section calculates the restricted charging current and sets the restricted charging current in the charging section.

4. The electronic device according to claim 3, further comprising:

a display section which displays the charging mode and an estimated time of charging termination, which is a time at which the chargeable time terminates; and

an input section which inputs operation information corresponding to an operation of a user to the control section,

wherein, in a case where the operation information is input, the charging mode setting section sets the charging mode in accordance with the operation information, regardless of the amount of charge and the charging history information.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1,

wherein,

based on the discharging history information, in a case of not corresponding to an everyday charging time period and differing from everyday discharge tendency, the charging capacity setting section sets the restricted charging capacity, which is restricted, to be increased.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1,

wherein, in a case of not corresponding to an everyday charging time period or in a case where the amount of charge is equal to or less than a threshold, the charging current setting section sets a predetermined normal charging current, which is larger than the restricted charging capacity, in the charging section.

7. A method of charging an electronic device including a secondary battery capable of being charged repeatedly, a charging section which charges the secondary battery with power supplied from an external power supply section with a set charging current, a measurement section which measures an amount of charge accumulated in the secondary battery, a time information acquisition section which acquires time information, a storage section which stores charging history information indicating a time period in which a user performs charging, and a charging capability detection section which detects whether it is a state in which charging is possible from the power supply section, by transmitting a state notification signal that performs notification of detecting connection and disconnection to the power supply section, the method comprising:

causing the measurement section to measure an amount of charge, and creating and storing in the storage section discharging history information based on the amount of charge, when the state notification signal is received;

setting a charging capacity to a restricted charging capacity, which is restricted, based on the discharging history information;

estimating chargeable time based on the charging history information and the time information;

calculating a restricted charging current which enables the secondary battery to be charged up to the restricted charging capacity within the chargeable time;

setting the restricted charging current in the charging section; and

charging, by the charging section, the secondary battery with the set restricted charging current.

8. A program for causing a computer to function as an electronic device which includes

a secondary battery capable of being charged repeatedly,

a charging section which charges the secondary battery with power supplied from an external power supply section with a set charging current,

a measurement section which measures an amount of charge accumulated in the secondary battery,

a time information acquisition section which acquires time information,

a storage section which stores charging history information created from data of a time period in which a user performs charging,

a charging capability detection section which detects whether it is a state in which charging is possible from the power supply section, by transmitting a state notification signal that performs notification of detecting connection and disconnection to the power supply section, and

a control section which has a discharging history information creation section which, when receiving the state notification signal, causes the measurement section to measure an amount of charge, and creates and stores in the storage section discharging history information based on the amount of charge, a charging capacity setting section which sets a charging capacity to a restricted charging capacity, which is restricted, based on the discharging history information, a chargeable time estimation section that estimates chargeable time based on the charging history information and the time information, and a charging current setting section that calculates a restricted charging current which enables the secondary battery to be charged up to the restricted charging capacity within the chargeable time, based on the amount of charge acquired from the measurement section, and sets the restricted charging current in the charging section.

9. A charging control apparatus comprising:

an information acquisition section which acquires charging history information and discharging history information of a secondary battery;

a charging time period determination section which determines a charging time period in which the secondary battery is charged based on the information acquired by the information acquisition section; and

a charging current setting section which calculates a restricted charging current with which charging is performed up to a charging capacity within a charging time period determined by the charging time period determination section, and sets power supplied from a power supply section in a charging section that charges the secondary battery, as a charging current with which the secondary battery is charged.

10. The charging control apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein the charging time period determination section determines the charging time period from a time period in which the secondary battery and the charging section are connected to each other, the time period being estimated based on the charging history information, and

wherein the charging current setting section sets, in the charging section, a restricted charging current which makes an amount of charge of the secondary battery to become the charging capacity within the charging time period.

11. The charging control apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires pieces of charging history information and pieces of discharging history information of a plurality of the secondary batteries,

wherein the charging time period determination section determines, based on the pieces of charging history information and the pieces of discharging history information of the plurality of secondary batteries, respective charging time periods of the secondary batteries, and

wherein the charging current setting section sets the restricted charging current that makes totals of the charging currents of the plurality of secondary batteries smooth.

12. The charging control apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising

a charging capacity setting section which estimates an amount of discharge up to when the secondary battery is charged next based on the discharging history information acquired by the information acquisition section, and sets the charging capacity to a restricted charging capacity, which is restricted, in accordance with the estimated amount of discharge.

13. The charging control apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein the information acquisition section further acquires schedule information on a user of an electronic device driven by the secondary battery.

14. The charging control apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein the charging time period determination section and the charging current setting section determines the charging time period and the charging current based on information on supply of power that the secondary battery is charged with.

15. The charging control apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein the information on supply of power includes information of a priority time period which is preferentially used for charging the secondary battery.

16. The charging control apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein the secondary battery drives an electric vehicle, and

wherein the information acquisition section further acquires driving history information of the electric vehicle.

17. A charging control method realized by causing arithmetic processing means of a charging control apparatus controlling charging of a secondary battery to execute predetermined procedures comprising:

acquiring charging history information and discharging history information of the secondary battery;

determining a charging time period in which the secondary battery is charged based on the information acquired in the information acquisition step; and

calculating a restricted charging current with which charging is performed up to a charging capacity within the determined charging time period, and setting power supplied from a power supply section in a charging section that charges the secondary battery, as a charging current with which the secondary battery is charged.

18. An electronic device comprising:

a secondary battery capable of being charged repeatedly;

a charging section which charges the secondary battery with power supplied from an external power supply section with a set charging current;

a storage section which stores discharging history information and charging history information; and

a control section which sets a charging capacity and a charging current based on the discharging history information and the charging history information.

19. The electronic device according to claim 18, further comprising

a time information acquisition section which acquires time information,

wherein the control section sets a charging capacity to a restricted charging capacity, which is restricted, based on the discharging history information, and estimates chargeable time based on the charging history information and the time information.

20. The electronic device according to claim 19, further comprising

a measurement section which measures an amount of charge accumulated in the secondary battery,

wherein the control section calculates a restricted charging current which enables the secondary battery to be charged up to the restricted charging capacity within the chargeable time, based on the amount of charge acquired from the measurement section, and sets the restricted charging current in the charging section.

21. The electronic device according to claim 19,

wherein the control section determines a charging mode based on the amount of charge acquired from the measurement section and the charging history information.

22. The electronic device according to claim 19,

wherein, in a case where, based on the discharging history information, an amount of discharge is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold, the control section increases the setting of the restricted charging capacity and makes it possible to perform charging up to a maximum charging capacity.