CHARGING APPARATUS AND CHARGING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20160172887A1
• Filed: 03/25/2015
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tatung Company, Tatung University
• Original Assignee: Tatung Company, Tatung University
• Inventors: Lin, Chang-Hua, Hung, Min-Hsuan
• Granted Patent: US 9,843,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007 Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0071 with a programmable schedule

Abstract

A charging apparatus that can perform a charging action based on an initial capacity of a battery and a charging method of the charging apparatus are provided. The charging apparatus estimates the initial capacity of the battery, calculates an amount of a charging current according to the initial capacity of the battery, and provides the calculated amount of the charging current corresponding to the initial capacity of the battery.

Claims

1. A charging apparatus comprising:

a detection unit detecting a voltage and a current of a battery;

a charging unit coupled to the battery; and

a control unit coupled to the detection unit and the charging unit, the control unit calculating a state of charge of the battery according to a detection result of the detection unit, calculating an amount of a charging current according to an initial capacity of the battery and a selected charging mode, and controlling the charging unit to provide the calculated amount of the charging current to the battery.

2. The charging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charging apparatus further has a plurality of charging modes, and the control unit further receives a mode selection command, calculates the amount of the charging current according to the initial capacity of the battery and one of the charging modes corresponding to the mode selection command, and controls the charging unit to provide the amount of the charging current corresponding to the one of the charging mode to the battery.

3. The charging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of the charging modes corresponds to different charging completion time frames, and the control unit further calculates and adjusts the amount of the charging current of the charging unit according to the initial capacity of the battery and one of the charging completion time frames corresponding to one of the charging modes, so as to completely charge the battery within the one of the charging completion time frames.

4. The charging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the charging modes comprises a plurality of charging stages, each of the charging stages corresponds to different amounts of the charging current, and the control unit further switches to the charging stages according to the state of charge of the battery, so as to adjust the amounts of the charging current of the battery.

5. The charging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the charging current corresponding to at least one of the charging modes is a constant current.

6. A charging method of a charging apparatus, comprising:

detecting a voltage and a current of a battery;

calculating a state of charge of the battery according to a detection result of the voltage and the current; and

calculating and controlling an amount of a charging current provided to the battery according to an initial capacity of the battery and a selected charging mode.

7. The charging method according to claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a mode selection command; and

selecting one of a plurality of charging modes of the battery according to the mode selection command, each of the charging modes of the battery having one corresponding way to calculate the amount of the charging current.

8. The charging method according to claim 7, wherein the selected charging mode has a corresponding charging completion time frame, and the step of calculating and controlling the amount of the charging current provided to the battery according to the initial capacity of the battery and the selected charging mode comprises:

calculating and adjusting the amount of the charging current according to the initial capacity of the battery and the charging completion time frame corresponding to the selected charging mode, so as to completely charge the battery within the charging completion time frame.

9. The charging method according to claim 7, wherein the selected charging mode comprises a plurality of charging stages, each of the charging stages corresponds to different amounts of the charging current, and the step of calculating and controlling the amounts of the charging current provided to the battery according to the state of charge of the battery comprises:

switching to the charging stages according to the state of charge of the battery, so as to adjust the amount of the charging current of the battery.

10. The charging method according to claim 7, wherein the charging current corresponding to the selected charging mode is a constant current.

11. The charging method according to claim 6, wherein a method of estimating the state of charge of the battery comprises an open-circuit voltage method, a Coulomb counting method, a neural algorithm, a fuzzy algorithm, a Kalman algorithm, and a genetic algorithm.