INTELLIGENT CHARGER WITH DIAGNOSTIC FUNCTION AND CHARGING METHOD

• US 20180219393A1
• Filed: 12/28/2015
• Published: 08/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou Hengyuan Electrical Appliances CO.,LTD
• Original Assignee: China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou Hengyuan Electrical Appliances CO.,LTD
• Inventors: ZHOU, Gongbo, WANG, Houlian, ZHU, Zhencai, LI, Zhixiang, LI, Wei, CAO, Guohua
• Granted Patent: US 10,205,329 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/387 Determining ampere-hour charge capacity or SoC
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/392 Determining battery ageing or deterioration, e.g. state of health
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0029 with safety or protection devices or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0049 Detection of fully charged condition

Abstract

An intelligent charger with a diagnostic function and a charging method. The intelligent charger includes a control module, a diagnosis module, a charging module, a multi-path switch and a detection module. The control module is sequentially connected to the diagnosis module, the charging module and the multi-path switch; and the detection module is sequentially connected to an external connection terminal of a battery, the multi-path switch and the fault diagnosis module. The charging method includes a charging mode and a diagnosis mode; the diagnosis mode includes a two part function, namely fault diagnosis and lifetime detection; the fault diagnosis is detecting a fault problem which can occur in the battery and providing a prompt; and the lifetime detection is detecting the current capacity of a battery, and determining current battery life through the ratio of current capacity to rated capacity.

Claims

1. An intelligent charger with a diagnostic function, comprising:

a control module, a diagnosis module, a charging module, a multi-path switch, and a detection module;

wherein, the control module is sequentially connected to the diagnosis module, the charging module, and the multi-path switch; and

the detection module is sequentially connected to an external connection terminal of a battery, the multi-path switch and the fault diagnosis module;

the diagnosis module comprises a fault identification unit and a capacity measurement unit output ends of the fault identification unit and the capacity measurement unit are separately connected to the input end of the microcontroller of the control module; and

an input end of the fault identification unit is connected to the detection module, and an input end of the capacity measurement unit is connected to the multi-path switch;

wherein, the fault identification unit stores a current-voltage curve of charging and discharging under various fault conditions of the battery.

2-5. -5. (canceled)

6. A charging method of an intelligent charger with a diagnostic function, wherein the intelligent charger comprises a control module, a diagnosis module, a charging module, a multi-path switch, and a detection module;

wherein the control module is sequentially connected to the diagnosis module, the charging module, and the multi-path switch; and

the detection module is sequentially connected to an external connection terminal of a battery, the multi-path switch and the fault diagnosis module;

the charging method comprising two modes;

a charging mode and a diagnosis mode;

a charging function of the charging mode is implemented through charging under conversion of a constant current to a constant voltage like an ordinary charger, or through a stage-wise charging for different power batteries;

the diagnosis mode comprises two functions, namely fault diagnosis and lifetime detection, wherein the fault diagnosis is detecting a fault problem occurring in the battery and providing a prompt; and

the lifetime detection is detecting a current capacity of the battery, and determining a current battery life through a ratio of the current capacity to a rated capacity, wherein

the charging mode or the diagnosis mode is chosen with a button, and if the charging mode is chosen, charging steps are as follows;

A1;

controlling, by a microcontroller, connection of a first pin and a second pin, and connection of a third pin and a fourth pin of a multi-path switch; and

a charging unit being connected to an external battery pack to implement charging;

A2;

detecting, by a current sensor, the magnitude of a current; and

proceeding to the step A1 if the current is greater than 0.1 C, or to a next step if the current is less than 0.1 C;

A3;

controlling, by the microcontroller, disconnection of the first pin and the second pin, and disconnection of the third pin and the fourth pin of the multi-path switch, such that the charging unit is disconnected from the battery pack; and

A4;

displaying, by an LCD, completion of the charging;

or

if the diagnosis mode is chosen, diagnosis steps are as follows;

B1;

controlling, by a microcontroller, connection of the first pin and the second pin, and connection of the third pin and the fourth pin of a multi-path switch; and

a charging unit being connected to an external battery pack to implement charging;

B2;

detecting, by a current sensor, the magnitude of a current; and

proceeding to step B1 if the current is greater than 0.1 C, or to a next step if the current is less than 0.1 C;

B3;

controlling, by the microcontroller, connection of a fifth pin and the second pin, and connection of a sixth pin and the fourth pin of the multi-path switch; and

the capacity measurement unit being connected to the external battery pack to implement discharging;

B4;

discharging, by the capacity measurement unit, the battery at a constant current; and

starting, by a control module, recording of the time duration of the discharging;

B5;

sending, by the detection module, detected current and voltage data to a fault identification unit in which a charging/discharging curve of the battery with various types of faults is set; and

comparing, by the fault identification unit, the received data with the internally set fault curve, to identify and determine a battery fault type in a discharge status;

B6;

detecting, by a voltage sensor, the magnitude of a voltage; and

proceeding to the step B3 when a voltage value is greater than a discharge cut-off voltage, or to the step B7 when a voltage value is equal to a discharge cut-off voltage;

B7;

dividing a capacity measured by the capacity measurement unit by a rated capacity, to obtain battery life, and displaying the data on an LCD;

B8;

controlling, by the microcontroller, disconnection of the fifth pin and the second pin, and disconnection of the sixth pin and the fourth pin of the multi-path switch, that is, disconnecting a discharge loop; and

controlling connection of the first pin and the second pin, and connection of the third pin and the fourth pin of the multi-path switch, to connect a charging loop;

B9;

measuring, by the detection module, voltage and current data, and sending the measured data to the fault identification unit;

comparing, by the fault identification unit, the received data with the internally set fault curve again, to identify and determine a battery fault type in a charging status;

synthetically determining the battery fault types in combination with the step B5, and forwarding the determined battery fault types to the microcontroller;

B10;

detecting, by the current sensor, the magnitude of the current; and

proceeding to the step B8 if the current is greater than 0.1 C, or to a next step if the current is less than 0.1 C; and

B11;

displaying, by the LCD, full charging of the battery.