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Apparatus and method of rapidly charging nickel-cadmium batteries

  • US 5,541,496 A
  • Filed: 02/14/1994
  • Issued: 07/30/1996
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/16/1992
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for rapidly charging nickel-cadmium batteries comprising:

  • a current feeding means which feeds a charging current to a cell that needs be charged;

    a temperature measuring means which measures the temperature of said cell;

    a sampling means which controls said temperature measuring means to measure the temperature of said cell and stores the data thereof or outputs the data thereof to an arithmetic means;

    an arithmetic means which performs calculations on the temperature data of said cell obtained by said sampling means and outputs a control signal that represents a period for discontinuing the charging operation;

    a switching means which discontinues the supply of current to the cell from the current feeding means in response to said output from said arithmetic means; and

    a control means for controlling each of said means;

    wherein said current feeding means in said charging apparatus feeds a current of at least 2 C to said cell during said charging operation; and

    said arithmetic means has a first arithmetic function that calculates the rate of temperature increase of said cell from the temperature data of said cell obtained by said sampling means through the temperature measuring means, a second arithmetic function which calculates a rate of change by comparing the rate of temperature increase of said cell in a first period with the rate of temperature increase of said cell in a second period, and a third function which compares the rate of temperature increase of said cell in said second period with the rate of temperature increase of said cell in said first period in order to judge whether the rate of temperature increase of said cell in said second period is more than two times as great as the rate of temperature increase of said cell in said first period, and outputs a signal for discontinuing the supply of a charging current to said cell based on the result of said judgement.

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