Hand portable battery charger
First Claim
1. An apparatus for charging a battery, an alternator connected to said battery, an engine to drive said alternator for producing a charging current to charge said battery, said engine having a throttle, a motor connected to a motor control circuit provided to position said throttle, said apparatus having a voltage regulator for controlling the output of said alternator, said apparatus comprising:
- automatic governor control means operatively associated with said motor control circuit for producing a set point signal that varies in relation to the charging current and is inputed into said motor control circuit that causes said motor to automatically control said throttle to set the governed speed according to said charging current; and
load control means for controlling the output of said alternator to prevent said engine from stalling, said load control means being operatively associated with said voltage regulator and responsive to both a speed signal representative of the rotational speed of said engine, and a load signal proportional to said charging current, said load control means causing said voltage regulator to reduce the output of said alternator when the difference between said speed signal and said load signal is indicative of a sudden increase in load or a sudden decrease in the rotational speed of the engine or a combination thereof.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for charging a battery using an alternator driven by an engine and a voltage regulator controlling the output of the alternator comprising a control conduit that automatically controls the engine speed from idle on up to that of maximum horsepower at full throttle while simultaneously controlling the charging current to that value which minimizes charging time and maximizes battery life. The apparatus includes a load control circuit that unloads the alternator in response to a sudden increase in the load on the engine or sudden decrease in the engine speed thereby reducing the load on the engine to prevent the engine from stalling. The apparatus also includes a temperature control conduit that decreases the charging current to a predetermined value in response to the battery temperature exceeding a predetermined value indicating that the battery is almost fully charged thereby preventing gassing, and a current rate of change circuit that terminates the charging of the battery in response to the rate of the decreasing current suddenly increasing or decreasing indicating an abnormal charging condition.
51 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An apparatus for charging a battery, an alternator connected to said battery, an engine to drive said alternator for producing a charging current to charge said battery, said engine having a throttle, a motor connected to a motor control circuit provided to position said throttle, said apparatus having a voltage regulator for controlling the output of said alternator, said apparatus comprising:
automatic governor control means operatively associated with said motor control circuit for producing a set point signal that varies in relation to the charging current and is inputed into said motor control circuit that causes said motor to automatically control said throttle to set the governed speed according to said charging current; and
load control means for controlling the output of said alternator to prevent said engine from stalling, said load control means being operatively associated with said voltage regulator and responsive to both a speed signal representative of the rotational speed of said engine, and a load signal proportional to said charging current, said load control means causing said voltage regulator to reduce the output of said alternator when the difference between said speed signal and said load signal is indicative of a sudden increase in load or a sudden decrease in the rotational speed of the engine or a combination thereof.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
Specification