Battery Charger and method for simultaneously charging multiple batteries from a single power supply
First Claim
1. A battery charger having multiple ports for receiving and charging a plurality of batteries, comprising:
- a power source for supplying charging current to the batteries; and
a control circuit for controlling the application of charging current to the batteries and terminating the application of charging current to a battery whenever the total period of time charging current has been applied to the battery exceeds a predetermined limit, and including a clock circuit for separately monitoring the cumulative period of time each of the batteries has been receiving charging current from said power source and means for adjusting the rate at which said clock circuit is incremented based upon the number of batteries being charged by the battery charger.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A battery charger for simultaneously charging a plurality of batteries from a single power source includes a microcontroller-based circuit that is programmed to multiplex full charging current sequentially to each battery in the charger. Charge termination in the preferred embodiment is determined by monitoring total charge time and by detecting a predetermined drop in battery voltage--i.e., "minus ΔV". The microcontroller is programmed to individually track the actual charge time of each battery in the charger and to adjust the clock rate of each battery accordingly when multiple batteries are charged at the same time. In addition, the minus ΔV charge termination criteria is temporarily disabled for any battery in the charging process when one or more batteries are inserted into the charger to prevent erroneous detection of a full charge condition.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A battery charger having multiple ports for receiving and charging a plurality of batteries, comprising:
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a power source for supplying charging current to the batteries; and a control circuit for controlling the application of charging current to the batteries and terminating the application of charging current to a battery whenever the total period of time charging current has been applied to the battery exceeds a predetermined limit, and including a clock circuit for separately monitoring the cumulative period of time each of the batteries has been receiving charging current from said power source and means for adjusting the rate at which said clock circuit is incremented based upon the number of batteries being charged by the battery charger. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A battery charger having a plurality of ports for receiving and charging one or more up to said plurality of batteries,
a power source for supplying charging current to the batteries; - and
a control circuit for controlling the application of charging current to the one or more batteries in the charger by monitoring the voltage of each of the batteries while the batteries are being charged, and including first termination means for terminating the application of charging current to a battery whenever the voltage of the battery changes in a predetermined manner, and disabling means for temporarily disabling said first termination means whenever an additional battery is initially inserted into the battery charger. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. In a battery charger having a plurality of ports for receiving and charging one or more up to said plurality of batteries from a source of charging current;
- the method of controlling the application of charging current to the one or more batteries in the charger by sequentially and repetitively supplying the charging current to each of the batteries in succession such that each battery is cyclically charged for predetermined periods of time at spaced time intervals, and further including the steps of monitoring the cumulative period of time each of the batteries has been receiving charging current and terminating the application of charging current to a battery whenever the cumulative period of time charging current has been applied to the battery exceeds a predetermined limit.
- View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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13. In a battery charger having multiple ports for receiving and charging a plurality of batteries from a source of charging current;
- the method of controlling the application of charging current to the batteries including the steps of;
separately monitoring the cumulative period of time charging current has been applied to each of the batteries; terminating the application of charging current to a battery whenever the cumulative period of time charging current has been applied to the battery exceeds a predetermined limit; and adjusting the rate at which cumulative charge time for each battery is accumulated based upon the number of batteries being charged by the battery charger.
- the method of controlling the application of charging current to the batteries including the steps of;
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15. In a battery charger having multiple ports for receiving and charging a plurality of batteries from a source of charging current;
- the method of controlling the application of charging current to the batteries including the steps of;
monitoring the voltage of each of the batteries while the batteries are being charged; terminating the application of charging current to a battery whenever the voltage of the battery changes in a predetermined manner; and skipping said last-mentioned termination step whenever an additional battery is initially inserted into the battery charger.
- the method of controlling the application of charging current to the batteries including the steps of;
Specification