Battery charging system with battery type and polarity discrimination
First Claim
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1. A multiple battery charging system comprising:
- a battery receiving well adapted to receive a plurality of separate batteries capable of including a mixture of primary and secondary batteries having the same size and shape devoid of external physical and electrical characteristics indicative of battery type, the well having first and second electrical contacts that define a battery voltage across the plurality of batteries;
a transformer circuit that produces a transformer reference voltage and an output charging current for simultaneously charging the separate batteries;
a reference network that produces a plurality of reference network voltages in response to the transformer reference voltage;
a reverse polarity detector circuit that determines if the battery voltage is of correct polarity but less than a first predetermined one of the reference network voltages, thereby indicating at least one of the batteries was received in the battery receiving well with an incorrect electrical polarity;
a battery type discriminating circuit that determines if the battery voltage is greater than a second predetermined one of the reference network voltages, thereby indicating at least one of the batteries in the receiving well is not a rechargeable battery cell; and
a charging circuit coupled to the transformer circuit and to the batteries that operates in a non-charging mode if the reverse polarity detector circuit determines that at least one of the batteries was received in the battery receiving well with an incorrect polarity or if the battery type discriminating circuit determines that at least one of the batteries is not a rechargeable battery and otherwise operates in a charging mode for charging the batteries.
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Abstract
A battery charging system detects if multiple battery cells to be recharged include rechargeable, secondary batteries or non-rechargeable, primary batteries. If the system detects that any one of the cells is a primary battery, then the charging system halts the charging operation. If all of the cells are secondary batteries, but the polarity of any battery cell is incorrect, then the charging system halts the charging process.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A multiple battery charging system comprising:
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a battery receiving well adapted to receive a plurality of separate batteries capable of including a mixture of primary and secondary batteries having the same size and shape devoid of external physical and electrical characteristics indicative of battery type, the well having first and second electrical contacts that define a battery voltage across the plurality of batteries; a transformer circuit that produces a transformer reference voltage and an output charging current for simultaneously charging the separate batteries; a reference network that produces a plurality of reference network voltages in response to the transformer reference voltage; a reverse polarity detector circuit that determines if the battery voltage is of correct polarity but less than a first predetermined one of the reference network voltages, thereby indicating at least one of the batteries was received in the battery receiving well with an incorrect electrical polarity; a battery type discriminating circuit that determines if the battery voltage is greater than a second predetermined one of the reference network voltages, thereby indicating at least one of the batteries in the receiving well is not a rechargeable battery cell; and a charging circuit coupled to the transformer circuit and to the batteries that operates in a non-charging mode if the reverse polarity detector circuit determines that at least one of the batteries was received in the battery receiving well with an incorrect polarity or if the battery type discriminating circuit determines that at least one of the batteries is not a rechargeable battery and otherwise operates in a charging mode for charging the batteries. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A multiple battery charging system comprising:
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a battery receiving well adapted to receive a plurality of batteries each of the same size and shape devoid of external physical and electrical characteristics indicative of battery type, the well having first and second electrical contacts that define a battery voltage across the batteries; a transformer circuit that produces an output charging current and a primary reference voltage; a resistive network that produces a plurality of secondary reference voltages; a reverse polarity detector that determines if the battery voltage is of correct polarity but less than a first predetermined one of the secondary reference voltages, thereby indicating at least one of the batteries was received in the battery receiving well with an incorrect electrical polarity; a battery type discriminating circuit that determines if the battery voltage is greater than a second predetermined one of the secondary reference voltages, thereby indicating at least one of the batteries in the receiving well is not a rechargeable battery cell; and a charging circuit coupled to the transformer circuit and to the batteries that operates in a non-charging mode if the reverse polarity detector determines that at least one of the batteries was received in the battery receiving well with an incorrect polarity or if the battery type discriminating circuit determines that at least one of the batteries is not a rechargeable battery and otherwise operates in a charging mode for charging the batteries. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification