Charging apparatus

• US 7,855,533 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2006
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Morita, Kazuki, Odajima, Yoshimitu, Takemoto, Junji
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso; Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Berhanu; Samuel
• Application Number:
  US11/909,751
• Publication Number:
  US 20090009145A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,663 Days
• Field of Search: 320/166, 320/167
• US Class Current: 320/166
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007194 of the battery

Abstract

A charging apparatus suppresses rise in temperature of an internal chip of a charging element. The output signal obtained from a current detecting portion for detecting charging current to a capacitor and from a voltage detecting portion for detecting a difference between a voltage (VC) of capacitor and a voltage corresponding to DC power supply is integrated by integrator. The charging is carried out by controlling power of a charging element to a predetermined value using an output signal of the integrator and at a time near the completion of the charging, the charging element is controlled by constant-voltage-control-circuit so as to charge the capacitor up to a predetermined voltage. Consequently, the maximum temperature inside the charging element is reduced, thereby providing a charging apparatus with high reliability.

Claims

1. A charging apparatus having a charging element connected between a DC power supply and a capacitor for charging the capacitor with the DC power supply through the charging element, comprising:

a constant-voltage-control-circuit for controlling a charging voltage to the capacitor to be constant;

a current detecting portion for detecting a charging current in a charging path from the DC power supply to the capacitor;

a voltage detecting portion for detecting a difference between a voltage of the capacitor and a voltage corresponding to the DC power supply; and

an integrator for integrating output signals of the current detecting portion and the voltage detecting portion, wherein

the capacitor is charged by controlling power of the charging element to a predetermined value using an output signal of the integrator, and

the capacitor is charged up to a predetermined voltage with the charging element controlled by the constant-voltage-control-circuit.

2. The charging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a power switching portion for controlling a power of the charging element to be reduced when the output signal of the voltage detecting portion is not higher than the predetermined value.

4. The charging apparatus according to claim 1 wherein an output voltage measured at the voltage detecting portion is a voltage of a circuit portion including all circuit components in which the charging current flows between the DC power supply and the capacitor.

5. The charging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of switches for transmitting a charge control signal for controlling the charging element to each of the charging elements, the plurality of the switches being constructed by connecting a plurality of the charging elements in parallel to each other, wherein

the switches are switched in sequence.

8. The charging apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the capacitor is an electric double-layer capacitor.

3. A charging apparatus having a charging element connected in series between a DC power supply and a capacitor for charging the capacitor with the DC power supply through the charging element, comprising:

a constant-voltage-control-circuit for controlling a charging voltage to the capacitor to be constant;

a current detecting portion for detecting a charging current in a charging path from the DC power supply to the capacitor;

a current limiting portion for controlling a charging current to the capacitor;

a voltage detecting portion for detecting a difference between a voltage of the capacitor and a voltage corresponding to the DC power supply; and

an integrator for integrating output signals of the current detecting portion and the voltage detecting portion, wherein

the capacitor is charged by controlling power of the charging element to a predetermined value using an output signal of the integrator, and

the current limiting portion charges the capacitor to a predetermined voltage by limiting the maximum value of the charging current, and the constant-voltage-control-circuit charges the capacitor up to a predetermined voltage by controlling the charging element.

9. The charging apparatus according to claim 3 wherein an output voltage measured at the voltage detecting portion is a voltage of a circuit portion including all circuit components in which the charging current flows between the DC power supply and the capacitor.

10. The charging apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a plurality of switches for transmitting a charge control signal for controlling the charging element to each of the charging elements, the plurality of the switches being constructed by connecting a plurality of the charging elements in parallel to each other, wherein

the switches are switched in sequence.

11. The charging apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the capacitor is an electric double-layer capacitor.

6. A charging apparatus having a structure in which a plurality of charging elements are connected in parallel between a DC power supply and a capacitor to charge the capacitor by the DC power supply through the plurality of charging elements, comprising:

a current detecting portion for detecting a charging current in a charging path from the DC power supply to the capacitor;

a constant-current-control-circuit for controlling the charging current to the capacitor to be constant;

a constant-voltage-control-circuit for controlling a charging voltage to the capacitor;

a capacitor voltage detecting portion for detecting a voltage of the capacitor;

a current switching portion for switching a current of the constant-current-control-circuit to a plurality of currents; and

a plurality of switches for transmitting a charge control signal for controlling each of the plurality of charging elements, wherein

when the plurality of charging elements are controlled by an output signal of the constant-current-control-circuit, the switches are switched in sequence and the plurality of charging currents are switched based on an output of the capacitor voltage detecting portion to charge the capacitor such that an average power of the charging element during a charging process is constant, and the capacitor is charged up to a predetermined voltage by controlling the plurality of charging elements using the constant-voltage-control-circuit.

7. The charging apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the capacitor voltage detecting portion, the current switching portion and a switch driving portion for driving the plurality of the switches for transmitting a charge control signal to each of the plurality of charging elements are constructed of a microcomputer.

12. The charging apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the capacitor is an electric double-layer capacitor.