Battery charger with automatic voltage detection
DCFirst Claim
1. A battery charger comprising:
- a pair of battery charger terminals;
a measuring system for measuring the voltage of a battery connected across said battery charger terminals;
an automatic voltage detection system for automatically determining the nominal voltage of the battery connected across the battery charger terminals by measuring an open circuit voltage of the battery by way of said measuring system and determining the nominal voltage of the battery based upon a measured peak ripple voltage across the battery charger terminals in response to a test current when the open circuit voltage of the battery is less than a predetermined value; and
a charging system for automatically charging the battery as a function of the nominal voltage determined by said automatic voltage detection system.
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Abstract
A battery charger is disclosed that is configured to be connected to an external battery by way of external battery cables. In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, the battery charger is configured with automatic voltage detection which automatically determines the nominal voltage of the battery connected to its battery charger terminals and charges the battery as a function of the detected nominal voltage irrespective of the nominal voltage selected by a user. Various safeguards are built into the battery charger to avoid overcharging a battery. For battery chargers with user selectable nominal battery voltage charging modes, battery charger is configured to over-ride a user selected battery voltage mode if it detects that the battery connected to the battery charger terminals is different than the user selected charging mode.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A battery charger comprising:
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a pair of battery charger terminals; a measuring system for measuring the voltage of a battery connected across said battery charger terminals; an automatic voltage detection system for automatically determining the nominal voltage of the battery connected across the battery charger terminals by measuring an open circuit voltage of the battery by way of said measuring system and determining the nominal voltage of the battery based upon a measured peak ripple voltage across the battery charger terminals in response to a test current when the open circuit voltage of the battery is less than a predetermined value; and a charging system for automatically charging the battery as a function of the nominal voltage determined by said automatic voltage detection system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18)
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13. A method for charging a battery connected to a battery charger by way of a pair of battery cables, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) automatically measuring the open circuit voltage of a battery connected to the battery charger; (b) automatically determining the nominal battery voltage of the battery connected to the battery cables as a function of the open circuit voltage and if the open circuit voltage is less than a predetermined voltage, the nominal battery voltage is determined as a function of a measured peak ripple voltage across the battery in response to a test current; and (c) automatically charging the battery in accordance with the nominal battery voltage of the battery connected to the battery cables, as determined in step (b). - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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19. A battery charger comprising:
a pair of battery charger terminals; an automatic voltage detection system for automatically determining the nominal voltage of the battery connected across the battery charger terminals and automatically determining the nominal voltage of the battery connected across the battery charger terminals by measuring an open circuit voltage of the battery by determining the nominal voltage of the battery based upon the open circuit voltage of the battery when the open circuit voltage is greater than or equal to a predetermined value and when said open circuit voltage is less than said predetermined value, determining the nominal voltage of the battery as a function of a measured peak ripple voltage across the battery in response to a test current; and a charging system for automatically charging the battery as a function of the nominal voltage determined by said automatic voltage detection system. - View Dependent Claims (20)
Specification