Rechargeable battery module, battery-powered electronic device, and battery-charging method

• US 9,112,245 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2012
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quanta Computer
• Original Assignee: Quanta Computer
• Inventors: Yen, Wei-Ting
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunn, Drew A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhou, Zixuan
• Application Number:
  US13/662,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20130257350A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,023 Days
• Field of Search: 320/107, 320/150
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/443 in response to temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/486 for measuring temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007194 of the battery
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A rechargeable battery module includes a battery cell, a load detector, a temperature sensor, a power consumption classifier and a battery charging controller. The power consumption classifier classifies a power consumption of the battery cell based on the load detected by the load detector and the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor. The battery charging controller collects a series of classified results output from the power consumption classifier to control a charging rate of the battery cell accordingly.

Claims

1. A rechargeable battery module, comprising:

a battery cell;

a load detector, detecting a load;

a temperature sensor, sensing a temperature;

a power consumption classifier, classifying power consumption based on the load detected by the load detector and the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor; and

a battery charging controller, collecting a series of classified results output from the power consumption classifier to control a charging rate of the battery cell accordingly,

wherein;

the battery charging controller controls the charging rate based on a section of historical data of the series of classified results;

the battery charging controller sets the charging rate to be lower than a normal charging rate when a majority of the section of historical data of the series of classified results shows a temperature condition lower than a temperature threshold and a load condition lower than a load threshold; and

wherein the battery charging controller comprises;

(2N+1) latches connected in series and temporarily stored with the last (2N+1) classified results, where N is an integer; and

a logic circuit coupled to the (2N+1) latches, which observing a major classified power consumption status for setting the charging rate of the battery cell, wherein the major classified power consumption status is in the majority between the (2N+1) classified results except for the earliest and the most recent classified results between the (2N+1) classified results.

2. The rechargeable battery module as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power consumption classifier comprises:

a load classifying unit coupled to the load detector, wherein the load classifying unit outputs a load flag to show whether a high load or a low load condition has been satisfied by the detected load;

a temperature classifying unit coupled to the temperature sensor, wherein the temperature classifying unit outputs a temperature flag showing whether a high temperature or a low temperature condition has been satisfied by the sensed temperature;

a logic circuit, generating a control signal based on the load flag and the temperature flag, wherein the control signal is at a first voltage level when the battery cell is in the low load condition and in the low temperature condition, otherwise, the control signal is at a second voltage level; and

a voltage dividing circuit having a control transistor, wherein the voltage dividing circuit couples a voltage source to a ground terminal through a first resistance component and a second resistance component and, depending on the control signal, the control transistor is switched to change a resistance of the first or the second resistance components such that an output terminal of the voltage dividing circuit shows whether the battery cell is in the low load and the low temperature conditions.

3. The rechargeable battery module as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a voltage regulator which converts a voltage signal output from the battery cell for implementation of the voltage source.

4. The rechargeable battery module as claimed in claim 1, wherein the battery cell is implemented based on Lithium battery technology.

5. A battery-powered electronic device, comprising:

a rechargeable battery module as claimed in claim 1, and

a device body,

wherein the rechargeable battery module is assembled to the device body and the device body is coupled to a power source via an adaptor and a power line to charge the rechargeable battery module.

6. A battery-charging method, comprising:

detecting a load at a battery cell;

sensing a temperature;

classifying power consumption based on the detected load and the sensed temperature;

collecting a series of classified results to control a charging rate of the battery cell accordingly;

controlling the charging rate of the battery cell based on a section of historical data of the series of classified results, wherein the controlling operation further comprises;

using (2N+1) latches connected in series to temporarily store the last (2N+1) classified results, where N is an integer; and

using a logic circuit coupled to the (2N+1) latches to observe a major classified power consumption status for setting the charging rate of the battery cell, wherein the major classified power consumption status is in the majority between the (2N+1) classified results except for the earliest and the most recent classified results between the (2N+1) classified results; and

setting the charging rate to be lower than a normal charging rate when a majority of the section of historical data of the series of classified results shows a temperature condition lower than a temperature threshold and a load condition lower than a load threshold.

7. The battery-charging method as claimed in claim 6, further monitoring the load and the temperature for a predetermined time period when it is determined that an amount of the classified results that have been collected is less than a predetermined amount, and, setting the charging rate to be lower than the normal charging rate when no classified result is collected during the predetermined time period.

8. The battery-charging method as claimed in claim 6, further detecting power consumption of a device body when the load at the battery cell is heavier than a load threshold or/and the sensed temperature is higher than a temperature threshold, and, further checking whether the battery cell has been removed from the device body when the detected power consumption of the device body is lower than a power consumption threshold, and, further clearing the classified results when it is determined that the battery cell has been disassembled from the device body, and, repeating the steps of detecting the load at the battery cell and sensing the temperature again when it is determined that the battery cell is still assembled to the device body.