APPARATUS FOR CHARGING BATTERY THROUGH PROGRAMMABLE POWER ADAPTER

• US 20140239882A1
• Filed: 12/03/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Fairchild Corporation (ON Semiconductor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: System General Corporation (ON Semiconductor Corporation)
• Inventors: YANG, Ta-Yung
• Application Number:
  US14/094,909
• Publication Number:
  US 20140239882A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/107
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4257 Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0071 with a programmable schedule
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

An apparatus for charging a battery is provided and includes a power adaptor and a controller. The power adaptor has a communication interface coupled to a cable of the power adapter for receiving command-data and generates a DC voltage and a DC current according to the command-data. The controller is coupled to the battery for detecting a battery voltage of the battery and generates the command-data according to the battery voltage. The DC voltage and the DC current are coupled to the cable and programmable according to the command-data. The command-data is coupled the cable through a communication circuit of the controller.

Claims

1. An apparatus for charging a battery comprising:

a power adaptor having a communication interface coupled to a cable of the power adapter for receiving command-data, and generating a DC voltage and a DC current in accordance with the command-data; and

a controller, coupled to the battery for detecting a battery voltage of the battery, generating the command-data in accordance with the battery voltage;

wherein the DC voltage and the DC current generated by the power adaptor are coupled to the cable, and the DC voltage and the DC current are programmable in accordance with the command-data; and

wherein the command-data generated by the controller is coupled the cable through a communication circuit of the controller.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a switch coupled to the cable for receiving the DC voltage and the DC current through a connector.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the controller is coupled to the connector for detecting a connector voltage and controls an on/off state of the switch in response to the connector voltage.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller has a communication port coupled to a host CPU.

5. The method and apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power adapter is coupled to an AC power source for generating the DC voltage.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller comprises an analog-to-digital converter coupled to the battery and the connector for detecting the

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a microcontroller with a program memory and a data memory.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power adapter comprises an embedded microcontroller with the program memory and the data memory.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power adapter comprises:

a switching controller generating a switching signal coupled to switch a transformer for generating the DC voltage in accordance with a feedback signal; and

a switching control circuit generating the feedback signal in response to the DC voltage and a programmable voltage reference;

wherein the programmable voltage reference is determined by the command-data.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the switching control circuit comprises a first digital-to-analog converter for generating the programmable voltage reference.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the switching controller generates the switching signal coupled to switch the transformer for further generating the DC current in accordance with the feedback signal, the switching control circuit generates the feedback signal further in response to the DC current and a programmable current reference, and the programmable current reference is determined by the command-data.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the switching control circuit comprises a second digital-to-analog converter for generating the programmable current reference.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the switching control circuit

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the switching control circuit comprises an analog-to-digital converter for detecting the DC current.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the power adapter comprises a resistor for detecting the DC current.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the switching control circuit comprising an amplifier coupled to the resistor for detecting the DC current.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the switch will be turned off if the voltage drop of the cable and the connector is high.