Battery pack including internal capacity monitor for monitoring groups of battery cells
First Claim
1. A battery pack connected to a power source circuit and to external equipment which may also be connected to said power source circuit, wherein said power source circuit and said external equipment may be switched on and off,said battery pack comprises a secondary battery which may be charged and discharged and a control circuit for controlling the charging and discharging of said secondary battery,said control circuit comprises;
- means for detecting the status of the secondary battery,means for transmitting information based on the status of the secondary battery,means for detecting the status of said power source circuit and said external equipment, andmeans for controlling said charging and discharging of said secondary battery in response to the detected status of said power source circuit and said external equipment.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A battery pack (1) is connected to an external equipment (9) and to a power source circuit (10) designed to supply the power to the external equipment (9). The communication of the information is made between a micro-computer (11) in the battery pack (1) and the external equipment (9) via a terminal (8). At least the information indicating the present residual capacity of a battery main unit (4) is transmitted by such communication from the micro-computer (11) to the external equipment (9). The residual capacity is found by the calculations performed by the micro-computer (11) on the current, voltage, internal resistance and the temperature of the battery main unit (4). In this manner, the residual capacity may be accurately found on the side of the external equipment (9).
79 Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A battery pack connected to a power source circuit and to external equipment which may also be connected to said power source circuit, wherein said power source circuit and said external equipment may be switched on and off,
said battery pack comprises a secondary battery which may be charged and discharged and a control circuit for controlling the charging and discharging of said secondary battery, said control circuit comprises; -
means for detecting the status of the secondary battery, means for transmitting information based on the status of the secondary battery, means for detecting the status of said power source circuit and said external equipment, and means for controlling said charging and discharging of said secondary battery in response to the detected status of said power source circuit and said external equipment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A battery pack with monitoring system comprising:
-
a battery pack comprising a secondary battery which may be charged and discharged and which is made up of a plurality of cells wherein said cells are divided into at least two groups with the groups being connected in series to each other, means for connecting said battery pack to a power source circuit and to external equipment to be powered by said battery pack, and a control circuit for controlling the charging and discharging of said secondary battery; wherein said control circuit monitors each group of cells within the battery pack to determine the capacity of said battery pack.
-
-
17. A method of monitoring a battery pack which can be connected to a power source circuit and to external equipment which may also be connected directly to said power source circuit comprising;
-
providing a secondary battery which may be charged and discharged and a control circuit for controlling the charging and discharging of said secondary battery, detecting the status of said power source circuit and said external equipment, and controlling said charging and discharging of said secondary battery in response to the detected status of said power source circuit and said external equipment.
-
-
18. A method of monitoring a battery pack comprising;
-
providing a secondary battery which may be charged and discharged and which is made up of a plurality of cells which are divided into at least two groups wherein the groups are connected in series to each other, and providing a control circuit for controlling the charging and discharging of said secondary battery, wherein said control circuit monitors each group of cells within the battery pack.
-
Specification