Battery charger and a process for automatic adjusting operation of a battery charger
First Claim
1. A process for automatically adjusting a battery charger according to an accumulator battery being charged, comprising the steps of:
- supplying a charging current to said battery;
sensing a terminal voltage of said battery to generate a sense signal;
amplifying said sense signal by an amplification factor to generate a control signal;
checking time behavior of said control signal and generating a check-result signal as soon as a predetermined criterion is fulfilled by said time behavior of said control signal;
controlling said charging current as a function of said check-result signal; and
automatically adjusting said amplification factor as a function of said sense signal so as to set said control signal being checked within a predetermined range of magnitude.
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Abstract
The charging voltage UL of the battery being charged is sensed and amplified by an amplification factor. The amplification factor is determined by the sensed charging voltage. This provides automatic scaling of the charging voltage. The amplification factor K can be repetitively or continuously adjusted during battery charging. The time behavior of the input signal is monitored. The monitoring unit determines whether the time behavior of the input signal fulfills predetermined or given criteria. When a criterion is met, a check-result signal is generated, which controls charging, for example, by stopping charging when the time behavior indicates charging is completed. Time behavior is monitored by monitoring a second order time derivative of the input signal. The monitoring unit performs optimally within a certain magnitude range. Therefore, the amplification factor is adjusted to set the input signal at a magnitude within that range.
23 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A process for automatically adjusting a battery charger according to an accumulator battery being charged, comprising the steps of:
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supplying a charging current to said battery; sensing a terminal voltage of said battery to generate a sense signal; amplifying said sense signal by an amplification factor to generate a control signal; checking time behavior of said control signal and generating a check-result signal as soon as a predetermined criterion is fulfilled by said time behavior of said control signal; controlling said charging current as a function of said check-result signal; and automatically adjusting said amplification factor as a function of said sense signal so as to set said control signal being checked within a predetermined range of magnitude. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A device for charging an accumulator battery, comprising:
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an AC to DC converter, an input of said converter being operationally connected to an AC input of said device, an output of said converter being operationally connected to charging tabs for the battery to be charged; an automatically controlled amplification unit, the input thereof being operationally connected to said output of said converter, said unit generating at its output a signal resulting from amplification of a signal at its input multiplied by an automatically controlled amplification factor and having a magnitude within a predetermined magnitude range, a control input of said amplification unit controlling said amplification factor being as well operationally connected to said output of said converter, the output b said amplification unit being operationally connected to an input of a monitoring unit monitoring timer behavior of a signal at its input, the output of said monitoring unit being operational connected to a charge current controlling unit interconnected between said input of said converter and one of said charging tabs. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification