JPH05284665A - Battery power supply and battery driven load unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a battery power supply, employing a temperature sensor in making decision of the end of charging operation, additionally with a function for outputting information of the electric energy of a battery without increasing the number of terminals and to provide a battery driven load unit additionally with a function for notifying the information of the electric energy of the battery. CONSTITUTION:The battery power supply 38 comprises an electric energy information generating section 39 for calculating electric energy to be discharged based on the discharge current from a secondary battery 2 and delivering information of residual electric energy or working electric energy to an information output terminal 5 through which charge finish information and electric energy information is also outputted. The battery driven load unit 42 comprises a battery deciding section comprising a decision/decoder circuit 45, an electric energy indicating/processing sect-ion, and an electric energy decrease alarming/processing section, Based on decision results fed from the battery deciding section, residual electric energy or working electric energy is indicated based on electric energy information at an information input terminal 44 when the battery power supply 38 is loaded, whereas voltage drop at a power receiving terminal 43P is detected when the battery power supply having no information output terminal is loaded and an alarm is outputted if the residual electric energy is low.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery power supply device having a secondary battery structure and a battery-driven load device such as a camera-integrated VTR using the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a camera integrated type V such as an 8 mm VTR
The power source of a battery-driven load device such as a TR or a portable personal computer is formed by a battery power source device having a rechargeable (adapter type) secondary battery configuration. This battery power supply device has an advantage that it can be repeatedly used by charging.

The secondary battery of this power supply device is a nickel-cadmium battery (Ni-Cd) with stable battery characteristics.
However, in recent years, nickel-hydrogen batteries (Ni-MH batteries), which have the same volume as Ni-Cd batteries and a larger output capacity, can be obtained from the standpoint of extended use time.
Is also used. Since this Ni-MH battery does not have stable battery characteristics like a Ni-Cd battery, a temperature sensor is used to determine the completion of charging.

The conventional battery power supply device having the Ni-MH battery structure is formed to have the three-terminal structure shown in FIG. 3 when outputting the charging completion information to the outside to automatically stop the charging. In the figure, 1 is a battery power supply device, 2 is a Ni-MH battery as a secondary battery, 3P and 3N are positive and negative power supply terminals as first and second terminals, respectively. Connected to each. Reference numeral 5 is an information output terminal as a third terminal, and 6 is a temperature sensor such as a thermistor or a thermostat provided between the information output terminal 5 and the power supply terminal 3N.

Reference numeral 7 is a charger for charging the battery 2, and has a DC output circuit 9 whose output is controlled by the control circuit 8.
10P and 10N are positive and negative DC terminals of the charger 7, and 11 is an information input terminal of the charger 7. During charging, the power supply device 1 is attached to the charger 7, and by this attachment, the power supply terminals 3P and 3N are connected to the DC terminals 10P and 10N and the information output terminal 5 is connected to the information input terminal 11.

By this connection, a charging current flows from the DC output circuit 9 to the DC output terminal 10N via the DC terminal 10P, the power supply terminal 3P, the battery 2 and the power supply terminal 3N, and the battery 2 is charged.

When the battery 2 is fully charged and reaches the completion of charging, the temperature of the battery 2 suddenly rises and the resistance value of the sensor 6 sharply decreases, for example. The signal is the information output terminal 5 as the charging completion information.
From the information input terminal 11 to the control circuit 8.

The control circuit 8 monitors the voltage change at the information input terminal 11, and when the resistance value of the sensor 6 suddenly decreases and the charging completion information is transmitted to the information input terminal 11, the DC output circuit 9
Is stopped, the output of the charger 7 is shut off, and the charging is automatically terminated. The change in the resistance value with respect to the temperature of the sensor 6 is as shown in FIG. 4 for the thermistor and as shown in FIG. 5 for the thermostat.

On the other hand, a conventional battery power supply device having a Ni--Cd battery structure is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-6575 (G01R 3).
As described in 1/36) etc., not only the completion of charging but also the amount of remaining power during use or the amount of power used (discharged power)
Is reported to an external device. An example of a conventional battery power supply device having a Ni—Cd battery configuration for making this notification is configured as shown in FIG.

In the figure, 12 is a battery power supply device, and 13
Is a Ni-Cd battery as a secondary battery, 14P and 14N are positive and negative power source terminals corresponding to the terminals 3P and 3N in FIG. 3, the power source terminal 14P is connected to the anode of the battery 13, and the power source terminal 14N is Resistor 1 with a small resistance value for discharge and charge detection
It is connected to the cathode of the battery 13 via 5, 16. The connection point of the resistors 15 and 16 is grounded in the device 12.

Reference numeral 17 is an information output terminal corresponding to the terminal 5 in FIG.
A diode for preventing backflow connected to the cathode of the device, 20 is an amplifier for amplifying a detection signal (voltage signal) of the current amount of discharge and charge through the diodes 18 and 19, and 21 is a comparator for distinguishing discharge and charge. Is.

, 22m and 22n are a plurality of comparators for discriminating the amount of current, which are the output signal of the amplifier 20 and the reference voltages divided by the resistors 23a, 23b, ... 23m and 23n. To compare. Reference numeral 24 is a microcomputer for calculation processing (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer), which calculates the discharge amount and the charge amount of the battery 13 based on the determination results of the comparators 21 and 22a to 22n. Reference numeral 25 is an electric energy calculation unit having a broken line configuration.

Reference numeral 26 denotes a battery 13 under the control of the microcomputer 24.
The display device in the power supply device 12 for displaying the remaining power amount or the used power amount, 27 is an encoder circuit that encodes the calculation result of the microcomputer 24 into charge / discharge information and sends it to the information output terminal 17, 28 is the battery 13 This is a reset circuit that resets the microcomputer 24 when the battery is almost completely discharged to zero the remaining amount of power. 29a and 29b are resistors for setting constants of the amplifier 20, and 30 and 31a to 31n are comparators 21 and 21.
Output pull-up resistors 2a to 22n, and 32 is a power supply terminal of the calculation unit 25, to which the DC power supply of the battery 13 is supplied.

When the battery-powered load device 33 is driven by the battery 13, the battery power supply device 12 causes the load device 3 to operate.
3, the power supply terminals 14P, 14N and the information output terminal 17 are positive and negative power receiving terminals 34P, 34 of the load device 33.
It is connected to N and the information input terminal 35.

By this connection, the discharge current of the battery 13 is transferred from the anode of the battery 13 to the battery 13 via the power supply terminal 14P, the power receiving terminal 34P, each circuit of the load device 33, the power receiving terminal 34N, the power supply terminal 14N and the resistors 15 and 16. It flows to the cathode, and the electric power of the battery 13 is supplied to the load device 33. Then, the discharge amount of the battery 13 changes depending on the operation mode of the load device 33 and the like, and the discharge current amount of the battery 13 changes according to this change.

This discharge current amount is detected as a voltage with the ground being the reference potential due to the voltage drop of the resistor 15, and this voltage is supplied to the amplifier 20 via the diode 18 as a discharge current amount detection signal. The magnitude of the detection signal amplified by the amplification supply 20 is discriminated by the comparators 22a to 22n, and the discrimination result is taken into the microcomputer 24.

Also, the discrimination output of the comparator 21 is inverted between discharge and charge depending on the polarity of the voltage drop of the resistor 16, and at the time of discharging, a low-level discharge discrimination signal is output from the comparator 21 to the microcomputer 2.
4 is supplied.

By this supply, the microcomputer 24 executes the calculation of the discharge power amount, the subtraction of the unit discharge amount obtained from the determination result of the comparators 22a to 22n is repeated to calculate the discharge power amount which changes every moment, and this power amount is calculated. The amount of remaining power or the amount of discharge power itself, which is obtained by subtracting the amount, is used as power amount information.

Then, the encoder circuit 27 is notified of this power amount information, the power amount information indicating the remaining power amount or the used power amount is transmitted from this circuit 27 to the information output terminal 17, and this power amount information is input to the information input terminal. It is taken into the load device 33 via 35.

Then, the load device 33 processes the fetched power amount information by the decoder circuit 36 and displays it on, for example, a level meter or the like in the electronic viewfinder 37, and the remaining power amount of the battery 13 in use which changes momentarily. Alternatively, the amount of power used is reported. The display device 26 also displays the remaining power amount or the used power amount of the battery 13 under the control of the microcomputer 24. By the way, when discharging progresses and the remaining electric energy decreases to a set value, for example, almost 0, the reset circuit 28 resets the microcomputer 24 to prepare for charging.

Next, when charging the battery 13, the power supply device 12 is mounted on the charger similar to the charger 7 of FIG. 3 instead of the load device 33, and the power supply terminals 14P and 14N are positive, The information output terminal 17 is connected to the negative DC terminal, and the information output terminal 17 is connected to the information input terminal of the charger.

Then, from the positive DC terminal of the charger to the power supply terminal 14P, the battery 13, the resistors 16 and 15, and the power supply terminal 14N.
A charging current flows through the negative DC terminal of the charger via the, and the battery 13 is charged by this current.

At this time, the charging time of the battery 13 depends on the charging current amount, and this current amount is detected by the voltage drop of the resistor 16 at the voltage with the ground as the reference potential. This voltage is detected as the charging current amount. The signal is supplied from the diode 19 to the amplifier 20 as a signal.

The magnitude of the charge current amount detection signal amplified by the amplification supply 20 is discriminated by the comparators 22a to 22n, and the discrimination result is taken into the microcomputer 24.

Further, the voltage drop polarity of the resistor 16 is opposite to that at the time of discharging, and at the time of charging, the comparator 21 supplies a high-level charge determination signal to the microcomputer 24.

With this supply, the microcomputer 24 executes calculation of the amount of charge power of the battery 13, and repeatedly adds the unit amount of charge obtained from the determination results of the comparators 22a to 22n to change the amount of charge power (= remaining power). Calculate the electric energy).

Then, the battery 1 is calculated from the charging power amount or charging rate.
When the charge completion (full charge) of No. 3 is determined, the microcomputer 24 notifies the encoder circuit 27 of the charge completion, and based on this notification, the charge completion information is transmitted from the encoder circuit 27 to the information output terminal 17.

Then, this information is taken into the charger, and at this time, the charger shuts off the output to stop the charging, as in the case of FIG. 3, or informs the charging completion by the indicator, the buzzer or the like. To do Further, the display device 26 displays the charging power amount under the control of the microcomputer 24.

When the power supply device 12 itself also notifies the completion of charging, the power supply device 12 is provided with a display, a buzzer, etc., and self-notification of the completion of charging under the control of the microcomputer 24.

Further, in FIG. 6, the completion of charging of the battery 13 is discriminated from the calculated charging power amount or charging rate, but the completion of charging of this kind of Ni-Cd battery will be explained as follows.
It can also be determined by "voltage detection of V detection".

In this determination, paying attention to the fact that the charging voltage characteristic of the battery 13 reaches a peak value immediately before reaching the fully charged state and then gradually decreases, and the peak value is stored in advance to monitor the charging voltage of the battery, This is a method of detecting and determining the completion of charging when the charging voltage drops by a predetermined value ΔV from the peak value.
In the battery power supply device of this type using the Ni-Cd battery, "-ΔV detection" is often used to determine the completion of charging.

By the way, in order to drive this type of battery-driven load device such as the load device 33, the battery power supply devices 1 and 12 of the three-terminal configuration shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 having positive and negative power supply terminals and information output terminals. Not only 2 having only positive and negative power supply terminals
A battery power supply device having a terminal configuration is also used. And this 2
When a battery power supply device having a terminal configuration is attached, it is not possible to report the amount of remaining power during use and the amount of power used.

[0033]

In the case of the conventional Ni-MH battery structure battery power supply device of FIG. 3 which uses a temperature sensor to determine the completion of charging, the remaining power amount in use or the power amount used is known from the outside. There is a problem that can not be done, it is inconvenient in practice.

Then, as in the case of the conventional battery power supply device having a Ni--Cd battery structure shown in FIG. 6, it is conceivable to calculate the remaining power amount or the used power amount from the discharge current amount and output the information to the outside. In this case, it is necessary to provide the second information output terminal corresponding to the information output terminal 17 of FIG. 6 together with the information output terminal 5 of FIG. 3, and the total number of terminals of the power supply device is 4 in total.
It also becomes an individual. When the number of terminals that occupy a large space increases, there is a problem in that the demand for size and weight reduction of the power supply device cannot be met, and in addition, inconveniences such as an increase in cost and restrictions on external design occur.

According to the present invention, a battery power supply device having a three-terminal structure using a temperature sensor for determining the completion of charging is provided with a function of externally notifying the remaining amount of power in use or the amount of power in use without increasing the number of terminals. The purpose is to It is also an object of the present invention to enable a battery-powered load device using this battery power supply device to perform appropriate notification relating to the battery capacity according to the battery power supply device to be mounted.

[0036]

In order to achieve the above object, in the battery power supply device of the present invention, the discharge current of the secondary battery is monitored to calculate the discharge power amount, and the remaining amount based on this power amount is calculated. It has a power amount information generator that sends power amount or used power amount information to the information output terminal as power amount information, and the information output terminal is used as an external output terminal for charging completion information and power amount information based on the detection signal of the temperature sensor. Sharing.

Further, in the battery-powered load device of the present invention, positive and negative power receiving terminals to which the positive and negative power supply terminals of the mounted battery power supply device are connected, and power amount information output of the mounted battery power supply device An information input terminal to which an information output terminal for connection is connected, a battery discriminating unit that discriminates the battery power supply device mounted by the presence or absence of information of this terminal, and an information output terminal based on the discrimination result of this discriminating unit. Based on the discrimination result of the battery discriminating unit and the electric energy display processing unit that displays the remaining electric energy or the used electric energy according to the electric energy information transmitted to the information input terminal when the battery power supply is installed, the information output terminal is not provided And a power reduction warning processing unit that detects a voltage drop at both power receiving terminals when the battery power supply is mounted and outputs a warning when the remaining power is low.

[0038]

In the case of the battery power supply device of the present invention configured as described above, the information output terminal used for notifying the charging completion information at the time of charging the battery is utilized, and during use, the power amount information generating unit changes momentarily. The remaining amount of power or the amount of power used is calculated, and the information on the amount of power is notified to the outside from the information output terminal. Therefore, 3 of positive and negative power supply terminals and information output terminals
With the terminal configuration, it is possible to notify the remaining power amount or the used power amount during use without increasing the number of terminals.

Next, in the case of the battery-powered load device of the present invention, when the battery power supply device of the present invention is mounted, the amount of power that indicates the amount of remaining power or the amount of power used from the information output terminal to the information input terminal of the power supply device. Information is input, the battery determination unit determines that there is an information output terminal, and based on the determination result, the power amount display processing unit displays the remaining power amount or the used power amount based on the transmitted information.

When the battery power supply device having a two-terminal structure having only positive and negative power supply terminals is attached, the electric energy information is not input to the information input terminal, so the battery discriminating section determines that there is no information output terminal. Based on this determination result, the power amount decrease alarm processing unit detects a voltage drop between the power receiving terminals and outputs an alarm when the remaining power amount becomes small. Therefore, it is possible to perform appropriate notification related to the battery capacity according to the installed battery power supply device.

[0041]

EXAMPLE One example will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 3 indicate the same or corresponding ones. A battery power supply device 38 having a Ni-MH battery configuration similar to that of the power supply device 1 of FIG. 3 has a microcomputer configuration of a charge / discharge monitoring processing circuit 39, a charge / discharge current detection circuit 40 and a charge / discharge current detection circuit 40 of FIG. The information output terminal 5 is formed by adding a display device 41 corresponding to the display device 26, and is used as an external output terminal for charging completion information and power amount information.

The battery-powered load device 42 driven by the battery power supply device 38 has a positive and negative power receiving terminal 43.
P, 43N, an information input terminal 44, a battery discriminating unit, a power amount display processing unit, a discrimination / decoder circuit 45 of a microcomputer configuration forming a power amount reduction warning processing unit, and a display device 46 such as an electronic viewfinder.

The battery power supply device 38 is configured as shown in FIG. 2, and the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6 indicate the same or corresponding parts in FIG. 2, except that the microcomputer 24 completes charging at the time of charging. That is, the information is not output, and the detection signal of the sensor 6 forms the charging completion information.

Next, the operation when the power supply device 38 is attached to the load device 42 will be described. In this case, the power supply terminals 3P and 3N are connected to the power receiving terminals 43P and 43N and the information output terminal 5 is connected to the information input terminal 44 by mounting.

The electric power of the battery 2 is supplied to the load device 42. At this time, the discharge current amount is detected from the voltage drop of the resistor 15 of the detection circuit 40 by the same operation as in FIG.
The size is discriminated by the amplifier 20 and the comparators 22a to 22n provided in the power amount calculator 25 of the monitoring processing circuit 39, and the discrimination result is taken into the microcomputer 24.

Further, the low-level discharge determination signal of the comparator 21 based on the polarity of the voltage drop of the resistor 16 is sent to the microcomputer 24.
Is supplied to. Then, the microcomputer 24 calculates the discharge power amount that changes momentarily in the same manner as in the case of FIG. 6, and the power amount information of the remaining power amount or the used power amount based on this power amount is output from the encoder circuit 27 to the information output terminal 5. Is transmitted.

This information is sent from the information output terminal 5 through the information input terminal 44 to the discrimination / decoder circuit 45 of the load device 42.
Is taken into.

Then, the discrimination / decoder circuit 45 determines whether the electric energy information is present or not by the battery discriminating section from the presence or absence of the information input terminal.
When the power supply device 38 is attached, the result of this determination is present. Therefore, the transmitted and input power amount information is decoded, and the power amount display processing unit drives the display device 46 based on the power amount information. For example, 100% when fully charged 2
Remaining electric energy is displayed with a 5-level level display in units of 0%.

The load device 42 does not need the charging completion information and does not monitor the voltage change of the information input terminal 44, so that the resistance value of the sensor 6 changes during use without any influence. Further, the display device 41 is controlled by the display control of the microcomputer 24.
Displays the calculated remaining power amount or used power amount.

By the way, when the power supply device 12 of FIG. 6 is mounted instead of the power supply device 38, the determination result of the battery determination unit is also present in this case, and the remaining power is transmitted based on the power amount information transmitted and input to the information input terminal 44. The amount of power or the amount of power used is displayed.

Next, the operation when the power supply device 38 is attached to the charger to charge the battery will be described. In this case, the power supply 3
By mounting 8 on the charger 7 of FIG. 3, the power supply terminals 3P and 3N are connected to the DC terminals 10P and 10N, and the information output terminal 5 is connected to the information input terminal 11.

The battery 2 is charged in the same manner as in the case of the power supply device 1, and the charging power amount which changes momentarily is calculated by the microcomputer 24 in the same manner as in the power supply device 12 of FIG. The calculated charging power amount is displayed on the display device 41.

When the fully charged state is reached, the sensor 6
The resistance value of # 1 changes rapidly, and the detection signal of the sensor 6 accompanying this change is transmitted from the information output terminal 5 to the charger 7 via the information input terminal 11 as charging completion information. By this transmission, the charger 7 stops the output similarly to the case of FIG. 3 and automatically stops the charging.

Next, the load device 42 of FIG. 1 has a two-terminal battery power supply device having only positive and negative power supply terminals.
The operation when the terminal power supply device is attached will be described.

In this case, the two-terminal power supply device is approximately the battery 2 or 13 and the positive and negative power supply terminals 3P, 3N or 14P, 14
Formed by N, both power supply terminals are DC terminals 4 by mounting
It is connected to 3P and 43N, and the electric power of the battery is supplied to the load device 42.

On the other hand, the information input terminal 44 is held open,
Electric energy information is not entered. Then, in the determination / decoder circuit 45, since the determination result of the battery determination unit becomes null, the power amount decrease warning processing unit operates.

This processing unit monitors the voltage of the battery 2 or 13 (battery voltage) from the voltage between the DC terminals 43P and 43N,
When the battery voltage becomes lower than a predetermined voltage and the remaining power of the battery 2 or 13 becomes small, for example, a remaining amount alarm indicating 5 minutes before the operation stop is generated, and the remaining amount alarm is displayed on the display device 46 by a character, Display as a figure.

The configurations of the respective parts of the battery power supply device and the battery-driven load device are not limited to the embodiments.

The battery-operated load device may be any of various devices mounted with a battery power supply device such as a camera-integrated VTR having an electronic viewfinder, a portable personal computer having a display device, and a word processor. Of course. Further, the secondary battery may be various batteries that use a temperature sensor to determine the completion of charging.

[0060]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. First, in the case of the battery power supply device according to claim 1, the power amount information generation unit 39
The discharge current of the secondary battery 2 is monitored by calculating the discharge power amount, and the information of the remaining power amount or the used power amount based on this power amount is sent to the information output terminal 5 as power amount information. The information output terminal 5 that outputs the charging completion information based on the detection signal of the sensor 6 is shared for the remaining electric power in use or the information output of the used electric power, and the time-varying remaining in use without increasing the number of terminals. The amount of electric power or the amount of electric power used can be notified to the outside, and it is possible to add a new and useful function without restricting size reduction, weight reduction, appearance design, and the like, while suppressing cost increase.

In the case of the battery-driven load device according to the second aspect, the power receiving terminals 43P and 43N and the information input terminal 44 are provided.
The battery power supply device according to claim 1, further comprising: a battery discriminating unit, a power amount display unit, and a power amount decrease alarm processing unit, and outputs the power amount information from the information output terminal based on the discrimination result of the battery discriminating unit. When a battery power supply device having a three-terminal configuration such as is attached, the power amount information transmitted to the information input terminal 44 is processed by the power amount display processing unit to display the remaining power amount or the used power amount, and the power amount information is displayed. When a battery power supply device with a two-terminal configuration that does not output is installed, the power amount decrease alarm processing unit detects a voltage drop between the power receiving terminals 43P and 43N, and outputs an alarm when the remaining power amount of the battery power supply device is low. Therefore, it is possible to perform appropriate notification related to the battery capacity according to the battery power supply device to be mounted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a connection diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed connection diagram of the battery power supply device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a connection diagram of a conventional battery power supply device using a temperature sensor.

FIG. 4 is a temperature-resistance characteristic diagram of an example of a temperature sensor.

FIG. 5 is a temperature-resistance characteristic diagram of another example of the temperature sensor.

FIG. 6 is a wiring diagram of a conventional battery power supply device that does not use a temperature sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Nickel-hydrogen battery 3P, 3N Positive and negative power supply terminals 5 Information output terminal 6 Temperature sensor 38 Battery power supply device 39 Electric energy information generating unit 42 Battery-driven load device 43P, 43N Power receiving terminal 44 Information input terminal 45 Discrimination / decoder circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A positive / negative power supply terminal, a secondary battery provided between the power supply terminals, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the secondary battery, and a detection signal of the temperature sensor for charging completion information. In the battery power supply device, the discharge current of the secondary battery is monitored to calculate the discharge power amount, and the information of the remaining power amount or the used power amount is calculated based on the discharge power amount. A battery power supply device, comprising: a power amount information generating unit for sending to the information output terminal as amount information, wherein the information output terminal is shared with an external output terminal for the charging completion information and the power amount information. 2. An information input to which positive and negative power receiving terminals to which positive and negative power supply terminals of the attached battery power supply device are connected and an information output terminal for outputting electric energy information of the attached battery power supply device are connected. A terminal, a battery discriminating section that discriminates the mounted battery power source apparatus based on the presence / absence of the information of the information input terminal, and based on the discrimination result of the battery discriminating section when mounting the battery power source apparatus having the information output terminal. A power amount display processing unit that displays the remaining power amount or the used power amount based on the power amount information transmitted to the information input terminal; and a battery power supply device that does not include the information output terminal based on the determination result of the battery determination unit. A battery-powered load device, comprising: a power amount decrease alarm processing unit that detects a voltage drop at both power receiving terminals during mounting and outputs an alarm when the remaining power amount is low.