JPH07222368A - Rechargeable electric apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow more accurate detection of the residual quantity of electricity of a battery. CONSTITUTION:The rechargeable electric apparatus comprises a rechargeable battery 2, a circuit 1 for feeding a charging current to the battery 2, a load 4 being driven with a current discharged from the battery 2, and a circuit 6 for operating the quantity of electricity charged in the battery based on the charging current thereof thus detecting the residual quantity of electricity of the battery 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rechargeable electric device using a chargeable / dischargeable battery (secondary battery) such as an electric shaver and an electric toothbrush.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional rechargeable electric device of this type is provided with, for example, a circuit configuration shown in FIG. That is, this is a rechargeable battery 2,
The charging circuit 1 for supplying the charging current to the battery 2, the load 4 driven by the discharging current from the battery 2, and the discharge current O of the battery 2
A switch 5 for N / OFF and a remaining capacity detection circuit 6 for detecting the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 are provided.

The remaining capacity detection circuit 6 will be described in detail. The remaining capacity detection circuit 6 detects the charging time by inputting a charging signal indicating that charging is being performed from the charging circuit 1, and the battery 2 is detected by the charging time and the charging current value set in advance by measurement or the like. It has a function of calculating the charged amount of electricity and detecting the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 based on the calculated amount of electricity. For example, if the maximum capacity of Battery 2 is 1000mAh and the charging current is 1000mA, Battery 2 will be fully charged (100% charge) in 1 hour, so 1 minute charge will result in 1/60% charge. become.

The remaining capacity detection circuit 6 calculates the amount of electricity discharged from the battery 2 based on the discharge time (time when the switch is turned on) and the current consumption value of the load 4 set in advance by measurement or the like. Also, it has a function of detecting the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 based on the amount of electricity.

As another example, a device having a circuit configuration as shown in FIG. 12 is provided. That is, this is a chargeable / dischargeable battery 2, a charging circuit 1 for supplying a charging current to the battery 2, and a load driven by a discharging current from the battery 2.
4 and a switch to turn on / off the discharge current of battery 2
5 and a current integration circuit A for measuring the remaining current of the battery 2 by measuring the charging current value and the discharging current value.

[0006]

However, the former one has no problem if the charging current is always constant, but the charging circuit
The charging current may fluctuate due to fluctuations in the power supply voltage of 1 or the battery inside the main unit may be
In non-contact charging with charging to 2, the charging current sometimes fluctuated depending on the installation condition of the charger and the device body. If the charging current fluctuates, the detection error of the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 by the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 may become large.

On the other hand, in the latter one, since the current integrating circuit A is provided in the path through which the charging current and the discharging current flow, the driving power supply of the current integrating circuit A is charging the battery 2 while the charging power source of the battery 2 is charging. Battery 2 is discharged during discharge. When the drive power supply of the current integration circuit A is the charging circuit 1, there is no big problem, but when the drive power supply of the current integration circuit A is the battery 2,
In some cases, the resistance of the circuit for measuring the current in the current integrating circuit A was lost, and the basic performance of the load 4 was degraded. For example, when the load 4 is a motor, performance such as constant dynamic torque may be reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a rechargeable electric device capable of more accurately detecting the remaining amount of electricity of a battery. is there.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a rechargeable electric device according to claim 1 is a rechargeable battery, a charging circuit for supplying a charging current to the battery, and a discharging current from the battery. Driven by the load, the charging current value of the battery and /
Alternatively, a remaining capacity detection circuit for calculating the amount of electricity charged and / or discharged in the battery based on the discharge current value and detecting the remaining amount of electricity of the battery based on the amount of electricity is provided.

Further, the rechargeable electric device according to claim 2 is
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a current detection circuit that outputs a charging current value and / or a discharging current value to the remaining capacity detection circuit is provided on the path where the charging current flows and / or the path where the discharging current flows.

The rechargeable electric device according to claim 3 is
The remaining capacity detection circuit according to the first aspect is configured to calculate a charging current value and / or a discharging current value.

The rechargeable electric equipment according to claim 4 is
The remaining capacity detection circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is configured to calculate the amount of electricity discharged from the battery based on the discharge time of the battery and a predetermined discharge current value corresponding thereto.

Further, the rechargeable electric device according to claim 5 is
The charging circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is configured to include a primary coil, a charging control circuit for supplying a current to the primary coil, and a secondary coil for generating a charging current by the primary coil.

The rechargeable electric device according to claim 6 is:
The charging circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is configured so that the magnitude of the charging current can be changed according to the remaining amount of electricity of the battery.

A rechargeable electric device according to claim 7 is
A display circuit for displaying the remaining amount of electricity of the battery according to any one of claims 1 to 6 is provided.

[0016]

According to the structure of the first aspect, the remaining capacity of the battery can be accurately detected by the remaining capacity detection circuit.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the charging current value and / or the discharging current value is not calculated by the remaining capacity detecting circuit, the circuit structure of the remaining capacity detecting circuit can be simplified.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the remaining capacity detecting circuit calculates the charging current value and / or the discharging current value, so that the number of parts can be reduced.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the quantity of electricity discharged from the battery is slightly inferior in accuracy to the quantity calculated by the discharge current value, but the discharge current value is not calculated. The circuit configuration can be reduced.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rechargeable electric device including a portion having a primary coil and a charge control circuit.
It can be separable from the part having the secondary coil.

According to the structure of claim 6, the battery can be charged efficiently. According to the configuration of claim 7, the user can be informed of the remaining amount of electricity of the battery.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

This rechargeable electric device includes a charging circuit 1 for supplying a charging current, a rechargeable battery 2 and a current detecting circuit 3 for measuring the charging current value and outputting the charging current value.
, Load 4 driven by discharge current, switch 5,
It is composed of a remaining capacity detection circuit 6 for detecting the remaining amount of electricity of the battery.

That is, the charging circuit 1 has a battery 2 connected to both ends of the charging circuit 1 via a current detection circuit 3.
Is connected to the load 4 via a switch 5 at both ends, the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 inputs the output of the current detection circuit 3, and when the switch 5 is in the ON state, that is, the discharge state of the battery 2, It is provided to input the signal shown.

The remaining capacity detection circuit 3 calculates the amount of electricity charged in the battery 2 by the charging current value input from the current detection circuit 3 during charging of the battery 2 by the charging circuit 1.
It has a function of detecting the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 based on the amount of electricity. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 has a battery 2 having a maximum capacity of 1000 mAh and a charging current of 1000 mAh.
If it is mA, the battery 2 is fully charged (100% charged) in 1 hour, and the electricity is added at the rate
2 detects the remaining amount of electricity, and the maximum capacity of battery 2
If the charging current is 500mA at 1000mAh, the remaining amount of electricity of battery 2 is detected by adding the amount of electricity so that battery 2 is fully charged (100% charged) in 1 hour.

The remaining capacity detection circuit 6 receives a signal indicating the discharge state of the battery 2 during discharge of the battery 2 to detect the discharge time, and the discharge time and the load 4 set in advance by measurement or the like. It has a function of calculating the amount of electricity discharged from the battery 2 and subtracting the amount of electricity from the current consumption value to detect the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2.

In addition, the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 is provided for the battery 2 when the battery 2 is not charged or discharged, that is, when the battery 2 is left unattended.
It has the function of subtracting the amount of electricity commensurate with the amount of self-discharge of 2.

Next, one application example of the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 detected by the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 will be described with reference to FIG. When the charge current value is constant, the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 increases in proportion to the charge current value until it is fully charged (100% charge). Then, when the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 reaches full charge, the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 outputs a signal to the charging circuit 1 to control the charging circuit 1 so that the charging current is stopped or dropped to a minute current. Therefore, in this application example,
Battery 2 can be charged efficiently.

Next, another application example of the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 detected by the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. 7 is a display circuit, which is a remaining capacity detection circuit
Enter the remaining amount of electricity of Battery 2 detected by 6,
The display unit 7a displays the remaining amount of electricity of the battery. The display unit 7a is configured to display the ratio of the remaining amount of electricity to the maximum capacity of the battery 2, and here,
It is configured to display by lighting in five stages of 20,40,60,80,100%. Therefore, in this application example, the user can be informed of the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the remaining capacity of the battery 2 can be accurately detected by the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 even if the charging current fluctuates due to the fluctuation of the power supply voltage of the charging circuit 1 or the like. . Moreover, since the current detection circuit 3 is provided in the path through which only the charging current flows, the current detection circuit 3 does not become a resistance during the discharge of the battery, and the basic performance of the load 4 is not deteriorated.

The remaining capacity detecting circuit 6 of this embodiment detects the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 based on the charging current value while the battery 2 is being charged, and based on the discharging time during discharging of the battery 2. Although the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 is detected, the present invention is not limited to this.For example, the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 is detected based on the charging current value during charging of the battery 2. When the battery 2 is discharging, the battery 2
The remaining amount of electricity may be detected.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. It should be noted that members having substantially the same functions as those of the first embodiment described above are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

This rechargeable electric device includes a charging circuit 1, a battery 2, a load 4, a switch 5, and a remaining capacity detection circuit 6
And a resistor 8.

That is, the charging circuit 1 has resistors at both ends thereof.
The battery 2 is connected via 8 and the load on the battery 2 is connected to the load 4 via the switch 5 and the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 is connected to both ends of the resistor 8.
When the switch 5 is in the ON state, that is, when the battery 2 is in the discharged state, a signal indicating this is input.

The remaining capacity detection circuit 6 measures the voltage across the resistor 8 during charging of the battery 2 by the charging circuit 1, calculates the charging current value from the voltage, and calculates the charging current value in the battery 2 based on the charging current value. It has a function of calculating the charged amount of electricity and detecting the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 based on the calculated amount of electricity.
Further, the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 has the same function as that of the first embodiment when the battery 2 is being discharged and left.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the resistor 8 is provided in the path through which only the charging current flows, it is possible to accurately detect the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2 without degrading the basic performance of the load 4. it can.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described based on. It should be noted that members having substantially the same functions as those of the first and second embodiments described above are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

This rechargeable electric device includes a charging circuit 1, a battery 2, a load 4, a switch 5, and a remaining capacity detecting circuit 6
And an auxiliary power supply 9.

That is, the charging circuit 1 has a battery at both ends thereof.
2 is connected and battery 2 has switch 5
Load 4 is connected via the
Input the output voltage of the auxiliary power supply 9, and switch 5 is turned on.
In a state, that is, when the battery 2 is in a discharged state, a signal indicating this is provided to be input.

The auxiliary power supply 9 is a switching power supply as shown in FIG. 8, and includes a primary side control circuit 10 and a primary coil 11
, A secondary coil 12 for charging, and a secondary coil 13 for output voltage
It is composed of a diode 14, 15 and a capacitor 16, and has a function of supplying a charging current to the battery 2 as an auxiliary function and a function of outputting an output voltage in proportion to the magnitude of the charging current (see FIG. 9). And have.

The remaining capacity detection circuit 6 sets the correlation between the charging current value and the output voltage of the auxiliary power supply in advance by measurement or the like, and calculates the charging current value when the output voltage of the auxiliary power supply 9 is input, Based on this, it has a function of detecting the remaining amount of electricity of the battery 2. Further, the remaining capacity detection circuit 6 has the same function as that of the first embodiment during discharging from the battery 2 and in a standing state.

In this embodiment, the auxiliary power source 9 is the switching power source, but other power sources may be used.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. It should be noted that members having substantially the same functions as those of the first to third embodiments described above are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

This rechargeable electric device is a non-contact type device in which the charger and the device body can be separated from each other and which does not have a terminal for charging. The charging circuit 1 includes a primary coil 17 on the charger side and a charging control circuit 18 for supplying a current to the primary coil 17, and a secondary coil 19 for generating a charging current by the primary coil 17 on the device body side, And a diode 20 for rectifying the charging current. The device main body is the same as that of the first embodiment except for the configuration of the charging circuit.

As described above, in this embodiment, the charger and the device main body can be separated from each other, so that the usability can be improved.

[0046]

According to the rechargeable electric device according to the first aspect of the present invention, the remaining amount of electricity of the battery can be accurately detected by the remaining capacity detection circuit even if the charging current value and / or the discharging current value fluctuates. .

In addition to the effect of the first aspect, the rechargeable electric device according to the second aspect does not calculate the charging current value and / or the discharging current value by the remaining capacity detecting circuit. It can be simplified. In addition, if the current detection circuit outputs the charging current value and is provided in the path through which only the charging current flows, it will not become a resistance during discharging of the battery, thus reducing the basic performance of the load. It is possible to accurately detect the remaining amount of electricity in the battery.

In the rechargeable electric device according to the third aspect, in addition to the effect according to the first aspect, the remaining capacity detection circuit calculates the charging current value and / or the discharging current value, so that the number of parts can be reduced.

In addition to the effect of any one of claims 1 to 3, the rechargeable electric device according to claim 4 is slightly more accurate than the amount of electricity discharged from the battery calculated by the discharge current value. Although it is inferior, since the discharge current value is not calculated, the circuit configuration can be reduced by that amount and an inexpensive one can be provided.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the rechargeable electric device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the rechargeable electric device includes a portion having a primary coil and a charge control circuit, and a secondary coil. It can be separated into a part having a groove, and the usability can be improved.

The rechargeable electric device according to claim 6 can charge the battery efficiently in addition to the effect according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

The rechargeable electric device according to claim 7 can inform the user of the remaining amount of electricity of the battery in addition to the effect according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the remaining amount of electricity of the battery.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a comparison between the remaining amount of electricity and the charging current of the battery of the one application example.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of another application example thereof.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the display unit.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram of the auxiliary power supply.

FIG. 9 is a graph showing characteristics of the auxiliary power supply.

FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram of a conventional example.

FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram of another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Charging circuit 2 Battery 3 Current detection circuit 4 Load 6 Remaining capacity detection circuit 7 Display circuit 17 Primary coil 18 Charge control circuit 19 Secondary coil

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A rechargeable battery, a charging circuit for supplying a charging current to the battery, a load driven by a discharging current from the battery, and a battery charging and / or charging according to a charging current value and / or a discharging current value of the battery. Alternatively, a rechargeable electric device comprising: a remaining capacity detection circuit that calculates a discharged quantity of electricity and detects the remaining quantity of electricity of the battery based on the quantity of electricity. 2. The current detection circuit for outputting the charging current value and / or the discharging current value to the remaining capacity detecting circuit is provided in the path through which the charging current flows and / or the path through which the discharging current flows. Rechargeable electric device. 3. The rechargeable electric device according to claim 1, wherein the remaining capacity detection circuit calculates a charging current value and / or a discharging current value. 4. The remaining capacity detection circuit calculates the amount of electricity discharged from the battery based on the discharge time of the battery and a predetermined discharge current value corresponding to the discharge time of the battery. Rechargeable electric device. 5. The charging circuit includes a primary coil, a charging control circuit for supplying a current to the primary coil, and a secondary coil for generating a charging current by the primary coil. Rechargeable electrical equipment. 6. The rechargeable electric device according to claim 1, wherein the charging circuit is configured to change the magnitude of the charging current according to the remaining amount of electricity of the battery. 7. The rechargeable electric device according to claim 1, further comprising a display circuit that displays the remaining amount of electricity of the battery.