JPH0998542A - Power supply - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) An object of the present invention is to reliably operate a device using a rechargeable battery as a main operation power source and to prevent or eliminate the memory effect of the battery. SOLUTION: Two rechargeable batteries 1 and 2 are selectively connected to a load 3 by a load connection switching circuit 4, and a battery which is no longer connected to the load 3 is discharged ON / OFF switching circuit 6.
Is connected to the discharge circuit 5 to discharge until the remaining capacity becomes 0%, and in the state where the DC current is supplied by the AC adapter, the charging method switching circuit 9 causes the batteries 1 and 2 and trickle depending on the remaining capacity. The connection with the charging circuit 7 and the short-time charging circuit 8 is controlled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a power supply device,
More specifically, it relates to a power supply device that employs a rechargeable battery as a main operation power supply.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed a power supply device which employs a single rechargeable battery as a main operation power supply for various devices. In such a device, an AC adapter is generally usable, and trickle charging of a battery can be performed while the device is operating while the AC adapter is being used. Further, when the AC adapter is not used, the battery is adopted as the main operation power source and the device can be operated.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned various devices, since the time required for charging the battery is long, the remaining capacity of the battery is reduced when the device is operated by adopting the battery as the main operating power source. Not enough and may not be able to operate the device. In addition, since the battery is charged with a certain remaining capacity, and the above charging is repeated every time the device is operated for a certain period of time, a memory effect occurs in the battery and the apparent life is shortened. I will end up.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to sufficiently increase the remaining capacity of a battery in a short time and to reliably prevent the battery from having a memory effect. It is intended to provide a power supply device.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power supply device comprising:
Selecting means for selectively selecting one of the batteries as a main operating power source, and a discharging means for discharging a battery that is no longer selected as the main operating power source; Charging means for charging the battery, and as the charging means, quick charging is performed in response to the remaining capacity of the battery being less than a predetermined amount, and trickle in response to the remaining capacity of the battery being more than the predetermined amount. It uses a rechargeable battery.

The power supply circuit of claim 2 is, as a charging means,
A short-term charging circuit, a trickle charging circuit, and a charging method switching circuit that selectively connects each battery to the short-time charging circuit and the trickle charging circuit are adopted. Connect the relevant battery to the charging circuit for a short time in response to the remaining capacity being less than the specified amount, and then apply the corresponding battery to the trickle charging circuit in response to the remaining capacity of the applicable battery being more than the specified amount. The one that connects is adopted.

[0007]

According to another aspect of the power supply device of the present invention, the main operating power source of the device has two rechargeable batteries, and a selecting means for selectively selecting one battery as the main operating power source. Therefore, when one battery is used as the main operating power supply and the device is operated and the remaining capacity becomes less than the specified capacity, the other battery is automatically used as the main operating power supply to operate the device. Can continue to operate. Further, since it has a discharging means for discharging the battery that is no longer selected as the main operating power supply, the remaining capacity can be reduced to 0% by discharging the battery that is no longer selected as the main operating power supply. further,
For example, the battery can be charged by the charging means by connecting an AC adapter or the like to a commercial AC power supply. Then, as the charging means, one that is rapidly charged in response to the remaining capacity of the battery being less than a predetermined amount and that is trickle charged in response to the remaining capacity of the other battery being a predetermined amount or more is adopted. Therefore, trickle charging is performed when the remaining capacity of the other battery is large to some extent, and conversely, rapid charging is performed when the remaining capacity of the other battery is small. Therefore, in any case, it is possible to significantly reduce the time required for the remaining capacity of the battery to reach a predetermined amount or more after the battery is in a rechargeable state, and by extension, any one of the batteries is selected. In this case, the possibility that the device can be reliably operated can be increased. Further, during repeated charging / discharging of the battery, the battery is discharged at a certain rate until the remaining capacity becomes 0%, and then the rapid charging is performed. If the effect is occurring, the memory effect can be removed.

According to another aspect of the power supply circuit of the present invention, the charging means includes a short-time charging circuit, a trickle charging circuit, and a charging method switching circuit for selectively connecting each battery to the short-time charging circuit and the trickle charging circuit. As a charging method switching circuit, the corresponding battery is connected to the charging circuit for a short time in response to the remaining capacity of the corresponding battery being less than a predetermined amount, and the remaining capacity of the corresponding battery is determined. Since the one in which the corresponding battery is connected to the trickle charging circuit in response to the fact that the amount is equal to or more than the fixed amount is adopted, the same operation as in claim 1 can be achieved. .

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the power supply device of the present invention. This power supply device includes two rechargeable batteries 1 and 2, a load connection switching circuit 4 for selectively connecting the batteries 1 and 2 to a load 3 as a main operating power supply, and discharging the batteries 1 and 2. A discharging circuit 5, a discharging ON / OFF switching circuit 6 for controlling the connection between the batteries 1 and 2 and the discharging circuit 5, a trickle charging circuit 7 for inputting a direct current from an AC adapter (not shown), a short time It has a charging circuit 8, a trickle charging circuit 7, and a charging method switching circuit 9 for selectively connecting the short-time charging circuit 8 to any one of the batteries 1 and 2. A DC current from an AC adapter (not shown) is supplied to the load 3. This AC adapter supplies DC current to the load 3, trickle charging circuit 7, and short-time charging circuit 8 only when connected to a commercial AC power source.

In the load connection switching circuit 4, the remaining capacity of the battery currently connected to the load 3 is a predetermined capacity (for example,
10%) or less is detected based on, for example, the voltage value of the battery, and the other battery is set as the load 3 on condition that it is detected that the remaining capacity is less than or equal to a predetermined capacity. To connect. The discharge ON / OFF switching circuit 6 connects the relevant battery to the discharging circuit 5 in order to discharge the battery disconnected from the load 3 by the load connection switching circuit 4 until the remaining capacity becomes 0%.

When the AC adapter is connected to a commercial AC power source, the charging system switching circuit 9 determines whether or not the remaining capacity of the battery is below a predetermined capacity, for example, the voltage value of the battery and the flow into the battery. Detected based on the integrated value of the current, etc., the short-term charging circuit 8 is connected to the battery whose remaining capacity is equal to or less than the predetermined capacity, and the trickle charging circuit 7 is connected to the battery whose remaining capacity is larger than the predetermined capacity. Are to be connected.

The operation of the power supply device having the above configuration is as follows. In a state in which the AC adapter is not connected to the commercial AC power supply, first, for example, the battery 1 is connected to the load 3 by the load connection switching circuit 4, and the battery 1 functions as a main operation power supply. Of course, in this state, the battery 2 is separated from the load 3 by the load connection switching circuit 4.

The remaining capacity of the battery 1 is a predetermined capacity (for example,
10%) or less, the load connection switching circuit 4 disconnects the battery 1 from the load 3 and connects the battery 2 to the load 3. Further, the battery 1 separated from the load 3 is discharged by the discharge ON / OFF switching circuit 6 to the discharge circuit 5
And the remaining capacity of the battery 1 is further reduced. In a normal use state, the discharge circuit 5 discharges the battery 1 until the remaining capacity becomes 0%.

When the AC adapter is connected to a commercial AC power source, the charging system switching circuit 9 causes the battery 1,
It is determined whether the remaining capacity of the battery 2 is equal to or more than a predetermined capacity, and the battery 1 whose remaining capacity is almost 0% is charged by the charging method switching circuit 9
As a result, it is connected to the charging circuit 8 for a short time and is rapidly charged.
If the remaining capacity of the battery 2 is less than the predetermined capacity, the battery 2 is also connected to the charging circuit 8 for a short time and rapidly charged. On the contrary, when the remaining capacity of the battery 2 is equal to or larger than the predetermined capacity, the battery 2 is connected to the trickle charging circuit 7 and trickle charged.

Although the case where the battery 1 is first connected to the load has been described above, even when the battery 2 is first connected to the load 3, the battery 1 and the battery 2 are simply replaced. Similar effects can be achieved. As is clear from the above description, since the battery having the remaining capacity smaller than the predetermined capacity is charged rapidly, the remaining capacity can be increased to a sufficient capacity in a short time. Therefore, after that, when it is desired to operate the device by disconnecting the AC adapter from the commercial AC power supply, the state of charge of the battery is sufficiently high, and thus the device can be operated reliably. In particular, a battery that has a low remaining capacity and is separated from the load 3 is connected to the discharging circuit 5 and discharged until the remaining capacity reaches 0%, so that it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a memory effect, and it is possible to prevent a memory effect. If the effect is occurring, the memory effect can be removed.
Therefore, the apparent life of the battery can be prevented from being shortened, and even if the apparent life of the battery is shortened, the apparent life can be lengthened as the memory effect is removed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the power supply device of the present invention. This power supply device includes two rechargeable batteries 1 and 2, a load connection changeover switch 4a for selectively connecting the batteries 1 and 2 to a load 3 as a main operating power supply, and discharging the batteries 1 and 2. Discharge circuit 5
And a discharge ON / OFF switch 6a for controlling the connection between the batteries 1 and 2 and the discharge circuit 5, and A (not shown).
A trickle charging circuit 7 and a short-time charging circuit 8 which receive the DC current from the C adapter, and a charging mode changeover switch 9a for selectively connecting the trickle charging circuit 7 and the short-time charging circuit 8 to the respective batteries 1 and 2. 9b and. A DC current from an AC adapter (not shown) is supplied to the load 3. This AC adapter supplies DC current to the load 3, trickle charging circuit 7, and short-time charging circuit 8 only when connected to a commercial AC power source.

Further, whether or not the remaining capacity of the battery currently connected to the load 3 has become below a predetermined capacity (for example, 10%) is determined by a control circuit (not shown) based on, for example, the voltage value of the battery. A load switching signal output from the control circuit is supplied to the load connection changeover switch 4a when the remaining capacity becomes lower than a predetermined capacity, and the other battery is connected to the load 3. Is. Of course, the control circuit also detects whether or not the remaining capacity of the battery that is not connected to the load has become less than or equal to a predetermined capacity, and further, the AC adapter determines whether the AC power is supplied to the commercial AC power source or the power source depending on the presence or absence of the current flowing into the power supply. It also detects whether or not the device is connected to the device.

The discharge ON / OFF switch 6a
Is a discharge circuit for discharging the corresponding battery, which receives the discharge ON / OFF switching signal output from the control circuit as an input and discharges the battery disconnected from the load 3 by the load connection changeover switch 4a until the remaining capacity becomes 0%. 5 is connected. When it is detected by the control circuit that the AC adapter is connected to the commercial AC power source, whether the remaining capacity of the battery 1 has become equal to or less than a predetermined capacity is determined by, for example, the voltage value of the battery 1 and the battery 1. It is detected based on the integrated value of the inflowing current, and when the remaining capacity is equal to or less than a predetermined capacity, a charging method switching signal is sent to the charging method switching switch 9a.
When the charging circuit 8 is connected to the battery 1 for a short time by supplying to the battery 1 and the remaining capacity is larger than a predetermined capacity,
The trickle charging circuit 7 is connected to the battery 1 by supplying a charging method switching signal opposite to the above to the charging method switching switch 9a. Since the charging method changeover switch 9b is provided for the battery 2 and operates in the same manner as the charging method changeover switch 9a, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Therefore, also in this embodiment, it is possible to achieve the same operation as the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0020]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the time required from when the battery is in a rechargeable state until the remaining capacity of the battery becomes equal to or more than a predetermined amount can be significantly shortened. The possibility that the device can be operated reliably as a power source can be increased, and after the battery is repeatedly charged and discharged, it is discharged to a remaining capacity of 0% at a certain rate. Since the quick charging is performed, the memory effect can be prevented from occurring, or if the memory effect is occurring, the memory effect can be removed.

The invention of claim 2 has the same effect as that of claim 1.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a power supply device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the power supply device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 battery 4 load connection changeover circuit 4a load connection changeover switch 5 discharge circuit 6 discharge ON / OFF changeover circuit 6a discharge ON / O
FF selector switch 7 Trickle charging circuit 8 Short-time charging circuit 9 Charging system switching circuit 9a, 9b Charging system switching switch

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Selection means (4) (4a) having two rechargeable batteries (1) and (2) as main operating power supplies of the apparatus and selectively selecting one battery as main operating power supply.
A discharging means (5) (6) (6a) for discharging a battery that is no longer selected as a main operating power source; and a battery (1)
The charging means (7), (8), and (9) for charging (2) are used as the charging means (7), (8), (9), (9a), and (9b), and the batteries (1) and (2) remain. A power supply characterized by employing rapid charging in response to the capacity being less than a predetermined amount and trickle charging in response to the remaining capacity of the batteries (1) and (2) being a predetermined amount or more. apparatus. 2. Charging means (7) (8) (9a) (9b)
But short-time charging circuit (8) and trickle charging circuit (7)
And a charging method switching circuit (9a) for selectively connecting each battery to the short-time charging circuit (8) and the trickle charging circuit (7)
(9b), and a charging method switching circuit (9a)
(9b) is a short-time charging circuit for charging the corresponding battery in response to the remaining capacity of the corresponding battery being less than a predetermined amount (8).
Connected to the trickle charging circuit (7) in response to the remaining capacity of the corresponding battery being equal to or more than a predetermined amount.
The power supply device according to claim 1, which is connected to the power supply device.