Contact arrangement having an auxiliary contact
US5854549A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 24, 1996 |
| Grant date | Dec 29, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 24, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02E60/10
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A novel contact arrangement enables selective charging of battery packs or the transfer of information between a battery pack and an electronic device. According to one novel feature of the invention, a charging contact (408) is positioned in a region (410) outside of the area covered by the contacts of conventional cells. Therefore, a charging contact terminal of an electronic device will only apply charging current to rechargeable cells to avoid unintentional charging of any primary cells. According to alternate embodiments, battery contacts can be placed at different locations to selectively charge batteries depending upon the battery type. According to other embodiments, information or data transfer contacts (406) can be located at different locations to enable the transfer of information.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.