Patent · US Expired

Battery charger

US6124698A · kind A · utility

105Cited by
4References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJun 8, 1999
Grant dateSep 26, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 8, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH02J7/0048
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A battery charger determines the completion of battery charge based on a battery temperature and a temperature rise value. In determination, if the battery temperature and the battery rise temperature belong to a region in the map, which tends to occur at the beginning of a final charging period (`In` in a step S334), a low count value "1" is added to a counter (in a step S336). If they belong to a region which tends to occur at the end of the final charging period (`In` in a step S340), a high count value "3" is added to the counter (in a step S340). If the sum of the count values exceeds a set value, completion of battery charge is determined (`High` in a step S348). That is, if temperature rise is large and the temperature rise remains large even with the charging current value being lowered, then a high count value is added to the counter. If temperature rise is large but the temperature rise does not increase very much with the charging current value being lowered, then a low count value is added to the counter. Thus, the battery can be charged to a target capacity without influences of the battery residual capacity, temperature and the like.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.