Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging – Battery or cell discharging – With charging
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-15
2002-02-05
Wong, Peter S. (Department: 2838)
Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging
Battery or cell discharging
With charging
Reexamination Certificate
active
06344731
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery gauging device, and in particular, to a battery gauging device, which can exactly display on a terminal the charged capacity of a chargable battery in the course of charging.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1
is a block diagram illustrating the conventional battery gauging device in a mobile telecommunication terminal during a battery charging.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, the conventional battery gauging device in a mobile telecommunication terminal during a battery charging comprises: a charger
101
for converting a received alternate current (AC) to a direct current (DC), and controlling the charging and discharging of a battery
102
a
; a battery pack
102
for receiving the DC, and charging an electric charge into the battery
102
a
; and a mobile telecommunication terminal
103
for receiving an output voltage BAT+ of the battery pack
102
, and displaying the charged capacity of the battery
102
a
by measuring the voltage BAT+ of the battery
102
a.
Here, the battery pack
102
comprises: the battery
102
a
for charging the electric charge; a charging/discharging controller
102
b
for controlling charging and discharging of the battery
102
a
, and protecting a circuit; and a switch
102
c
for switching on or off the DC inputted to the battery
102
a
under a control by the charging/discharging controller
102
b.
The mobile telecommunication terminal
103
comprises: a system electric power section
103
a
for receiving the DC voltage BAT+ outputted from the battery pack
102
, and supplying the power of the system; a battery gauging section
103
b
for converting a level of the DC voltage BAT+ to a digital signal; and a mobile station modem
103
c
as a microprocessor for receiving the digital signal from the battery gauging section
103
b
, and displaying the capacity of the battery
102
a
on the display section
103
c.
A thermistor
102
d
is connected to a ground terminal of the battery
102
a
, which converts the temperature of the battery
102
a
to an electric signal, to control charging and discharging of the battery
102
a
in accordance with the temperature. The charger
101
detects a voltage TH of the thermistor
102
d
, and checks the temperature of the battery
102
a
to control the charging and discharging of the battery
102
in accordance with the temperature.
The following is a brief explanation of an operation of the battery gauging device during a battery charging of a mobile telecommunication terminal having the above construction.
Once inputted to the charger
101
, the AC is converted to the DC of a proper level required to charge the battery pack
102
, and outputted. The DC is applied to the battery
102
through the switch
102
c
so as to charge the battery
102
a.
The charging/discharging controller
102
b
is connected to the positive terminal + and a negative terminal to detect the voltage of the battery
102
a
, and interrupts charging by switching off the switch
102
c
when the voltage of the battery
102
a
reaches a predetermined value.
The charging/discharging controller
102
b
plays a role of preventing an excessive charge of the battery
102
a
above a predetermined voltage as well as of preventing an excessive discharge below a predetermined voltage. The charging/discharging controller
102
also plays a role of preventing an excessive current due to a short as well as protecting a circuit by preventing charging under the temperature higher than a predetermined one.
The DC inputted from the charger
101
to the battery pack
102
charges the battery
102
a
, and supplies an electric power to the terminal
103
while the charged voltage becomes an output voltage BAT+ of the battery pack
102
and is inputted to the terminal
103
for charging.
To be specific, the voltage of the battery
102
a
is not inputted to the terminal
103
during the charging. Instead, the DC voltage inputted from the charger
101
to the battery pack
102
is inputted to the terminal
103
.
If the output voltage BAT+ of the battery pack
102
is inputted to the terminal
103
, it is detected by the MSM
103
c
, which subsequently transmits a “switch-on” signal to the electric power section
103
a
of the system so as to receive the output voltage BAT+ of the battery pack
102
and supply a power to the terminal
103
.
At this stage, the battery gauging section
103
b
receives the voltage BAT+ inputted from the terminal
103
from the system electric power section
103
a
, and converts the voltage level to a digital signal for transmission to the MSM
103
c
. Then, the MSM
103
c
displays a capacity of the battery
102
a
through the display section
103
d
in accordance with the transmitted digital signal.
As described above, however, the DC inputted to the battery pack
102
from the charger
101
charges the battery
102
a
, and at the same time, the output voltage BAT+ is inputted to the terminal
103
so that the voltage of the battery
102
a
may not be inputted to the terminal
103
during the charging but that the DC voltage inputted from the charger
101
to the battery pack
102
can be inputted to the terminal.
Thus, the output voltage BAT+ of the battery pack
102
, which has been received from the system electric power section
103
a
by the battery gauging section
103
b
of the terminal
103
is not a voltage from the battery
102
a
but the voltage from the charger
101
. Therefore, the charged capacity of the battery
102
displayed on the display section
103
d
is always indicated to be full.
As described above, the conventional battery gauging device during a battery charging has a drawback of failing to display a capacity of the battery because of inability to measure voltage of the battery
102
a
since the DC voltage inputted from the charger
101
is inputted directly to the power supply of the terminal
103
during the battery charging.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a battery gauging device during a battery charging, which can exactly display the charged capacity of a battery even in the course of a battery charging by regularly interrupting the voltage inputted to the battery and measuring the voltage of the battery at that time during the charging.
To achieve the above object, there is provided a battery gauging device during a battery charging according to the present invention, comprising: a charger for converting an AC voltage to a DC voltage, and outputting the converted voltage; a battery pack including a battery for charging an electric charge, first switching means for switching on/off the DC voltage, and second switching means being switched on/off by a battery charge enable (BCE) signal so as to temporarily discharging the charged capacity during the battery charging; and a terminal including a battery gauging section for gauging charged capacity inputted from the battery pack, and a microprocessor for outputting the BCE signal to the switching means, and displaying the gauged value to the display section.
Preferably, the battery pack includes a charging/discharging controller for controlling charging and discharging of the battery and protecting an internal circuit by controlling switch on/off of the first switching means so as to control supply of the DC voltage inputted from the charger to the battery; and temperature detection means connected to a ground terminal of the battery for detecting temperature of the battery, and converting the temperature value to an electric signal for output of the same.
Preferably, the terminal includes a system electric power section for receiving an output voltage of the battery pack from the terminal, and supplying a power to constitutional elements inside thereof, and outputting a voltage for battery gauging to the battery gauging section.
Preferably, the first and the second switching means are field effect transistors (FET).
More preferably, the second switching
Fleshner & Kim LLP
LG Electronics Inc.
Tibbits Pia
Wong Peter S.
LandOfFree
Battery gauging device during battery charging does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Battery gauging device during battery charging, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Battery gauging device during battery charging will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2979301