Battery pack

Details Battery pack Battery pack

2000-06-22

2001-08-07

Wong, Peter S. (Department: 2838)

Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging

Cell or battery charger structure

For battery pack

CD13S103000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06271644

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a battery pack capable of replacing a plurality of primary or secondary batteries, and more particularly to a battery pack which is easy-to-use and remarkably safe.
2. Description of the Background Art
Most of the currently prevailing portable electronic devices, including portable audio players of various kinds, PDAs (personal digital assistance) as typified by electronic notepads, and portable electronic games, use primary batteries, such as manganese batteries, alkaline batteries, or secondary batteries, such as nickel-cadmium batteries, as their power source. Such portable electronic apparatuses are generally designed to house a plurality of such batteries in a battery case and obtain necessary voltage therefrom.
FIG. 9
shows an example of such conventional art, wherein a battery case
41
is provided on the rear side of a portable electronic game to house 1.5V size AA batteries
42
and
43
and obtain 3V operating voltage therefrom. The battery case
41
comprises storage structures
44
and
45
separated by partition
46
to house batteries
42
and
43
, respectively. A terminal board
47
positioned by the side of the positive terminal of the battery
42
comprises a positive battery terminal
48
in the shape of a ridging swell which is in contact with the positive terminal of battery
42
. On the other hand, a terminal board
50
positioned by the side of the negative terminal of the battery
42
comprises a negative battery terminal
49
in the shape of a spring which is in contact with the negative terminal of the battery
42
. Similarly, a positive battery terminal
51
, and a negative battery terminal
52
which is connected to a terminal board
53
are positioned by the side of the positive and negative terminals of the battery
43
, respectively, while the positive battery terminal
51
and the negative battery terminal
49
for the battery
42
commonly share the terminal board
50
. In this structure, 2 size AA batteries are connected in series and 3V operating voltage is supplied to a positive input
54
and a negative input
55
of the power source of the electronic apparatus.
When the batteries
42
and
43
run out as a result of using the electronic apparatus, both batteries should be removed from the battery case and replaced with 2 unused batteries. In this case, those used batteries removed from the battery case easily get scattered and lost, causing inconvenience to users. In addition, when used batteries get scattered, they are often mixed up with unused batteries, which may result in erroneous loading of a used battery in a battery case with an unused one. Further, in the case of portable games, the users, especially children including those under school age, may not be able to insert batteries
42
and
43
in a battery case in the right direction. Such co-use of used and unused batteries, or insertion of batteries in the wrong direction not only causes failures in the electronic apparatus, but also endangers the safety of its users.
Moreover, when a positive terminal and a negative terminal of the conventional battery are connected electrically by any means, the circuit becomes short-circuited. This problem of short circuits, which may be caused by inappropriate storage of batteries or any other factors, raises concerns in terms of safety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a battery pack which is easy to use and safe in that problems of co-use of used and unused batteries, misplacement of batteries in the wrong direction, and short circuits can be avoided in advance.
According to this invention, a battery pack is capable of replacing a plurality of primary or secondary batteries and comprises at least one battery body, a battery holder to house the battery body, and a pair of positive and negative terminals, wherein a recess is formed at one end of the battery holder to house a negative battery terminal positioned in a battery case for storing the battery pack.
The recess can be formed by a sidewall extending on one side end of said battery body. The battery holder may include a groove extending in the longitudinal direction thereof which is capable of housing a battery partition positioned in said battery case. The battery body may be either a primary or secondary battery. Where the battery body is a secondary battery, it is preferable that the battery holder includes a pair of charging terminals which are electrically connected to the positive terminal and the negative terminal, respectively, so that discharged batteries can be recharged and reused repeatedly.
When a plurality of battery bodies are to be housed, it is preferable that the battery pack includes wires to connect said battery bodies in series and a contact point positioned between said wires. The contact point can be so structured that the contact point turns into a conducting state by switching means provided on a lid of a battery case. The switching means may be a projection protruded from the bottom plane of said lid of the battery case so that the projection pushes the contact point when the lid is closed. It is preferable that the contact point is placed in a position apart from the center of the top plane of the battery holder.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5489486 (1996-02-01), Glover
patent: 5521022 (1996-05-01), Petzl
patent: 6120932 (2000-09-01), Slipy et al.

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