Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging – Cell or battery charger structure
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-07
2004-05-25
Toatley, Jr., Gregory J. (Department: 2836)
Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging
Cell or battery charger structure
C307S064000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06741064
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power charging system, and more particularly, to a power charging system for portable electric devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In modern society, many people carry portable electric devices, such as a mobile phone, a PDA (personal digital assistant), a hand-held computer, a notebook computer, and so on. Many users carry two or more of these portable devices to access electrical data and interchange information with others. A charging system including a transformer and power cord designed for each portable electric device allows usage of these portable electric devices anytime and anywhere.
The convenience of portable electric devices becomes a disadvantage when users have to carry two or even more (depending on how many portable electric devices they carry) charging systems with them to charge their different portable electric devices. Please refer to FIG.
1
.
FIG. 1
is a schematic diagram illustrating a portable electric device
10
A charging system according to prior art. The portable electric device
10
A has a charging port
12
A for inputting a DC (direct current) working voltage. Two corresponding transformers
16
A and
18
A are used to charge the portable electric device
10
A. An AC (alternating current) power
20
is input via an input port
17
A of the transformer
16
A, altered by the transformer
16
A to the working voltage of the portable electric device
10
A, and output via an output port
14
A of the transformer
16
A. In a similar manner, a DC power
22
is input via an input port
19
A of the transformer
18
A, altered to the working voltage of the portable electric device
10
A, and output via an output port
15
A of the transformer
18
A. Users can select the transformer
16
A or
18
A to charge the portable electric device
10
A by connecting the input port of the transformer to a corresponding power source and connecting the output port of the transformer to the charging port
12
A of the portable electric device
10
A. In conclusion, an input power is first transformed into the specially designed working voltage of a portable device by a corresponding transformer, delivered from the output port of the transformer to the corresponding charging port of the portable electric device, and is finally used to charge the portable electric device.
According to a similar prior art, a portable electric device
10
B, shown in
FIG. 1
, also has a specially designed charging port
12
B for inputting its specially designed working voltage. The transformers
16
B and
18
B respectively have corresponding output ports
14
B and
15
B. An AC power
20
is input via an input port
17
B of the transformer
16
B, altered by the transformer
16
B into the specially designed working voltage of the portable electric device
10
B, and output to the charging port
12
B via the output port
14
B of the transformer
17
B. Similarly, a DC power
22
is input via an input port
19
B of the transformer
18
B, altered to the specially designed working voltage of the portable electric device
10
B, and output to the charging port
12
B via the output port
15
B of the transformer
18
B.
Different portable electric devices have different specially designed working voltages. For example, the working voltage of modern portable electric devices varies from 3 volts to 12 volts. The charging port of each portable electric device also has a different shape and structure. A prior art portable electric device is equipped with its own specially designed transformer. These special transformers convert an input power via their input ports into the specially designed working voltage of the corresponding portable electric device. The output ports of these transformers must match the specially designed charging port of the portable electric device. Thus, when users carry two (or even more) portable electric devices, they have to carry corresponding specially designed transformers to charge their portable electric devices.
According to the prior art shown in
FIG. 1
, although the transformers
16
A and
16
B both can transform the AC power
20
to DC power, the transformed voltages that are output from each transformer are still the two specially designed and often different working voltages of the portable electric devices
10
A and
10
B. The output ports
14
A and
14
B of the transformers
16
A and
16
B also have different shapes. These two reasons make the specially designed transformer
16
A of the portable electric device
10
A incompatible with the portable electric device
10
B. Likewise, the specially designed transformer
16
B of the portable electric device
10
B cannot charge the portable electric device
10
A.
If users plan to charge a portable electric device with two different kinds of power sources, they have to carry at least two different specially designed transformers for each portable electric device to transform different power sources into the specially designed working voltage of the portable electric device. As shown in
FIG. 1
, users have to carry the two specially designed transformers
16
A and
18
A with them to charge the portable electric device
10
A from two different power sources, the DC power
22
and the AC power
20
.
A disadvantage of prior art is that users have to carry each specially designed transformer for each portable electric device to charge the portable electric device. It is obviously quite inconvenient for users to carry every possible charging combination for every portable electric device that they carry. Moreover, the weight and the volume of the transformers
16
A or
16
B, used in transforming AC power to DC power, is hard to further reduce. Additionally, it is also difficult to store power cords (power cords
21
A and
23
A of the transformers
16
A and
18
A) because of their lengths. Any portable electric device needs to be equipped with every kind of specially designed transformer to charge from different power sources, increasing the cost of portable electric devices and restricting the development of the information industry.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a single power charging system to charge a plurality of portable electric devices so as to solve the above mentioned problems.
According to the claimed invention, the charging system for charging a plurality of portable devices includes a corresponding charging port for inputting a working voltage, each of the portable devices having a different working voltage. The charging system includes a plurality of transformers for converting a plurality of different input voltages into a standard DC (direct current) voltage. Each of the transformers has an output port for outputting the standard DC voltage. The charging system includes a power cord that includes a first connection end removably connected to the output port of the transformer for inputting the standard DC voltage and a second connection end for outputting the standard DC voltage. The charging system also includes a plurality of converters to change the standard DC voltage into the corresponding working voltages of the plurality of portable devices. Each of the converters includes an input port removably connected to the second connection end of the power cord for receiving the standard DC voltage and an output port removably connected to the charging port of a portable device for outputting the working voltage of the portable device. When charging portable devices, users can connect the power cord to the corresponding converter and to any one of the transformers, using the standard DC voltage to charge the plurality of the portable devices.
It is an advantage of the claimed invention that a single power charging system can charge a plurality of portable electric devices.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5280229 (1994-01-01), Faude et al.
patent: 6091611 (2000-07-01), Lanni
patent: 6184652 (2001-02-01), Yang
patent: 6204637 (2001-03-01), Rengan
patent: 6211649 (2001-04-01), Matsuda
Liu Sen-Hsiang
Tu Wei-Chen
Hsu Winston
Primax Electronics Ltd.
Toatley , Jr. Gregory J.
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