Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging – Serially connected batteries or cells – With discharge of cells or batteries
Patent
1983-01-28
1986-09-09
Hickey, R. J.
Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging
Serially connected batteries or cells
With discharge of cells or batteries
320 56, 320 57, H02J 700
Patent
active
046111611
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a rechargeable battery system.
There are a large number of applications today in which dry cells are used. Such applications include lanterns and torches, various transistorised apparatus such as radios, cassette recorders, radio-controlled models.
One of the major problems existing with dry batteries is the fact that they have a short life and are relatively expensive to replace, particularly at short regular intervals. Another disadvantage of the dry cell resides in its use in apparatus which are not operated regularly but are merely used for standby purposes. With these the problem resides in the fact that when a dry cell gets old, there is a significant tendency for it to leak, thus not only making a nasty mess, but also causing significant destruction to the apparatus in which it is situated.
One proposal for getting round both these problems is the replacement of dry batteries by nickel cadmium cells of similar capacity. These cells are rechargeable and thus do not require to be replaced when they become discharged. As a result, the cells have a particularly long life, and are not subject, due to their different construction, to the leaking of dangerous chemicals as they age. However, such replacements are not entirely satisfactory since, if they are to be used as straight dry battery replacements, they require to be removed and individually recharged in an exterior charger provided for this purpose. Particularly, where a number of cells are required, this increases substantially the time necessary to recharge the batteries and the time in which the particular piece of apparatus is nonoperational. The provision of individual battery charges is expensive and, if travelling is involved by the user of the apparatus, either the charger must be carried around as well as the apparatus or the risk of discharging the batteries rendering the apparatus unuseable occurs. Furthermore, where the user of the apparatus travels between countries, a different charger is required on many occasions in the different countries since the electricity supply provided varies from country to country.
Another proposed solution has been to provide apparatus in which the nickel cadmium batteries are built into the apparatus and a charging arrangement has also been built in. This however has the disadvantage that if one wishes to change over from battery operated apparatus to rechargeable apparatus, then it is necessary to scrap the original apparatus and buy new ones. Thus perfectly good apparatus has to be scrapped for an apparatus which is considerably more expensive and which is totally vulnerable to any failure on any part of the cell and charging system. Furthermore, recharging can normally only be carried out with a specific mains supply.
The present invention seeks to provided a rechargeable battery in which some or all of the above disadvantages are obviated or reduced.
According to the invention, there is provided a rechargeable battery characterised in that it comprises a casing designed to fit into a space occupied at present by one or more dry batteries, the casing containing one or more nickel cadmium cells, a charging unit connected to the nickel cadmium cell or cells and means for connecting the charging unit to a supply of electricity.
Preferably the casing is divided into two compartments by a partition, one compartment housing the nickel cadmium cells and the other compartment housing the charging unit. The connecting means for the charging unit may comprise a connector socket opening to the exterior of the casing.
Preferably the charging circuit is of the constant current type and may be constructed to operate either on a.c or d.c.
The construction may also be such that the charger is able to work on virtually any known electricity supply, for example ranging from 12 volts d.c. up to 250 volts a.c.
Where the construction of the apparatus permits, the rechargeable batteries may be charged in situ without the necessity of removing them from the apparatus.
The invention will now be descr
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