Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging – Serially connected batteries or cells – With discharge of cells or batteries
Patent
1992-10-08
1995-09-12
Kincaid, Kristine L.
Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging
Serially connected batteries or cells
With discharge of cells or batteries
320 44, 324427, H02J 704
Patent
active
054499941
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to electrical energy storing devices and more specifically to energy storing for systems comprising microelectronic integrated circuits with memory.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently, there are three main types of electric supply sources for microelectronic circuits (a chip or a complex electronic system having a determined function):
1) the 110 or 220 V mains from which, after voltage lowering by a transformer, rectifying, filtering and controlling or use of switching devices, a D.C. voltage (usually from 5 to 15 volts) is provided to the microelectronic circuit;
2) the battery which is a self-contained supply source for an electronic device;
3) the rechargeable battery or accumulator, which was usually a lead accumulator and which is presently, generally, in the field of electronic circuit feeding, a cadmium-nickel accumulator.
The mains presents of course the advantage of being a large energy source (in as much as the A.C. mains at 110 or 220 V is reliable) but has however major drawbacks, that is, being cumbersome, weighty, noisy, subject to parasites, and not portable.
The non-rechargeable battery has the drawback of a limited lifetime, a rather poor reliability in an hostile environment, and a high cost.
Therefore, the present trend is to use rechargeable accumulators. Self-contained like a battery, an accumulator solves the problem of the lifetime due to the possibility of recharging, the number of recharges varying according to the electrochemical nature of the accumulator. The problem of reliability is however not solved. Additionally, recharging circuits for rechargeable accumulators ape generally relatively complex and generate an electromagnetic noise. Additionally, if they are disposed inside the system to be supplied, they are cumbersome and take an important surface on a printed circuit board provided in the system.
INVENTION SUMMARY
An object of the invention is to provide for an accumulator system with all its recharge and test elements having the form of a self-contained portable component.
A more specific object of the invention is to implement such a self-contained component having the usual credit card format (thin rectangular card of about 85.times.54 cm).
For attaining those objects, the; invention provides for a self-contained portable electronic component having a credit card format comprising at least an accumulator made of a pile of sheets or planar layers, the surface of which is substantially equal to the surface of the credit card, at least a charging circuit and state indicators controlled by a microcontroller associated with means for measuring at short and regularly spaced time intervals the current in the accumulator and means for calculating, storing, and summing the charge variations.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the state indicators comprise an indicator of the residual number of possible recharges associated with the means for summing the charge variations during the discharge phases.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the state indicators comprise a charge ratio indicator associated with the means for summing the charge variations during the charge and discharge phases.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the state indicators comprise an instantaneous consumption indicator associated with means for measuring the voltage variation at regularly spaced time intervals.
Preferentially, the accumulator is an accumulator with a polymer solid state electrolyte made of thin layers having a thickness of 1 to 500 micrometers and having autodischarge characteristics lower than 5% of its nominal capacity per year.
According to an embodiment of the invention, one of the external surfaces of the component comprises a solar cell array. This external face, or the other one, comprises an electrode area for charging, and using and exchanging data with external devices, this electrode area having the standard format of credit card electrodes.
According to an embodiment of
REFERENCES:
patent: 4803416 (1989-02-01), Abiven et al.
patent: 4947123 (1990-08-01), Minezawa
Munishi et al., "Flat Polymer Electrolytes Promise Thin-Film Power", Aug. 1989, pp. 32-35.
Armand Michel
Balme Louis
Silvy Carole
Acep Inc.
Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble
Kincaid Kristine L.
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