HK1190234B - Movable devices and method of charging the same - Google Patents

Description

Mobile device and charging method thereof

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a mobile device with an electronic apparatus, and more particularly, to a mobile device with an electronic apparatus and a charging method thereof.

Background

With the continuous development of the commercial and public service industry, mobile devices such as portable trolleys and luggage carts are widely applied to public places such as malls, supermarkets and airports, and are convenient for users to carry luggage and articles. In order to enable a user to conveniently and timely acquire more consumption or related information in the using process, electronic playing equipment is installed on the existing trolley and luggage van so as to facilitate the information acquisition of the user and the playing of position information, navigation information, advertisement information and other related information by a merchant. However, since the charging of the current vehicles depends on the fixed external power connector, the number of the rechargeable vehicles is limited by the external power connector, and it is difficult to simultaneously charge a large number of vehicles in a large public place with hundreds of carts. Therefore, there is a lot of inconvenience in use.

In addition, the safety use of the trolley and the luggage van is also influenced by the exposed power interface on the trolley body, so that the operation process is complicated and inconvenient to use.

Furthermore, the existing charging mode needs to be externally connected with fixed power connectors, the number of the connectors is also huge, the management is inconvenient, and the economical efficiency is poor.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile device capable of being charged and a charging method for the mobile device, so as to solve at least one of the above problems of the prior art.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a charging method of a mobile device, the mobile device including a body, a charging module mounted on the body, and a charging connection socket mounted on the body, the charging connection socket being connected to the charging device, the charging method including: and connecting a plurality of mobile devices in series through the charging connecting seats to realize batch charging of the mobile devices. Therefore, a large number of external fixed power supply interfaces are not needed, a large amount of space is saved, and the cost of equipment is reduced.

The mobile device can detect the current of the power supply bus flowing through the charging module of the mobile device, and control the charging current for charging the mobile device according to the detection result so as to preferentially charge other mobile devices behind the mobile device.

Generally, the dc power supply has a limited load capacity and there are a limited number of vehicles that can be charged simultaneously. According to the mode, under the condition that a plurality of mobile devices connected in series are charged together, the mobile devices connected later are charged first, so that the mobile devices at the tail parts of the mobile devices (such as a trolley or a luggage van) connected in series and stacked in series are charged preferentially all the time, and the method is suitable for the common condition that the vehicles connected in series at the tail parts of the stacked vehicles are always used first. Moreover, the method can enable the manager not to worry about the problem of vehicle number limitation that whether the load capacity of the direct current power supply can sufficiently provide charging current for the charging vehicle.

In some embodiments, the charging connector holder includes an insulating housing, a male connector at one end of the housing and a female connector at the other end of the housing, the male connector and the female connector each having an electrode, and an electrode tab inside the housing and electrically connected to a pair of the male connector and the female connector, respectively.

When the mobile device bodies are stacked, the male head of the charging connecting seat of the rear mobile device is connected to the female seat of the charging connecting seat of the front mobile device, so that the mobile devices are connected in series and charged. Therefore, batch charging of a plurality of mobile devices can be realized, and only one external power supply interface is needed, so that the mobile device charging system has better economy.

In some embodiments, the charging module comprises a bus current detection module, the method comprising: when the bus current detection module detects that the bus current flowing through the charging module of the mobile equipment reaches or approaches the load limit current of the direct current power supply, the charging current of the charging module of the mobile equipment is temporarily cut off. Therefore, the vehicles connected in series at the tail part are charged preferentially all the time, the condition that when the vehicles at the tail part are taken by users, the vehicles have enough energy as far as possible is met, and the problem that the number of the vehicles is limited by a manager who does not need to worry about whether the load capacity of the direct current power supply can sufficiently provide charging current for the charging vehicles or not can be solved.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile device, comprising a body, a charging module mounted on the body, and a charging connection socket mounted on the body and connected to the charging module, wherein the charging connection socket comprises a male socket at one end and a female socket at the other end, and two electrodes connected to each other inside the charging connection socket, when the mobile devices are stacked front and back, the male socket of the charging connection socket of the rear mobile device is connected to the female socket of the charging connection socket of the front mobile device, so as to connect a plurality of the mobile devices in series for charging.

In the case of charging a plurality of mobile devices connected in series together, batch charging can be conveniently realized while the trolleys are compactly stacked in the front-rear direction, and the mobile devices (trolleys, luggage carts and the like) stacked from the rear are always charged preferentially by arrangement of a last-in first-out mode in the batch charging of the trolleys, so that the charging and the use of the mobile devices in a large batch in a public place are more convenient.

Drawings

Some embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cart batch charging scheme in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a cart with an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic view of a charging connection socket according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic view of the internal structure of the charging connection socket shown in fig. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the charging connection sockets of FIG. 3 connected in series and connected to an external charging power supply;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an ac-dc converter used in a batch charging scheme according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the female housing of the AC-DC converter shown in FIG. 6;

fig. 8 is a schematic view of stacking of carts in a batch charging arrangement in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

For ease of illustration and understanding, the following description of the embodiments refers to a cart as an example of a mobile device. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be applied to any mobile device, such as a cart.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a mobile device (cart) batch charging scheme according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, each of the blocks 101, 102, 103, … represents a charging module for a cart. Each charging module includes a respective bus current detection module 1011, 1021, 1031, …, a controllable DC voltage reduction module 1012, 1022, 1032, …, a battery charging management circuit 1013, 1023, 1033, …, and a charging battery 1014, 1024, 1034, …. The modules may have the same structure. The rechargeable battery can adopt a lithium battery.

For example, the charging module 101 includes a bus current detection module 1011, and the current detection module 1011 can be implemented in a conventional manner. For example, a current detection module is composed of a hall current detection sensor, an MCU (micro controller chip unit) with an a/D input terminal, and peripheral circuits thereof. Two pins (IP +, IP-) of the Hall current detection sensor for connecting an external current path to be detected are connected in series between a male head and a female seat of the same metal electrode (anode or cathode) of the power supply bus for charging the vehicle, and at the moment, the open circuit must be kept between the male head and the female seat of the metal electrode connected with the Hall current detection sensor. The Hall current detection sensor outputs output voltage corresponding to the magnitude of the current of the bus to be detected from the isolation output end of the sensor by detecting the current of the power supply bus flowing through the sensor. The voltage value is input into an A/D input end of the MCU, converted by an A/D conversion circuit in the MCU and processed by a conventional processing program, and then the specific current value flowing through the power supply bus for charging the vehicle can be obtained.

The detected current value flowing through the power supply bus of the module is the total charging power supply current value of the trolley connected in series behind the module.

When the detected current value is very close to the limit current of the power supply, if the charging module of the vehicle is powered at the moment, the power supply can be subjected to overload protection, so that all vehicles cannot be charged. Therefore, the MCU outputs a control signal to close the DC voltage reduction module through the I/O port connected with the controllable DC voltage reduction module Enable (EN) control input end at the moment to stop the DC voltage reduction module, so that the power supply of the charging part of the vehicle is cut off, and the charging power supply of the vehicle behind the vehicle is ensured.

When the current value of the power supply bus for charging the vehicle, which is obtained by the MCU, is lower than a predetermined value, that is, the number of the rear carts (correspondingly, the total charging current) does not reach a preset threshold (the total output current threshold of the charging power supply minus the rated charging current of the vehicle), so that the overload protection of the charging power supply due to the superposition of the charging current of the vehicle is avoided, the MCU outputs a control signal through the I/O port connected to the control input terminal of the controllable voltage-reducing DC module Enable (EN) to start the DC voltage-reducing module to operate in the voltage-reducing conversion mode, so as to supply +5V power to the charging management part of the vehicle, and the vehicle starts to be charged.

The hall current detecting element can be a related product of the company allegoro, and the specific model is determined according to the maximum current value which can be provided by the charging direct-current power supply. For example, when the maximum power supply current is 40A, ACS758LCB-050B-PFF-T in ACS758XCB series of the company can be selected, and the detected current value ranges to plus or minus 50A. The MCU may use the RL78 series of RENESAS chips with A/D input ports.

In addition, the current detection module can also be composed of a high-precision voltage comparator and a peripheral circuit thereof. Because two power supply metal electrodes (positive and negative electrodes) for supplying power when the vehicles are stacked and charged in batches are arranged at the bottom of the vehicle, each metal electrode is provided with a male head and a female seat, a certain distance is reserved between the male head and the female seat of the same metal electrode, and a certain internal resistance is formed between the male head and the female seat of the same electrode, when a larger current flows through the electrodes, a certain voltage difference exists between the male head and the female seat of the same electrode, and the magnitude of the bus current flowing through the electrodes can also be indirectly judged by detecting and comparing the magnitude of the voltage difference between the male head and the female seat of the same electrode. The internal resistance of the electrodes is limited, and for the power supply bus, the voltage difference generated between the two ends of the electrodes (between the male and female seats) is very low even when a large current passes through the same electrode of the same vehicle, so a high-precision voltage comparator is considered. Two ends (a male head and a female seat) of the same electrode are respectively connected with two input ends of the comparator through peripheral circuits, and a signal output by the output end of the comparator is used for controlling an Enable (EN) input end of the controllable step-down DC conversion, so that the aim of controlling whether the charging part of the vehicle supplies power or not through bus current detection can be achieved.

In this embodiment, the male connector of the charging connection socket of the first vehicle is first connected to the female socket (for example, 1500W, 2000W or 3000W) matched with the ac/dc conversion device, and then connected to the power supply through the female socket.

The input of the controllable DC buck module 1012 is connected to one pole of the bulk charge power bus near the male. The rechargeable battery 1013 is connected between the voltage output of the controllable DC buck module 1012 and the other pole of the bulk charging power bus near the female housing. The controllable DC voltage reduction module 1012 may be composed of a DC voltage reduction conversion chip with an Enable (EN) control terminal and a peripheral circuit thereof, which can operate in a wide input voltage range and provide a large load current, or may be composed of a DC voltage reduction controller with an Enable (EN) control terminal and a peripheral circuit thereof, which can operate in a wide input voltage range and provide a large load current.

The selection of the specific operating voltage range of the buck conversion chip and the buck conversion controller of the DC buck module portion is determined according to the actually selected output voltage of the DC power supply located at the front end of the power supply, for example, the output voltage specifications of the selectable DC power supply include: DC7.5V, DC12V, DC24V and DC27.5V, when the maximum continuous load current of a single vehicle during charging is about 4.2A/5V, a DC conversion chip working in an input voltage range of DC5.5V-DC 36V can be selected, the continuously output load current can reach at least 5A, and the output voltage can be adjusted in a certain range. For the step-down conversion chip, for example, TPS5450 by TI, RT8279 by RICHTEK, or the like can be used.

The charging management circuit can adopt the existing lithium battery charging management integrated circuit with charging process control, such as serial chips of Shenzhen Huatai electronic HB6293A, and the chips integrate all charging process management and control required by lithium battery charging, including: management and control of charging processes such as pre-charging, constant current and constant voltage.

As can be seen from the arrangement shown in fig. 1, in the batch charging arrangement of the invention, the charging device of each trolley forms a circuit which is connected in parallel between the two poles of the power supply bus.

Fig. 2 shows an example of a cart in which the charging connection socket is mounted at the bottom of the cart. Fig. 3 shows an example of a charging connection socket in the trolley.

As shown in fig. 3, the charging connector holder 30 includes an insulative housing 35, two male terminals 31, 31 'and two female terminals 32, 32'. The male portion 31 'has an electrode 33 thereon, and the male portion 31' has an electrode 33 thereon. The female seat 32, 32 'has an opening of a shape corresponding to the male head 31, 31' to receive the male head. The housing 35 is formed with interfaces 351, 351' for connecting the conductive wires of the charging module into the charging connector socket 30.

Fig. 4 shows an internal structure of the charging connector holder 30. As shown, the housing 35 of the charging connection socket 30 contains two copper-plated electrode pads 34, 34' insulated from each other. One end of the copper-plated electrode sheet 34 is electrically connected with the electrode 33, and the other end is electrically connected with the reed electrode 321 for three-way contact on the female seat 32; one end of the copper-plated electrode sheet 34 'is electrically connected to the electrode 33', and the other end is electrically connected to the reed electrode 321 'for three-side contact on the female socket 32'. The reed electrodes 321, 321' each include a bottom end electrically connected to the copper-plated electrode sheet, and elastic reeds respectively protruding from the middle and both sides of the bottom end. The three spring reeds of the reed electrode 321 are adapted to the electrode 33 on the male portion 31 so that when a male portion on a charging module of another cart is inserted into the female portion, the three reed electrodes grip the electrode on the inserted male portion and form an electrical connection. The electrodes of the two male connectors 31, 31 'are insulated from each other, and the electrodes of the two female connectors 32, 32' are insulated from each other.

The copper-plated electrodes 34, 34 'are also provided with connection screw holes 341, 341' into which conductive wires of the charging module 101 and the like are inserted. The connection screw holes 341, 341 'communicate with the interfaces 351, 351' on the housing 35 for the conductive circuit to access.

It is preferable that the inside of the charging socket 30 is formed integrally with the housing 35. This makes the entire charging connection socket more robust.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that although the carts are connected in series by the charging connection sockets to form an electrical connection, the charging modules are connected in parallel in the charging power supply buses (as shown in fig. 1), and the charging power supply bus portion of each cart is a connection node for the charging module of the cart to be powered. The series connection of a plurality of vehicles is equivalent to that a plurality of independent charging parts are hung on the power supply bus, and the charging parts are in parallel connection.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the charging connection sockets of the carts connected in series and connected to the power supply terminal when the carts are stacked in series. In this figure, the supply terminal of the power supply is connected to the charging connection socket 30 of the first trolley via a conventional ac-dc converter 50 (e.g. 1500W, 2000W or 3000W).

Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of the external structure of the ac-dc converter 50. (a) The case with the housing 500, and the case with the housing 500 removed (b). As shown, the apparatus 50 further includes a female socket 501, an ac-dc conversion module 504, a switch 502, an indicator light 503, and the like. The ac-DC conversion module may be commercially available products, such as SP-320 series of taiwan minwegian company, with a maximum output power of 320W, and the selected DC output voltage specifications may be DC7.5V, DC12V, DC24V, and DC 27V. Therefore, the detailed description is omitted to avoid the confusion with the essential parts of the present invention.

The female socket 501 may have the same structure as that of the charging jack 30, as shown in fig. 7. Which has openings 5011, 5011' of a shape corresponding to the male of the charging connection socket to accommodate the male. One reed electrode 521, 521 'is disposed in each of the two openings 5011, 5011', and has the same structure as the reed electrode 321 in the female socket of the charging jack 30. The reed electrodes 521 and 521 'are connected to the dc output terminal of the ac/dc converter 50 through copper-plated electrode pieces 54 and 54', respectively, which are insulated from each other.

A method of batch charging according to an embodiment of the present invention is explained below.

When several carts are stacked together as shown in fig. 8 for charging (the principle of a single cart is the same), the bus current detection module of each cart detects the current of the power supply bus at the bottom of the cart. As shown in fig. 8, the electrode (charging connection socket) in the charging device is mounted on the bottom of the vehicle, i.e., the power supply bus is provided on the bottom of the vehicle.

And the bus current detection module controls the working state of the DC step-down conversion module according to the detection result of the power supply bus current. In the present embodiment, an index of "load limit current" is adopted. The index refers to the maximum load current value which can be provided by the output end of the direct current power supply, when the actual load current is lower than or equal to the limit current of the power load, the direct current power supply can normally supply power to the load, when the actual load current exceeds the maximum load current value which can be provided by the power supply, the power supply starts overload protection, at the moment, the power supply is closed to output, the load is not supplied with power, and the charging cannot be carried out. According to the scheme shown in fig. 1, the current of the power supply bus detected at the charging module closest to the dc power supply is the largest. When the bus current detection module detects that the power supply bus current flowing through the bottom of the vehicle reaches or is very close to the load limit current of the front-end 32V direct current power supply, the voltage reduction DC conversion chip of the vehicle is closed, and the charging current of the vehicle is temporarily cut off, so that the power supply can provide enough charging current for the vehicles behind the vehicle.

The charging process of the battery is automatically managed and controlled by the charging management chip according to preset parameters. There may be differences in different charge management chip pre-set values. For example, the charging management chip generally operates in a pre-charging state when the battery voltage is lower than 3V, and the charging current is controlled to be about 20% of the constant current charging current by changing parameters of peripheral circuits of the charging management chip. When the battery voltage is charged to be higher than 3V, the charging management chip automatically switches to the constant-current charging process. In the constant current charging process, the charging current is kept constant, and the magnitude of the charging current can be preset by setting relevant parameters of a peripheral circuit of the charging management chip.

When the battery voltage is charged to the preset full-charge voltage (generally, the lithium battery is set to be 4.2V), the charging management chip automatically switches to the constant-voltage charging process, in the constant-voltage charging process, the charging voltage is constant, the charging current gradually decreases along with the charging, when the constant-voltage charging current decreases to about 10% of the constant-current charging current, the charging management chip switches to a stop state, and the charging process is completed.

When the current detecting module of the vehicle detects that the current of the charging power supply bus positioned at the vehicle (namely the total current charged by the vehicles positioned behind the vehicle) reaches or is very close to the load limit of the power supply, the current detecting module of the vehicle outputs corresponding levels to turn off the voltage reduction DC module of the vehicle, and the charging current of the vehicle is temporarily cut off so as to ensure that the vehicles positioned behind the vehicle have enough current for charging power supply. If the charging and power supplying step-down DC conversion chip of the vehicle is started to supply power for the charging management circuit of the vehicle, namely the vehicle is charged, the charging current of the vehicle is superposed with the charging current of the vehicles behind, so that the bus current exceeds the load limit of the direct-current power supply, the direct-current power supply is subjected to overload protection, the power supply output is turned off, and all the vehicles connected with charging cannot finish charging.

When the vehicle behind the host vehicle is charged and enters the constant voltage charging process, the bus current flowing through the host vehicle will decrease successively. Since the charging current of all the vehicles behind flows through the charging power supply bus metal electrode of the vehicle in front, the change of the charging current of the vehicle in back can be detected by the bus current detection module of the vehicle in front. The current flowing through the power supply bus for charging the front vehicle is unchanged in the constant-current charging stage, and when a certain trolley is charged at a constant voltage, the charging current is gradually reduced along with the progress of charging, and the change of the current is detected by the vehicle current detection module positioned in front of the trolley.

When the vehicle bus current detection module detects that the power supply bus current flowing through the vehicle (not the charging current of the vehicle) drops to the current capable of charging the vehicle, the vehicle bus current detection module outputs a corresponding level to control the buck DC conversion module of the vehicle to operate in the buck DC conversion state, and supplies +5V power to the charging management circuit (for example, as indicated by reference numerals 1013, 1023, and 1033 in fig. 1) of the vehicle, and the charging management circuit controls the charging process of the battery. The charging management circuits 1013, 1023, 1033 in fig. 1 may be provided inside the electronic device of the armrest portion of the vehicle, and control the supply of power to the charging battery of the vehicle.

The foregoing disclosure discloses only a few specific embodiments of the invention. The invention is not limited thereto, and equivalent variations to the disclosure made by those skilled in the art based on the technical means available thereto are intended to fall within the scope of the present invention.

For example, in another embodiment, the output of the ac/DC conversion device 50 may be directly 5V to 6V, and the lithium battery may be directly charged, and the step-down DC with the enable EN of each vehicle may be replaced with a controllable electronic switch without being required.

Claims (10)

1. A charging method of a mobile device, the mobile device comprising a body, a charging module mounted on the body, and a charging connecting seat mounted on the body, the charging connecting seat being connected with a charging device, the method comprising:

connecting a plurality of mobile devices in series through the charging connecting seat to realize batch charging of the mobile devices;

the mobile device detects the current of the power supply bus flowing through the charging module of the mobile device, and controls the charging current of the mobile device according to the detection result so as to preferentially charge other mobile devices behind the mobile device.

2. The method for charging a mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the charging connector holder comprises a male connector at one end and a female connector at the other end, and two electrodes inside the charging connector holder, when a plurality of mobile device bodies are stacked, the male connector of the charging connector holder of the rear mobile device is connected to the female connector of the charging connector holder of the front mobile device, so as to connect and charge the plurality of mobile devices in series.

3. The method of charging a mobile device of claim 1, wherein the charging module comprises a bus current detection module, the method comprising: and when the bus current detection module detects that the bus current flowing through the charging module of the mobile equipment reaches or approaches the load limit current of the direct current power supply, the charging current of the charging module of the mobile equipment is cut off.

4. The charging method of a mobile device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the supply bus current flowing through the charging module itself is the charging circuit supply bus current of all mobile devices connected in series behind the mobile device.

5. The charging method of the mobile device according to claim 3, wherein the bus current detection module detects the bus current through a Hall current sensor; or

The bus current detection module judges the magnitude of the bus current flowing through the electrode by detecting and comparing the voltage difference between the male head and the female seat of the same electrode.

6. The mobile equipment comprises a body, a charging module arranged on the body and a charging connecting seat arranged on the body and connected with the charging module, wherein the charging connecting seat can be connected with the charging connecting seats of other mobile equipment, and a plurality of mobile equipment are connected in series through the charging connecting seats to realize batch charging of the plurality of mobile equipment; wherein the charging module includes:

and the bus current detection module is used for detecting the power supply bus current flowing through the charging module, controlling the charging current of the mobile equipment according to the detection result and preferentially charging other mobile equipment behind the mobile equipment.

7. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the charging connection receptacle comprises:

an insulating shell body is arranged in the shell body,

a male head at one end of the housing and a female socket at the other end, the male head and female socket having electrodes, respectively, an

Electrode plates which are respectively and electrically connected with the male head and the female seat are arranged in the shell,

when the mobile devices are stacked front and back, the male head of the charging connecting seat of the rear mobile device is connected to the female seat of the charging connecting seat of the front mobile device, so that the mobile devices are connected in series for charging.

8. The mobile device of claim 7, wherein each of the female sockets includes a reed electrode including a bottom end electrically connected to the electrode pad, and elastic reeds respectively protruding from a middle portion and both sides of the bottom end, the elastic reeds being fitted to the electrode of the male connector so that when the female socket is inserted by the male connector of another charging connection socket, the reed electrode clamps the electrode of the inserted male connector and forms an electrical connection.

9. The mobile device of any of claims 6-8, wherein the charging module further comprises:

and the battery charging management circuit manages the power supply of the rechargeable battery.

10. The mobile device of any of claims 6-8, wherein the charging module further comprises:

and the controllable DC voltage reduction module receives the control signal of the bus current detection module and provides charging current for the rechargeable battery according to the control signal.