JP2002008611A - Battery pack, charging device and charging method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To enable charging of different types of battery cells with a simple configuration. SOLUTION: A first battery pack 100 includes a lower surface 10a of a casing 10 and contact terminals 11, 12 continuously exposed on a front surface 10b. The second battery pack 200 includes a lower surface 20a of the casing 20;
It has contact terminals 21 and 22 continuously exposed on the front surface 20b. When the first battery pack 100 is stored in the storage section 30 of the charging device 300, the contact terminals 11 and 12 are connected to the charging pins 3 exposed at the bottom 30 a of the storage section 30.
Touch 1. When the second battery pack 200 is stored in the storage section 30 of the charging device 300, the contact terminals 21 and 22 contact the charging pins 32 exposed on the reference surface 30b of the storage section 30. The charging device 300 sets the charging voltage and the charging current output from the charging pin 31 and the charging voltage and the charging current output from the charging pin 32 to different magnitudes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery pack having a built-in rechargeable battery cell, and a charging device for storing and charging the battery pack. The present invention relates to a rechargeable battery pack and a charging device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As portable electronic devices such as mobile telephone devices have become widespread, opportunities to use battery packs containing rechargeable battery cells have increased. A charging device for charging a battery cell built in such a battery pack usually corresponds to the type of the battery cell (for example, a lithium ion battery, a NiCd (Ni-Cd) battery, a nickel hydride ion battery, etc.) Charging is performed individually using a dedicated device.

[0003]

In the above prior art, battery packs having different types of battery cells have to be mounted on separate charging devices and charged.
It was inconvenient.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and provides a battery pack and a charging apparatus capable of appropriately charging different types of battery cells with a simple configuration, and a charging method using the same. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a battery pack according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises:
The contact terminals are continuously exposed on the lower surface and the surface perpendicular to the lower surface, and the length of the contact terminals exposed on the lower surface and the surface of the contact terminals exposed on the surface perpendicular to the lower surface are exposed. Wherein the length of the contact terminal has a predetermined size corresponding to the type of the built-in secondary battery.

According to the present invention, the contact terminal has the lower surface,
The length of the part exposed on the lower surface and the length of the part exposed on the surface perpendicular to the lower surface and the length of the part exposed on the surface perpendicular to the lower surface are built in. Has a predetermined dimension corresponding to the type. Thereby, it is possible to receive electric power from the charging pin provided at a predetermined position and perform charging according to the type of the built-in secondary battery, and to use different types of batteries by a charging device having only one storage unit. Enables cell charging. That is, it is possible to charge different types of battery cells with a simple configuration.

[0007] A charging device according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises:
A contact terminal is continuously exposed on the lower surface and a surface perpendicular to the lower surface, and the contact terminal exposed on the lower surface has a first length and is exposed on a surface perpendicular to the lower surface. Contact terminal
A contact terminal is continuously exposed on the first battery pack having a length of the first battery pack, the lower surface, and a surface perpendicular to the lower surface, and the contact terminal exposed on the lower surface is smaller than the first length. A second battery pack having a third length and a contact terminal exposed on a surface perpendicular to the lower surface and having a fourth length larger than the second length can be accommodated. A storage portion having a size, a first charging terminal exposed at a position at a bottom portion of the storage portion which can contact a contact terminal provided on a lower surface of the first battery pack, and a bottom portion of the storage portion. A contact terminal provided on a surface perpendicular to a lower surface of the second battery pack and a second charging terminal exposed at a position where the contact terminal can be contacted, at a lower portion of the surface perpendicular to the second battery pack. And

According to the present invention, the first charging terminal is the first charging terminal.
And the second charging terminal can make contact with a contact terminal provided on a surface perpendicular to the lower surface of the second battery pack. Thus, different types of battery packs can be charged with a simple configuration.

[0009] More specifically, the length from the bottom of the storage section to the position where the second charging terminal is exposed is equal to the length of the second contact terminal exposed to the first battery pack. The length from the surface where the second charging terminal is exposed to the position where the first charging terminal is exposed is larger than the length, and the length from the surface where the first charging terminal is exposed is exposed to the second battery pack. It is desirable to have a dimension larger than the third length of the contact terminal.

[0010] The first charging terminal and the second charging terminal may output different charging voltages and charging currents from each other.

[0011] A charging method according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises:
A contact terminal is continuously exposed on the lower surface and a surface perpendicular to the lower surface, and the contact terminal exposed on the lower surface has a first length and is exposed on a surface perpendicular to the lower surface. Contact terminal
A contact terminal is continuously provided on the first battery pack having the length of the first battery pack, the lower surface, and a surface perpendicular to the lower surface, and the contact terminal exposed on the lower surface is smaller than the first length. A second battery pack having a third length and a contact terminal exposed on a surface perpendicular to the lower surface and having a fourth length greater than the second length; The first battery pack is stored in the storage section of the charging device, and the contact terminals exposed on the first battery pack are exposed to the bottom of the storage section of the charging device. When the second battery pack is stored in the storage section of the charging device, the second charging is performed by contacting the first charging terminal.
The contact terminals exposed on the battery pack of the second aspect are exposed at the lower part of a surface perpendicular to the bottom of the housing of the charging device.
And charging the battery by contacting the charging terminal.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention and a charging device for charging a battery cell incorporated therein will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment according to the present invention.
1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a battery pack 100 of FIG. Here, FIG. 1A is a front view of the first battery pack 100, and FIG.
00 is a bottom view of FIG. As shown, the first battery pack 100 includes a casing 10, a contact terminal 11,
12 are provided.

The casing 10 is made of, for example, a synthetic resin or an insulating film, and incorporates a rechargeable battery cell (secondary battery) such as, for example, a lithium ion secondary battery or a nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) battery.

The contact terminals 11 and 12 are formed by bending a conductive plate into an L-shape or the like, and are connected to electrode terminals of a battery cell built in the casing 10. Further, the contact terminals 11 and 12 are provided on the lower surface 10 of the casing 10.
a and a plane perpendicular to the lower surface 10a, for example, the front 10b
And contacts the first charging pin 31 exposed in the storage section 30 of the charging device 300 to receive electric power.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a battery pack 200 of FIG. Here, FIG. 2A is a front view of the second battery pack 200, and FIG.
00 is a bottom view of FIG. As shown in the drawing, the second battery pack 200 includes a casing 20, a contact terminal 21,
22.

The casing 20 is made of, for example, a synthetic resin or an insulating film.
A battery cell of a type different from that of the battery cell contained in the “0” is incorporated. For example, the first battery pack 100 contains a lithium ion secondary battery, and the second battery pack 200 contains a nickel hydride secondary battery.

The contact terminals 21 and 22 are formed by bending a conductive plate into an L-shape or the like, and are connected to electrode terminals of a battery cell incorporated in the casing 20. The contact terminals 21 and 22 are provided on the lower surface 20 of the casing 20.
a and a surface perpendicular to the lower surface 20a, for example, the front surface 20b
And contacts the second charging pin 32 exposed in the storage section 30 of the charging device 300 to receive electric power.

Next, the contact terminals 11 and 12 of the first battery pack 100 and the second battery pack 2
The shape of the contact terminals 21 and 22 provided in the 00 will be described in more detail.

The contact terminals 11 and 12 of the first battery pack 100 are, for example,
a and a front surface 10b perpendicular to the lower surface 10a. Also, the second battery pack 20
0 is provided with, for example, the casing 2
0 and a front surface 20 perpendicular to the lower surface 20a.
and b.

Here, as shown in FIG. 1B, the length of the contact terminals 11, 12 exposed on the lower surface 10a of the casing 10 is denoted by L1, and as shown in FIG. Let L2 be the length exposed on the front face 10b of 10. Further, as shown in FIG.
L2 is a length of the casing 22 exposed on the lower surface 20a of the casing 20, and as shown in FIG.
Let L4 be the length of 1, 22 exposed on the front surface 20b of the casing 20. In this case, L3 is smaller than L1 and L4 is larger than L2.

That is, the first battery pack 100
The length L1 of the contact terminals 11 and 12 on the lower surface 10a of the casing 10 provided in the second battery pack 20
0 has a size different from the length L2 of the contact terminals 21 and 22 on the lower surface 20a of the casing 20 provided. The length L2 of the contact terminals 11 and 12 on the front surface 10b of the casing 10 included in the first battery pack 100 is equal to the length of the contact terminals 21 and 22 on the front surface 20b of the casing 20 included in the second battery pack 200.
Has a size different from the length L4. That is, the first battery pack 100 and the second battery pack 200 correspond to the type of the built-in battery cell,
The dimensions of the exposed terminals are different from each other.

Next, the first battery pack 100
The configuration of the charging device 300 that houses and charges the second battery pack 200 will be described.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the charging device 300. As shown, the charging device 300 includes a first battery pack 100 and a second battery pack 20.
A storage unit 30 for storing and charging 0 is provided.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a cross section when the charging device 300 is cut along the cutting line A shown in FIG. As shown, the first charging pin 3 is provided on the bottom 30a of the storage unit 30.
1 is exposed. In addition, the lower part of the reference plane 30b formed perpendicular to the bottom part 30a of the storage part 30 has a second
The charging pins 32 are exposed.

The first charging pin 31 is a charging terminal for supplying electric power by contacting the contact terminals 11 and 12 of the first battery pack 100 at a portion exposed on the lower surface 10 a of the casing 10. It is.

The second charging pin 32 is a charging terminal for supplying power by contacting the contact terminals 21 and 22 provided in the second battery pack 200 at a portion exposed on the front surface 20 b of the casing 20. It is.

Hereinafter, a first embodiment according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.
Battery pack 100 and second battery pack 2
Next, an operation when the battery 00 is charged by the charging device 300 will be described.

First, when charging the secondary battery incorporated in the first battery pack 100, the first battery pack 100 is charged into the charging device 30 as shown in FIG.
0 in the storage unit 30. At this time, the contact terminals 11 and 12 exposed on the first battery pack 100 are connected to the first charging pins 31 exposed on the bottom 30a of the storage unit 300.
Contact Thereby, the first battery pack 10
0 can receive power from the charging device 300;
The battery cell built in the casing 10 can be charged.

Next, when charging the secondary battery incorporated in the second battery pack 200, the second battery pack is inserted into the storage section 30 of the charging device 300 as shown in FIG. To store. At this time, the contact terminals 21 and 22 exposed on the second battery pack 200 are
It contacts the charging pin 32 exposed on the reference surface 30b, which is a surface perpendicular to the bottom 30a of the zero. Thereby, the second
The battery pack 200 can receive electric power from the charging device 300 and can charge the battery cells built in the casing 20.

The length L1 of the contact terminals 11 and 12 exposed on the lower surface 10a of the casing 10 is
Is designed to have a dimension larger than the length LP from the reference surface 30b to the position where the first charging pin 31 is provided. The length L2 of the contact terminals 11 and 12 exposed on the front surface 10b of the casing 10 is smaller than the height HP from the bottom 30a of the storage unit 30 to the position where the second charging pin 32 is provided. It is designed to be. For this reason, when the first battery pack 100 is stored in the storage section 30, the contact terminals 11, 12
It touches the first charging pin 31 and does not touch the second charging pin 32. Therefore, the battery cells incorporated in the casing 10 of the first battery pack 100 are charged only by the electric power supplied from the first charging pins 31 exposed on the bottom 30a of the storage unit 30.

On the other hand, the length L3 of the contact terminals 21 and 22 exposed on the lower surface 20a of the casing 20 is the length from the reference surface 30b of the storage section 30 to the position where the first charging pin 31 is provided. It is designed to be smaller than LP. The length L4 of the contact terminals 21 and 22 exposed on the front surface 20b of the casing 20 is larger than the height HP from the bottom 30a of the storage unit 30 to the position where the second charging pin 32 is provided. It is designed to be. For this reason, when the second battery pack 200 is stored in the storage section 30, the contact terminals 21 and 22 contact the second charging pins 32 and do not contact the first charging pins 31. Therefore, the battery cell built in the casing 20 of the second battery pack 200 is
The second charging pin 3 exposed below the reference plane 30b
2 is charged only by the electric power supplied from the power supply 2.

The charging device 300 includes a charging voltage and a charging current output from the first charging pin 31 and a second charging pin 3
The first battery pack 100 and the second battery pack 200 containing different types of battery cells are stored in the storage section 30 for charging by setting the charging voltage and the charging current output from the second section to mutually different magnitudes. can do.

For example, it is assumed that the battery cells built in the first battery pack 100 are lithium ion secondary batteries, and the battery cells built in the second battery pack 200 are nickel hydride secondary batteries. In this case, the charging device 300 includes the first battery pack 10
When “0” is stored in the storage section 30, for example, the upper limit of the charging current is limited to 1.0 A from the first charging pin 31.
A V charging voltage is output. On the other hand, when second battery pack 200 is stored in storage portion 30, charging device 300 outputs, from second charging pin 32, a charging voltage of, for example, 1.4 V in which the upper limit of the charging current is limited to 50 mA. .

Here, the first charging pin 31 is provided at a position where it does not come into contact with the contact terminals 21 and 22 of the second battery pack 200, and the second charging pin 32 is connected to the first battery pack 100. Are provided at positions not in contact with the contact terminals 11, 12. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the charging device 300 from supplying an inappropriate charging current or charging voltage to the first battery pack 100 or the second battery pack 200.

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the first battery pack 100 is stored in the storage section 30, the first charging pin 31 comes into contact with the contact terminals 11 and 12 to charge the battery cells built in the casing 10. On the other hand, the second battery pack 20
0 is stored, the second charging pin 32 is
The battery cells contained in the casing 20 are charged by contacting the battery cells 1 and 22. Thereby, the first battery pack 100 and the second battery pack 200 containing different types of battery cells, such as a lithium ion secondary battery and a nickel hydride secondary battery, are stored in the storage unit 30 and appropriately. Can be charged.

In the above embodiment, the first battery pack 100 has the contact terminals 11 and 12, and the second battery pack 200 has the contact terminals 21 and 22. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The first battery pack 100 and the second battery pack 200 may each include more contact terminals. In this case, the first battery pack 100 and the second battery pack 200 are housed by increasing the number of the first and second charging pins 31 and 32 that are exposed on the charging device 300 in accordance with the number of contact terminals. It can be stored in the unit 30 and charged appropriately.

In the above embodiment, the contact terminal 1
Although it has been described that 1 and 12 are continuously exposed on the lower surface 10a and the front surface 10b, and the contact terminals 21 and 22 are continuously exposed on the lower surface 20a and the front surface 20b, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 6A, the contact terminals 11, 12 are continuously exposed on the lower surface 10a and the side surface 10c, and as shown in FIG.
2 may be continuously exposed on the lower surface 20a and the side surface 20c.

Furthermore, the first battery pack 100 and the second battery pack 200 may have different shapes, for example, different heights, and need to have the same outer shape. There is no.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, a battery pack containing different types of battery cells can be housed in one charging device and appropriately charged.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a first battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein (a) is a front view and (b) is a bottom view.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing a configuration of a second battery pack according to the embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 2A is a front view and FIG. 2B is a bottom view.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a charging device.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the charging device.

5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating a state where a battery pack is stored in a charging device, wherein FIG. 5A illustrates a case where a first battery pack is stored, and FIG. 5B illustrates a case where a second battery pack is stored. Show.

6A and 6B are diagrams showing a modification of the battery pack according to the embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 6A shows a modification of the first battery pack, and FIG. 6B shows a modification of the second battery pack. Here is an example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 20 Casing 10a, 20a Lower surface 10b, 20b Front surface 10c, 20c Side surface 11, 12, 21, 22 Contact terminal 30 Storage unit 30a Bottom 30b Reference surface 31, 32 Charging pin 100, 200 Battery pack 300 Charging device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A battery pack having contact terminals continuously exposed on a lower surface and a surface perpendicular to the lower surface, wherein the length of the contact terminals exposed on the lower surface is perpendicular to the lower surface. A battery pack characterized in that the length of the contact terminal exposed on the main surface has a predetermined size corresponding to the type of the secondary battery to be incorporated. 2. A contact terminal is continuously exposed on a lower surface and a surface perpendicular to the lower surface. The contact terminal exposed on the lower surface has a first length and is perpendicular to the lower surface. The contact terminals exposed on the main surface have a second length, and the contact terminals are continuously exposed on the lower surface and the surface perpendicular to the lower surface. The first contact terminal is
A third terminal having a third length smaller than the length of the contact terminal and a contact terminal exposed on a surface perpendicular to the lower surface having a third length larger than the second length.
A storage portion having a size capable of storing a second battery pack having a length of the battery pack, and a bottom portion of the storage portion being exposed to a position where it can come into contact with a contact terminal provided on a lower surface of the first battery pack. A first charging terminal provided, and a lower portion of a surface perpendicular to the bottom of the housing portion, at a position where the contact can be made with a contact terminal provided on a surface perpendicular to the lower surface of the second battery pack. And a second charging terminal that is exposed. 3. The length from the bottom of the housing to the position where the second charging terminal is exposed is greater than the second length of the contact terminal exposed on the first battery pack. The length from the surface where the second charging terminal is exposed to the position where the first charging terminal is exposed is equal to the length of the contact terminal exposed to the second battery pack. The charging device according to claim 2, wherein the charging device has a dimension larger than the third length. 4. The charging device according to claim 2, wherein the first charging terminal and the second charging terminal output charging voltages and charging currents different from each other. 5. A contact terminal is continuously exposed on a lower surface and a surface perpendicular to the lower surface. The contact terminal exposed on the lower surface has a first length and is perpendicular to the lower surface. The contact terminals exposed on the main surface have a second length, and the contact terminals are continuously exposed on the lower surface and the surface perpendicular to the lower surface. The first contact terminal is
A third terminal having a third length smaller than the length of the contact terminal and a contact terminal exposed on a surface perpendicular to the lower surface having a third length larger than the second length.
And charging the second battery pack having a length in the storage unit of the charging device, wherein the first battery pack is stored in the storage unit of the charging device.
The contact terminal exposed on the battery pack is charged by contacting the first charging terminal exposed on the bottom of the housing of the charging device, and the second battery pack is housed in the housing of the charging device. Charging the contact terminal exposed on the second battery pack with the second charging terminal exposed on a lower portion of a surface perpendicular to the bottom of the housing of the charging device;
A method for charging a battery pack, comprising: