Automobile charger

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10046653-B2
Application number	US-201615355409-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2016
Priority date	Apr 28, 2014
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

A novel automobile charger comprises a direct current (DC) voltage supply, wherein a positive pole of the DC voltage supply is connected with a first end or a first lead of a DC-to-DC module, a first end of a battery voltage detection module and a first end of a load module simultaneously while a negative pole of the DC voltage supply is connected with a second end of the DC-to-DC module, a first end of a microcontroller, a first end of an automobile start control module and a second end of the battery voltage detection module simultaneously. A third end of the DC-to-DC module is connected with a second end of the microcontroller. Third, fourth, and fifth ends of the microcontroller are connected with a third end of the battery voltage detection module, a second end of the automobile start control module and a first end of a load detection module respectively. A second end of the load detection module is connected with a third end of the automobile start control module and a second end of the load module simultaneously.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An automobile charger, comprising:
a first pole of a first battery connected with a first lead of a power converter, a first lead of a battery level detector, and a first lead of a load;
a second pole of the first battery connected with a second lead of the power converter, a first lead of a microcontroller, a first lead of a switching circuit and a second lead of the battery level detector;
a third lead of the power converter connected with a second lead of the microcontroller; and
three additional leads of the microcontroller connected with a third lead of the battery level detector, a second lead of the switching circuit and a first lead of a load detector, respectively,
wherein a second lead of the load detector is connected with a third lead of the switching circuit and a second lead of the load, and
wherein the load includes a second battery and a motor.

2. The automobile charger according to claim 1 , wherein:
the power converter includes a one-way current device, a resistance R 1 , a capacitance C 1 , a voltage stabilizing device, a capacitance C 2 and a capacitance C 3 ;
a first terminal of the one-way current device is connected with the first pole of the first battery;
a second terminal of the one-way current device is connected with a first lead of the capacitance C 1 and an IN port of the voltage stabilizing device through the resistance R 1 ;
an OUT port of the voltage stabilizing device is connected with a first lead of the capacitance C 2 , a first lead of the capacitance C 3 and a power port of a microcontroller U 2 ;
a second lead of the capacitance C 1 , a second lead of the capacitance C 2 and a second lead of the capacitance C 3 as well as a common port of the voltage stabilizing device are grounded and connected with the second pole of the first battery;
a first port of the microcontroller U 2 is connected with the second pole of the first battery through a light source and a resistance R 12 in series connection;
a second port of the microcontroller U 2 is connected with an input of the switching circuit;
a third port of the microcontroller U 2 is connected with the second pole of the first battery through a capacitance C 4 and a resistance R 7 in parallel connection and is also connected with the power port through a variable resistance RT;
a fourth port of the microcontroller U 2 is connected with the second pole of the first battery through a resistance R 10 , a capacitance C 6 and a resistance R 13 in parallel connection;
the fourth port of the microcontroller U 2 is also connected with the first pole of the first battery through a resistance R 2 and is also connected with a first pole of the second battery and the motor through a resistance R 9 ;
two leads of the second battery are in parallel connection with the capacitance C 7 , the resistances R 9 , R 10 , the capacitance C 6 and the resistance R 13 together to form the load detector;
a fifth port of the microcontroller U 2 is grounded through a capacitance C 5 ;
a common port of the microcontroller U 2 and one end of a capacitance C 4 are grounded;
the second lead of the capacitance C 4 is connected with the power port of the microcontroller U 2 ;
the resistance R 2 , the capacitance C 6 and the resistance R 13 form the battery level detector; and
an output of the switching circuit is connected with the motor and one end of a resistance R 14 , wherein the other end of the resistance R 14 is grounded.

3. The automobile charger according to claim 1 , wherein:
the power converter is operably configured to provide a stable voltage for the microcontroller which collects relevant data to conduct a corresponding control;
the battery level detector conducts a measurement of a voltage of the first battery; and
the switching circuit conducts power supply or power outage for the load through the microcontroller, wherein the load detector detects whether the load is correctly connected.

4. The automobile charger according to claim 1 , wherein the battery level detector is further configured to provide a protection for the first battery.

5. The automobile charger according to claim 1 , wherein the microcontroller, when placed in a standby mode, closes all outputs when a voltage of the first battery is lower than that of a state being able to supply power and then recovers when the voltage of the first battery is higher than that of the state being able to supply power.

6. The automobile charger according to claim 1 , wherein the switching circuit is an electronic switch.

7. A charging device, comprising:
a battery level detector to detect a level of a first battery;
a load detector to detect a type of connection of a load;
a microcontroller to generate an output signal based on the level of the first battery and the type of connection of the load; and
switching circuitry to selectively connect the first battery to the load based on the output signal.

8. The charging device of claim 7 , wherein the type of connection includes a proper connection of the load and an improper connection of the load.

9. The charging device of claim 8 , wherein the load is a second battery and a motor powered by the second battery.

10. The charging device of claim 9 , wherein the proper connection of the load is a polarity match between the second battery and the motor, and
wherein the improper connection of the load is a polarity reversal between the second battery and the motor or a disconnection of the second battery from the motor.

11. The charging device of claim 8 , wherein the microcontroller is configured to:
generate the output signal to cause the switching circuitry to connect the first battery to the load if the load is properly connected and the level of the first battery is above a threshold; and
generate the output signal to cause the switching circuitry to disconnect the first battery from the load if i) the level of the first battery is below the threshold, or ii) the load is improperly connected.

12. The charging device of claim 7 , wherein the battery level detector detects a recharging level of the first battery.

13. The charging device of claim 12 , wherein the microcontroller generates the output signal to cause the switching circuitry to disconnect the first battery from the load if the recharging level of the first battery is greater than a threshold.

14. The charging device of claim 7 , further comprising:
a power converter to convert power received from the first battery into a stable power source that powers the microcontroller.

15. The charging device of claim 14 , wherein the power converter is a direct current to direct current (DC-DC) converter.

16. The charging device of claim 7 , wherein the level of the first battery is a voltage level.

17. A method, comprising:
detecting a level of a first power source;
detecting a type of connection of a load;
generating an output signal based on the level of the first power source and the type of connection of the load; and
selectively connecting the first power source to the load based on the output signal.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the type of connection includes a proper connection of the load and an improper connection of the load.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the load is a second power source and an electrical component powered by the second power source,
wherein the proper connection of the load is a correct polarity connection between the second power source and the electrical component, and
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Assignees

• Pilot Inc

Inventors

• Wang Calvin Shiening
• Wang Chung-Hsin

Classifications

• B60L53/53

  Batteries · CPC title

• H02J2207/20

  Charging or discharging characterised by the power electronics converter · CPC title

• H02J2105/33

  exchanging power with road vehicles · CPC title

• H02J7/865

  Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply (H02J7/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/685

  using connection detecting circuits (H02J7/68 takes precedence) · CPC title