Power supply device, power supply system, and sensor system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10263433-B2
Application number	US-201715706957-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2017
Priority date	Nov 21, 2016
Publication date	Apr 16, 2019
Grant date	Apr 16, 2019

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a power supply device includes a voltage conversion circuit configured to convert a voltage of power generated by a power generation element; a plurality of power storage elements connected in parallel with respective load circuits; a switch circuit configured to switch an electrical connection between the voltage conversion circuit and each of the plurality of power storage elements; and a control circuit configured to measure voltages of the plurality of power storage elements and to control the switch circuit based on the measured voltages.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A power supply device comprising:
a voltage conversion circuit configured to convert a voltage of power generated by a power generation element;
a plurality of power storage elements connected in parallel with respective load circuits;
a first switch circuit configured to switch an electrical connection between the voltage conversion circuit and each of the plurality of power storage elements;
a second switch circuit configured to switch an electrical connection between two of the plurality of power storage elements; and
a control circuit configured to measure voltages of the plurality of power storage elements and to control the first switch circuit and the second switch circuit based on the measured voltages,
wherein the load circuit connected to one of the two power storage elements includes a power storage capacity or a secondary battery.

2. The power supply device according to claim 1 , wherein
the control circuit is configured to measure a voltage of the power storage element electrically connected to the voltage conversion circuit, and a voltage of the power storage element not electrically connected to the voltage conversion circuit.

3. The power supply device according to claim 1 , wherein
the control circuit is configured to
measure a voltage of the power storage element electrically connected to the voltage conversion circuit, and
measure at least one of an output voltage from the power generation element, an input voltage to the voltage conversion circuit, an output voltage from the voltage conversion circuit, and an internal voltage of the voltage conversion circuit.

4. The power supply device according to claim 1 , wherein
the voltage conversion circuit is not connected to any of the plurality of power storage elements when the control circuit is not activated.

5. The power supply device according to claim 1 , wherein
one of the plurality of load circuits is the control circuit.

6. The power supply device according to claim 5 , wherein
the first switch circuit is configured to connect the voltage conversion circuit to the control circuit when the control circuit is not activated.

7. The power supply device according to claim 1 , wherein
the control circuit is configured to control a conversion rate in the voltage conversion circuit based on the measured voltages.

8. The power supply device according to claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of power storage elements each include a plurality of capacitive elements connected in parallel with one another and a plurality of third switches configured to connect the plurality of capacitive elements to the load circuits, and
the control circuit is configured to control the plurality of third switches of the plurality of power storage elements based on the measured voltages.

9. The power supply device according to claim 1 , further comprising
at least one of a voltage source, a current source, and a power reception circuit configured to receive power by wire or wirelessly, wherein
the first switch circuit is configured to switch an electrical connection between the at least one of the voltage source, the current source and the power reception circuit and each of the plurality of power storage elements.

10. The power supply device according to claim 9 , wherein
the power reception circuit includes an antenna and a rectifier circuit, and
the rectifier circuit is configured to receive a power-transmission signal via the antenna, rectify the received power-transmission signal, and output the rectified signal.

11. The power supply device according to claim 10 , wherein
one of the plurality of load circuits is a wireless unit,
the control circuit is configured to generate a transmission instruction for the power-transmission signal, and
the wireless unit is configured to send the transmission instruction to a signal transmitter configured to transmit the power-transmission signal.

12. A power supply system comprising:
the power supply device according to claim 1 ; and
the power generation element.

13. The power supply system according to claim 12 , further comprising the plurality of load circuits.

14. A sensor system comprising:
a sensor terminal; and
a data collection device,
the sensor terminal comprising the power supply device according to claim 1 , the power generation element, and the plurality of load circuits, one of the plurality of load circuits including a sensor, another one of the plurality of load circuits including a first wireless unit configured to transmit data detected by the sensor; and
the data collection device comprising a second wireless unit configured to receive the data from the first wireless unit, and a storage configured to store the data received by the second wireless unit.

Assignees

• Toshiba Kk

Inventors

• Onizuka Kohei
• Ueno Takeshi

Classifications

• H02J7/865

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

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J2207/10

  Control circuit supply, e.g. means for supplying power to the control circuit · CPC title

• H02J2207/40

  adapted for charging from various sources, e.g. AC, DC or multivoltage · CPC title

• H04Q2209/886

  using energy harvesting, e.g. solar, wind or mechanical · CPC title