Battery checker

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10459036-B2
Application number	US-201715454494-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2017
Priority date	Sep 12, 2014
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A battery checker is provided with: voltage application unit configured to apply an AC voltage to a battery to be measured; ripple voltage measurement unit configured to measure a ripple voltage contained in a terminal voltage of the battery; and electric power storage level detection unit configured to detect an electric power storage level of the battery by comparing the measured ripple voltage with a set reference. The voltage application unit includes a transformer that transforms voltage for an alternating current of an AC power supply such as a commercial AC power supply, and an output circuit that applies, to the battery, an alternating current with transformed voltage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery checker comprising:
a voltage application unit configured to apply an AC voltage to a battery to be measured;
a ripple voltage measurement unit configured to measure a ripple voltage contained in a terminal voltage of the battery, the ripple voltage measurement unit including a capacitor connected to an output terminal on a positive electrode side of the battery, and an amplifier directly connected to an output terminal on a negative electrode side of the battery; and
an electric power storage level detection unit configured to detect an electric power storage level of the battery by comparing the ripple voltage measured by the ripple voltage measurement unit with a set reference.

2. The battery checker as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the voltage application unit includes a transformer configured to transform a voltage of an AC power supply to a voltage suitable for a voltage of the battery, and an output circuit configured to apply, to the battery, the AC voltage transformed by the transformer.

3. The battery checker as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the electric power storage level detection unit includes a reference storage unit configured to store, as the set reference, a plurality of battery type-specific references corresponding to types of the battery to be measured, and a reference switching unit configured to switch between the plurality of battery type-specific references.

4. The battery checker as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the amplifier is configured to amplify a voltage between the capacitor and the output terminal on a negative electrode side of the battery, and the ripple voltage measurement unit further includes a voltmeter configured to measure a ripple voltage amplified by the amplifier.

Assignees

• Ntn Toyo Bearing Co Ltd

Inventors

• Noda Hiroyuki
• Mizutani Masatoshi
• Mori Natsuhiko

Classifications

• H02J7/825

  Detection of fully charged condition · CPC title

• H02J7/61

  against overcharge · CPC title

• G01R31/36

  Arrangements for testing, measuring or monitoring the electrical condition of accumulators or electric batteries, e.g. capacity or state of charge [SoC] · CPC title

• H02J7/00

  Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

  Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title