Power tool battery pack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12278577-B2
Application number	US-202217744455-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2022
Priority date	May 13, 2021
Publication date	Apr 15, 2025
Grant date	Apr 15, 2025

Abstract

The present directed to a cordless power tool system including a plurality of cordless power tools, a plurality of fixed voltage and multi-voltage battery packs and a plurality of battery pack chargers. The battery packs include circuitry to indicate various parameters about the battery pack and communicate this indication to the power tools in order to enable the power tools to alter their motor output schemes to improve performance. The indication may include whether the battery pack is a fixed voltage battery pack or a multi-voltage battery pack and when the multi-voltage battery pack is in a first configuration or a second configuration.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A power tool system comprising:
a first power tool including a plurality of power tool terminals, a motor, a tool control module, the tool control module including circuitry to (1) monitor, sense and detect a capacitance value and a temperature value on a first one of the plurality of power tool terminals and (2) select a control scheme to control the motor based on the detected capacitance value; and
a multi-voltage battery pack including a plurality of battery pack terminals configured to mate with the plurality of power tool terminals, a thermistor coupled to a first one of the plurality battery pack terminals, the first one of the plurality of battery pack terminals configured to mate with the first one of the plurality of power tool terminals, additional circuitry coupled to the first one of the plurality of battery pack terminals configured to provide the capacitance value at the first one of the plurality of battery pack terminals indicative of characteristics of the multi-voltage battery pack.

2. The power tool system, as recited in claim 1 , wherein the additional circuitry includes at least one capacitor connected between the first one of the plurality of battery pack terminals and a reference node.

3. The power tool system, as recited in claim 2 , wherein the additional circuitry includes a switch connected in series with the at least one capacitor, the switch configured to alter the capacitance value at the first one of the plurality of battery pack terminals dependent upon a type of first power tool mated with the battery pack.

Assignees

• Black & Decker Inc

Inventors

• Barton Alexander R
• Cherry Mark T
• Hennesy Timothy J
• Lunsford V William Thomas
• Roberts Michael W
• Osborne Nathan J
• Wink Elizabeth
• Nace Daniel F
• Gilde Philip

Classifications

• H01M10/482

  for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• B25F5/00

  Details or components of portable power-driven tools not particularly related to the operations performed and not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• H01M2220/30

  Batteries in portable systems, e.g. mobile phone, laptop · CPC title

• H01M50/247

  specially adapted for portable devices, e.g. mobile phones, computers, hand tools or pacemakers · CPC title

• H01M50/296

  characterised by terminals of battery packs (terminals of batteries H01M50/543) · CPC title