Charging device and charging method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021152011-A1
Application number	US-201816622595-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 15, 2018
Priority date	Jun 15, 2017
Publication date	May 20, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relates to a charging device (and a charging method), the charging device for charging a battery pack, the battery pack being detachably mounted on a power tool to provide power to the power tool, wherein the charging device comprises: a parameter detecting unit configured to detect a parameter related to a charging current for the battery pack, the parameter comprising a temperature of the battery pack; and a control unit configured to adjust the charging current for the battery pack according to output of the parameter detecting unit to prevent the temperature of the battery pack from reaching a first preset temperature, wherein when the temperature of the battery pack reaches the first preset temperature, the battery pack enters an over-temperature protection state, thereby preventing a life of the battery pack from being affected, By adjusting the charging current, the present invention can not only ensure that the battery pack does not enter over-temperature protection, but also ensure that the charging current of the battery pack is not too small, so that the battery pack has the highest charging efficiency.

First claim

1 . A charging device for charging a battery pack, the battery pack being detachably mounted on a power tool to provide power to the power tool, wherein the charging device comprises:
a parameter detecting unit configured to detect a parameter related to a charging current for the battery pack, the parameter comprising a temperature of the battery pack; and a control unit configured to adjust the charging current for the battery pack according to at least part of an output of the parameter detecting unit, wherein when the temperature of the battery pack reaches the first preset temperature, the charging device enters an over-temperature protection state.

2 . The charging device according to claim 1 , wherein the parameter detecting unit is further configured to detect a voltage of the battery pack, and the control unit is configured to adjust the charging current for the battery pack according to at least one of the temperature and the voltage of the battery pack output by the parameter detecting unit to prevent the temperature of the battery pack from reaching the first preset temperature.

3 . The charging device according to claim 2 , wherein the parameter detecting unit is further configured to detect an ambient temperature, and the control unit is configured to adjust the charging current for the battery pack according to at least one of the temperature of the battery pack, the voltage of the battery pack, and the ambient temperature output by the parameter detecting unit, to prevent the temperature of the battery pack from reaching the first preset temperature.

4 . The charging device according to claim 1 , wherein when the temperature of the battery pack is less than a threshold, the control unit increases the charging current for the battery pack so that the temperature of the battery pack is not less than a second preset temperature.

5 . The charging device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit adjusts a value of the charging current for the battery pack by adjusting a duty cycle.

6 . The charging device according to claim 1 , wherein the charging device comprises a first charging interface and a second charging interface, and the battery pack comprises a first battery pack and a second battery pack, the first battery pack and the second battery pack being electrically connected to the first charging interface and the second charging interface respectively, the control unit controls the charging current to alternately charge the first battery pack and the second battery pack, the parameter detecting unit detects parameters of the first battery pack and the second battery pack respectively, and the control unit adjusts the charging currents for the first battery pack and the second battery pack during charging according to at least part of the output of the parameter detecting unit.

7 . The charging device according to claim 6 , wherein the charging currents of the first battery pack and the second battery pack are adjusted at least one of the following manner: adjusting values of the charging currents for the first battery pack and the second battery pack and adjusting charging durations of each charging in a process of alternately charging the first battery pack and the second battery pack.

8 . The charging device according to claim 7 , further comprising a comparison module configured to determine whether a difference between the parameter of the first battery pack and the parameter of the second battery pack is greater than a preset value, wherein if so, the control unit controls a value of a charging current for a battery pack with a larger parameter to be reduced and/or a charging duration of each charging of a battery pack with a larger parameter during the alternate charging to be reduced.

9 . The charging device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit comprises a single controller connected to the first battery pack and the second battery pack respectively and configured to control the first battery pack and the second battery pack to be alternately charged.

10 . The charging device according to claim 6 , wherein a charging process in which the charging device charges the first battery pack and the second battery pack comprises a first charging phase and a second charging phase, wherein a value of a charging current output by the charging device in the first charging phase is greater than a value of a charging current output in the second charging phase, the charging device controls the charging current to alternately charge the first battery pack and the second battery pack in the first charging phase, and controls the charging current to simultaneously charge the first battery pack and the second battery pack in the second charging phase.

11 . The charging device according to claim 1 , further comprising a storage module configured to store a correspondence table between the parameter and the charging current, the control unit controls the charging current for the battery pack according to the correspondence table.

12 . A charging method for charging a battery pack, the battery pack being detachably mounted on a power tool to provide power to the power tool, wherein the charging method comprises:
detecting a parameter related to a charging current for the battery pack, the parameter comprising a temperature of the battery pack; and adjusting the charging current for the battery pack according to at least part of a detected parameter, wherein when the temperature of the battery pack reaches the first preset temperature, a charging device enters an over-temperature protection state.

13 . The charging method according to claim 12 , wherein the parameter further comprises a voltage of the battery pack, and the step of adjusting the charging current for the battery pack according to at least part of a detected parameter comprises:
adjusting the charging current for the battery pack according to at least one of the temperature and the voltage of the battery pack.

14 . The charging method according to claim 13 , wherein the parameter further comprises an ambient temperature, and the step of adjusting the charging current for the battery pack according to at least part of a detected parameter comprises:
adjusting the charging current for the battery pack according to at least one of the temperature of the battery pack, the voltage of the battery pack, and the ambient temperature.

15 . The charging method according to claim 12 , further comprising:
when the temperature of the battery pack is less than a threshold, increasing, by control unit, the charging current for the battery pack so that the temperature of the battery pack is not less than a second preset temperature.

16 . (canceled)

17 . The charging method according to claim 12 , wherein the charging device comprises a first charging interface and a second charging interface, and the battery pack comprises a first battery pack and a second battery pack, the first battery pack and the second battery pack being electrically connected to the first charging interface and the second charging interface respectively, and the charging method comprises:
controlling the charging current to alternately charge the first battery pack and the second battery pack; detecting parameters of the first battery pack and the second battery pack respectively; adjusting charging currents for the first battery pack and the second battery pack during charging according to at least part of the output of a parameter detecting unit.

18 . The charging method according to claim 17 , wh

Assignees

• Positec Power Tools Suzhou Co Ltd

Inventors

• Deng Qiang
• Chen Mingming
• Shao Xiao

Classifications

• H02J7/65 Primary

  against overtemperature · CPC title

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J7/977 Primary

  of the battery · CPC title

• H01M10/44 Primary

  Methods for charging or discharging (circuits for charging H02J7/00) · CPC title

• H01M2220/30

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