Power tool with USB connection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9917457-B2
Application number	US-201615009038-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2016
Priority date	Feb 2, 2015
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

A battery pack includes a housing, at least one battery cell housed in the housing, a wireless transmitter housed in the housing, a button that initiates a pairing with an electronic device so that the battery pack may wirelessly communicate with the electronic device through the wireless transmitter, a connection section including a first electrical connector configured to supply power to a power tool and a charging port configured to supply power to an external device. The charging port can be in an on state in which the charging port is operable to supply power to the external device and an off state in which the charging port is not operable to supply power to the external device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery pack comprising:
a housing,
at least one battery cell housed in the housing;
a wireless transmitter housed in the housing;
a button, the button configured to initiate pairing with an electronic device so that the battery pack may wirelessly communicate with the electronic device through the wireless transmitter;
a connection section including a first electrical connector configured to supply power to a power tool; and
a charging port configured to supply power to an external device;
wherein the charging port can be in an on state in which the charging port is operable to supply power to the external device and an off state in which the charging port is not operable to supply power to the external device.

2. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the charging port is configured to change from the on state to the off state when a predetermined amount of time elapses after charging from the charging port begins.

3. The battery pack of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is ten hours or less.

4. The battery pack of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is eight hours or less.

5. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the charging port is configured to be turned into the on-state by at least one of a user input from the electronic device and activating the button.

6. The battery pack of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is set by a user of the separate electronic device.

7. The battery pack of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined amount of time that can be set by the user has an upper limit.

8. The battery pack of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is equal to or less than an Amp hour rating of the battery pack divided by a current drawn from the battery pack by the charging port.

9. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the charging port is a USB port.

10. A power tool system comprising:
a power tool; and
a battery pack, the battery pack comprising:
a housing,
at least one battery cell housed in the housing;
a wireless transmitter housed in the housing and configured to wirelessly communicate with an electronic device;
a connection section including a first electrical connector configured to supply power to the power tool when the battery pack is connected to the power tool; and
a charging port configured to supply power to an external device;
wherein the charging port can be in an on state in which the charging port is operable to supply power to the external device and an off state in which the charging port is not operable to supply power to the external device.

11. The power tool system of claim 10 , wherein the charging port is configured to change from the on state to the off state after a predetermined amount of time after charging from the charging port begins.

12. The power tool system of claim 11 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is ten hours or less.

13. The power tool system of claim 11 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is set by a user of the electronic device.

14. The power tool system of claim 11 , wherein the predetermined amount of time set by the user is limited.

15. The power tool system of claim 11 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is equal to or less than an Amp hour rating of the battery pack divided by a current drawn from the battery pack by the charging port.

16. The power tool system of claim 10 , wherein the separate electronic device comprises one of a computer a tablet computer and a phone.

17. A power tool system comprising:
a plurality of power tools including a drill; and
at least one battery pack, the battery pack selectively couplable to the plurality of power tools to provide electrical power to a coupled power tool to which the battery pack is coupled, the battery pack comprising:
a housing,
at least one battery cell housed in the housing;
a wireless transmitter housed in the housing and configured to wirelessly communicate with an electronic device;
a connection section including a first electrical connector configured to supply power to the coupled power tool; and
a charging port configured to supply power to an external device;
wherein the charging port can be in an on state in which the charging port is operable to supply power to the external device and an off state in which the charging port is not operable to supply power to the external device.

18. The power tool system of claim 17 , wherein the charging port is configured to change from the on state to the off state after a predetermined amount of time after charging from the charging port begins.

19. The power tool system of claim 18 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is set by a user of the separate electronic device.

20. The power tool system of claim 18 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is equal to or less than an Amp hour rating of the battery pack divided by a current drawn from the battery pack by the charging port.

Assignees

• Black & Decker Inc

Inventors

• Wenger Kevin
• Dyer Kelly E
• Barnett Corey
• Miller David A
• Brotto Daniele C

Classifications

• H02J7/70

  characterised by the mechanical construction · CPC title

• H02J7/731

  specially adapted for holding portable devices containing batteries (H02J7/751 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/342

  The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging (with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/68) · CPC title

• H02J7/00

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

• H01M10/4257

  Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries · CPC title