Battery Charger With Redundant Protection Circuits

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to the field of battery chargers with overcharge protection circuits. More particularly, this invention relates to a charging system in which a battery module is charged through a host system and wherein redundant overcharging protection is provided in the host system as well as the battery module.

2. Background

Lithium ion batteries have become very popular in recent years due to their high energy density, high terminal voltage and lack of a memory effect which is common in other rechargeable batteries such as nickel cadmium. While lithium ion batteries have many advantages, they must be properly charged in order for the user to obtain full benefit of these batteries. For this reason, safeguards have been taken to assure that lithium ion batteries are carefully charged and include overcharge protection such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,197 to Eguchi et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,336, also to Eguchi et al. Examples of overcharge protection circuits may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,915 to Sampei et al. and PCT application Serial Number PCT/JP 93/01536 to Masaru et al. Each of the above documents are hereby incorporated by reference. However, an additional problem exists when the battery module has been damaged, for example, by being dropped. The protective switch and associated circuits in the battery module could become inoperative and therefore, the battery module would lose overcharge protection.

The present invention addresses the problem by providing a strong measure of redundancy in a battery charging system.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved battery charging system which includes a host system supplying charging current to a battery module. Redundant measuring and switching provisions are provided in both the host system and battery module to assure that charging current is cut off to the battery cells if a potential overcharge scenario develops.

It is a feature that the present invention provides redundant overcharge protection using the intelligence already contained in a host system which may include a personal computer such as a notebook computer.

These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following description of the invention.

The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself however, both in its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a charging system of the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the charging system of the present invention.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will be herein described in detail, specific embodiments with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an example of the principles of the invention and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiment shown and described. In the description below, like reference numerals are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts under several drawings.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a host system 10 is connected with a source of power 12, such as connection to household power. Host system 10, in the preferred embodiment, is a notebook computer system or the like which has an internal microprocessor, memory and other intelligence capable of operating under control of a control program. Host system 10, in addition to operating as a notebook computer, includes battery charging circuitry which produces battery voltages, B+ and B- at terminals 16 and 18 thereof. These terminals 16 and 18 are coupled to a battery module 20 and supply power to the host system when power is not supplied via power connection 12. When the power connection 12 is connected to household power, the battery module is charged by the charging circuitry of host system 10.

In this example, battery module 20 includes a pair of lithium ion cells designated 22 and 24. These lithium ion cells 22 and 24 are connected in series to produce an appropriate level of voltage in order to power the host system 10. Of course, more than two cells could also be used if a higher operating voltage is required. Cells 22 and 24 are connected to the B+ and B- battery terminals of the host through a switch designated SW1. Switch SW1 resides within battery module 20 and is controlled by a control circuit 30 which monitors the temperature of the battery module, as well as the voltage of cells 22 and 24, along with the sum of the voltages across the series combination of cells 22 and 24. These voltages are designated DV1, DV2 and DV3 respectively in FIG. 1. The control circuit also serves to balance DV1 and DV2 as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,197, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

In operation, switch SW1 is open circuited in the event any of the voltages DV1, DV2 or DV3 departs from a predetermined range of voltages or compare unfavorably with one another. Moreover, switch SW1 is also opened, in the event that the temperature of the battery module is too high or too low to safely charge battery cells 22 and 24. Under most circumstances, the circuitry shown in FIG. 1 provides a high degree of protection against overcharging since not only is the total voltage DV3 across the series connected cells 22 and 24 monitored by control circuit 30, but each individual cell voltage DV1 and DV2 is also monitored to prevent overcharging of an individual cell in a series connection. However, in the event that overcharging takes place in a battery module due to a failure in switch SW1, failure in the control circuit 30, or damage to the battery module switch, there is still a chance that overcharging can occur. The present invention addresses this problem in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a charging system according to the present invention is configured in a manner similar to that of FIG. 1 in that host system 10 provides charging current via terminal 16 and 18 to the battery module 20. However, host system 10 includes a series switch designated SW2 through which charging current must past. In addition, one or more data connections, such as connection 40, provide communication between the host system 10 and the battery module 20 so that the host system 10 can receive information regarding the charging voltages supplied to cells 22 and 24 as well as the total voltage across the series connection of cells 22 and 24. Communication connection 40 provides the voltage DV5 as measured at the battery module 20 terminals by the battery module 20 to the host system 10. In addition, connection 42 is provided which supplies host system 10 with information regarding the temperature of the battery module 20. Signal TH which is present at connection 42 may in fact be the analog voltage across a thermistor which can be interpreted by the host system 10 as a measure of the temperature of battery module 20. In addition, voltages DV1, DV2, DV3, and DV5 can be detected and compared by software means. Those skilled in the art will recognize other ways to monitor the battery module temperature at the battery module such as temperature sensing means, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,459, 391, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

At the host system 10, the voltage across terminals 16 and 18 is measured as DV4 and may be compared with the voltage measured by the battery module as DV5 to determine that these voltages are within a predetermined tolerance of one another. Moreover, the data transmitted over connection 40 which indicates the voltages DV1, DV2 and DV3 are analyzed at the host system 10 to assure that none of these voltages are outside of a predetermined specification.

In the event the host system 10 detects that an abnormality has taken place within the battery module 20, the host system 10 can interrupt in the flow of charging current to the battery module 20 by open circuiting switch SW2, thus providing a redundant mechanism to switch SW1 and the control circuit 30 to ensure that cells 22 and 24 are not overcharged.

Several scenarios are possible wherein host system 10 would open circuit switch SW2. Some possible scenarios are tabulated in Table 1 below. Hardware is designated HWR and software is designated SWR.

Thus, in the present invention, a redundant charging system is provided in which the charging of a battery module is monitored, not only within the battery module 20 in order to provide overcharge protection, but also within a host system 10 to provide overcharging protection. In such a system, overcharging due to an overvoltage condition or out of temperature range condition will result in open circuiting of switch SW1 or switch SW2 or both.

Thus, it is apparent that in accordance with the present invention, an apparatus that fully satisfies the objectives, aims and advantages is set forth above. While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, permutations and variations will become apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended that the present invention embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations as follows within the scope of the appended claims.