Multi-purpose charging device for batteries

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] “The invention relates to a charging device for batteries, which comprises the body of the charging device, which body includes an upper part and a bottom part, electrical connectors for charging the batteries and battery guides for guiding the batteries to be charged to electrical connectors”.

[0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0005] There are already millions of mobile stations of different cellular networks in use. The use of mobile stations has increased in an explosive scale both in the number of users and the time used by each user. When the use increases, the duration of batteries is in a way critical. New applications are also coming into use, such as the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and UTMS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System), in which the amount of information to be transferred increases substantially. In order to maintain the good quality of data transfer, the power of the transmitter of a cellular telephone must be increased in adverse conditions. The increase of power exhausts the battery of a cellular telephone rapidly. So the user may need at least one spare battery in addition to the battery in the cellular telephone for changing it to the telephone in a situation that the battery in the cellular telephone gives a notification that it is running out of charge. The exhausted battery should then be charged quickly and easily with a suitable device.

[0006] Because one device manufacturer may have tens of different telephone models with different batteries of different sizes, and several battery models may be suitable for the same cellular telephone, the users must acquire a separate charging device for each type of battery. The charging device of one battery type may in some cases be suitable for another type, too, but generally this is not possible with the prior art charging devices. In practice, the prior art operation is difficult and expensive for the user.

[0007] It is an object of this invention to provide a new kind of a charging device for the batteries of cellular telephones, which charging device can be used for batteries of different width, length and thickness.

[0008] The objectives of the invention are achieved with a battery charging device, in which mechanical adjusters allow the attachment of batteries of different width, length and thickness on the electrical connectors of the charging device for performing the charging.

[0009] Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

[0010] The basic idea of the invention is the following: The electrical connectors needed for charging the batteries are at the first end of the charging device. The battery guides on the sides of the connectors of the charging device make sure that the connectors of the battery meet the right connectors in the device. The width of the battery to be placed in the charging device influences the width controllers on both sides of the charging device, and the mechanical solution in connection with the width controllers influences the width of the battery guides on the sides of the electrical connectors of the battery charger. With this method, batteries of different sizes are automatically guided in the right place in the charging device, when they are placed in it. In the longitudinal direction, a stopper has been arranged for batteries of different sizes close to the second end of the charging device to keep the battery in place during charging. After charging, the stopper can be pushed to the bottom of the charging device, whereby the battery can be removed from the device. The thickness of batteries to be charged in the charging device can vary, because the thickness of batteries is not restricted by the electric connectors, battery guides or width controllers of the charging device.

[0011] The invention provides the advantage that the same charging device can be used for batteries with different width, length and thickness.

[0012] In addition, the invention provides the advantage that the mechanism of the charging device guides the battery to be charged to the electrical contacts automatically and reliably.

[0013] Furthermore, the invention has the advantage that its manufacturing costs are low.

[0014] In the following, the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

[0015] FIG. 1ais an exemplary perspective drawing of a charging device according to the invention,

[0016] FIG. 1bshows a charging device according to the invention from above, when a short and narrow battery has been connected to it for charging,

[0017] FIG. 1cshows a charging device according to the invention from above, when a long and wide battery has been connected to it for charging,

[0018] FIG. 2 shows the structural parts of a charging device according to the invention as an exploded view,

[0019] FIG. 3ais an exemplary view of a charging device according to the invention from the bottom, when there i s no battery to be charged in the charging device, or the battery to be charged is narrow, and

[0020] FIG. 3bis an exemplary view of a charging device according to the invention from the bottom, when there is a wide battery to be charged in the charging device.

[0021] FIG. 1ashows an example of a charging device 10 according to the invention. The charging device preferably comprises a cover 1, which is articulated to the device with two hinges 16 at the first end of the charging device. The second end of the charging device 10 is open in a way that the battery 15 to be charged can be easily placed in the device. The cover 11 can be closed for the duration of charging, and for its part it ensures that the battery 15 to be charged stays in the charging device 10. The body of the charging device 10 consists of two parts: the bottom part 12band the upper part 12a, which are preferably made of plastic by injection moulding. The upper part 12aand the bottom part 12bcan preferably be connected to each other with fast clips shaped for the parts, by gluing or by some mechanical connecting means. FIG. 1aalso shows an example of the electrical connectors 17 of the charging device 10, which connectors are of elastic construction so that they spring against the battery connectors and thus ensure a good contact. The number of connectors 17 is two or more, preferably four, and they are located close to the first end of the charging device 10. FIG. 1aalso shows a stopper 14, which is needed when the charging device is used to charge a battery 15, which is short as compared to the total length of the charging device 10.

[0022] FIG. 1bshows an example of a situation in which the charging device is used to charge a battery 15a, which is short as compared to the length of the charging device and narrow as compared to the width of the charging device. The battery 15ato be charged is placed in the charging device by pushing it in the direction of the arrow A towards the first end of the charging device 10. When the battery 15ais placed in the charging device, it meets two width controllers 19a, 19b. The shape of these width controllers is preferably a triangle with a cut apex. The width controllers are partly located in the body of the charging device, in a space delimited by the upper part 12aand the bottom part 12bso that only the peaks of the width controllers are visible on the sides of the space reserved for the battery 15a.

[0023] The location of the width controllers 19a, 19bin the transverse direction is determined by means of leaf springs 24a, 24bconnected to them. The leaf springs, which are shown in FIG. 2, are entirely located in the body of the charging device in the space between the upper part 12aand the bottom part 12b. The leaf springs are fastened at the first end to the upper part 12aand at the second end to the base of the width controllers. The wider the battery to be placed in the charging device is, the more the leaf springs 24a, 24bfastened to the width controllers 19a, 19bbend towards the outer edge of the charging device 10. As a result of this, the distance between the width controllers 19a, 19bbecomes large enough to allow the battery 15ato slip between them.

[0024] In the next step, the battery 15apresses against the battery guides 18a, 18b, which are located near the first end of the charging device 10, at both edges of the space reserved for the battery. The battery guides comprise, on the edges facing each other, guiding surfaces, which form a step-like pattern in the transverse direction of the charging device 10. This enables placing batteries of different width at the right point against the electrical connectors 17 of the charging device. The battery guides 18a, 18bare fixed parts of the slide 21 shown in FIG. 2. The slide is located in the body of the charging device, whereby only the battery guides 18a, 18bare outwardly visible. The slide is not fastened to the charging device as fixed, but it can move in the body in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the body within certain limits. The slide is connected with two coil springs 22 in the body, the coil springs are essentially V-shaped, and they impose a force on the slide pushing it away from the first end 21 of the charging device when there is no battery to be charged in the charging device.

[0025] The width controllers 19a, 19bfunction as locking devices, which determine how the slide 21 and the battery guides 18a, 18bon it can move towards the first end of the charging device 10. When there is a narrow battery in the charging device, the sides of the battery do not reach to push the width controllers 19a, 19bsufficiently towards the outer edges of the charging device. Then the width controllers lock the slide 21 in place, whereby the slide and the battery guides 18a, 18bcannot move in the direction of arrow A towards the first end of the charging device. Thus the head of the battery to be charged is located in the narrowest gap formed by the closest guiding surfaces of the battery guides, whereby the gap guides the connectors at the end of the battery against the connectors of the charging device 17.

[0026] If a wide battery is placed in the charging device, its sides pushing the width controllers 19a, 19bsufficiently far away from each other, the locking, which prevents the movement of the slide 21, is released. Then the slide 21 can move the maximum distance in the direction of the arrow A towards the first end of the charging device 10, which is the situation in the example of FIG. 1c. Only the furthest guiding surfaces of the battery guides 18a, 18bare then visible, while the inner guiding surfaces are pushed into the body of the charging device. Now the head of the battery to be charged is located in the widest gap formed by the furthest guiding surfaces of the battery guides, and the connectors at the end of the battery are again placed accurately against the connectors 17 of the charging device.

[0027] A short battery 15ais locked in place by a stopper 14 moving up and down. When the battery 15ais pushed towards the electrical connectors 17 of the charging device 10, the stopper 14 is pushed into the body of the charging device. When the battery 15ais in place, the spring 25 pushes the stopper 14 forth, whereby the battery remains pressed between the stopper and the battery guides 18a, 18b. Thus the battery 15ahas been locked in place to remain stationary. When the battery 15ais removed, the stopper 14 is pushed to the bottom, whereby the battery 15acan be removed from the device.

[0028] In the case shown in FIG. 1cas an example, a battery with external dimensions as large as the charging device 10 can hold has been placed in the charging device 10. The width controllers 19a, 19bare now entirely sunk into the shell parts 12a, 12b, whereby the slide 21 and its battery guides 18a, 18bhave been able to move to the extreme position towards the first end of the charging device as pushed by the battery to be placed in the charging device. The stopper 14 has been pushed by the battery 15binto the inner space formed by the shell parts 12a, 12b. At the second end of the charging device 10, the battery 15bto be charged is supported at the side by the auxiliary guides 13a, 13b. Because the battery thus fills up the space reserved for the battery, it cannot move in the charging device but stays in place reliably. The battery is removed from the charging device 10 by lifting it at first up with fingers from the second end of the charging device. After this, the battery 15bcan be lifted off the charging device. The stopper 14 comes up again and the battery guides 18a, 18breturn from the force of the springs 22 to the starting position as far from the first end of the charging device 10 as possible.

[0029] FIG. 2 shows the parts of a charging device according to the invention as an exploded view. The largest single parts that are outwardly visible are the cover 11, the bottom part 12band the upper part 12a. The rest of the parts of the charging device remain either entirely or partly invisible in the space between the bottom part and the upper part. The charging device 10 comprises a circuit board 29, which resembles a letter T upside down in FIG. 2, to which connectors 17 for the batteries, a connector 23 of the electrical connector of the charging device and the charging light indicator 35 are connected. The slide 21 is arranged to move on the narrow part of the circuit board 29. The slide 21 is connected with two V-shaped coil springs 22, which tend to return the slide to a position, which is as far as possible from the first end of the charging device 10. The charging device comprises two leaf springs 24a, 24b, which are fastened from their first end to the opposite sides of the outer edges of the upper part 12a, and to the second end of which width controllers 19a, 19bare fastened. A coil spring 24 is placed inside the stopper 14. The stopper 14 and the circuit board 29 are preferably fastened by means of a board 26 and a screw 27 connected to it to the upper part 12a. The board 26 is preferably made of heavy material, such as metal, so as to balance and stabilize the charging device 10. The bottom part 12bis connected to the upper part 12apreferably with screws. Four screws are used in the example shown in the drawing.

[0030] FIGS. 3aand 3bshow an example of a charging device according to the invention as seen from the bottom, when the bottom part has been removed. FIGS. 3aand 3bthus show the inner part of the body of the charging device, which is normally hidden. The purpose of the drawings is to illustrate how the movement of the slide 21 is adjusted by means of the width controllers 19a, 19b.

[0031] FIG. 3ashows a situation in which there is either no battery in the charging device or the battery in the device is so narrow that its sides do not push the width controllers sufficiently to the direction of the outer edges of the charging device. In this situation, the leaf springs 24a, 24bpush the width controllers 19a, 19btowards each other, whereby the claws 30a, 30bin the width controllers are pushed into the dents 32a, 32bon the sides of the slide and thus prevent the movement of the slide towards the first end of the charging device.

[0032] FIG. 3bshows a situation in which there is a wide battery in the charging device, pushing the width controllers 19a, 19baway from each other. Then the claws 30a, 30bmove off the dents 32a, 32band the slide can move towards the first end of the charging device as pushed by the battery. FIG. 3bshows a situation in which the slide has moved to its extreme position at the first end of the charging device. FIGS. 3aand 3balso show the coil springs 22, the force of which pushes the slide continuously away from the first end of the charging device. When the battery has been removed, the slide 21 and the width controllers 19a, 19bare moved back to the position shown in FIG. 3a, as forced by the coil springs 22 and the leaf springs 24a, 24b.

[0033] Due to the invention, the same charging device according to the invention can conveniently be used to charge batteries with the following external dimensions: the width of the battery is preferably between 33 and 29 mm, and the length can be between 53 and 72 mm.

[0034] Some preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above. However, the invention is not limited to the solutions described above. For example, one stopper was mentioned in the preferred embodiment, but more stoppers can be provided to prevent the longitudinal movement of the batteries, whereby it is possible to charge batteries of very different lengths with the same device. In addition, the inventive idea can be applied in many different ways within the scope defined by the attached claims.