Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Eiji Satsuma

Shoichi Toya

Kyozo Terao

Yasunari Mizoguchi

Tetsuya Okada

Takahiro Yamashita

Toshiki Nakasho

Takayuki Mino

Masahiro Sugita

In a battery charger cradle, a battery incorporated in a battery built-in device is charged by electric power induced to an induction coil. The cradle includes a primary coil for inducing electromotive force to the induction coil, a casing having a top plate atop of which the battery built-in device is placed, a movement mechanism for moving the primary coil along an inner surface of the top plate, and a position detection controller for detecting a position of the battery built-in device placed on the top plate and controlling the movement mechanism to bring the primary coil closer to the induction coil in the battery built-in device. When the battery built-in device is placed on the top plate, the position detection controller detects the position of the battery built-in device, and the movement mechanism moves the primary coil closer to the induction coil in the battery built-in device.

Battery charger cradle

The battery charger has a casethat has a battery compartmentto load a plurality of rechargeable circular cylindrical batteriesarranged in parallel orientation in a detachable manner, a charging circuithoused in the caseto charge the batteries loaded in the battery compartment, and a charging status indicatorthat detects the charging status of batteries loaded in the battery compartmentand indicates the battery charging status by light illumination conditions. The indicatoris provided with light sourcesdisposed at the end of the battery compartmentthat shine light from between adjacent parallel circular cylindrical batteriesin the lengthwise direction onto the battery surfaces. These battery charger light sourcesshine light on the surfaces of adjacent circular cylindrical batteriesto indicate the charging status of the circular cylindrical batteriesloaded in the battery compartment

Battery charger with charging status indicator in battery compartment

The type of the attached batteries is determined by decision switch mechanisms. A protruding region is established in the attachment section to provide contact between charging terminals and the electrodes of short batteries. A stepped shelf region is established with the protruding region, and long batteries are mounted inside the attachment section on top of the stepped shelf region. Charging terminals are disposed in electrode alignment surface of the stepped shelf region, and decision switch mechanisms are housed inside the stepped shelf region. A decision switch mechanism is a switch that switches when pressed by the battery electrode of either a long battery or a short battery loaded in the attachment section. The control circuit switches charging current between a first charging current and a second charging current depending on the OFF or ON state of the decision switch mechanisms.

Battery charger

A charger including a first charging terminal that contacts one of positive and negative terminals of a rechargeable battery to charge the battery; and a second charging terminal that is opposite in polarity to the first charging terminal electrically connected to a charging circuit. The first charging terminal has a nip portion that is formed by bending a metal plate in a folded manner such that parts of the metal plate are opposed. A temperature sensor is disposed in the nip portion. The temperature sensor disposed in the nip portion detects the battery temperature through the intermediary of the metal plate of the first charging terminal in contact with the terminal of the rechargeable battery.

Charger

A battery charger includes a temperature detection portion that comes in contact with a battery detachably mounted in a battery pocket and detects its battery temperature, and a charge circuit that controls charge of the battery based on the battery temperature detected by the temperature detection portion. The temperature detection portion includes a heat conduction plate and a temperature sensor. The heat conduction plate includes a pair of upper and lower sandwich plates that sandwich the temperature sensor, and an elastic connection arm that connects the upper and lower sandwich plates at a first end side, and an interlock portion that couples the upper and lower sandwich plates at a second end side opposite to the first end side. The elastic connection arm connects first ends of the upper and lower sandwich plates, and the interlock portion couples second ends of the upper and lower sandwich plates. Thus, the upper and lower sandwich plates sandwich and fasten the temperature sensor.

Battery charger having temperature detection portion for detecting battery temperature

The battery charger is provided with temperature detection sectionsto contact and detect the temperature of AA batteriesA and AAA batteriesB loaded in a battery pocket, and a charging circuit to detect battery temperature and control batterycharging. The battery charger is provided with AA batteryA holders, which are circular openingsin the case, and AAA batteryB holders, which are flexible arches. An AAA batteryB is inserted into a flexible archand retained in a fixed position in the battery pocket. An AA batteryA is not inserted into a flexible arch, but rather moves the flexible archcausing it to incline, and is inserted into a circular openingfor retention in a fixed position in the battery pocket. The battery charger charges batteriesset in fixed positions in the battery pocketwhile detecting batterytemperature via the temperature detection sections

A battery discharging apparatus is provided with a battery discharger and a controller. The controller is connected to a battery voltage sensor and a timer, a current sensor and a discharge switch, or a current sensor and a battery power capacity sensor. The controller directs the discharger to recover battery capacity lost due to the memory effect using a deep memory effect eliminating discharge.

Battery discharging apparatus

A residual capacity displaying device which discriminates whether or not a battery is deteriorated, and display the result of the discrimination. The residual capacity displaying device for a battery pack includes a current detecting unit for detecting current flowing to and from a battery pack. A battery identifying unit identifies the kind of the battery pack, and an arithmetic unit calculates the capacity of the battery pack according to the output of the current detecting unit and the time thereof. The dischargeable capacity of the battery pack is stored according to the output of the battery identifying unit. Also, the capacity of the battery pack which is discharged is compared until the voltage of the battery pack reaches a predetermined voltage value with the dischargeable capacity. When the result of comparison reaches a predetermined value, LEDs display the fact that the battery pack has been deteriorated.

Residual capacity displaying device

A battery discharging apparatus is provided with a battery discharger and a control unit. The control unit is provided with a current sensor and a battery power capacity sensor. The control unit directs the discharger to recover battery capacity lost due to memory effect using a deep memory effect eliminating discharge.

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Hyogo, Japan

Eiji Satsuma