Fdk Corporation

Yasunari Mizoguchi

Kenji Kitamura

Kunihisa Sekiguchi

Takashi Kanou

Katsuki Tsuchiya

Hirohito Teraoka

Kazuta Takeno

Kevin Foster

Hiroshi Suzuki

Takeshi Yoshida

Takashi Kano

Mika Takayanagi

Jinfeng Jia

Michiko Sato

Asuka Takahashi

A battery polarity determination circuit includes a battery accommodating unit including a first contact and a second contact to be in contact with respective electrode terminals of a battery, a control device that is connected via a resistor to a voltage lead-out point at which a voltage of the battery is led out and determines a polarity of the battery, a connection switching circuit capable of switching between a first connection state and a second connection state, and a diode having a cathode to be connected to a voltage read-in point at which the resistor and the control device are connected to each other, and an anode to be grounded, wherein the control device determines the polarity of the battery based on a voltage at the voltage read-in point according to the connection state of the connection switching circuit, and a forward voltage of the diode is set so that the voltage at the voltage read-in point is not less than a lower limit value of an absolute maximum rating of the control device.

Battery polarity determination circuit, charger, and electronic device

Battery charger

This chargeris provided with: a battery housing unitincluding a first contact Tand a second contact Twhich touch the respective electrode terminals of a battery BAT to be housed therein; a high-potential power supply lineand a low-potential power supply lineto which power for charging the battery BAT is supplied; a connection switching circuitcapable of switching between a first connection state in which the first contact Tis connected to the high-potential power supply lineand the second contact Tis connected to the low-potential power supply lineand a second connection state in which the second contact Tis connected to the high-potential power supply lineand the first contact Tis connected to the low-potential power supply line; and a control devicefor controlling the connection switching circuitto perform charging control on the battery BAT. The control deviceperforms preliminary charging on the battery BAT in the first connection state and, when a battery voltage VB does not exceed a set voltage VS, switches the connection state to the second connection state and performs preliminary and normal charging on the battery BAT.

Charger and charging method

A sorting mechanism includes a flap that selects a first path connecting from a battery outlet of a charging section to a battery inlet of a first compartment section as a path to introduce a first battery to the first compartment section in a case of housing the first battery in the first compartment section, and that selects a second path connecting from the battery outlet of the charging section to a battery inlet of a second compartment section as a path to introduce a second battery to the second compartment section in a case of housing the second battery in the second compartment section.

Automatic charger

A charger includes: a power supply device for charging a secondary battery; a power supply path that includes a first switch and a second switch, and supplies electric power from the power supply device to the secondary battery; a discharge circuit that includes a first resistor and a third switch, has one end connected to a connection point between the first switch and the second switch, and has the other end connected to a ground line; a short-circuit preventing circuit that includes a second resistor and a fourth switch, and is connected in parallel to the first switch; and a control device that controls open-close of each switch and acquires a voltage value V, wherein the control device detects a failure of each switch on a condition where the voltage value Vis different between a normal state and a failure state, in a combination of open-close control for each switch.

Charger having failure detection function and failure detection method

A charging circuit includes a first power source circuit that supplies charging power to secondary batteries; a switch that controls the supply of the power; and a control device that performs switching control of the switch. The control device detects a voltage difference between the secondary batteries before starting charging; starts a timer and starts serial charging of the secondary batteries; on the condition that the voltage difference before the charging has been equal to or larger than a first threshold, if respective voltage values of the secondary batteries have both become equal to or larger than a second threshold before the timer expires, shortens a remaining time on the timer at that time point; and finishes the serial charging of the secondary batteries at the earlier of a time point when the secondary batteries have both become fully charged, or a time point when the timer has expired.

Charging circuit

A charger includes: a charging circuit which receives an electric power from external equipment and charges a secondary battery; a control device which determines a power supply capability of the external equipment on the basis of the electric power that is supplied to the charging circuit from the external equipment; and a display device that displays the power supply capability of the external equipment, which has been determined by the control device.

Charger

A charger of the present invention includes a charging circuit that allows a secondary battery to be charged, a state-of-charge detection circuit that detects a state of charge of the secondary battery, a pictogram display unit that displays the state of charge of the secondary battery, and a control device that controls the charging circuit and the pictogram display unit on the basis of the state of charge of the secondary battery. The control device determines a kind of electronic apparatus available by the secondary battery in accordance with the state of charge of the secondary battery, and then displays the kind of electronic apparatus available on the pictogram display unit.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Yasunari Mizoguchi