The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 19, 2016
Filed:
Jul. 26, 2013
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Moriguchi, Osaka, JP;
Tomomichi Nakai, Moriguchi, JP;
Takeshi Nakashima, Moriguchi, JP;
Kazuo Ishimoto, Moriguchi, JP;
Hiroshi Saeki, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
In the present invention, a main switch circuit () is provided between an electric power line (PL), to which voltage outputted from a solar cell () is applied, and a battery module (). A protection circuit () turns OFF the main switch circuit () to protect the battery module () from overcharging when the voltage (VBAT) of the battery module () is equal to or greater than an upper limit voltage. The voltage outputted from the solar cell () is set so as to be greater than the upper limit voltage to allow the battery module () to be charged to the upper limit voltage. When a charge ON command signal has been received, a control unit () turns ON only a sub-switch circuit () to introduce current from the solar cell () into a parallel circuit () and to suppress the voltage (VPL) of the power line (PL) to less than the upper limit voltage before turning ON the main switch circuit ().