JPH0367472A - Thin type secondary battery charger - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a battery charger compact and less expensive by retaining the electrode part of a battery between the cover of the charger and the body thereof. CONSTITUTION:A thin type secondary battery 21 taken out of a portable equipment is loaded in a space between a charger body 61 and the cover 62 thereof. Projections 691 and 691' provided at the engagement parts 69 and 69' of the cover 62 are coupled to engagement grooves 70 and 70', thereby fixing the cover 62. In this case, the positive and negative terminals 22 and 23 of the battery 21 come in contact with the positive and negative terminals 67 and 68 of the charger. In this state, a projection 65 on the cover 62 of the charger body 61 passes through a hole 66 and pushes switches 74 and 75. These switches 74 and 75 are thereby turned on for charging the battery 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application J] The present invention relates to a charger that is smaller in size and lower in cost.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, chargers for secondary batteries used in portable devices such as headphone stereos have been used, for example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

In FIG. 2, 1 is a secondary battery, 2 is a positive terminal of the secondary battery 1, and 3 is a negative terminal of the secondary battery 1. 4 is a charger,
5 is a plug, and 6 is a plug to make it easier for the user of the mobile device (hereinafter referred to as the user) to load the secondary battery 1 into the charger 4.
Alternatively, a recess is provided to facilitate removal, 7 is a loading location for the secondary battery 1, 8 is a positive terminal on the charger 4 side, and 9 is a negative terminal on the charger 4 side.

In FIG. 2, when a secondary battery 1 used in a portable device such as a headphone stereo is discharged, a user takes out the secondary battery 1 from the portable device and loads it into a loading location 7 of a charger 4. At this time, pressure is applied to the positive terminal 8 and negative terminal 9 on the charger 4 side by a spring or the like to the positive terminal 2 and negative terminal 3 on the secondary battery 1 side.
The distance between the positive electrode terminal 8 and the negative electrode terminal 9 on the side of the charger 4 is slightly narrower than the distance between the positive electrode terminal 2 and the negative electrode terminal 3 of the secondary battery 1. Therefore, the user must push the secondary battery 1 into the loading location 7 of the charger 4 to load it. As a result, the secondary battery 1 is held down by the positive terminal 8 and negative terminal 9 of the charger 4 and cannot be easily removed from the charger 4.

After the user loads the secondary battery 1 into the charger 4, by inserting the plug 5 of the charger 4 into a commercial power outlet, the secondary battery 1 connects to the positive terminal 8 of the charger 4.
and is charged through the negative terminal 9. When charging is completed, the charger 4 with the secondary battery 1 loaded is pulled out from the outlet by the user. The secondary battery 1 is removed by the user using the recess 6 and loaded into a portable device such as a headphone stereo again.

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 3, 10, 11, and 12 are convex portions for ensuring that the secondary battery 1 is loaded. 1 to 9 have the same functions as those in FIG. The charger 4 shown in FIG. 2 can charge only one secondary battery, but the charger 4 shown in FIG. 3 can charge two secondary batteries.

Here, in the secondary battery 1, the positive and negative terminals 2 and 3 are arranged on the same plane, unlike the example shown in FIG. Correspondingly, the positive and negative terminals 8 and 9 of the charger 4 are also arranged on the same side of the loading point 7.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line ^-^' in FIG. 3. Here, a method for charging one discharged secondary battery 1 will be explained using FIG. 4. Fourth
In the figure, the secondary battery 1 is loaded by sliding it from the right side. The secondary battery 1 has a convex portion l! and 12, and pressure is applied upward in FIG. 4 to the positive and negative terminals 8 and 9 of the charger 4 by a force such as a spring. Electrical contact with the positive electrode terminal 2 and the negative electrode terminal 3 on the secondary battery 1 side becomes good.

Further, the protrusion 10 holds the right end of the secondary battery 1 in FIG. 4, and together with the protrusions 11 and 12, prevents the secondary battery 1 from easily coming off the charger 4.

In this state, when the user inserts the plug 5 into the outlet, the secondary battery 1 is charged. When charging is completed, the charger 4 is pulled out from the outlet by the user, and the secondary battery 1 is removed from the charger 4 by sliding it toward the right side in FIG. Charging completed 2
The next battery 1 is loaded into the portable device C again.

A charger for a thin secondary battery disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 185085/1985 (Thin secondary battery and method for manufacturing the same) is constructed using the same concept as the conventional charger described above. , as shown in Figure 5.

In FIG. 5, 21 is a thin secondary battery, 22 is a positive terminal of the thin secondary battery 21, and 23 is a negative terminal of the thin secondary battery 21. 24 is a charger for this thin secondary battery 21, 25 is a positive terminal on the side of the charger 24, 26 is a negative terminal on the side of the charger 24, and 27 is an end of the thin secondary battery 21 attached to it. 28 and 29 are slots for loading the thin rechargeable battery 21, and a case on the side of the k-th side that makes it easy to load the thin secondary battery 21 and prevents it from shifting laterally when loading; This is a convex portion to prevent the rechargeable battery 21 from falling off the charger 24.

The positive terminal 25 on the charger 24 side is located on the upper inner surface of the groove 27 (upper side of the paper in FIG. 5), and is pushed downward (downward in the paper in FIG. 5) by a force such as a spring. It has a structure that applies pressure. In addition, negative terminal 2
6 has a structure in which pressure is applied to the inside and lower part of the groove 27 (the side opposite to the reader side in FIG. 4). As a result, the positive and negative terminals 25 and 26 on the charger 24 side and the positive and negative terminals 22 and 23 on the thin secondary battery 21 side
In addition to improving electrical contact with the battery, the loaded thin secondary battery 21 cannot be easily removed, and it is also possible to prevent it from falling off during filling.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 8-B' in the :i@s diagram. In FIG. 6, the thin secondary battery 21 is slid from the right side of the figure and loaded into the groove 27 of the charger 24, and the positive electrode terminal 25 and the negative electrode terminal 26 in the groove 27 are connected to the thin secondary battery 21. The positive electrode terminal 22 and the negative electrode terminal 23 are in electrical contact with each other. Next, when the user inserts the plug 5 into the outlet, the thin secondary battery 21 is charged. When charging is completed, the thin secondary battery 21 is removed from the charger 24 by sliding it toward the right side in FIG. 6, and then loaded into the portable device again.

In addition, FIG. 7 shows the structure of a thin secondary battery disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 185085/1985. In FIG. 7, 51 is a positive 8i terminal, 52 is a negative 8i 141 terminal, 53 is a battery case, and 54 is a negative 8i terminal.
5 is a positive electrode plate, 55 is a negative electrode plate, 56 is an electrolyte, and 57 is a safety valve for degassing. A thin secondary battery having the structure shown in FIG. 7 has a positive electrode plate 54. Negative electrode plate 55. Since the electrolytic cells 56 are arranged on the same plane, the thickness can be made extremely thin compared to a secondary battery having a conventional structure.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As explained above, when a thin secondary battery charger is constructed based on the concept of configuring a conventional charger, a thin secondary battery charger is constructed as shown in FIG. This requires an area approximately equal to or larger than that of the next battery, resulting in the problem that the charger becomes large and expensive.

In addition, when loading a thin secondary battery into a charger, it is necessary to apply force, so in some cases the thin secondary battery may be bent and damaged (connected). A possible countermeasure is to thicken the case of the thin secondary battery itself to increase its mechanical strength, but this would result in the thin secondary battery becoming thicker and
There is a problem that the advantages of the thin secondary battery described in No. 185085 cannot be fully exploited. .

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the conventional drawback that the part into which the thin secondary battery is loaded becomes large, and to increase the mechanical strength, it is necessary to thicken the case of the thin secondary battery itself. The object of the present invention is to solve this problem and provide a thin rechargeable battery charger that is small and low cost.

[Means for Solving the Problems J] In order to achieve such an object, a first embodiment of the present invention includes a charger main body for charging a thin secondary battery, and a thin secondary battery.
A lid for holding a part of a rechargeable battery that has an electrode between it and the charger body, and an electrode disposed on the charger body or the lid side for charging the thin rechargeable battery. It is characterized by

Here, it is preferable that the lid is provided with a locking portion, and the charger body is provided with a locking groove that corresponds to the locking portion and into which the locking portion is fitted.

Alternatively, magnets can be attached to the charger body and the lid, respectively, so that when the lid is closed, the magnets on the lid side and the magnets on the charger body side are attracted to each other.

A second embodiment of the present invention includes a charger main body for charging a thin secondary battery, a groove provided in the charger main body for loading the thin secondary battery, and a groove when the secondary battery is loaded into the groove. , and a gripping member that grips the secondary battery between the groove and one wall of the groove.

Here, the gripping member includes a plate that comes into contact with the secondary battery, a rod that is connected to the plate and has a spiral threaded part, and a hole that allows the rod to be inserted into the charger body. It is a hole,
The plate is provided with a helical threaded portion and a hole in which the threaded portion is engaged, and by turning the rod, the plate is moved by the helical threaded portion to form a thin 2-piece plate between the plate and one wall of the groove. Preferably, it is capable of holding a secondary battery.

[Function] According to the charger of the present invention, there is no need for a part that houses the entire thin secondary battery as in the past, and most of this part is omitted, so a small and inexpensive charger can be provided. It has the advantage of being possible. Furthermore, in the present invention, only a portion of the thin secondary battery is held by the charger, so even if the battery case does not have sufficient strength, the thin secondary battery will not bend when loaded into the charger. There is an advantage that the case of the thin secondary battery can be made thinner, and as a result, the thin secondary battery can be made even thinner.

The present invention prevents the thin secondary battery from easily coming off from the charger when the plug of the charger is inserted into the outlet by grasping a portion of the thin secondary battery with a portion corresponding to the lid of the charger. This differs from the prior art in its configuration.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1(A) to (C) show one embodiment of the present invention, and here, FIGS. 1(A) to (C) show a charger for the thin secondary battery 21 shown in FIG. , 61 is the charger body, 62 is the lid for the charger body 61, and 65 is the lid 6.
2, a protrusion provided on the side facing the main body 1; 66, a hole provided on the side of the charger main body 61 corresponding to the protrusion 65; 67;
68 is the positive terminal provided on the charger body 61, and the lid 6
A locking part provided on the side of the lid to fix the negative terminal 69 and 62 to the charger body 61, and 70 is an end where one end of the locking part 69 is bent inward. Part 6
This is a locking groove for locking 91. In addition, Figure 1 (^
), do the same on the right side, 69% of the side surface of the lid.
There is a groove 70° for fixing the %691'.

FIG. 1(B) shows a state in which the lid 62 of the charger is closed, and is a view seen from direction C in FIG. 1(A). Here, the end 691 of the locking part 69 is locked in the groove 70, and the lid 62 is forcefully closed, covering the battery 21 loaded in the main body 61.

FIG. 1(C) is a sectional view taken along the line EE' in FIG. 1(^). Here, 74.75 is a switch explained in FIG. 9, and when the lid 62 is closed, the protrusion 65
is energized by C entering the hole 66.

FIG. 8 shows a side view from the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 (^) with the thin battery 21 loaded into the charger main body 61 and the charger lid 62 closed.

Here, the positive terminal 22 and negative terminal 23 of the battery 21 are the positive terminal 67 and negative terminal 68 of the charger, respectively.
is in contact with. The charger does not house the entire battery 21, and 5 is a plug.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the electrical circuit configuration of the charger according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, 71 is a commercial power supply, 72 is a rectifier,
Reference numeral 73 indicates a DC-DC converter having an insulating section that operates at a high frequency, and 74 and 75 indicate switches operated by a protrusion 65 provided on the lid 62 of the charger shown in FIG. 1(A).

According to Figures 1 (^) to (C), Figures 8 and 9,
A method for charging a thin secondary battery using the charger of the present invention will be described. When the thin secondary battery 21 is discharged, the user removes the thin secondary battery 21 from the portable device. In FIG. 1(^), the removed thin secondary battery 21 is placed between the charger body 61 and the lid 62 by the user.
It is loaded between. When the lid 62 is closed, as shown in FIG. 1(B), the protrusions 691° and 691° provided on the side surfaces 69.69° of the lid are fitted into the grooves 70.70'. The lid 62 is fixed to the charger main body 61 in FIG. 1(A) at its left and right sides. At this time, the positive terminal 22 of the thin secondary battery 21 comes into contact with the positive terminal 67 on the charger side, and the negative terminal 23 of the thin secondary battery 21 comes into contact with the negative terminal 68 on the charger side.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1(C), the protrusion 65 provided on the lid 62 of the charger body 61 passes through the hole 66 provided on the side of the charger body 61, as shown in FIG. Press the switches 74 and 75 to turn them on. Note that the distance between the lid 62 and the charger main body 61 is set to be slightly narrower than the thickness of the thin secondary battery 21, so that the thin secondary battery 21
Pressure is applied to the positive terminal 22 and negative terminal 23 of the battery from the positive terminal 67 and negative terminal 68 on the charger side, so that good electrical contact is achieved and the thin secondary battery does not easily come off from the charger.

In FIG. 348, with the lid 62 closed and the thin secondary battery 21 sandwiched between the lid 62 and the charger body 61, the plug 5 is inserted into the outlet.

In this state, switches 74 and 7 are shown in FIG.
5 is pressed and turned on, so when the plug 5 is inserted into the outlet, the power from the commercial power supply 71 is transferred to the rectifier 72.
The DC-DC converter 73 converts the voltage and current necessary for charging the thin secondary battery 21 into the voltage and current necessary to charge the thin secondary battery 21. charged through. Note that when the user inserts the plug 5 in FIG. 8 into the outlet before closing the lid 62,
If the DC-DC converter 73 has poor insulation, high voltage may be applied to the user if the switches 74 and 75 are not present, so when the lid 62 is open, switch 74 and 75 is turned off, so that high voltage is not applied to the user even in the unlikely event of an emergency.

On the upper side, the locking parts 69, 69° and the grooves 70, 70° were used to fix the lid 62 to the charger body 61, but instead of doing this, the lid 62 and the charger body 61 &: 6
It is also possible to embed a fi stone and utilize the attractive force of the magnet.

When charging is completed, insert the plug into the outlet, remove the plug, open the lid 62, remove the thin secondary battery 21 from the charger body side 61, and insert the thin secondary battery 2 into the mobile device again.
Load 1. When the thin secondary battery 21 is charged, as shown in FIG.
By being sandwiched between the two, the thin secondary battery 21 is held and suspended by the charger, and even if the case of the thin secondary battery 21 does not have sufficient strength, it will not bend. Never.

1O (^) and (B) are diagrams showing a second embodiment of the present invention, in which 80 is a charger body for charging a thin secondary battery 21, and 81 is a thin secondary battery. A groove 82 is a groove for loading the thin secondary battery 21.
1, a support plate movable within 1, 83 a rod fixed to the support plate 82, 84 a dial connected to the rod 83, 85 a rod 83
86 is a through hole drilled in the main body 80 through which a rod can be inserted; 87 is a through hole formed in the thin secondary battery charger main body 80 so as to mesh with the male thread part 85; It is a spiral female screw part, and when the dial 84 is rotated, the rod 83 moves in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. The support plate 21 is released from the battery 21.

When the thin secondary battery 21 is discharged, the user removes the thin secondary battery 21 from the portable device. Next, in 10B(^), the thin secondary battery 21 is fully loaded. Next, when the user turns the dial 84, the first θ
Figure (B) (F-help in Figure 1θ Figure (A) pushes the thin secondary battery 21, as a result, in Figure 10 (^)
The electrical contact between the positive terminals 22 and 67 and the negative terminals 23 and 68 is improved, and they are not easily removed from the charger 80.

In this state, when the plug 5 is inserted into the outlet, charging of the thin secondary battery 21 is started. When charging of the thin secondary battery 21 is completed, the plug 5 is pulled out from the outlet. Then, the user
And the dial next battery 21 in (8) is connected to the charger 80
It can be removed more easily.

The thin secondary battery 21 removed from the charger 20 is loaded into the portable device again by the user.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the charger of the present invention, there is no need for a part to house the entire thin secondary battery as in the conventional case, and since most of this part is omitted, the charger is compact. It has the advantage of being able to provide inexpensive chargers. Furthermore, in the present invention, only a portion of the thin secondary battery is held by the charger, so even if the battery case does not have sufficient strength, the thin secondary battery will not bend when loaded into the charger. This has the advantage that the case of the thin secondary battery can be made thinner, and as a result, the thin secondary battery can be made even thinner.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1(A), (B) and (C) are the first embodiments of the present invention.
FIGS. 2 and 3 are perspective views showing two examples of conventional chargers, and FIG. 4 is a cross-section of the charger shown in FIG. 3. Figure 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a thin secondary battery charger configured based on the conventional concept, Figure 6 is a sectional view of the charger shown in Figure 5, and Figure 7 is a perspective view of an example of a thin secondary battery charger configured based on the conventional concept. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an example of the structure of a battery.
9 is a circuit diagram showing an example of the electrical circuit configuration of the charger of the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 8;
1O (^) and (B) are a perspective view and a sectional view taken along the line FF', respectively, showing a second embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Secondary battery, 2... Positive terminal of secondary battery 1, 3... Negative terminal of secondary battery 1, 4... Charger, 5... Plug, 6... The secondary battery 1 is transferred to the user of the mobile device (hereinafter referred to as the user)
A recess for making it easier to load or remove the battery into the charger 4, 7... Loading location for the secondary battery l, 8... Positive terminal on the side of the charger 4, 9... Charger 4 Side negative terminal, 10, 11.12... Convex portion for ensuring loading of the secondary battery 1, 21... Thin secondary battery, 22... Positive terminal of the thin secondary battery 21, 23-... Negative electrode terminal of thin secondary battery 21, 24... Charger for thin secondary battery, 25... Positive electrode terminal on charger 24 side, 26... Negative electrode terminal on charger 24 side, 27... Groove for loading the thin secondary battery 21, 28
, 29... A side case for making it easier to load the thin secondary battery 21 and eliminating lateral displacement during loading, 30... The loaded thin secondary battery 21 is connected to the charger 4 when the charger 4 is plugged into an outlet. 51... Positive electrode terminal, 52... Negative electrode terminal, 53... Battery case, 54... Positive electrode plate, 55... Negative electrode plate, 56... - Electrolyte, 57... Safety valve for degassing, 61... Charger body, 62... Lid of charger, 65... Protrusion provided on the lid 62 side of charger body 61, 66... - Hole provided on the charger body 61 side, 67
...Positive terminal provided on the charger body 61, 68...
・Negative terminal provided on the lid 62 of the charger, 69, 69
°...A locking part provided on the side surface of the lid to fix the lid 62 to the charger body 61, 691.691'...A locking part 69.69° of the lid 62
end, 70, 70''...Latching groove for fixing the end 691 of the locking part 69, 211.212...Hole provided in the thin secondary battery case, 71...Commercial power supply , 72... Rectifying section, 73... DC-DC having an insulating section that operates at high frequency
Converter, 74, 75... protrusion 6 provided on the lid 62 of the charger
5; 80... Thin secondary battery charger main body; 81... Groove for loading the thin secondary battery 21; 82... Board for supporting the thin secondary battery 21; 83... Rod connected to the plate 82, 84... Dial connected to the bar 83, 85... Spiral male thread provided on the bar, 86... Through hole, 87... Thin secondary battery A spiral female threaded portion provided on the battery charger 80.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A charger main body for charging a thin secondary battery; A lid that holds a portion of the thin secondary battery having an electrode by sandwiching it between the charger main body; A charger for a thin secondary battery, comprising an electrode disposed on the charger main body or a lid side for charging the thin secondary battery. 2) The battery charger according to claim 1, wherein the lid is provided with a locking portion, and the charger body is provided with a locking groove corresponding to the locking portion and into which the locking portion is fitted. Charger for thin secondary batteries. 3) A magnet is attached to the charger body and the lid, respectively, so that when the lid is closed, the magnet on the lid side and the magnet on the charger body side are attracted to each other. 1. The thin secondary battery charger according to 1. 4) a charger main body for charging a thin secondary battery; a groove provided in the charger main body for loading the thin secondary battery; and when the secondary battery is loaded into the groove, the A thin rechargeable battery charger comprising: a gripping member that grips the secondary battery between one wall of a groove. 5) The gripping member includes a plate that comes into contact with the secondary battery, a rod that is connected to the plate and has a spiral threaded portion, and a rod that is attached to the charger body. a hole drilled to allow insertion, the hole having a threaded portion that engages with the helical threaded portion; and the plate is moved by the helical threaded portion by turning the rod. 5. The thin type 2 according to claim 4, wherein the thin secondary battery can be held between the plate and one wall of the groove.
Charger for next battery.