JPH1155869A - Battery temperature automatic adjustment charger - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] Charging could not be performed unless the temperature of the secondary battery was within the normal chargeable temperature range. SOLUTION: A battery temperature detecting unit 5 for detecting a temperature of a secondary battery to be charged, and if the battery temperature detected by the battery temperature detecting unit 5 is lower than a normal charging temperature, the secondary battery is heated. Controls the heating / cooling means 11 so as to cool, and automatically adjusts the temperature of the secondary battery during charging to an appropriate charging temperature and maintains the temperature. Even when the temperature is not within the range of the normal charging temperature, charging can be performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery temperature automatic charging device for charging a secondary battery which can be used repeatedly by charging.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when charging a secondary battery that can be used repeatedly by charging, charging is performed when the temperature of the secondary battery is normal temperature (generally 0 ° C. to 40 ° C.) (hereinafter referred to as normal charging). It is carried out.

[0003] This is most efficient when the temperature of the secondary battery is at room temperature. When the temperature of the secondary battery is low at 0 ° C or lower, or at a high temperature of 40 ° C or higher, the same normal charging as at room temperature is performed. This is because the performance of the secondary battery may be degraded.

[0004]

However, in the conventional charging device, since the ambient temperature and the temperature of the secondary battery are the same, even if the secondary battery has no abnormality, the ambient temperature is as low as 0 ° C. or less. If the temperature is higher than 40 ° C., there is a problem that the secondary battery cannot be charged.

[0005] Even if the temperature is within the temperature range where normal charging is possible, if the temperature is not appropriate for charging, the charging efficiency is reduced and sufficient charging cannot be performed, or the performance of the secondary battery is deteriorated due to charging. There was also a defect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem. Even when the temperature of a secondary battery is not at room temperature, the secondary battery is automatically adjusted to a proper charging temperature at which normal charging is possible. It is an object of the present invention to provide a temperature-adjusting and charging device that performs the above-mentioned steps.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention detects the temperature of a secondary battery to be charged and, if the temperature of the secondary battery is lower than a normal charging temperature, heats the battery by heating and cooling means. If it is higher than normal charging temperature, cool it down,
Since charging is performed after the temperature of the secondary battery is set to the normal charging temperature, charging of the secondary battery can be performed efficiently.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery temperature detecting section for detecting a temperature of a secondary battery to be charged, wherein the battery temperature detected by the battery temperature detecting section is lower than a normal charging temperature. A control unit that controls the heating and cooling means to heat the secondary battery when it is low and to cool it when it is high, and automatically adjusts the temperature of the secondary battery during charging to an appropriate charging temperature and maintains that temperature. It is composed of

With the above configuration, the secondary battery can be charged efficiently, and the characteristics of the secondary battery are hardly deteriorated.

In addition, during charging, the temperature is automatically adjusted to an appropriate charging temperature and maintained at that temperature, so that efficient charging can be performed without being affected by the surrounding temperature.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a Peltier element that generates and cools heat according to the direction and magnitude of current is used as the heating and cooling means.

According to the above configuration, heating and cooling of the secondary battery can be performed only by controlling the direction and magnitude of the current, so that the heating and cooling means can be configured simply and inexpensively.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a secondary battery and an ambient temperature are detected, and an abnormality in the secondary battery is detected based on a temperature difference between the two.

According to the above configuration, since an abnormality of the secondary battery can be detected, abnormal charging can be prevented.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a charging device using a Peltier element. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a power source, and reference numeral 2 denotes an AC / DC converter for converting AC of the power source 1 into DC.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a DC control unit for controlling the direct current converted by the AC / DC conversion unit. A battery connection unit 4 for connecting a secondary battery (not shown) to be charged to the DC control unit 3 is connected in parallel. Have been.

A battery temperature detecting section 5 is provided near the battery connecting section 4 for detecting the temperature of the secondary battery connected to the battery connecting section 4. The battery temperature detected by the battery temperature detecting section 5 is provided. Is input to the control unit 7 together with the ambient temperature detected by the ambient temperature detection unit 6 that detects the ambient temperature.

The control section 7 controls the entire charging apparatus. An output side of the control section 7 is connected to a temperature control section 8.

The temperature controller 8 automatically adjusts the temperature of the secondary battery to an appropriate charging temperature and maintains the temperature. The DC controller 9 controls a DC current, and the DC controller 9 controls the polarity of the DC. It comprises a polarity switching unit 10 for switching, and a Peltier element 11 provided near the secondary battery connected to the battery connection unit 4.

The Peltier element 11 has positive and negative terminals as shown in FIG. 2A, and generates and cools the heat according to the direction and magnitude of the flowing current. A temperature-current characteristic as shown in FIG. 2B can be obtained according to the direction and the size.

Next, the operation of the charging device configured as described above will be described.

When the secondary battery to be charged is connected to the battery connection unit 4, the battery temperature detection unit 5 detects the temperature of the secondary battery and outputs the temperature to the control unit 7.

When the battery temperature input from the battery temperature detecting unit 5 is lower than the normal charging temperature, the control unit 7 outputs a command signal to the DC control unit 9 and the polarity switching unit 10 of the temperature control unit 8, The Peltier device 11 is instructed to flow a predetermined current in the forward direction shown in FIG.

As a result, the Peltier element 11 generates heat to heat the secondary battery, and the temperature of the secondary battery rises.

When the battery temperature detecting section 5 detects that the temperature of the secondary battery has reached the normal charging temperature, a command signal is output from the control section 7 to the DC control section 3 and controlled by the DC control section 3. The charging of the secondary battery is started by the applied current.

Also, during charging, a current flows through the Peltier element 11 until the temperature of the secondary battery reaches the proper charging temperature, and the temperature of the secondary battery is automatically adjusted to the proper charging temperature, and then maintained at that temperature.

On the other hand, when the temperature of the secondary battery is higher than the normal charging temperature, the Peltier device 11
2A, a current flows in a direction opposite to the forward direction shown in FIG.

As a result, the temperature of the secondary battery is reduced by cooling, and when the battery temperature detecting unit 5 detects that the temperature of the secondary battery has reached the normal charging temperature, the control unit 7 sends a D signal.
A command signal is output to the C control unit 3, and charging of the secondary battery is started in the same manner as described above. After that, the temperature of the secondary battery is automatically adjusted to a proper charging temperature, and then the temperature is maintained.

During charging, the automatic temperature adjustment is stopped at regular intervals for a fixed time, the ambient temperature is detected by the ambient temperature detector 6, and the detected ambient temperature and the battery temperature detected by the battery temperature detector 5 are detected. Is checked by the control unit 7 to check whether the battery temperature is abnormally raised from the ambient temperature.

If the battery temperature is abnormally higher than the ambient temperature, this is determined to be abnormal and charging is stopped.

This makes it possible to prevent abnormal charging.

In the above embodiment, the Peltier device 1
1 is used to heat and cool the secondary battery,
Of course, the heating and cooling of the secondary battery may be performed using a cooling fan, a cooling element, a heating element, or the like.

[0034]

As described in detail above, the present invention detects the temperature of the secondary battery to be charged, and if the temperature of the secondary battery is lower than the normal charging temperature, heats the secondary battery by the heating / cooling means, and performs the normal charging. When the temperature is higher than the temperature, the battery is cooled and the temperature of the secondary battery is set to the normal charging temperature before charging, so that the secondary battery can be charged efficiently and the characteristics of the secondary battery are hardly deteriorated. .

During charging, the temperature is automatically adjusted to a proper charging temperature.
By maintaining that temperature, efficient charging is possible without being affected by the ambient temperature, and when the secondary battery temperature becomes abnormally higher than the ambient temperature,
Since this can be detected as abnormal, it is possible to prevent abnormal charging.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a battery temperature automatic adjustment charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 (a) is an explanatory diagram showing the electrodes of a Peltier element used in the battery temperature automatic charging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention and the direction of the current. (B) A diagram showing the relationship between the current and the temperature.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Power supply 2 AC / DC conversion part 3 DC control part 4 Battery connection part 5 Battery temperature detection part 6 Ambient temperature detection part 7 Control part 8 Temperature control part 9 DC control part 10 Polarity switching part 11 Peltier element

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A battery temperature detecting section for detecting a temperature of a secondary battery to be charged, and a secondary battery is heated when the battery temperature detected by the battery temperature detecting section is lower than a normal charging temperature; While controlling the heating and cooling means to cool,
A battery temperature automatic adjustment charging device, comprising: a controller for automatically adjusting the temperature of a secondary battery during charging to an appropriate charging temperature and maintaining the temperature. 2. A battery temperature automatic charging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a Peltier element that generates and cools the heat according to the direction and magnitude of the current is used as the heating and cooling means. 3. The battery temperature automatic charging device according to claim 1, wherein the secondary battery and the ambient temperature are detected, and a temperature difference between the two is detected to detect an abnormality in the secondary battery.