TWI802637B - Battery device and charging method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A battery device and a charging method are provided. The charging method includes: providing a first charging current to charge a battery set in the battery device during a first time period, and measuring a first detection temperature of the battery set; comparing the first detection temperature with a first threshold value to generate a first comparison result during the first time period; adjusting to provide a second charging current to charge the battery set during a second time period according to the first comparison result, and measuring a second detection temperature, where the first charging current is larger than the second charging current; comparing the second detection temperature and a second threshold value to generate a second comparison result; and, recovering to provide the first charging current to charge the battery set.

Description

Battery device and charging method thereof

The present invention relates to a battery device and its charging method, and in particular to a battery device capable of increasing charging speed and its charging method.

In the conventional technical field, the charging operation of the battery device is usually performed with a relatively low charging current in the initial state. Moreover, when the temperature of the battery pack is too high to cause the battery device to perform an over temperature protection (OTP) action, the battery device will stop the charging operation, and the battery pack will be recharged only after the temperature drops to a safe range. action. Based on the above two reasons, the battery pack of the battery device in the prior art requires a long charging time to fully charge the battery, which reduces the efficiency of the battery device.

The invention provides a battery device and its charging method, which can effectively reduce the charging time.

The charging method of the battery device of the present invention includes: providing a first charging current in the first time interval to charge the battery pack in the battery device, and measuring the first detected temperature of the battery pack; in the first time interval, Comparing the first detection temperature with the first critical value to generate a first comparison result; changing the second charging current to charge the battery pack in a second time interval according to the first comparison result, and measuring the second detection of the battery pack temperature, wherein the first charging current is greater than the second charging current; in the second time interval, comparing the second detected temperature and the second critical value to generate a second comparison result; and resuming to provide the first charging according to the second comparison result current to charge the battery pack.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned first charging current is the maximum charging current, and the second charging current is 40% of the first charging current.

The battery device of the present invention includes a battery pack and a controller. The controller is coupled to the battery pack, and the controller is used to: provide a first charging current to charge the battery pack in the battery device during a first time interval, and measure a first detected temperature of the battery pack; during the first time interval , comparing the first detected temperature with the first critical value to generate a first comparison result; changing the second charging current in the second time interval to charge the battery pack according to the first comparison result, and measuring the second detection of the battery pack to detect the temperature, wherein the first charging current is greater than the second charging current; in the second time interval, compare the second detected temperature and the second critical value to generate a second comparison result; and, according to the second comparison result, resume providing the first The charging current charges the battery pack.

Based on the above, in the first time interval of starting the charging operation, the embodiment of the present invention first performs charging operation for the battery pack by using a relatively large first charging current, and when the detected temperature of the battery pack is higher than the first critical value , and then lower the charging current of the battery to the second charging current. Moreover, the present invention can resume charging the battery pack with a relatively large first charging current when the battery temperature (detection temperature) is lower than the second critical value. The invention can effectively prevent the over-temperature protection from being activated, continuously perform the charging operation for the battery pack, and effectively save the time required for charging.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the following specific embodiments are described in detail together with the accompanying drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which shows a flow chart of a battery device charging method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Wherein, in step S110, a first charging current is provided to charge the battery pack in the battery device during the first time interval which is the initial time interval, and the first detected temperature of the battery pack is measured synchronously. Please note here that in step S110 , in the first time interval, the first charging current provided to charge the battery pack has a relatively large current value. In an embodiment of the present invention, in the initial time interval, the maximum charging current can be provided to charge the battery pack, and the temperature of the battery pack is simultaneously detected to obtain the first detected temperature.

Next, in step S120, a first comparison result is obtained by comparing the first detected temperature with the first critical value during the first time interval. When the first comparison result indicates that the first detected temperature is not greater than the first critical value continuously, the first time interval is maintained, and the first charging current is maintained to charge the battery pack. In contrast, when the first comparison result indicates that the first detected temperature is greater than the first critical value, the first time interval is ended and the second time interval is entered, and step S130 is executed.

In step S130, according to the above-mentioned first comparison result (indicating that the first detected temperature is greater than the first critical value), the second charging current is changed to charge the battery pack, and at the same time, the temperature of the battery pack is measured to determine Obtain a second detected temperature. Here, the current value of the first charging current is greater than the current value of the second charging current.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the current value of the second charging current may be equal to the product of the current value of the first charging current and a proportional value, the above-mentioned proportional value is less than 1, and, in an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned ratio The value can be 40%.

Of course, setting the current value of the second charging current to 40% of the current value of the first charging current is just an example, and the designer can set the current value of the second charging current to be the first according to actual needs and characteristics of the battery device. The proportional relationship of the current value of the charging current is not limited.

Next, in step S140 , a second comparison result is generated by comparing the second detected temperature with the second critical value during the second time interval. The second critical value is smaller than the first critical value. Specifically, in step S130 , by reducing the charging current of the battery pack (from the first charging current to the second charging current), it is expected that the second detected temperature of the battery pack can be lowered. Moreover, in step S140, in the second time interval, it is continuously checked whether the second detection temperature is lower than the second critical value, and when the second detection temperature is lower than the second critical value, the second detection temperature is terminated. two time intervals, and then execute step S150.

In step S150, based on the temperature of the battery pack (the second detected temperature) being lower than a relatively low second critical value, the battery device can restore the charging current of the battery pack to a relatively high first charging current, thereby accelerating The charging speed of the battery pack.

Please pay special attention here, in the embodiment of the present invention, regarding the setting method of the first critical value, in order to avoid the over-temperature protection mechanism of the battery device, the first critical value can be set to be smaller than the temperature critical value for starting the over-temperature protection mechanism . That is to say, in the embodiment of the present invention, when the first comparison result indicates that the first detected temperature is greater than the first critical value, the battery device will not activate the over-temperature protection mechanism, and therefore, the charging operation of the battery pack can be continue without interruption.

Incidentally, in the embodiment of the present invention, the first critical value may be set to 48 degrees Celsius, and the second critical value may be set to 46 degrees Celsius. Of course, the values of the above-mentioned first critical value and the second critical value are only illustrative examples, and the designer can set the first critical value and the second critical value according to the characteristics of the battery device and the actual use situation, and there is no special limitation. limit.

It can be known from the above description that the charging method of the battery device according to the embodiment of the present invention is carried out in the initial time interval (first time interval), that is, using a relatively large first charging current, and avoids excessive Under the premise of the temperature protection mechanism, the charging operation of the battery pack can be carried out alternately according to the first charging current and the second charging current, and the charging performance can be effectively improved while taking into account the safety of the battery device.

Please refer to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B below. FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B respectively depict schematic diagrams of temperature changes during charging operations of battery devices according to different embodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 2A, in the first time interval T1 (initial interval), the battery device provides a relatively large first charging current to charge the battery pack, and it is observed that the first detected temperature CV1 of the battery pack increases with time. . When the first detected temperature CV1 rises above the first critical value TH1, the battery device performs a second time interval T2 and changes to charge the battery pack with a relatively low second charging current.

In the second time interval T2, based on the fact that the charging current applied to the battery pack has been reduced to a relatively low second charging current, the second detected temperature CV2 of the battery pack decreases with time. Moreover, when the second detected temperature CV2 of the battery pack drops below the second critical value TH2, the second time interval T2 ends and enters the third time interval T3. In the third time interval T3, the battery device resumes providing a relatively high first charging current to charge the battery pack.

It is worth mentioning that the actions in the third time interval T3 are the same as those in the first time interval T1. In the third time interval T3, the temperature detection operation of the battery pack is still ongoing, and when the detected temperature of the battery pack is greater than the first critical value again, the battery device can perform the actions in the second time interval T2 again. It can be seen from the above description that the battery device in the embodiment of the present invention can alternately work in the first time interval T1 and the second time interval T2 until the battery pack is fully charged.

On the other hand, in FIG. 2B, in the first time interval T1 (initial period interval), the battery device provides a relatively large first charging current to charge the battery pack, and check the first detected temperature of the battery pack CV1 improves over time. When the first detected temperature CV1 rises above the first critical value TH1, the battery device performs a second time interval T2 and changes to charge the battery pack with a relatively low second charging current.

It should be noted that in this embodiment, in the first sub-time interval T21 of the second time interval T2, if the first detected temperature CV21 of the battery pack does not decrease with the reduction of the charging current, it still maintains When there is no change or a slight increase, the battery device may further reduce the charging current of the battery pack to the third charging current in the second sub-time interval T22 of the second time interval T2. In this way, the detected temperature CV22 of the battery pack may start to decrease in the second sub-time interval T22.

Then, when the detected temperature CV22 of the battery pack drops below the second critical value TH2, the battery device may end the second time interval T2 and enter the third time interval T3. In the third time interval T3, the battery device resumes providing a relatively high first charging current to charge the battery pack.

Please note here that the detection of the detection current of the battery pack is not instantaneous based on the temperature change. The battery device can set a detection period, and periodically detect the temperature of the battery pack to obtain the detected temperature.

Please refer to FIG. 3 below. FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a charging method for a battery device according to another embodiment of the present invention. First, in the step S310 of the initial time interval, the battery device charges the battery pack with a relatively large first charging current C1. In step S320, when the first detected temperature TD1 of the battery pack is greater than 48 degrees Celsius (the first critical value), step S330 is executed to provide a relatively low second charging current C2 to charge the battery pack. Next, when the second detected temperature TD2 of the battery pack is less than 46 degrees Celsius (the second critical value), step S350 is executed to resume providing the relatively high first charging current C1 to charge the battery pack, and then step S320 is executed.

In this embodiment, steps S320 - S350 are executed in a cyclic manner until the charging operation of the battery pack is completed. And based on the execution of steps S320 and S330, the battery device will not activate the over-temperature protection mechanism during normal charging, and the charging operation of the battery pack can be efficiently completed.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a schematic diagram of a battery device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The battery device 400 includes a controller 410 , a switch group 420 and a battery group 430 . The controller 410 is coupled to the battery pack 430 and the switch pack 420 . The switch group 420 is coupled between the connection terminal E1 of the battery device 400 and the battery pack 430 , and the battery pack 430 and the controller 410 are jointly coupled to the other connection terminal E2 of the battery device 400 .

In this embodiment, the controller 410 detects the temperature of the battery pack 430 to obtain the detected temperatures TD1 and TD2 . The controller 410 also provides control signals CTR1 and CTR2 to control the switch set 420 and enable the battery set 430 to perform charging and/or discharging operations. The connection terminals E1 and E2 can be used to connect a load so that the battery pack 430 can supply power to the load, or the connection terminals E1 and E2 can be used to connect to a charging power source so that the charging power source can charge the battery pack 430 .

It is worth noting that the controller 410 of the embodiment of the present invention is used to execute steps S110-S150 or steps S310-S350 of the foregoing embodiments, and enable the battery pack 430 to be charged quickly.

Regarding the hardware architecture of the controller 410 in the above embodiment, it can be a processor with computing capability, or it can also be implemented through a hardware description language (Hardware Description Language, HDL) or any other person with ordinary knowledge in the art. Well-known digital circuit design method to design, and through Field Programmable Logic Gate Array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA), Complex Programmable Logic Device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD) or application-specific integrated circuits ( Application-specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC) way to implement the hardware circuit. The switch group 420 may include two field effect transistor switches, which are respectively controlled by the control signals CTR1 and CTR2 . One of the field effect transistor switches can provide a charge switch for charging the battery pack 430 , and the other field effect transistor switch can provide a discharge switch for the battery pack 430 to discharge.

To sum up, the present invention sets the first critical value and the second critical value which are smaller than the critical temperature of the over-temperature protection mechanism, by controlling the detection temperature of the battery pack between the first critical value and the second critical value, to provide a relatively The large first charging current and the relatively low second charging current charge the battery pack. In this way, the charging speed of the battery pack can be effectively increased without activating the over-temperature protection mechanism of the battery device.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with the embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the technical field may make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention should be defined by the scope of the appended patent application.

S110~S150, S310~S350: steps of charging method T1~T3: time interval TD1, TD2: detect temperature CV1~CV3, CV21, CV22: detect temperature TH1: first critical value TH2: Second Threshold T21, T22: sub-time interval 400: battery device 410: controller 420: switch group 430: battery pack E1, E2: connection end CTR1, CTR2: control signal

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a charging method for a battery device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are schematic diagrams showing temperature changes during the charging operation of battery devices according to different embodiments of the present invention, respectively. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a charging method for a battery device according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a battery device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

S110~S150: Steps of charging method

Claims (11)

A charging method for a battery device, comprising: providing a first charging current to charge a battery pack in the battery device in a first time interval, and measuring a first detection temperature of the battery pack; In a time interval, comparing the first detected temperature with a first critical value to generate a first comparison result; changing and providing a second charging current to the battery pack in a second time interval according to the first comparison result charging, and measuring a second detection temperature of the battery pack, wherein the first charging current is greater than the second charging current; in the second time interval, comparing the second detection temperature and a second threshold value to generating a second comparison result; and when the second comparison result indicates that the second detected temperature is less than the second critical value, resume providing the first charging current to charge the battery pack. The charging method described in claim 1 of the patent application, wherein the first charging current is a maximum charging current, and the second charging current is 40% of the first charging current. The charging method described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the step of charging the battery pack with the second charging current in the second time interval according to the first comparison result includes: when the first comparison result indicates When the first detected temperature is greater than the first critical value, the battery device enters the second time interval from the first time interval, and provides the second charging current for the battery pack during the second time interval Charge. The charging method described in item 3 of the scope of the patent application further includes: in the second time interval, if the change trend of the second detected temperature is rising, during a first sub-time in the second time interval The section provides a third charging current to charge the battery pack, wherein the third charging current is smaller than the second charging current. The charging method described in item 4 of the scope of the patent application further includes: after the first sub-time interval in the second time interval, if the change trend of the second detected temperature is downward, during the second time interval A second sub-time interval in the interval resumes providing the second charging current to charge the battery pack. A battery device, comprising: a battery pack; and a controller, coupled to the battery pack, for: providing a first charging current in a first time interval to charge a battery pack in the battery device, and Measuring a first detection temperature of the battery pack; comparing the first detection temperature with a first critical value in the first time interval to generate a first comparison result; A second time interval is changed to provide a second charging current to charge the battery pack, and measure a second detection temperature of the battery pack, wherein the first charging current is greater than the second charging current; at the second time interval, comparing the second detected temperature with a first threshold to generate a second comparison result; and When the second comparison result indicates that the second detected temperature is less than the second critical value, the first charging current is resumed to charge the battery pack. The battery device as described in claim 7 of the patent application, wherein the second charging current is 40% of the first charging current. The battery device as described in item 7 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the controller is used to: when the first comparison result indicates that the first detected temperature is greater than the first critical value, the battery device is changed from the first time interval Enter the second time interval, and provide the second charging current to charge the battery pack during the second time interval. The battery device as described in item 9 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the controller is further configured to: in the second time interval, if the change trend of the second detected temperature is rising, in the second time interval A first sub-time interval provides a third charging current to charge the battery pack, wherein the third charging current is smaller than the second charging current. The battery device as described in item 10 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the controller is further configured to: after the first sub-time interval in the second time interval, if the change trend of the second detected temperature is downward, In a second sub-time interval of the second time interval, the second charging current is resumed to charge the battery pack. The battery device described in item 7 of the scope of the patent application further includes: A switch group, coupled to the controller and the battery pack, receives a charge control signal and a discharge control signal provided by the controller, and enables the battery pack to perform a charging operation and a discharge control signal according to the charge control signal and the discharge control signal At least one of the discharge actions.

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