Patent Application
20120262107
The present invention relates to the management of a rechargeable battery, and in particular relates to the battery management device and the portal computer.
As the performance of the portable computer becomes better, there are more home users using it as a necessary electronic appliance.
For the portable computer, it is equipped with the rechargeable battery, so that the portable computer can be used for a period without the external power supply.
However, for the commercial user, in most situations, most home users provide the portable computer with the power by the external power supply at fixed location.
For a conventional portable computer, upon power supplied from the external power supply, the battery is taken out to preserve power. However, in this way, the portion covered by the battery originally in the portable computer is exposed, impurity can easily enter the inside of the portable computer through the exposed portion, and causes damage to the portable computer to damage, for example, causes an electrical short to occur.
If the battery is not taken out, the battery management method of the conventional portable computer often charges the battery in idle state in which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is maintained at a high lever (e.g., 99%), thereby such battery management method has the following defect.
The battery recovery amount of electrical charge of the rechargeable battery is closely related to the remaining amount of electrical charge of the battery in the idle state. Through the related experiments, it is found that the amount of electrical charge of the battery is reduced by about 8% when the fully-charged battery is deposited for one year. The amount of electrical charge of the battery is reduced only about 4% when the battery is 80% charged and deposited for one year. If the battery is only charged to about 50%, after deposited for one year, the amount of electrical charge of the battery is reduced by about 1%.
Therefore, the conventional battery management methods maintain the amount of electrical charge of the battery at a high lever, which causes the amount of electrical charge in the battery to attenuate.
One embodiment of the invention is to provide a battery management device and a portable computer, which alleviates the attenuation of a rechargeable battery in the portable computer.
In order to achieve the above object, the embodiment of the present invention provides a battery management device for managing the rechargeable battery provided in the portable computer. The portable computer is provided with the charge circuit for charging the battery where the battery management device comprises a discharge circuit for discharging the battery; an acquiring module for acquire the mode judge parameter; a first determining module for determining whether the battery storage mode is entered according to the mode determining parameter; a first control module for controlling the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery in the battery storage mode so that the amount of electrical charge of the battery is lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold; and the performance of the battery when deposited with the amount of electrical charge lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold is better than the performance when deposited with the amount of electrical charge higher than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
In the battery management device, the mode determining parameter represents the amount of electrical charge of the battery, the first determining module is used to determine that the battery storage mode is entered when the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the first amount of electrical charge threshold exceeds the first time threshold, and the second amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the first amount of electrical charge threshold.
In the battery management device, the mode determining parameter represents the amount of electrical charge of the battery, the movement parameter and the usage state of the external power supply. The first determining module is used to determine that the battery storage mode is entered when the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the first amount of electrical charge threshold that exceeds the first time threshold, the period during which the movement parameter is less than the movement parameter threshold that exceeds the second time threshold and the portable computer currently use the external power supply, and the second amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the first amount of electrical charge threshold.
In the above battery management device, further comprises the second control module for controlling the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery so that the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the third amount of electrical charge threshold in the battery storage mode; and the third amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
The battery management device further comprises the third control module for controlling the charge circuit to enter the normal charge mode when the amount of electrical charge of the battery is less than the fourth amount of electrical charge threshold in the battery storage mode, and the fourth amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the third amount of electrical charge threshold.
In the battery management device, the performance is measured by the battery recovery amount of electrical charge or the safety amount of electrical charge.
In the battery management device, the battery management device is implemented using the embedded chip EC of the portable computer.
One embodiment of the present invention further provides a portable computer, comprising a main board, a rechargeable battery connected with the main board and a charge circuit for charging the battery. The portable computer further comprising a battery management device, the battery management device comprises discharge circuit for discharge the battery; an acquiring module for acquire the mode determining parameter; the first determining module for judging whether the battery storage mode is entered according to the mode determining parameter; the first control module for controlling the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery in the battery storage mode, so that the amount of electrical charge of the battery is lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold; and the performance of the battery when deposited with the amount of electrical charge lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold is better than the performance when deposited with the amount of electrical charge higher than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
In the portable computer, the mode determining parameter represents the amount of electrical charge of the battery, the first determining module is used to determine that the battery storage mode is entered when the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the amount of electrical charge threshold exceeds the first time threshold.
In the above battery management device, the mode determining parameter represents the amount of electrical charge of the battery, the movement parameter and the usage state of the external power supply. The first determining module is used to determine that the battery storage mode is entered when the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the amount of electrical charge threshold that exceeds the first time threshold, the period during which the movement parameter is less than the movement parameter threshold that exceeds the second time threshold and the portable computer currently uses the external power supply.
In the above portable computer, the battery management device further comprises the second control module for controlling the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery so that the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the third amount of electrical charge threshold in the battery storage mode; and the third amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
In the portable computer, the battery management device further comprises the third control module for controlling the charge circuit to enter the normal charge mode when the amount of electrical charge of the battery is less than the fourth amount of electrical charge threshold in the battery storage mode, the fourth amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the third amount of electrical charge threshold.
In the portable computer, the performance is measured by the battery recovery amount of electrical charge or the safety amount of electrical charge.
In the portable computer, the battery management device is implemented using the embedded chip EC of the portable computer.
Some embodiments of the present invention have the following advantageous effect:
In the embodiment of the present invention, dictating the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery causes the amount of electrical charge in the battery to be less than the second amount of electrical charge threshold in the battery storage mode; the performance of the battery when deposited with the amount of electrical charge is lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold which is better than the performance when deposited with the amount of electrical charge is higher than the second amount of electrical charge threshold, thus the attenuation of the electrical charge that affects capacity amount of the rechargeable battery in the portable computer is alleviated.
In one embodiment of the present invention, dictating the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery causes the amount of electrical charge of the battery to be less than the third amount of electrical charge threshold in the battery storage mode, and the third amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the second amount of electrical charge threshold, thus, it ensures that the attenuation of electrical charge that affects the capacity of the rechargeable battery of the portable computer is alleviated, while it ensures that the phenomenon of over discharge of the battery does not occur, and it ensures that it can be used for a period after the AC power supply is turned off.
In one embodiment of the present invention, if the amount of electrical charge of the battery is lower than the fourth amount of electrical charge threshold, the charge circuit is controlled to enter the normal charge state in the battery storage mode, the fourth amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the third amount of electrical charge threshold, therefore, the in-time switch of the state of the battery is ensured.
In one embodiment of the present invention, determining whether the battery storage mode is entered by the mode determining parameter, and in the battery storage mode, the remaining amount of electrical charge of the battery is controlled to be lower than a certain level so as to alleviate the attenuation of electrical charge that affects the capacity of the rechargeable battery in the portable computer.
The portable computer in one embodiment of the present invention comprises a main board, a rechargeable battery connected with the main board and a charge circuit for charging the battery. The portable computer further comprises a battery management device, as shown in
In one embodiment of the present invention, whether the battery storage mode is entered can be determined by various ways, determining whether the battery storage mode is entered is based on a prediction, which predicts the situation in a future period according to the situation of a past period.
The First Implementation
In a first implementation, the mode determining parameter represents the amount of electrical charge in the battery, the first determining module determines entering the battery storage mode when the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the amount of electrical charge threshold that exceeds the first time threshold.
The first implementation will be further explained detailed as follows.
If the user uses the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus in a past period, and the battery is in an idle state at this time, as described in the background, the portable electronic apparatus often charges the battery in the idle state while maintaining the amount of electrical charge of the battery at a high level, e.g., 99%. Therefore, in the first implementation, whether the user uses the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus in future is predicted on the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the amount of electrical charge threshold.
The amount of electrical charge in the battery is detected by setting a detecting module which can detect periodically, e.g., every 15 minutes. The detecting period can also be defined by a user.
With the detection result of the detecting module, if it is found that the amount of electrical charge in the battery is maintained at a high level, e.g., higher than the 70%, 80%, or even 90% of the total amount of electrical charge in the battery, the period of this situation that exceeds a first time threshold can be set longer (e.g., 72 hours).
In this situation, it indicates that the user have used the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus for the past three days, and it can be predicted that the user may use the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus in the future. In such situation, if the conventional battery management method is followed continuously, the amount of electrical charge in the battery is maintained at a very high level, and it may cause an increase in attenuation in the the capacity of electrical charge in the rechargeable battery of the portable computer.
In order to prevent this situation from occurring, the battery storage mode is entered when the period during which the amount of electrical charge in the battery is higher than the amount of electrical charge threshold that exceeds the first time threshold. In the battery storage mode, dictating the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge in the battery causes the amount of electrical charge of the battery to be lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold; the performance of the battery when deposited with the amount of electrical charge is lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold that is better than the performance when deposited with the amount of electrical charge that is higher than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
The Second Implementation
In the second implementation, the mode determining parameter represents the amount of electrical charge in the battery and the usage state of the external power supply. The first determining module is used to determine that the battery storage mode is entered when the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the amount of electrical charge threshold that exceeds the first time threshold and the portable computer that currently uses the external power supply.
The second implementation is further explained detailed as follows.
Similar to the first implementation, if the user uses the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus in a past period, the battery is in an idle state at this time, but the amount of electrical charge of the battery is maintained at a high level, e.g., 99%.
In the second implementation, if the user uses the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus for the past three days, it can be predicted that the user uses the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus in the future. In this situation, as in the first implementation, the battery storage mode is switched directly, and dictating the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery causes the amount of electrical charge of the battery to be lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
It is different from the first implementation, in the second implementation, if the user has used the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus for the past three days, it is also necessary to determine whether the portable computer currently use the external power supply.
It is assumed that the user has used the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable computer for the past three days, and it is assumed that the user does not use the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus currently. At this time, the user may need to use the portable computer without the external power supply for a period. At such time, it discharges and may cause a reduction of the usable time in the battery.
Therefore, in the second implementation, not only the condition that the user has used the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable computer for the past three days needs to be satisfied, the condition that the portable computer currently uses the external power supply is also needed to be satisfied. It is determined that the battery storage mode is entered when both conditions are satisfied, and dictating the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery causes the amount of electrical charge of the battery to be lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
Compared to the first implementation, the condition for entering into the battery storage mode ensures further advancement.
The Third Implementation
In the third implementation, the mode determining parameter represents the amount of electrical charge in the battery, the movement parameter and the usage state of the external power supply. The first determining module is used to determine that the battery storage mode is entered when the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the amount of electrical charge threshold that exceeds the first time threshold, the period during which the movement parameter is less than the movement parameter threshold that exceeds the second time threshold and the portable computer that currently uses the external power supply.
The third implementation is further explained detailed as follows.
Similar to the first implementation, if the user uses the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus in a past period, the battery is in an idle state at this time, and the amount of electrical charge of the battery is maintained at a high level, e.g., 99%.
In the third implementation, if the user has used the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus for the past three days, it can be predicted that the user uses the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus in the future. In this situation, as in the first implementation, the battery storage mode is switched directly, and dictating the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery causes the amount of electrical charge of the battery to be lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
It is different from the first implementation, in the third implementation, if the user has used the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus for the past three days, it is also necessary to determine whether the following condition are satisfied.
The period during which the movement parameter is less than the movement parameter threshold exceeds the second time threshold and the portable computer that currently uses the external power supply.
The period during which the movement parameter is less than the movement parameter threshold exceeding the second time threshold indicates that the user does not have the intention to move the portable electronic apparatus, and the portable computer currently using the external power supply indicates that the intention of using the external power supply of the user.
Assume that the user has used the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable computer for the past three days, and the use is in a moving state at this time. For example, the user moved the portable computer to other location, and if the battery storage mode is entered at this time, and the battery is discharged to the second amount of electrical charge threshold, which would not be desirable. An example is provided follows.
Assume that the user in the process of carrying the portable computer between home from work, the portable computer is not turned off. Since the power of the portable computer is supplied using the AC power supply, if the battery storage mode is entered when the condition that the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the amount of electrical charge threshold that exceeds the first time threshold is satisfied, and the battery is discharged, since the user is in the midst of going home, and the portable computer is not turned off (e.g., using the in-car power supply), if the battery is discharged, the remaining amount of electrical charge is insufficient without the in-car power supply. This may cause the computer be turned off abnormally due to exhausting the amount of electrical charge in the battery before the user arrives at home where the user could begin to use the AC power supply. Such occurrence may cause damage to the portable computer.
Assume that the user currently does not use the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus, the user may need to use the portable computer for a period without the external power supply where the discharging may also cause the reduction of the usable time of the battery.
Here, for example, a location device such as GPS module can be set in the portable computer, and the movement parameter is generated based on the location of the portable computer at different time as obtained by the GPS module. Further, a movement sensor (e.g., acceleration sensor and gyro, etc.) can be set in the portable computer to generate the movement parameter.
Therefore, in the third implementation, not only the condition that the user has used the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable computer for the past three days needed to be satisfied, the two conditions that the period during which the movement parameter is less than the movement parameter threshold that exceeds the second time threshold, and the portable computer currently uses the external power supply is also need to be satisfied. It is determined that the battery storage mode is entered when all of the three condition are satisfied, and dictating the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge of the battery thereby causing the amount of electrical charge in the battery to be lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
Compared to the first implementation, the condition for entering into the battery storage mode is further ensured to be stricter, and the determination to enter into the battery storage mode is further ensured to be more accurate.
Three determining (or judging) methods for determining (or judging) whether the battery storage mode is entered are described above. Other means of determination are also possible as described in the following example.
The proportional amount of time that the user uses the AC power supply to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus is higher than a preset threshold (e.g., 98%) in the power on state in a past period; or
The proportional amount of time that the user uses the battery to provide the power support to the portable electronic apparatus is lower than a preset threshold (e.g., 2%) in the power on state in a past period.
Other trivial details in the above means will not be exemplified here.
In one embodiment of the present invention, dictating the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge in the battery causes the amount of electrical charge of the battery to be lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold in the battery storage mode;
The selection of the second amount of electrical charge can also take the consideration of the user, since the portable computer needs to consider the mobility, therefore, the second amount of electrical charge threshold can be considered to set to 50% of the capacity of the battery.
The performance of the battery when deposited with the amount of electrical charge lower than the second amount of electrical charge threshold is better than the performance when deposited with the amount of electrical charge higher than the second amount of electrical charge threshold. A certain remaining amount of electrical charge of the battery needs to be ensured. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the battery management device further comprises:
The second control module for controlling the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge in the battery so that the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the third amount of electrical charge threshold in the battery storage mode;
The third amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the second amount of electrical charge threshold.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the second amount of electrical charge threshold can be selected at 50% of the capacity in the battery, and the third amount of electrical charge threshold can be selected at 45% of the capacity of the battery.
The second amount of electrical charge threshold and the third amount of electrical charge threshold can be set according to the power consumption performance of the portable computer. If the power consumption performance of the portable computer is poor, the second and third amounts of electrical charge are set higher. If the power consumption performance of the portable computer is excellent, the second and third amounts of electrical charge are set lower.
The set of the second control module in one embodiment of the present invention is directed to ensure that the battery not to over discharged.
One embodiment of the present invention further comprises the following:
The third control module for controlling the charge circuit to perform the normal charge control to the battery when the amount of electrical charge of the battery is lower than the fourth amount of electrical charge threshold in the battery storage mode. The fourth amount of electrical charge threshold is less than the third amount of electrical charge threshold;
When the amount of electrical charge of the battery is lower than the fourth amount of electrical charge threshold, it is indicated that there is no external power supply at this time, since the normal discharge of the battery or the battery provides power support to the portable computer. The amount of power is reduced continuously, and at this time, the charge circuit should be controlled to enter the normal charge mode, which ensures the normal usage of the user.
The above situation is elaborated as follows.
Assuming the amount of electrical charge of the battery is maintained between 45% and 50% for a longer time in the battery storage mode, and on a certain day, the user pulls off the AC power supply, or the power supply is turned off, the battery then discharges slowly (in an off state) or discharge continuously (in an power on state), thereby causing the remaining amount of electrical charge to be lower than 30% of the capacity in the battery. Any of these situations indicates that the portable computer does not have the support of the AC power supply at this time, and in this case, the charge circuit should be controlled to enter the normal charge mode, and once the user connects the AC power supply, the charge circuit charges the battery with the AC power supply.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the performance is measured by the battery recovery amount of electrical charge or the safety amount of electrical charge.
The battery management device is implemented using the embedded chip EC of the portable computer.
The operational procedure of the device in one embodiment of the present invention is explained detailed with respect to the above third implementation, as shown in
Step 21, the normal state is entered;
Step 22, the battery management device detects the amount of electrical charge in the battery and the movement acceleration of the portable computer;
Step 23, the battery management device determines the period during which the amount of electrical charge of the battery is higher than the amount of electrical charge threshold (e.g., 80%) that exceeds the first time threshold (e.g., 72 hours) according to the detection result in the past period (e.g., 72 hours); if this condition occurs, it proceeds to step 24, otherwise, it returns to step 23;
For example, it detects by an increment of every five minutes. If the amount of electrical charge in the battery is higher than 80% of the capacity in the battery, the result is recorded as “1,”; otherwise, the result is recorded as “0.” At this time, the battery management device determines whether there is 0 in the past 12*72 detection result, and if there exists a value of 0, the determination result is affirmative; otherwise, the determination result is negative.
Step 24, the battery management device determines the period during which the movement acceleration of the portable computer is lower than the acceleration threshold that exceeds the second time threshold (e.g., 1 hour) according to the detection result in the part period (e.g., 1 hour); if this condition is met, it proceeds to step 25; otherwise, it returns to step 23.
Step 25, the battery management device determines whether the portable computer currently uses the AC power supply; if it is, it proceeds to step 26; otherwise, it returns to step 23.
Step 26, the battery storage mode is entered. Dictating the charge circuit or the discharge circuit to control the amount of electrical charge causes the amount of electrical charge of the battery to be lower than 50%.
Step 27, the battery management device determines whether the remaining amount of electrical charge of the battery is lower than 45%; if this condition is met, it proceeds to step 28; otherwise, it returns to step 27.
Step 28, the battery management device determines whether the remaining amount of electrical charge of the battery is lower than 30%; if this condition is met, it proceeds to step 21; otherwise, it returns to step 26.
The embodiment of the invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to those skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200910244487.7 | Dec 2009 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN10/80231 | 12/24/2010 | WO | 00 | 6/29/2011 |
