Patent Application
20160285138
This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 104109894 filed in Taiwan, R.O.C. on Mar. 27, 2015, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to the field of energy storage and power supply and, more particularly, to a portable energy-storage device capable of storing electrical energy and supplying power.
Nowadays, portable electronic products, such as smartphones, tablets, digital cameras and so forth, are in wide use and thus closely tied with our daily life. Since the rated capacity of batteries built in portable electronic products are never unlimited, long operation sessions of the portable electronic products are subject to energy limitations. To solve this problem, users carry mobile power banks outdoors to extend the operation sessions of the portable electronic products.
At present, diesel generators are utilized at venues which require intensive mobile power supply, such as peddler-oriented markets, construction sites, ad hoc military commands, and disaster rescue centers, to provide large-power supply and enable long-use applications. However, to address issues like global fossil energy resource shortage, escalating demand for energy consumption reduction and carbon reduction, and increasingly strict legal requirements for noise and air pollution, not only do most users switch gradually to portable energy-storage devices, but governments also pass laws and offer promotional allowances which encourage consumers to opt for eco-friendly energy-storage products. In view of this, the trend toward the use and production of eco-friendly products is inevitable.
Commercially available portable energy storage devices have to come with power converter units as needed. For instance, small-sized portable energy-storage devices mostly use a USB or Micro USB as a conversion interface. To meet various power requirements, large-sized portable energy-storage devices require to built-in multiple power converters and related interfaces, thereby leading to an increase in the required hardware volume and weight, compromising portability, and adding to product costs.
According to the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art, the present invention provides a portable energy-storage device which comprises a universal input/output(I/O) power interface without any other built-in power converters. If the universal I/O power interface is designed to be cigarette lighter receptacles, people are allowed to purchase and carry commercially available vehicular electronic devices as needed and use them anytime and anywhere. The portable energy-storage device of the present invention can operate independently. In another embodiment, the portable energy-storage devices of the present invention are connected in series for a variety of power demands. In a variant embodiment, the portable energy-storage devices of the present invention are connected in parallel for a variety of power demands.
The present invention provides a portable energy-storage device, comprising: a battery module unit for storing and outputting electrical power; a power switch unit connected to the battery module unit and adapted to enable or disable the operations of the portable energy-storage device; at least a universal I/O power interface unit connected to the power switch unit and adapted to not only output electrical power of the battery module unit but also store electrical power in the battery module unit; a power level monitoring unit connected to the power switch unit and adapted to monitor a power level of the battery module unit; and a protection switch control unit connected to the battery module unit and the power level monitoring unit, wherein the power level monitoring unit signals the protection switch control unit to disable the operations of the portable energy-storage device so as to protect the portable energy-storage device against the damage caused by the under-discharging and/or over-charging of the battery module unit.
Objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention are hereunder illustrated with specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
To render the features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and comprehensible, the present invention is hereunder illustrated with specific embodiments and a detailed description.
Referring to
Referring to
The portable energy-storage device of the present invention is characterized in that the universal I/O power interface unit is a cigarette lighter receptacle. Therefore, any commercially available vehicular electronic products using cigarette lighter plugs as power conversion interfaces are directly utilized with the portable energy-storage device. The portable energy-storage device of the present invention is applied to various commercially available products such as a vehicular inverter, a power converter, a lighter, a charger, an air purifier, a vacuum cleaner, an electric inflator, a rescue cable, a power rescuer, and so on. The universal I/O power interface unit of the present invention can also be applied to a USB receptacle or any other power I/O conversion interfaces in a customized manner. In practice, in case of insufficient power loading of one receptacle of a single universal I/O power interface unit, it is practicable for multiple universal I/O power interface units to be connected in parallel to thereby prevent the connection lines from being burnt due to an overly high power. The universal input/output interface unit has two polarities, that is, a positive pole and a negative pole. In a variant embodiment of the present invention, the universal input/output interface unit is a connector with a single polarity.
When charging, the portable energy-storage device of the present invention uses the same universal I/O power interface unit such that the users can perform the charging operation with an external power or solar charger. The external power is connected to a charger through utility power supply so as to charge the battery module unit of the present invention directly. When the portable energy-storage device of the present invention is operating outdoors and has access to sunlight, the universal I/O power interface unit is connected to a solar charging device, such as a foldable solar panel or a cylindrical solar panel, and thereby charged directly. Hence, the portable energy-storage device of the present invention is useful to mountaineers, campers, picnic goers, peddler-oriented markets, construction sites, ad hoc military commands, temporary venues, and disaster rescue centers. More importantly, the portable energy-storage device of the present invention can be “charged and used” instantly.
In another embodiment, the portable energy-storage devices of the present invention are connected in parallel to meet the demand for intensive power supply by using parallel connection lines to effectuate connection, wherein the parallel connection lines have the same interfaces (such as cigarette lighter plugs) at two ends, for example, connecting a positive pole to another positive pole and connecting a negative pole to another negative pole, so as to connect two energy-storage devices in parallel. In practice, the connection lines should be series-connected to a fuse with an appropriate resistance to provide device protection and current limiting. In a variant embodiment, if necessary, the parallel connection line is series-connected to a resistor for current-limiting, wherein the fuse is disposed inside the cigarette lighter plugs to ensure user safety and equalization of power levels between devices.
In yet another embodiment, the portable energy-storage devices of the present invention are series-connected to achieve different requirements of DC voltage, such as 12V, 24V, 36V, etc. The series connection line is in a specific form; one end of the series connection lines is merely connected to the negative pole, and the other end of the series connection lines is merely connected to the positive pole. The two plugs at the two ends are solely connected by one conducting wire and indicated by colors to identify the positive pole and the negative pole (black stands for the negative pole and red for the positive pole.) To cater to large output power of series-connected devices, it is feasible to connect series connection lines in parallel in order to provide a large output power. In practice, in order for the portable energy-storage devices of the present invention to operate well, a fuse must be disposed inside the plugs (such as cigarette lighter plugs) of the series connection lines so as to prevent wrong installation carried out on the part of users, and prevent short circuits situation.
Practically, the portable energy-storage device of the present invention is coupled to a backpack or a handbag. Referring to
Furthermore, the portable energy-storage device of the present invention is coupled to a casing carried by a user. Referring to
The present invention is disclosed above by preferred embodiments. However, persons skilled in the art should understand that the preferred embodiments are illustrative of the present invention only, but should not be interpreted as restrictive of the scope of the present invention. Hence, all equivalent modifications and replacements made to the aforesaid embodiments should fall within the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the legal protection for the present invention should be defined by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 104109894 | Mar 2015 | TW | national |
