Alkaline battery charging method and battery charger

A battery charger particularly but not exclusively for charging alkaline batteries, comprising:

• controlled means for supplying substantially constant charging current from a power source to a battery under charge or terminating the supply of current to the battery;
• controlling means for controlling said controlled means, said controlling means including means for providing an adjustable reference voltage, said controlling means causing said controlled means to:
• supply said substantially constant charging current to the battery while causing said reference voltage means to provide said reference voltage which is greater than a battery voltage available at terminals of the battery, and to thereafter provide, as the battery voltage increases, increased reference voltages, up to a predetermined maximum reference voltage, which exceed the battery voltage and which exceed a previous reference voltage;
• and
• terminate the supply of charging current to the battery when said reference voltage means provides the predetermined maximum reference voltage, or when the battery voltage does not increase during charging to be greater than a first or a subsequent reference voltage during a predetermined charging time period.

A battery charger particularly but not exclusively for charging alkaline batteries, comprising:

• controlled means for supplying a substantially constant but adjustable charging current from a power source to a battery under charge or terminating the supply of current to the battery;
• controlling means for controlling said controlled means, said controlling means including means for providing an adjustable reference voltage, said controlling means causing said controlled means to:
• supply said substantially constant charging current to the battery while causing said reference voltage means to provide said reference voltage which is greater than a battery voltage available at terminals of the battery, and to thereafter provide, as the battery voltage increases, increased reference voltages, up to a predetermined maximum voltage, which exceed the battery voltage and which exceed a previous reference voltage within a predetermined charging time period after a first or a subsequent reference voltage is provided;
• from time to time during a testing period supply a substantially constant test current to the battery which exceeds the charging current by from about 2.5% to about 25%;
• and
• terminate the supply of current to the battery when said reference voltage means provides the predetermined maximum voltage, or when the battery voltage increases by greater than a predetermined amount during a respective testing period when test current is being supplied to the battery, or when the battery voltage does not increase during charging to be greater than a first or a subsequent reference voltage during any predetermined charging time period.

A battery charger for charging at least one battery which may be any of a plurality of different sizes, particularly but not exclusively for charging alkaline batteries, comprising:

• at least one circuit coupled to a power source;
• a holder associated with each said circuit for holding therein a single battery of any of said sizes, each said holder including contacts for electrically connecting to a battery held therein, each said circuit supplying current to the battery held in the associated holder through the contacts thereof;
• controlling means for monitoring a battery voltage available at terminals of each battery held in a respective holder, and in response thereto, controlling the charging of a respective battery in a respective holder, each said circuit being responsive to said controlling means to supply charging current to a respective battery and terminate supply of charging current to a respective battery;
• each said holder including a movable element whose position is determined by the physical size of a battery held in the holder, each said movable element being coupled to a respective circuit so as to cause the respective circuit to automatically supply a predetermined charging current to a respective battery which is different for batteries of at least two different sizes in response to the position of the movable element.

A battery charger for charging batteries of different sizes, comprising:

• means for supplying charging current from a power source;
• contact means including at least one contact element through which charging current is supplied from said charging current supplying means to a battery;
• means for holding a single battery in electrical connection with said contact means;
• and
• an adjustable circuit which controls the magnitude of charging current supplied by said charging current supplying means to the battery held by said battery holding means, said contact element being movably mounted in said battery holding means to accommodate and electrically connect batteries of different sizes, and means mechanically coupling said contact element with said adjustable circuit such that said charging current supplying means supplies charging currents of values dependent upon the position of said contact element.

A battery charger for charging a plurality of batteries of the same or different size, particularly but not exclusively alkaline batteries, comprising:

• a contact means for each battery to be charged including a contact element through which charging current is supplied to a respective battery;
• a means for each battery to be charged for holding a single battery to be charged in electrical connection with a respective contact means;
• means for supplying substantially constant charging current from a power source to respective contact means of respective battery holding means essentially independently of the charging current supplied to any other contact means;
• an adjustable circuit for each contact means which controls the magnitude of the charging current supplied by said current supplying means to the respective contact means;
• said contact element of a respective contact means being movably mounted in a respective battery holding means to accommodate and electrically connect to the respective contact means batteries of different sizes;
• and
• means mechanically coupling said contact element of a respective contact means with said adjustable circuit such that movement of a respective contact element adjusts a respective adjustable circuit and causes said current supplying means to supply charging currents to respective contact means of values dependent upon the position of a respective contact element.

A battery charger for charging a plurality of batteries of the same or different size, particularly but not exclusively alkaline batteries, comprising:

• a plurality of circuits coupled to a source of power, each circuit including a holding means for holding therein a single battery of any size of a plurality of different sizes and for supplying charging current to said battery from the power source, contact means for electrically connecting a respective circuit to a battery held by a respective holding means, and resistance in series with said contact means such that charging current supplied to a respective battery flows through a respective resistance, each said resistance being selectable in magnitude;
• each said circuit supplying charging current to the battery held by the respective battery holding means essentially independently of any other circuit such that two or more circuits may supply charging current to respective batteries continuously and simultaneously in response to said controlling means, and to terminate the supply of charging current to respective batteries in response to said controlling means;
• and
• means associated with each of said circuits responsive to the size of a battery held by an associated holding means of a respective circuit for automatically selecting a magnitude of a respective resistance of a respective circuit, whereby the charging current supplied by a respective circuit to a respective battery in a respective holding means is selectable independently of charging current supplied by any other circuit to any other battery.