Means for detecting the integrated value of current flow, a means for detecting the value of current flow and a battery pack employing those means

An apparatus for detecting an integrated value of current flow, comprising:

• an integrator including an integration capacitor, to which a current sensor voltage is inputted, for outputting an output voltage corresponding to an integrated value of said current sensor voltage;
• a resetting circuit for clearing integration electric charges accumulated in said integration capacitor to reset said integrator when said output voltage has reached an upper threshold value or a lower threshold value;
• a counter for counting the number of resets of said integrator in an upper direction or in a lower direction;
• and
• a connection-polarity inverting circuit for inverting a polarity of inputting of said current sensor voltage to said integrator and a polarity of connecting of said integration capacitor to said integrator, alternatively, at a regular time interval and synchronously;
• wherein a counting direction of said counter is controlled on the basis of a combination of which of said upper and lower threshold values of said output voltage of said integrator has been reached and a status of the polarity of said connection-polarity inverting circuit;
• and
• wherein an integrated value of current flow is obtained on the basis of a count value of said counter.

An apparatus for detecting an integrated value of current flow, comprising:

• a current sensor resistor inserted in series with a current path of a battery;
• an integrator including an integration capacitor, to which a current sensor voltage detected by said current sensor resistor is inputted, for outputting an output voltage corresponding to an integrated value of said current sensor voltage;
• a resetting circuit for clearing integration electric charges accumulated in said integration capacitor to reset said integrator when said output voltage has reached an upper threshold value or a lower threshold value;
• a counter for counting the number of resets of said integrator in an upper direction or in a lower direction;
• a connection-polarity inverting circuit for inverting a polarity of inputting of said current sensor voltage to said integrator and a polarity of connecting of said integration capacitor to said integrator, alternatively, at a regular time interval and synchronously;
• a micro-computer;
• a portable information terminal to which an electric power of said battery is supplied through said current sensor resistor;
• and
• communication means through which information is transmitted between said micro-computer and said portable information terminal;
• wherein a counting direction of said counter is controlled on the basis of a combination of which of said upper and lower threshold values said output voltage of said integrator has been reached and a status of the polarity of said connection-polarity inverting circuit;
• wherein said micro-computer reads out the count value of said counter to calculate a battery energy remainder value;
• and
• wherein said portable information terminal receives data relating to said battery energy remainder value calculated by said micro-computer through said communication means and effects display thereof.

An apparatus for detecting an integrated value of current flow, comprising:

• a current sensor resistor inserted in series with current path of a battery;
• an integrator including an integration capacitor, to which a current sensor voltage detected by said current sensor resistor is inputted, for outputting an output voltage corresponding to an integrated value of said current sensor voltage;
• a resetting circuit for clearing integration electric charges accumulated in said integration capacitor to reset said integrator when said output voltage has reached an upper threshold value or a lower threshold value;
• a counter for counting the number of resets of said integrator in an upper direction or in a lower direction;
• a connection-polarity inverting circuit for inverting a polarity of inputting of said current sensor voltage to said integrator and a polarity of connecting of said integration capacitor to said integrator, alternatively, at a regular time interval and synchronously;
• and
• unit time average current value calculating means for calculating a unit time average current value on the basis of the count value of said counter;
• wherein a counting direction of said counter is controlled on the basis of a combination of which of said upper and lower threshold values said output voltage of said integrator has been reached and a status of the polarity of said connection-polarity inverting circuit;
• and
• wherein said unit time average current value calculating means reads out the count values of said counter at predetermined time intervals and divides a difference between the last read count value and the newest read count value by the predetermine time interval, thereby calculating the unit time average current value.

A battery pack comprising:

• a battery;
• and
• a unit for detecting a value of current flow of said battery or an integrated value of the current flow of said battery;
• said unit comprising:
• a current sensor resistor inserted in series with a current path of said battery;
• an integrator including an integration capacitor, to which a current sensor voltage detected by said current sensor resistor is inputted, for outputting an output voltage corresponding to an integrated value of said current sensor voltage;
• a resetting circuit for clearing integration electric charges accumulated in said integration capacitor to reset said integrator when said output voltage has reached an upper threshold value or a lower threshold value;
• a counter for counting the number of resets of said integrator in an upper direction or in a lower direction;
• a connection-polarity inverting circuit for inverting a polarity of inputting of said current sensor voltage to said integrator and a polarity of connecting of said integration capacitor to said integrator, alternatively, at a regular time interval and synchronously;
• and
• a micro-computer;
• wherein a counting direction of said counter is controlled on the basis of a combination of which of said upper and lower threshold values said output voltage of said integrator has been reached and a status of the polarity of said connection-polarity inverting circuit;
• and
• wherein said micro-computer includes calculating means for reading out the count value of said counter to calculate a battery energy remainder value or a unit time average current value.