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AssigneeBlack & Decker Inc.
InventorsSteven J. Phillips, Jeffrey J. Francis, Andrew E. Seman, Jr., Daniele C. Brotto, David A. Carrier, Danh T. Trinh, Christopher R. Yahnker, James B. Watson, Daniel J. White
Estimating the term…
A cordless system has cordless system components that include a cordless device, such as a cordless power tool, a battery pack and a charger. The battery pack is mated with either the cordless device to provide power to operate the cordless device or to the charger to charge the battery cells in the battery pack. In an aspect, the cordless system has an identification and communication system by which the battery pack identifies and communicates information about the battery pack to the cordless device or to the charger to which the battery pack is mated. In an, the battery pack of the cordless system is capable of multiple modes, such as controlling the cordless device and controlling the charger. In an aspect, the battery pack validates the cordless device or charger to which it is mated in an aspect of the invention, the cordless system uses any of a wired interface, radio frequency interface, an optical interface or a magnetic interface to communicate information between the battery pack and the cordless device or charger to which the battery pack is mated. In an aspect, female terminals are used in a terminal block of the battery pack to protect against foreign objects contacting the terminals. In aspect, the terminals in the terminal block of the battery pack are staggered or scattered to reduce the likelihood of a short circuit. In an aspect of the invention, the battery pack has a trap door that closes when the battery pack is not mated to a cordless device or charger to protect the terminal block of the battery pack. In an aspect of the invention, multi-spring, split contact terminals are used in the terminal block of at least one of the cordless system components. In an aspect of the invention, the battery cells are Lithium Ion battery cells.
A multi-mode battery pack for a cordless power tool, comprising:
A multi-mode battery pack for a cordless power tool, comprising:
A multi-mode battery pack for a cordless power tool, comprising:
A cordless power tool system, comprising a plurality of system components including a battery pack, a cordless power tool, and a charger, the battery pack including a housing in which a plurality of battery cells are disposed, the battery pack having a controller that in a first mode validates and controls the power tool when the battery pack is coupled to the power tool and enables the battery pack to operate with the power tool only when the controller determines that the power tool is a valid power tool and in a second mode controls a charger when the battery pack is coupled to the charger.
A cordless power tool system, comprising a plurality of system components including a battery pack, a cordless power tool, and a charger, the battery pack including a housing in which a plurality of battery cells are disposed;
A cordless power tool system, comprising a plurality of system components including a battery pack, a cordless power tool, and a charger, the battery pack including a housing in which a plurality of battery cells are disposed;
In a cordless power tool system having a plurality of system components including a battery pack, a cordless power tool and a charger, a method of controlling the cordless power tool and the charger comprising when the battery pack is coupled to the power tool determining whether to control the power tool with a controller of the battery pack and determining whether to control the charger with the battery pack controller when the battery pack is coupled to the charger, determining whether when the battery pack is coupled to the power tool whether the power tool is a smart power tool having a controller and upon determining that the power tool is a smart power tool, setting the battery pack control to a slave of the power tool controller, exchanging data between the battery pack controller and the power tool controller and controlling the power tool with the power tool controller using the data exchanged, controlling the power tool with the battery pack controller upon determining that the power tool is a dumb power tool, and validating the smart power tool when the battery pack is coupled to the smart power tool and enabling battery pack to operate with the smart power tool only upon determining that the smart power tool is a valid power tool.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.