Battery pack for cordless power tools
AssigneeBlack & Decker Inc.
InventorsDavid A. Carrier, Andrew E. Seman, Jr., Geoffrey S. Howard, Daniele C. Brotto, Danh T. Trinh, Fred S. Watts, Snehal S. Choksi, Qiang J. Zhang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A battery pack which includes a battery pack electronic control circuit adapted to control an attached power tool and/or an attached charger. The battery pack includes additional protection circuits, methodologies and devices to protect against fault conditions within the pack, as the pack is operatively attached to and providing power to the power tool, and/or as the pack is operatively attached to and being charged by the charger.
Claims33
A battery pack of a cordless power tool system including a power tool and a charger, the pack removably attachable to the tool and charger, the battery pack comprising:
- a housing,
- a plurality of battery cells within the housing,
- a battery electronic control unit within the housing for controlling the charger during a charge of the cells, and for controlling a field effect transistor (FET) during discharge operations to control current to a motor of the power tool,
- a first voltage monitoring unit for monitoring one or both of individual cell voltages and total stack voltage in the pack during charge and discharge operations, and
- a second voltage monitoring circuit for separately monitoring individual cell voltage to detect any cell reaching an over-voltage condition during a charge, wherein, upon detecting any cell reaching an over-voltage condition, the second voltage monitoring circuit, without interfacing with the battery electronic control unit, sends a signal to the charger to generate a disable signal in the charger for terminating charge current to the pack.
A battery pack of a cordless power tool system including a power tool and a charger, the pack removably attachable to the tool and charger, the battery pack comprising:
- a housing,
- a plurality of battery cells within the housing,
- a battery electronic control unit within the housing for controlling the charger during a charge of the cells, and for controlling a field effect transistor (FET) during discharge operations to control current to a motor of the power tool,
- a first voltage monitoring unit for monitoring one or both of individual cell voltages and total stack voltage in the pack during charge and discharge operations, and
- a second voltage monitoring circuit for separately monitoring individual cell voltage to detect any cell reaching an over-voltage condition during a charge and sends a signal to the charger to generate a disable signal in the charger for terminating charge current to the rack without interfacing with the battery electronic control unit, wherein a sense line is provided between each of the cells and the first voltage monitoring unit to sense individual cell voltage, and each sense line includes a fuse or a fuse-able link therein.
A battery pack of a cordless power tool system including a power tool and a charger, the battery pack comprising:
- a housing;
- a plurality of battery cells within the housing;
- a battery electronic control unit within the housing for controlling the charger during a charging operation and for controlling current output from the pack during discharge operations;
- a first voltage monitoring unit within the housing that monitors one or both of individual cell voltages and total stack voltage in the pack and in data communication with the battery electronic control unit for reporting voltage measures thereto;
- and
- a second voltage monitoring circuit distinct from the first voltage monitoring unit that monitors individual cell voltages and, without interfacing with the battery electronic control unit, generates a disable signal in the charger when any cell reaches an over-voltage condition during a charging operation.
A battery pack of a cordless power tool system including a power tool and a charger, the battery pack comprising:
- a housing;
- a plurality of battery cells within the housing;
- a first voltage monitoring circuit interfaced directly with the plurality of battery cells to measure cell voltages of each battery cell;
- a battery electronic control unit configured to receive cell voltage measurements from the first voltage monitoring circuit and control the charger output based on the cell voltage measurements from the first voltage monitoring circuit;
- and
- a second voltage monitoring circuit that is distinct from the first voltage monitoring circuit and interfaced directly with the plurality of battery cells to measure individual cell voltages and control the charger output based on the individual cell voltages measurements and without interfacing with the battery electronic control unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.