Terminal and battery charging control device and method thereof for overcurrent and/or overvoltage protection

This application is a Continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/115,045, with a § 371(c) date of Jul. 28, 2016, which is a US national phase application based up an International Application No. PCT/CN2014/076974, filed on May 7, 2014, and the International application is based on and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201410042541.0, filed on Jan. 28, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The present disclosure generally relates to the charging technical field, and more particularly, to a terminal and a battery charging control device and method.

Currently, a battery of a terminal is typically charged by connecting a communication interface of the terminal with an external power adapter. However, in the related art, in order to reduce charging time during charging the battery, the charging current may be enhanced for performing a quick charging on the battery. However, whether the battery is charged in a conventional constant voltage mode or with increased charging current, if a charging current and/or charging voltage for the battery is too high during the charging, the battery will be damaged due to overvoltage and/or overcurrent charging. Therefore, in the related art, an overcurrent protection and/or an overvoltage protection cannot be realized for the battery during performing a regular charging or quick charging on the battery of the terminal.

At least one embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a battery charging control device, and to solve a problem in the related art that an overcurrent protection and/or an overvoltage protection cannot be realized for a battery during performing a regular charging or quick charging on the battery of a terminal.

An embodiment of the present disclosure is realized as follows. There is provided a battery charging control device coupled with a battery and a controller in a terminal, in which the battery is charged by obtaining direct current from an external power adapter via a communication interface of the terminal, and the controller controls the communication interface of the terminal to switch on or off. The battery charging control device includes a battery connector, a main control module and a quick charging switch module.

The battery connector is coupled with an electrode of the battery, the main control module is coupled with the battery connector, a first switch control terminal and a second switch control terminal of the main control module are coupled with a first controlled terminal and a second controlled terminal of the quick charging switch module respectively, both a first communication terminal and a second communication terminal of the main control module are coupled with the communication interface, the main control module is also coupled with the controller, an input terminal of the quick charging switch module is coupled with a power wire of the communication interface, and an output terminal of the quick charging switch module is coupled with the battery connector.

When a regular charging is performed on the battery, the main control module controls the quick charging switch module to switch off; when a quick charging is performed on the battery, the main control module controls the quick charging switch module to switch on, and direct current is introduced into the quick charging switch module via the communication interface, so as to charge the battery via the battery connector.

During the regular charging or the quick charging, the main control module performs a data communication with the external power adapter via the communication interface, and obtains a charging voltage and a charging current for the battery; if the charging voltage is greater than a voltage threshold and/or the charging current is greater than a current threshold, the main control module sends a charging switch-off instruction, such that the controller controls the communication interface to switch off; if the charging voltage is less than or equal to the voltage threshold and the charging current is less than or equal to the current threshold, the main control module continues to obtain the charging voltage and the charging current.

An embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a terminal, including a communication interface, a controller, a battery and a battery charging control device described above.

An embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a battery charging control method based on the battery charging control device described above. The battery charging control method can include following:

the main control module performs a data communication with the external power adapter, and obtains a charging voltage and a charging current for the battery;

the main control module determines whether the charging voltage is greater than a voltage threshold, and determines whether the charging current is greater than a current threshold. If the charging voltage is greater than the voltage threshold and/or the charging current is greater than the current threshold, the main control module sends a charging switch-off instruction, such that the controller controls the communication interface to switch off. If the charging voltage is less than or equal to the voltage threshold and the charging current is less than or equal to the current threshold, the main control module continues to perform the data communication with the external power adapter and obtain the charging voltage and the charging current for the battery.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the battery charging control device including the battery connector, the main control module and the quick charging switch module is adopted. During the regular charging or the quick charging for the battery in the terminal, the main control module performs a data communication with the external power adapter via the communication interface of the terminal, obtains the charging voltage and the charging current for the battery, and sends the charging switch-off instruction if the charging voltage is greater than the voltage threshold and/or the charging current is greater than the current threshold, such that the controller of the terminal controls the communication interface of the terminal to switch off, thus realizing the overvoltage protection and/or the overcurrent protection for the battery.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a battery charging control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a battery charging control method based on a battery charging control device shown in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is another flow chart of a battery charging control method based on a battery charging control device shown in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 4 is a schematic module diagram of a battery charging control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is another schematic module diagram of a battery charging control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

To make the objectives, the technical solutions, and the advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure clearer, the technical solutions in embodiments of the present disclosure are hereinafter described clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings in embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that, the specific embodiments described herein are merely used for explanation, but not used to limit the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a battery charging control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For illustration purposes, only parts related to embodiments of the present disclosure are shown, which will be described in detail in the following.

The battery charging control device 100 provided in embodiments of the present disclosure is coupled with a battery 200 and a controller 300 in a terminal respectively. The battery 200 is charged by obtaining direct current from an external power adapter 400 via a communication interface 10 of the terminal. The controller 300 controls the communication interface 10 of the terminal to switch on or off.

The battery charging control device 100 includes a battery connector 101 , a main control module 102 and a quick charging switch module 103 . The battery connector 101 is coupled with an electrode of the battery 200 . The main control module 102 is coupled with the battery connector 101 . A first switch control terminal and a second switch control terminal of the main control module 102 are coupled with a first controlled terminal and a second controlled terminal of the quick charging switch module 103 respectively. Both a first communication terminal and a second communication terminal of the main control module 102 are coupled with the communication interface 10 of the terminal. The main control module 102 is also coupled with the controller 300 of the terminal. An input terminal of the quick charging switch module 103 is coupled with a power wire VBUS of the communication interface 10 of the terminal, and an output terminal of the quick charging switch module 103 is coupled with the battery connector 101 .

When a regular charging is performed on the battery 200 , the main control module 102 controls the quick charging switch module 103 to switch off. When a quick charging is performed on the battery 200 , the main control module 102 controls the quick charging switch module 103 to switch on, and direct current is introduced into the quick charging switch module 103 via the communication interface 10 of the terminal for charging the battery 200 via the battery connector 101 , such that the charging current for the battery 200 is increased, and thus quick charging is realized.

During the above regular charging or quick charging, the main control module 102 performs a data communication with the power adapter 400 via the communication interface 10 of the terminal, and obtains a charging voltage and a charging current for the battery 200 . If the above charging voltage is greater than a voltage threshold and/or the above charging current is greater than a current threshold, the main control module 102 sends a charging switch-off instruction, such that the controller 300 controls the communication interface 10 of the terminal to switch off. If the above charging voltage is less than or equal to the voltage threshold and the above charging current is less than or equal to the current threshold, the main control module 102 continues to obtain the charging voltage and the charging current.

Based on the battery charging control device 100 shown in FIG. 1 , embodiments of the present disclosure may further provide a battery charging control method. As shown in FIG. 2 , the battery charging control method includes following acts.

In block S 1 , the main control module 102 performs a data communication with the external power adapter 400 , and obtains the charging current and the charging voltage for the battery 200 .

In block S 2 , the main control module 102 determines whether the charging voltage is greater than the voltage threshold, and determines whether the charging current is greater than the current threshold. If the charging voltage is greater than the voltage threshold and/or the charging current is greater than the current threshold, block S 3 is executed. If the charging voltage is less than or equal to the voltage threshold and the charging current is less than or equal to the current threshold, block S 1 is returned to.

In block S 3 , the main control module 102 sends a charging switch-off instruction, such that the controller 300 controls the communication interface 10 of the terminal to switch off.

In an embodiment, block S 1 specifically includes following acts.

The main control module 102 sends a charging parameter obtaining request to the power adapter 400 .

The power adapter 400 feeds back charging voltage information and charging current information to the main control module 102 according to the charging parameter obtaining request.

The main control module 102 obtains the charging current and the charging voltage for the battery 200 from the above charging current information and charging voltage information.

When the quick charging is performed on the battery 200 , following acts may be included (as shown in FIG. 3 ) after block S 1 , so as to switch off the quick charging process and the communication interface 10 of the terminal in time if the power adapter 400 is suddenly decoupled from the communication interface 10 of the terminal.

In block S 4 , the main control module 102 determines whether the charging voltage for the battery 200 is zero, if yes, block S 5 is executed, and if no, block S 1 is returned to.

In block S 5 , the main control module 102 controls the quick charging switch module 103 to switch off, and block S 3 is executed.

When the quick charging is performed on the battery 200 , the controller 300 may feedback a quick charging switch-off instruction to the main control module 102 at an abnormal battery temperature if the terminal has a function of detecting a temperature of the battery, such that the main control module 102 may control the quick charging switch module 103 to switch off according to the quick charging switch-off instruction.

When the quick charging is performed on the battery 200 , following acts may be included (as shown in FIG. 3 ) after block S 1 , such that it can switch back to the convention charging process after completing the quick charging process.

In block S 6 , the main control module 102 detects the voltage of the battery 200 via the battery connector 101 , and determines whether the voltage of the battery 200 is greater than the quick charging voltage threshold (e.g. 4.35V), if yes, block S 7 is executed, and if no, block S 2 is executed.

In block S 7 , the main control module 102 controls the quick charging switch module 103 to switch off, and then block S 2 is executed.

When the quick charging is performed on the battery 200 , the main control module 102 may also detect the electric quantity of the battery 200 via the battery connector 101 , and feedback the electric quantity information to the controller 300 of the terminal, such that the terminal displays the electric quantity of the battery 200 . Thus, the battery charging control method may further include following acts executed simultaneously with block S 6 .

In block S 8 , the main control module 102 detects the electric quantity of the battery 200 via the battery connector 101 and feeds back the electric quantity information to the controller 300 .

FIG. 4 shows a schematic module diagram of a battery charging control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For illustration purposes, only parts related to embodiments of the present disclosure are shown, which will be described in detail in the following.

The main control module 102 includes a main controller U 6 , a thirteenth capacitor C 13 and a thirty-sixth resistor R 36 .

A first pin 5 A- 1 and a second pin 5 A- 2 of the battery connector 101 are commonly grounded. A first ground pin GND 1 and a second ground pin GND 2 of the battery connector 101 are commonly grounded. A first input/output pin RA 0 of the main controller U 6 is coupled with a seventh pin 5 A- 3 and an eighth pin 5 A- 4 of the battery connector 101 respectively. A second input/output pin RA 1 , a seventh input/output pin RC 0 , an eighth input/output pin RC 1 and a ninth input/output pin RC 2 of the main controller U 6 are coupled with a sixth pin 2 A- 4 , a fifth pin 2 A- 3 , a fourth pin 2 A- 2 and a third pin 2 A- 1 of the battery connector 101 respectively. Each of an analog ground pin VSS and a ground pin GND of the main controller U 6 is grounded. Both a first vacant pin NC 0 and a second vacant pin NC 1 of the main controller U 6 are suspended. A power pin VDD of the main controller U 6 and a first terminal of the thirteenth capacitor C 13 are commonly coupled with the seventh pin 5 A- 3 and the eighth pin 5 A- 4 of the battery connector 101 . A fourth input/output pin RA 3 and an eleventh input/output pin RC 4 are coupled with the controller 300 . The thirty-sixth resistor R 36 is coupled between the fourth input/output pin RA 3 and the power pin VDD of the main controller U 6 . A fifth input/output pin RA 4 and a tenth input/output pin RC 3 of the main controller U 6 are configured as the first switch control terminal and the second switch control terminal of the main control module 102 respectively. A sixth input/output pin RA 5 and a twelfth input/output pin RC 5 of the main controller U 6 are configured as the first communication terminal and the second communication terminal of the main control module 102 respectively. The main controller U 6 may specifically be a single chip microcomputer whose model may be PIC12LF1501, PIC12F1501, PIC16LF1503, PIC16F1503, PIC16LF1507, PIC16F1507, PIC16LF1508, PIC16F1508, PIC16LF1509 or PIC16F1509.

The quick charging switch module 103 includes a thirty-seventh resistor R 37 , a fourteenth capacitor C 14 , a first Schottky diode SD 1 , a second Schottky diode SD 2 , a third Schottky diode SD 3 , a fifteenth capacitor C 15 , a thirty-eighth resistor R 38 , a thirty-ninth resistor R 39 , a fortieth resistor R 40 , a third NPN triode N 3 , a fourth NMOS transistor Q 4 and a fifth NMOS transistor Q 5 .

A first terminal of the fourteenth capacitor C 14 is configured as the first controlled terminal of the quick charging switch module 103 . A common node between a first terminal of the thirty-seventh resistor R 37 and a first terminal of the thirty-eighth resistor R 38 is configured as the second controlled terminal of the quick charging switch module 103 . A second terminal of the thirty-seventh resistor R 37 and an anode of the first Schottky diode SD 1 are commonly coupled to a source of the fourth NMOS transistor Q 4 . A second terminal of the thirty-eighth resistor R 38 is coupled to a base of the third NPN triode N 3 . A second terminal of the fourteenth capacitor C 14 and a cathode of the first Schottky diode SD 1 are commonly coupled to an anode of the second Schottky diode SD 2 . A first terminal of the thirty-ninth resistor R 39 and a first terminal of the fifteenth capacitor C 15 are commonly coupled to a cathode of the second Schottky diode SD 2 . Each of a second terminal of the thirty-ninth resistor R 39 , a first terminal of the fortieth resistor R 40 , and a collector of the third NPN triode N 3 is coupled to a grid of the fourth NMOS transistor Q 4 and a gird of the fifth NMOS transistor Q 5 . A second terminal of the fortieth resistor R 40 and a second terminal of the fifteenth capacitor C 15 are commonly grounded. The source of the fourth NMOS transistor Q 4 is configured as the output terminal of the quick charging switch module 103 and coupled with the seventh pin 5 A- 3 and the eighth pin 5 A- 4 of the battery connector 101 . A drain of the fourth NMOS transistor Q 4 is coupled with a drain of the fifth NMOS transistor Q 5 . A source of the fifth NMOS transistor Q 5 is configured as the input terminal of the quick charging control module 103 . An emitter of the third NPN triode N 3 is coupled with an anode of the third Schottky diode SD 3 , and a cathode of the third Schottky diode SD 3 is grounded.

For the battery charging control device shown in FIG. 4 , the main controller U 6 performs a data communication with the controller 300 via the fourth input/output pin RA 3 and the eleventh input/output pin RC 4 thereof, and transmits the voltage information and electric quantity information of the battery 200 to the controller 300 . Moreover, the main controller U 6 may also determine according to the voltage of the battery 200 whether a quick charging process on the battery 200 is completed, and if yes, outputs high level voltage for turning on the third NPN triode N 3 , so as to control the fourth NMOS transistor Q 4 and the fifth NMOS transistor Q 5 to switch off. During charging the battery 200 , if the power adapter 400 is suddenly decoupled from the battery 200 , the main controller U 6 will detect that the charging voltage for the battery 200 is zero, and then output the high level voltage for turning on the third NPN triode N 3 so as to control the fourth NMOS transistor Q 4 and the fifth NMOS transistor Q 5 to switch off, and feed back the charging switch-off instruction to the controller 300 for controlling the communication interface 10 of the terminal to switch off. In addition, if the terminal may detect the temperature of the battery 200 , the controller 300 feeds back the quick charging switch-off instruction to the main controller U 6 when the temperature is abnormal, and the main controller U 6 outputs high level voltage according to the quick charging switch-off instruction for turning on the third NPN triode N 3 , such that the fourth NMOS transistor Q 4 and the fifth NMOS transistor Q 5 are controlled to switch off.

When the quick charging is performed on the battery 200 , direct current is introduced into the quick charging switch module 103 via the communication interface 10 of the terminal as follows, such that the battery 200 is charged via the battery connector 101 . The main controller U 6 outputs high level voltage via the fifth input/output pin RA 4 thereof for controlling the fourth NMOS transistor Q 4 and the fifth NMOS transistor Q 5 to switch on, and controls the third NPN triode N 3 to switch off via the tenth input/output pin RC 3 thereof, such that the direct current is introduced via the communication interface 10 of the terminal for charging the battery 200 . Since the battery 200 itself has already obtained direct current from the power adapter 400 via the communication interface 10 , introducing the direct current into the quick charging switch module 103 via the communication interface 10 of the terminal to charge the battery 200 via the battery connector 101 may increase the charging current for the battery 200 , and thus the quick charging for the battery 200 is realized.

In addition, when the quick charging is performed on the battery 200 , if the power wire VBUS and the ground wire GND of the communication interface 10 of the terminal are grounded and coupled to direct current input respectively, i.e., if a power source reversal connection occurs for the communication interface 10 , the input terminal of the quick charging switch module 103 is grounded, and ground ends in various modules of the battery charging control device 100 are coupled to direct current, and thus in order to avoid damages to elements, as shown in FIG. 5 , the quick charging switch module 103 may further include a sixth NMOS transistor Q 6 , a seventh NMOS transistor Q 7 and a forty-first resistor R 41 . A source of the sixth NMOS transistor Q 6 is coupled with the source of the fifth NMOS transistor Q 5 , a drain of the sixth NMOS transistor Q 6 is coupled with a drain of the seventh NMOS transistor Q 7 , a source of the seventh NMOS transistor Q 7 is coupled with the collector of the third NPN triode N 3 , a grid of the sixth NMOS transistor Q 6 and a grid of the seventh NMOS transistor Q 7 are commonly coupled to a first terminal of the forty-first resistor R 41 , and a second terminal of the forty-first resistor R 41 is grounded.

When the above reversal connection fault occurs, the direct current is introduced from ground into the second terminal of the forty-first resistor R 41 for driving the sixth NMOS transistor Q 6 and the seventh NMOS transistor Q 7 to switch off, such that direct current input into the battery charging control device 100 via the ground cannot form a loop, thus protecting the elements from being damaged.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a terminal. The terminal includes the above communication interface 10 , controller 300 , battery 200 and battery charging control device 100 .

In conclusion, in the present disclosure, the battery charging control device 100 including the battery connector 101 , the main control module 102 and the quick charging switch module 103 is adopted. During the regular charging or the quick charging for the battery 200 in the terminal, the main control module 102 performs a data communication with the external power adapter 400 via the communication interface 10 of the terminal, obtains the charging voltage and the charging current for the battery 200 , and sends the charging switch-off instruction if the charging voltage is greater than the voltage threshold and/or the charging current is greater than the current threshold, such that the controller 300 controls the communication interface 10 of the terminal to switch off, thus realizing the overvoltage protection and/or the overcurrent protection for the battery 200 .

The forgoing description is only directed to preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, but not used to limit the present disclosure. All modifications, equivalents, variants and improvements made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.