Extremely simple, yet effective, NiMH/NiCd intelligent battery charger

Author: Glauco Masotti Note: This document is only a draft and is presented as is! Nevertheless its quite accurate and you may find useful information in it. It should have served for applying for a patent in 2 !" #hich then I never applied for. $ou can find further details" and a discussion of this su%&ect in a #ider conte't" here: http:((###.scri%d.com(doc())!* +),(-%out./ome.0ood.%ut.Neglected.Ideas Abstract: A method for detecting the end of charge condition by sensing the battery voltage, employing only analog signal processing, and resulting in an extremely simple solution, is presented. Nevertheless the proposed circuit is suitable for controlling the end of rapid charge, either for NiMH or NiCd batteries, implementing a termination criteria very close to the optimum indicated by most battery manufactures. he proposed solution, for its simplicity, could be very cheap, as it can be reali!ed "ith common analog components, or be integrated in a chip. Claims: #hat is claimed is$ %. A method for detecting the end of charge condition, by sensing and analy!ing the voltage battery, during rapid charge of Nic&el based battery, or any other &ind of battery "hich voltage vs. time characteristics sho"s a pea& or a plateau in proximity of full charge, i.e. full charge of battery can be recogni!ed in correspondence of the voltage top of the characteristic or slightly after or slightly before. his method is implemented by means of simple analog circuits. he method of claim % is basically implemented employing a resistor, a capacitor and a comparator in a specified arrangement, such that the voltage across the capacitor follo"s "ith a certain delay the battery voltage. he comparator senses "hen the difference bet"een the battery voltage and the capacitor voltage falls "ithin a fe" millivolts to stop rapid charge (larger differences are also allo"ed, but are not advisable). he exact trip point depends on comparator offset and can be "hen sensing a slightly positive, practically !ero or slightly negative difference, accommodating for various end of charge conditions. +urther improvement of the basic implementation, to cope "ith a "ide range of battery voltages, is accomplished by adding a diode and a resistor in parallel "ith the resistor named at claim '. +urther improvement of the implementation of claim *, is accomplished by feeding the capacitor voltage to one of the comparator inputs through a voltage follo"er, in order to sense the capacitor voltage "ith a high input impedance and decouple the capacitor from the comparator circuits. +urther improvement of the implementation of claim , is done by including circuits for hysteresis of the trip point, in order to establish a stable condition of the comparator at end of charge, and circuits for offset ad.ustement of the comparator, in order to accurately set the trip point and thus the end of charge condition. +urther improvement of the implementation of claim - is done by including circuits for noise filtering of the voltages feed to the comparator.

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Description: 0AC12345N6 4+ HE 7N8EN 74N 1. Field of the Invention 3echargeable batteries are no" used in many appliances, the "ide diffusion of cellular phones, portable computers, digital cameras, tools and games have contributed a lot to their diffusion. Moreover they are no" replacing non9rechargeable batteries in almost any application "hich re:uire a significant amount of po"er on a regular basis. Although ;i97on cells are gaining place, NiCd and NiMH batteries are still the most "idely used, in particular NiMH appear at present, in most cases, the best compromise among cost, energy density, number of charge/discharge cycles, and lo" self9discharge properties. NiMH cells have a higher energy density, lo"er environmental impact and also exhibit a "ea&er memory9effect "ith respect to NiCd, ho"ever the latter can sustain a higher number of cycles and given also the lo"er initial cost, NiCd are still

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the most cost effective solution in many cases. 5nli&e lead9acid batteries simple constant9voltage and tric&le charging cannot be employed for Ni based batteries, as this "ould cause overcharging, "ith degradation of battery properties and thus reduction of battery life. Constant current chargers are thus used, the charging process should then be properly stopped "hen the battery has reached its full capacity, to avoid overcharging damage. #hen high current rates are used for fast charging , usually ranging from C/* to 'C (given C is the nominal capacity of the battery), these damages can be greater and made :uic&er than "ith using smaller charging currents, li&e C/%=. he end of charge condition should thus be detected "ith accuracy. 6umb chargers usually employ a C/%= current rate, and place on the user the responsibility of interrupting the charging process after a certain time, "hich should last nearly %-9%/ hours, if the battery is initially almost exhausted, but still in good shape to maintain its nominal capacity. <mart chargers used for fast charging employ a number of techni:ues for detecting "hen the battery is full charged. he invention is concerned "ith a particular system for detecting the end of charge condition for Nic&ed based cells as part of an intelligent battery charger. he proposed solution is simple and cheap, yet even more accurate and effective than currently employed methods. 2. Description of the Related Art Currently intelligent chargers are based on analy!ing the evolution of battery voltage (80) and/or battery temperature ( 0) over time during the charging process. +ig. % sho"s their typical behavior for NiCd and NiMH batteries.

o sense the battery voltage a charge controller typically employs an A/6 converter to sample 80 at certain intervals and then applies digital signal processing. 7f a temperature sensor is available, in touch or integrated "ith the battery, 0 can be analy!ed instead of 80, or both can be ta&en into account. Charge controllers are thus currently relatively complex devices, "hich can be reali!ed "ith general purpose microprocessor or "ith dedicated ;<7 chips. 0y examining a typical charge characteristic of Nic&el based cells the various charge termination criteria devised insofar can be understood. he most popular method relies on the detection of a negative voltage variation after the voltage pea&

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8> has been reached. his is called the 9?8 method. NiCd cells sho" a pronounced top, thus negative variation in excess of ,= mv per cell can be registered at a continuos charge rate of =.-C or more (+ig. ').

Ho"ever charger "hich are less sensitive and that stop fast charge only after a negative variation of about '= m8 per cell or more, li&e most old chargers, tend to overcharge batteries excessively, thus reducing battery performance and life. A certain amount of overcharge is encouraged or at least allo"ed by the recommendations of most manufacturers @HA3%, >AN%, 2>%A, in fact a ne" battery can be exploited at %%=B of its nominal capacity for a considerable number of cycles @2>%A. Manufacturers recommendations are not univocal, also not all batteries are the same, and the optimal trip point to stop fast charging depends also on the rate of charge, ho"ever they tend to specify smaller limits for 9?8 than in the past, "hen a value of ,- m8 drop "as considered typical @NA %A. 5sually they recommend a value bet"een %= to '= m8 @HA3%, >AN%A, but someone recommends no more than %= m8 drop per cell @2>%A. his means that charge should terminate immediately after the voltage pea& 8> has been reached or even in correspondence of 8> in certain conditions (see +ig. '). he re:uested resolution for detecting differences belo" %= m8 by digital processing "ould be of at least C bits, but preferably more for optimum performance. Care should also be placed in &eeping noise to a negligible influence. NiMH cells pose even higher re:uirements, in fact the voltage pea& is not as mar&ed as for NiCd cells and battery voltage tend to plateau for some minutes at the end of charge, before declining a fe" millivolts. <ome manufacture @2>%A thus recommend to stop charge after recogni!ing a negative variations of ' m8 per cellD his should represent the optimum compromise for achieving full charge "ith a reasonable termination criteria, "ithout compromising cell life duration. A cell charged at E' m8 drop can typically sustain about F== cycles and still retain C=B of nominal capacity, "hile one charged at E*= m8 only ,== @2>%A. 8oltage sensing has been so popular so far because it is easy, the voltage leads are accessible and no special assembly is re:uired in the battery pac&. Nevertheless the cell temperature gives the most accurate information about "hat is happening "ithin the cell and fast charging "ithout temperature sensing is advisable only at ambient temperature. emperature sensing "ould be thus preferable to voltage sensing for these reasons, ho"ever, if the cell temperature is to be accurately measured,

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the temperature sensor must be built into the battery pac&, "hich increases the manufactured cost of the battery. 7f the sensor is only in contact "ould not be the same, moreover if it is in contact only "ith one cell of battery pac& it "ould not give accurate information about every cell status. A glance at +ig. % sho"s that as full charge is reached, the rate of temperature rise increases very sharply. "o termination criteria can be used$ one measure the rise of temperature battery 0 "ith respect to ambient temperature, the other calculates the rate of temperature change (i.e. the derivative of 0(t)). 7n either case if an opportune threshold is exceeded charge is terminated. Charge should be stopped "hen a rise of about %=G above ambient temperature is sensed, but this does not give an accurate criteria. Manufacturers suggest to evaluate the rate of change in temperature. +or a charge rate of %C, charge should be stopped at approximately %GC/min. rate of change in battery temperature. Ho"ever considerable differences in manufacturers specifications arise. emperature behavior is also greatly affected by charging rates and battery type. <ettings of charge parameters is thus critical, a "rong setting may result in premature or delayed termination of charge, thus this approach can be used effectively only in "ell specified conditions, "ith a particular type of battery. 7n a general case it is often adopted as a bac&up termination criteria$ "ith opportune parameter settings temperature information it can be used to stop fast charge safely, if the first criteria, based on voltage analysis fails. 3elying solely or mainly on voltage battery is thus more convenient in most cases. 6ue to the above mentioned difficulties "ith the 9?8 method, the detection of the inflection point of the battery voltage versus time function 80(t), has been proposed as a method for approaching full charge avoiding the ris& of overcharging @< M%A. his method ho"ever should usually lead to a premature end of charge, thus batteries "ill last longer but a full charge should not be achieved, in fact the inflection point 7> (as sho"n in +ig. *) is located substantially before the end of charge !one "hich could be traced by summari!ing manufacturersH specifications.

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his method also involves more complex data processing, as the derivative of 80(t) has to be computed, moreover the determination of 7>, is not so easy for a function "hich changes slo"ly and almost linearly for a relatively long time, it can be detected "ith a reasonable confidence only "ith a certain delay, in dependence of the soft"are threshold fixed for its detection. 7f this threshold is too lo" false detection could arise, giving for sure a premature end of charge, if the threshold is too high the delay of detection "ill be large, in this case the end of charge could came close to the incoming voltage pea& 8>. >erformance of the system could then be not much different from that of other systems, perhaps much simpler, "hich "ould detect the end of charge condition in proximity of 8>. <5MMA3I 4+ HE 7N8EN 74N his invention consists of a particular method for detecting the end of charge condition by sensing the battery voltage and employing only analog signal processing, resulting in an extremely simple solution. Nevertheless the proposed circuit may detect the end of charge condition in proximity of 8> (+ig. %), sensing a stationary battery voltage condition, or immediately after, i.e. sensing a voltage drop as lo" as % m8D 7t is thus suitable for effectively controlling the end of rapid charge either for NiMH or NiCd batteries, implementing a termination criteria very close to the optimum indicated by most battery manufactures. Moreover the proposed solution, for its simplicity, "ill be very cheap, as it can be reali!ed "ith common analog components, or be integrated in an C pin chipD he basic circuit , for understanding ho" the proposed solution "or&s, is of disarming simplicity, it is sho"n in +ig. ,.

4bviously a symmetric version "ith the battery connected to ground rather than 8J, can be reali!ed. Assuming that the battery 0% is connected to the circuit, at the same time it is connected to 8J, the capacitor C% is charged to"ards 80 though 3%, the voltage 8C is feed to one of the comparator inputs, "hile the other is connected to the negative battery lead and thus senses 80, "hich varies under the effect of the current 7chrg, "hich can be assumed e:ual to %C. he potential difference across C% follo"s the battery voltage "ith a certain delay. he net"or& 3%, C% acts as a lo"9pass filter smoothing and delaying variations of 80, but, as 80(t) is already a smooth function, the delay effect is prevalent. A typical course for 80 and 8C (ta&en as positive values) is represented in +ig. -.

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8C follo"s 80 as it raises under charge, 8C also tends to approach 80 "hen the rate of change of 80 gets smaller. Assuming that the time constant 3%C% is ade:uate to cope "ith the duration of the plateau at the pea& voltage of 80, 8C can approach 80 "ithin a fe" millivolts during this plateau. 7f the comparator offset is slightly positive it can sense this condition, and rapid charge can be stopped at this point in proximity of the voltage top of 80. 7f other"ise the comparator offset is truly = or negative, the comparator "ill s"itch only if 8C exactly matches 80 or 8C surpasses 80, but this is .ust "hat is going to happen after the pea& of 80 is passedD 7n fact 8C "ill al"ays follo" 80 "ith a certain delay, because the capacitor "ill retain its charge for a "hile during the decline of 80, thus there should be an instant in "hich 80 K 8C and then 80 L 8C, thus the curve 8C(t) crosses 80(t), at a certain point during the decline of 80, as is sho"n in +ig. -. As the decline of 80 is generally very slo", the difference 8C 9 80 "ill only be of fe" millivolts, but it should be enough to ma&e s"itch, even comparators "ith a slight negative offset. he greater the negative offset the later "ill be terminated the fast charge, giving results very similar to those obtained "ith the 9?8 method, but this is the "orst case. his means that proper functioning of the method is not critical. 7f the comparator offset is not set or trimmed "ithin tight limits or to"ards positive values "e "ill get at "orst a 9?8 termination, "ith ?8 increasing "ith the negative offset of the comparator. 7t should be noted that also a pea& voltage detector could be used, in place of the basic circuit of +ig. ,, to detect the pea& voltage of 80 and the beginning of its decline. Ho"ever this alternative, of "hich a basic circuit is sho"n in +ig. /, it is not advisable, as "e "ill see, but it is also covered by this patent.

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#ith ideal components 8> "ill copy 80 during all its ascent and then remain stable at its pea& level. 7n practice the decline of 80 is typically really slo", thus lea&age of the capacitor as "ell as input current of the op9amp should drive 8> to decline even faster than 80, thus "e "ill be unable to detect any real positive difference 8> E 80 during the decline of 80, as sho"n in +ig. F, unless "e use special components, a very lo" lea&age capacitor and a mosfet input op9amp "ill be necessary, this solution "ill then be much more expensive than the previous one, and also less functional, as "e "ill be unable to react at 80 summit, but only during its decline, thus only a 9?8 detection can be reali!ed.

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6E A7;E6 6E<C37> 74N 4+ A >4<<70;E 7M>;EMEN A 74N A possible implementation of the proposed invention is sho"n in the schematic of +ig. C. he positive electrode of the battery is "ired to the positive po"er supply 8J, thus the potential difference 80 K 80J 9 809 is sensed at the negative electrode of the battery. 4bviously a symmetric configuration "ith the battery negative connected to ground can also be implemented. 7t is also sho"n a current generator, reali!ed "ith a linear 7C li&e the ;M*%F, providing a constant charge current 7crgh, as "ell as the tric&le current after a full charge is detected. ;inear solutions li&e this are simple and noise free, but less efficient, ho"ever also a more efficient solution, based on a charge pump s"itched at high fre:uency, can be adopted, given an ade:uate filtering of the charge current pulses is provided. As "e said, the present invention is not concerned "ith ho" the charge current is generated, but rather "ith the method for detecting "hen the cells are fully charged and thus a fast charge should be stopped. ;et us assume that <#, is open and the battery is connected to the circuit. he diode 6, bloc& reverse polari!ation of some parts of the circuit to a safe value, in this condition the inputs of all op9amps are also protected by series resistors. he capacitor C% thus charges itself to"ards 80. 2iven 3' LL 3% it charges at first :uic&ly, trough the path 6%93'. his allo"s the circuit to cope "ith a "ide range of battery voltages, as in this range the initial charging time can be made negligible "ith respect to the second phase, "hen C% is charged though 3% only. his happens "hen the difference bet"een 80 and the voltage across C% (8C) falls belo" %== m8. 7n fact if the diode 6% is for"ard biased "ith %F- m8 its for"ard current is still typically of =.% MA, but belo" %== m8 it should be negligible "ith respect to the current flo"ing though 3%, even for large values of 3% (up to some MNHs). hus "hen 8C is "ithin %== m8 from 80 "e can assume that the time constant of the net"or& is given by 3%C%. #ith 3% K % MN and C% K %== M+, and 80 constant, 8C can approach 80 "ithin % m8 in about CH, a time "hich is close to the typical duration of the plateau at top voltage of the charge characteristics "e have seen. 4bviously this time constant could be ad.usted for each particular case for optimum performance, but the value indicated behave "ell in a general case.

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#hen "e close <#, the circuit is po"ered and the voltage 8C is copied by the voltage follo"er A% and feed to the comparator A' positive input, "hich senses on the negative input the voltage 80. <ince at this point "e still have 8C L 80 the output of the comparator "ill go high turning O% on and letting the charge current flo", "hich magnitude 7crgh is set by the total resistance resulting bet"een the 845 terminal of 7C' and ground. he charge current "ill boost immediately the battery voltage 80, "hile 8C "ill follo" "ith a certain delay, as sho"n in +ig. -. he capacitor C' is added to filter out noise "hich may reach the comparator inputs, as it forms a lo"9pass filter "ith 3* and 3-. As 8C approaches 80 "ithin a fe" millivolts the trip point of the comparator A' may be reached, depending on its offset. As "e have seen, discussing the basic circuit, by trimming this offset the termination criteria of fast charge can be ad.usted appropriately, according to manufacturerHs specifications. 7n +ig. C the offset is trimmed by means of 3%%. he diode 6* is a lo" voltage !ener, it may also be replaced by a for"ard biased diode as a high stability of the voltage across 6* (8P) "ould be desirable but it is not necessary. he !ener voltage 8P is mirrored "ith respect to 80 by the unity gain inverting amplifier A*, therefore 3%% can feed, through the voltage divider 3,93*, a voltage varying from 80J8P and 8098P, thus allo"ing for ad.ustment of the trip point of the comparator. #hen the comparator s"itches the diode 6' "ill conduct, thus A' "ill no" act as a <chmidt trigger and gaining a stable lo" output state (given 3/ is not too high), O% is s"itched off and 7C' "ill sin& no" only a tric&le current set mainly by 3%*. 7t should be noted that the circuit inside the dotted line rectangle of +ig. C could be integrated in a %=9pin pac&age 7C. 7f external offset trimming or noise filtering is not necessary an C or even a - lead pac&age can be adopted for the entire charge controllerD 7f the proposed solution is integrated, the relatively complex offset ad.ustment circuit, as reali!ed "ith discrete components, can become much simpler, by acting directly on comparator A' offset ad.ustment, thus the entire circuit could be reali!ed <eptember '==/ page Q of %%

entirely around a single comparator, or "ith a voltage follo"er and a comparator, plus a fe" additional components %. References %. Iuen ang 1., 1attery charging circuit for charging NI23 and NI45 %atteries, 5nited <tates >atent -,CQC*/ (5<-,CQC*/), http$//""".freepatentsonline.com/-,CQC*/.html '. Nicolai Rean, 2ethod for the fast charging of a %attery and integrated circuit for the implementation of this method , 5nited <tates >atent -/%'/=F (5<-/%'/=F), http$//""".freepatentsonline.com/-/%'/=F.html *. Ieon <ang9Heum, 4harge mode control in a %attery charger, 5nited <tates >atent -C'%F*/ (5<-C'%F*/), http$//""".freepatentsonline.com/-C'%F*/.html @NA %A Chester <impson, 1-TT67$ 43-70IN0, %QQ-, National <emiconductor" http$//""".national.com/appinfo/po"er/files/fF.pdf -. Chester <impson, 4haracteristics of 7echargea%le 1atteries, National <emiconductor" %QQ-, http$//""".national.com/appinfo/po"er/files/f%Q.pdf @< M%A R. N7C4;A7, ;. #576A3 , 8rom Nic9el.4admium To Nic9el.3ydride 8ast 1attery 4harger , < Microelectronics, %QQ,, http$//""".st.com/stonline/products/literature/an/'=F,.pdf R9M. 3avon and ;. #uidart" -N INT6::I06NT ;N6 3;<7 2<:TI43-7067 8;7 :i.Ion" Ni23 and Ni4d 1-TT67I6/, < Microelectronics, %QQC, http$//""".st.com/stonline/products/literature/an/,*Q%.htm @HA3%A 3arding Technical 3and%oo9, Harding Energy 7nc., http$//""".hardingenergy.com/techmanual.htm @>AN%A 4harge methods for ni.cd %atteries, >anasonic '==-, http$//""".panasonic.com/industrial/battery/oem/images/pdf/>anasonicSNiCdSChargeMethods.pdf @>AN'A 4harge methods for Nic9el 2etal 3ydride %atteries, >anasonic '==-, http$//""".panasonic.com/industrial/battery/oem/images/pdf/>anasonicSNiMHSChargeMethods.pdf 3o# to 5esign 1attery 4harger -pplications that 7equire 6'ternal 2icrocontrollers and 7elated /ystem.:evel Issues" Maxim 7ntegrated >roducts, Application Note /C=, '==-, http$//""".maxim9ic.com/an/C= 2-=,+2(2-=,+* Ni4d(Ni23 1attery 8ast.4harge 4ontrollers, Maxim 7ntegrated >roducts, '==', http$//datasheets.maxim9ic.com/en/ds/MATF%'9MATF%*.pdf Andre 8ilas, 0oas Marcus, Espindola Alfredo 4lmos, /mart Ni4d(Ni23 1attery 4harger <sing 24!>34) >?$@"
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he follo"ing table lists the values of the components "hich are not specified in the schematic and "hich have been used for reali!ing the prototype, "hich is still in use ("ith minor modifications, reported belo"). 3% K %M, 3' K %==1, 3* K %=1, 3, K '==1, 3- K %=1, 3/ K',=1, 3F K '.'1, 3C K '=1, 3Q K '=1, 3%= K '=1, 3%% K '=1, 3%' K %.-1, 3%* K %==, 3%, K 3%-, K 3%/ K 3%F K '.'U C% K %==u+, C' K =.%u+, C* K ''=u+. O% K 73+/*= 6* K %N,%,C (for"ard biasedD <ee text) +or greater noise immunity C' can be substituted "ith a capacitor up to %==u+ connected to the non9inverting input and 8J, similar capacitors may shunt 6* and also the battery. he circuit has been tested "ith 8J ranging from C to %/ 8, and ' to , cells in series have been successfully charged.

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+reescale <emiconductor, 7nc., '==,, http$//""".freescale.com/files/microcontrollers/doc/appSnote/AN'/FQ.pdf Ni23 1attery 4harger 5esigner 7eference 2anual A 572 B+, +reescale <emiconductor, 7nc., '==*, http$//""".freescale.com/files/microcontrollers/doc/refSmanual/63M=-%.pdf C> 6ncore!D 1ased -- Type Ni23 and Ni4d 1attery 4harger 7eference 5esign" Pi;42, 7nc" '==-, http$//""".!ilog.com/docs/!Cencore/appnotes/an=''Q.pdf ; C,=/= <tandalone ;inear NiMH/NiCd +ast 0attery Charger, '==,, ;inear echnology Corporation, http$//""".linear.com/pc/product6etail.doVnav7dKH=,C%,C%==*,C%=*F,C%=FC,C%=CC,>F/=% :T4@ ++ 3igh 6fficiency /tandalone Nic9el 1attery 4harger, '==-, ;inear echnology Corporation, http$//""".linear.com/pc/do"nload6ocument.doVnav7dKH=,C%,C%==*,C%=*F,C%=FC,C%=CQ,>Q/%-,6/Q%C @2>%A 0E 1atteries Eroduct 1rochures" http$//""".gpbatteries.com/>roductS0rochures.html http$//""".gpbatteries.com/pdf/NiCdS3echargeable.pdf http$//""".gpbatteries.com/pdf/NiMHSS3echargeable.pdf http$//""".gpbatteries.com/pdf/NiMHS echnical.pdf http$//""".gpbatteries.com/pdf/NiCd.pdf ;. #uidart, R.M. 3avon, - 4;/T 68864TIF6 <:T7- NI.45 8-/T 1-TT67$ 43-7067" < Microelectronics, %QQQ, http$//""".st.com/stonline/products/literature/an/*F'*.pdf

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