JP2002075464A - Charger - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively prevent a plating on a contact or a terminal of a charger from exfoliation, and to reduce a contact failure to the utmost by thoroughly pressing the charging contact to the charging terminal through long time. SOLUTION: The charger charges a secondary cell housed in a cell housing unit by mounting the cell housing unit 1 detachment freely to a mounting part 3 and connecting a charging terminal 4 of the cell housing unit 1 to the charging contact 5. The charger has a lock mechanism 6 locking the cell housing unit 1 to the mounting part 3. The charging contact 5 has a protrusion part 5A elastically protruded at the mounting part 3, and a part of the protrusion part is jointed to the lock mechanism 6. The lock mechanism 6 compulsorily pulls the charging contact 5 inside the mounting part 3 by dint of the cell housing unit 1 which is put on the mounting part 3 but not located at the mounting position, and when the cell housing unit 1 is mounted to the regular mounting position of the mounting part 3, the cell housing unit 1 is locked and the compulsorily pulled state of the charging contact 5 is released.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charger for removably mounting and charging an electric device containing a battery pack or a secondary battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a battery pack charger, a charging contact is connected to a charging terminal of the battery pack to charge a secondary battery. In order to prevent contact failure between the charging contact and the charging terminal, the charging contact is elastically pressed against the charging terminal. The charging contact elastically pressed to the charging terminal is made of, for example, an elastically deformable wire. The charging contact of the elastic wire is provided so as to protrude from the mounting portion of the battery pack in order to reduce poor contact over a long period of time. A charging contact having a small amount of protrusion gradually reduces the pressing force of the charging terminal and easily causes poor contact. This is because the elastic wire is pressed and deformed by the charging terminal. This disadvantage can be reduced by increasing the amount of protrusion of the charging contact to the mounting portion.

[0003]

However, the charging contact protruding from the mounting portion at a high position may cause an adverse effect such that the charging terminal of the battery pack slides when the battery pack or the like is mounted and the plating on the surface is peeled off. Occurs. The charging contact and the charging terminal are almost always plated with gold, nickel, or the like so that corrosion of the surface is prevented and stable electrical connection can be performed for a long period of time. In particular, since the charging contact uses an elastic wire, which is a spring material, it is necessary to treat the surface of the charging contact so as to prevent corrosion. When the plating on the surface is peeled off, the spring material is exposed and oxidized, which causes a contact failure.

[0004] As described above, by increasing the amount of protrusion of the charging contact, the pressing force against the charging terminal can be increased to reduce the contact failure, but the plating is easily peeled off and the contact failure is liable to occur. Therefore, in practice, even if the amount of protrusion of the charging contact is increased, it has been extremely difficult to stably make an electrical connection while preventing poor contact over a long period of time.

The present invention has been developed to solve this drawback. It is an important object of the present invention to effectively prevent the peeling of the plating of the charging contact and the charging terminal while sufficiently pressing the charging contact against the charging terminal for a long period of time, thereby minimizing contact failure and stably connecting the electric connection. It is to provide a charger that can be used.

[0006]

In the battery charger of the present invention, the battery built-in unit 1 is detachably mounted on the mounting portion 3 to charge a secondary battery built in the battery built-in unit 1. The battery built-in unit 1 is an electric device or a battery pack containing a secondary battery. The battery built-in unit 1 set in the mounting unit 3 connects the charging terminal 4 to the charging contact 5 of the charger in order to charge the built-in secondary battery. Further, the charger includes a lock mechanism 6 of the battery built-in unit 1 mounted on the mounting section 3.

[0007] The charging contact 5 of the charger has a protruding portion 5 A elastically protruding from the mounting portion 3 and is connected to a lock mechanism 6. The lock mechanism 6 forcibly pulls the charging contact 5 into the inside of the mounting portion 3 with the battery built-in unit 1 that is in contact with the mounting portion 3 but is not at the mounting position. When the battery pack is installed in the position, the battery built-in unit 1 is locked and the state in which the charging contact 5 is forcibly pulled is released. The charging contact 5 released by the lock mechanism 6 is elastically pressed by the charging terminal 4 of the battery built-in unit 1 and is electrically connected.

The lock mechanism 6 has a lock claw 7A at its tip for locking the battery built-in unit 1 and has a lock lever 7 which is elastically deformed, and one end thereof which is tilted by the lock lever 7 and which can be tilted. 2 and a drive lever 8 connected to the drive lever 2. The lock mechanism 6 presses the lock claw 7A with the battery built-in unit 1 to elastically deform the lock lever 7, tilts the drive lever 8 with the deformable lock lever 7, and forcibly charges the charging contact 5 with the drive lever 8. Can be pulled in. The elastically deformable lock lever 7 can be provided integrally with the case 2 with plastic.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiments described below exemplify a charger for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the present invention does not limit the charger to the following.

Further, in this specification, in order to make it easy to understand the claims, the numbers corresponding to the members shown in the embodiments will be referred to as “claims” and “ In the column of “means”.
However, the members described in the claims are not limited to the members of the embodiments.

The charger shown in FIGS.
The mounting part 3 of the battery built-in unit 1 is provided on the upper surface of the battery. The battery built-in unit 1 is an electric device having a built-in secondary battery or a battery pack. The mounting section 3 is mounted so that the battery built-in unit 1 can be detached. Mounting part 3
5 is a groove shape in which the battery built-in unit 1 is slid in the horizontal direction in the drawing, and as shown in the plan view of FIG.
0 is provided. The battery built-in unit 1 is provided with a connecting groove (not shown) for guiding the ridge. Groove-shaped mounting part 3
Has a stopper wall 11 at the left end in the figure. The battery built-in unit 1 is mounted by sliding from right to left until it hits the stopper wall 11. When it comes into contact with the stopper wall 11, it is set at the determined fixed position. The battery built-in unit 1 mounted in the fixed position guides the ridge 10 into the connection groove and is connected to the mounting portion 3 so as not to come off. In this state, the charging contact 5 of the mounting section 3 is connected to the charging terminal 4 of the battery built-in unit 1. Charged battery built-in unit 1
Is removed from the charger, the battery built-in unit 1 is slid from left to right in the figure. In the illustrated charger, since the ridge 10 provided on the mounting portion 3 is connected to the connection groove, the battery built-in unit 1 can be connected so as not to come off. However, the charger of the present invention may be connected so that it does not come off the mounting portion due to its own weight of the battery built-in unit, or may be formed such that the mounting portion is formed into a hollow cylindrical shape and the battery built-in unit is inserted into the tube and connected. it can.

The mounting portion 3 has an electrode window 12 on the bottom surface for projecting the charging contact 5. The charging contact 5 is connected to the electrode window 1
2 and is electrically connected to the charging terminal 4 of the battery built-in unit 1 while being elastically pressed. The charging contact 5 is made of a spring material in which the surface of the elastic metal wire is plated, and is connected to the case 2 in a loop partway. In the case 2, a pin 13 inserted into the loop 5 </ b> B is integrally formed, and this pin 13 is connected to the loop 5 of the charging contact 5.
B and the charging contact 5 is connected to the case 2. The charging contact 5 shown in the drawing has one end extending downward from the loop 5B connected to a charging circuit (not shown), and the other end bent into a chevron to electrically connect to the charging terminal 4. 5
A. When the charging contact 5 does not contact the charging terminal 4 of the battery built-in unit 1, the protruding portion 5 </ b> A protrudes from the electrode window 12 to the mounting portion 3 as shown in FIG. 1. The tip of the protruding portion 5A serves as a locking portion 5C that abuts on the lock mechanism 6 so that the protruding portion 5A protrudes into the mounting portion 3 at a constant height. The locking portion 5C protrudes from the electrode window 12 toward the inner surface of the case 2 and does not protrude from the electrode window 12.

Further, in the charging contact 5 in the figure, the locking portion 5C is connected to the lock mechanism 6. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the battery built-in unit 1 is slid along the bottom surface of the mounting portion 3, the lock mechanism 6 forcibly pulls the protrusion 5 </ b> A of the charging contact 5 into the inside of the electrode window 12. Thus, the protrusion 5A of the charging contact 5 is prevented from strongly pressing the charging terminal 4. When the battery built-in unit 1 is mounted at a predetermined position of the mounting section 3, the lock mechanism 6 releases the forced withdrawal of the charging contact 5.

The illustrated lock mechanism 6 includes a lock lever 7 that is elastically deformed, and a drive lever 8 that is tilted by the lock lever 7 and forcibly pulls the charging contact 5. The lock lever 7 is provided integrally with the plastic case 2. The state in which the lock lever 7 is provided at the bottom of the mounting portion 3 is shown in the plan view of FIG. This lock lever 7
In the figure, the left end is connected to the bottom surface of the mounting portion 3, and a slit 14 is provided around the left end to separate from the mounting portion 3.
The lock lever 7 is provided with a lock claw 7A protruding at the tip. The lock claw 7 </ b> A is guided by a lock recess 9 provided in the battery built-in unit 1, and locks the battery built-in unit 1 from being detached from the mounting section 3. Further, the illustrated lock lever 7 is provided with a pressing portion 7B that pushes down the drive lever 8 protruding from the lower surface. The pressing portion 7B is provided at the tip of the lock lever 7.

The drive lever 8 is connected to the case 2 via a rotating shaft 15 so as to be tiltable. The drive lever 8 shown in the figure has the right end connected to the case 2 via the rotating shaft 15 and the left end connected to the locking portion 5C of the charging contact 5. Drive lever 8
Increases the amount by which the pressing portion 7B of the lock lever 7 moves down to lower the charging contact 5. When the position where the pressing portion 7B of the lock lever 7 presses the drive lever 8 approaches the rotary shaft 15 of the drive lever 8, the tilt angle of the drive lever 8 increases, and the descending amount of the locking portion 5C increases. When the distance from the drive lever 15 is increased, the tilt angle of the drive lever 8 is reduced, and the amount of movement of the locking portion 5C is reduced. The ratio of the drive lever 8 increasing the amount of depression of the pressing portion 7B and lowering the locking portion 5C is (distance from the rotation shaft 15 to the tip) / (rotation shaft 15
To the pressed position). As shown in the drawing, the structure in which the pressing portion 7B of the lock lever 7 presses the position about 1/3 of the drive lever 8 has a structure in which the locking portion 5C is moved by about three times the amount of drop of the pressing portion 7B, That is, the protrusion 5A of the charging contact 5 can be lowered. Therefore, the mechanism by which the lock lever 7 tilts the drive lever 8 is a lock claw 7A.
This has the advantage that the protrusion 5A of the charging contact 5 can be largely forcibly pulled in by reducing the amount of drop of the contact.

However, as shown in FIG. 6, the charger according to the present invention may have a mechanism in which the protrusion 5A of the charging contact 5 is directly pulled in by the lock lever 7. The lock mechanism 6 in this figure comprises only a lock lever 7 and connects the lock lever 7 directly to the locking portion of the charging contact 5. When the lock lever 7 is pushed down by the battery built-in unit 1, the pressing portion 7B of the lock lever 7 pushes down the locking portion 5C and pulls the projecting portion 5A.

[0017]

The charger of the present invention has a feature that the charging contact and the charging terminal can be effectively prevented from peeling off the plating while sufficiently pressing the charging contact against the charging terminal for a long period of time.
That is, the charger of the present invention is provided with a lock mechanism of a battery built-in unit to be mounted on the mounting portion. When the battery built-in unit comes into contact with the mounting portion but is not at the mounting position, the charging contact is formed. Although the battery is forcibly pulled into the inside of the mounting part, when the battery built-in unit is mounted in the predetermined position of the mounting part, the battery built-in unit is locked and the state of forcibly pulling in the charging contact is released. It is. In the battery charger having this structure, when the battery built-in unit is set in the mounting portion, the locking mechanism forcibly pulls the protruding portion of the charging contact, so that the charging terminal is strongly pressed by the protruding portion of the charging contact, and the charging contact or The plating of the charging terminal can be prevented from peeling off. Furthermore, when the built-in battery unit is mounted at a predetermined position of the mounting part, the lock mechanism releases the forced withdrawal of the protruding part of the charging contact, so that the charging terminal is securely held by the protruding part of the charging contact. By pressing, electrical connection can be made with minimal contact failure.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a charger according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state where the battery built-in unit is mounted on the charger shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state where the battery built-in unit is mounted on the charger shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a state where the battery built-in unit is mounted on the charger shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a mounting portion of the charger shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a charger according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Battery built-in unit 2 ... Case 3 ... Mounting part 4 ... Charge terminal 5 ... Charge contact 5A ... Protrusion 5
B: Loop 5C: Locking section 6: Lock mechanism 7: Lock lever 7A: Lock claw 7
B: Depressed portion 8: Drive lever 9: Lock recess 10: Convex ridge 11: Stopper wall 12: Electrode window 13: Pin 14: Slit 15: Rotating shaft

Claims (3)

[Claims] An electric device containing a secondary battery or a battery built-in unit (1) which is a battery pack is detachably mounted on a mounting portion (3), and a charging terminal of the battery built-in unit (1) is provided.
The charging contact (5) is connected to (4) to charge the built-in rechargeable battery, and the charging unit is equipped with a lock mechanism (6) for the battery built-in unit (1) mounted on the mounting part (3). The charging contact (5) has a protruding part (5A) that elastically protrudes from the mounting part (3).
And a part thereof is connected to a lock mechanism (6) .The lock mechanism (6) is in contact with the mounting portion (3) but is not in the mounting position. 5) Forcibly pull the battery built-in unit (3) inside the mounting part (3), and when the battery built-in unit (1) is mounted in the predetermined position of the mounting part (3), lock the battery built-in unit (1) and A charger configured to release a state in which the charging contact (5) is forcibly pulled in. The lock mechanism (6) includes a battery built-in unit (1).
A lock lever (7) having a lock claw (7A) at its tip and elastically deforming, and a drive that is tilted by the lock lever (7) and has one end connected to the case (2) so as to be tiltable. When the battery built-in unit (1) pushes the lock claw (7A) to elastically deform the lock lever (7), the lock lever (7) tilts the drive lever (8),
2. The charger according to claim 1, wherein the drive lever (8) forcibly pulls the charging contact (5). 3. The battery charger according to claim 1, wherein the lock lever (7) is made of plastic and integrally formed with the case (2).