Patent ID: 7728545
Filing Date: 2010-06-01
Classification: H01M,H02J,Y02E

Abstract:
1. An equipment with a built-in fuel cell, comprising: a load to be supplied with electric power; an AC adaptor connectable to a power source to supply electric power for the load; a fuel cell for supplying electric power to the load; two or more secondary cells arranged in parallel to supply electric power for the load; a protection circuit arranged to maintain an open circuit voltage of the fuel cell below a predetermined value; a boost type DC/DC converter arranged to boost an output voltage from the fuel cell via the protection circuit; and two or more discharge switches arranged in parallel to discharge electric power from the secondary cells to the load selectively when the discharge switches are turned on selectively, wherein the fuel cell, the protection circuit and the boost type DC/DC converter are connected in series in the order presented; an output side of the booster type DC/DC converter and an output side of the AC adaptor are connectable in parallel; each of the discharge switches is connected to the load in series on the output sides of the AC adaptor, the booster type DC/DC converter, and the secondary cells, wherein the equipment further comprises plural parallel electric power supply lines each of which connects each of the discharge switches between each of the secondary cells and the load in series, and each of which also connects each of the secondary cells to the output side of the booster type DC/DC converter and the output side of the AC adapter in parallel, wherein the booster type DC/DC converter is configured to be turned off when the AC adaptor is connected to the power source thereby outputting the electric power from the AC adaptor to the load and when the output voltage of the fuel cell is below the predetermined value, wherein each of the secondary cells connected to the discharge switches is configured to have a first state in which the electric power from the secondary cell is supplied to the load, and a second state in which the electric power from the fuel cell is charge to the secondary cell, and wherein the first state and the second state are selectively used.