Patent ID: 6563291
Filing Date: 2003-05-13
Classification: B60L,H02J,Y02T

Abstract:
A charging condition detecting apparatus comprising:a first voltage comparator which is provided for every unit cell forming a chargeable/dischargeable set battery to provide an output of an active level when a cell voltage across the unit cell is higher than a first threshold value voltage set to an upper limit value of an allowable voltage range of the cell voltage; a second voltage comparator which is provided for every unit cell to provide an output of the active level when the cell voltage of the unit cell is lower than a second threshold value voltage set to a lower limit value of the allowable voltage range; a first logical sum calculation circuit for generating an over-charge detection signal by obtaining a logical sum of the outputs of the first voltage comparator; a second logical sum calculation circuit for generating an over-discharge detection signal by obtaining a logical sum of the outputs of the second voltage comparator; a threshold value voltage changing circuit for changing, depending on an external command, the first threshold value voltage to a first inspection value lower than the lower limit value of the allowable voltage range and also changing the second threshold value voltage to a second inspection value higher than the upper limit value of the allowable voltage range; a first logical product calculation circuit for generating a first fault detection signal by obtaining a logical product of outputs of the first voltage comparator; and a second logical product calculation circuit for generating a second fault detection signal by obtaining a logical product of outputs of the second voltage comparator.