Abstract:
A charging apparatus applied in a portable electronic product comprises a charging battery, a controlling chip, an adjusting transistor, a feedback circuit and a charger with modulateable output. The charger has an external alternating-current power source, and the charger provides a changeable voltage to the charging battery of the portable electronic product. Signals of electric quantities of the charging battery is captured by the feedback circuit to feedback to the charger to adjust its output voltage and then control the charger to charge the charging battery to achieve changeable voltage. Besides, only use the switch transistor to control charging the charging battery to reduce spare amounts and loss of circuit.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a charging apparatus, and more specifically, to a charging apparatus controlling a charger as changes of a voltage of a battery.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     By the progress of electronic technology and widespread of electronic communication products, portable electronic products, such as notebook computer, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and digital cameras, etc., are commonly used. For easy to carry, these electronic products are developed to light, thin, short, small products. Besides, lightweight and portable, easy to carry, and long time supplying power are the conditions for users to choose which to buy. Since the power consumption of portable electronic products is pretty high, it is needed to charge the power battery so as to achieve long time supplying power. Recently, lithium-ion batteries are commonly used. Besides lightweight and big capacity, lithium-ion batteries do not have memorizing feature. Lithium-ion batteries are continuously charged with a constant voltage.  
         [0005]     Please refer to  FIG. 4 , showing a block diagram of a charging apparatus of a prior art portable electronic product. The prior art charging apparatus comprises a portable electronic product. The portable electronic product has a battery  30 , a charging unit (Charge IC)  31 , a programmable chip  32 , and a charger  4 . The charger  4  has an external alternating-current power source.  
         [0006]     Please keep on referring to  FIG. 4 . The charging unit  31  is a switched direct-current to direct-current decompaction unit to supply charging current to the battery  30 . However, the programmable chip  32  records data and conditions needed by charging the battery  30 . The data and conditions are all pre-set. For example, how much voltage and current is needed to charge, which conditions should be met then the battery  30  can be charged, and which power source should be cut off after the battery  30  is full charged, etc.  
         [0007]     When detecting the battery  30  is needed to charge, the programmable chip  32  will send signals to notify the charging unit  31  to charge the battery  30 . After that, the programmable chip  32  notifies the charging unit  31  to switch off the charging power source to stop charging.  
         [0008]     However, the prior art charging apparatus can use detecting and determining methods to control charging of the battery  30 , but the prior art charging unit  31  cannot work alone, it should pair with the programmable chip  32  to operate to limit constituted elements. This kind of combination needs more elements and does not meet economic effects. Because the voltages between the initial stage and telophase of charging the battery  30  much differ, the output voltage of existing external charger is constant and unchangeable, the loss of circuit increases to cause instability of the products and shorten the life.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     The objective of the present invention is to provide a charging apparatus to capture signals of electric quantities of a battery by a feedback circuit to feedback to a charger to control the charger charging the battery.  
         [0010]     The charging apparatus achieving abovementioned objective comprises a charging battery, a controlling chip, an adjusting transistor, a feedback circuit, and a charger with modulateable output. The controlling chip detects electric quantities of the charging battery and feedback signals of the electric quantities by the feedback circuit to the charger with modulateable output to adjust its output voltage. The controlling chip controls the adjusting transistor to adjust the output voltage to charge the charging battery.  
         [0011]     The charging apparatus is applied in a portable electronic product.  
         [0012]     The controlling chip is a programmable chip.  
         [0013]     The adjusting transistor is a transistor or a field effect transistor.  
         [0014]     The charger with modulateable output has an external alternating-current power source capable of modulating output voltage and output current of the charger.  
         [0015]     The charging battery, controlling chip, adjusting transistor, and feedback circuit can be packed to a battery packet type.  
         [0016]     The output voltage is a little higher than end voltage of the charging battery.  
         [0017]     The charger with modulateable output responds to the signals of the electric quantities to modulate its output voltage.  
         [0018]     Another objective of the present invention is to provide a charging method to capture the signals of the electric quantities of a battery to feedback to a charger to control the charger charging the battery.  
         [0019]     The charging method achieving the above objectives comprises the following steps:  
         [0020]     Using a controlling chip to detect the electric quantities of a charging battery and determine whether the battery is needed to be charged;  
         [0021]     The controlling chip controlling a charger with modulateable output through a feedback circuit; and  
         [0022]     The charger with modulateable output adjusts output according to the signals of the feedback circuit as a charging source of the charging battery.  
         [0023]     The controlling chip controls an adjusting transistor to adjust the output voltage of the charger to charge the charging battery.  
         [0024]     The controlling chip controls the charger with modulateable output through the feedback circuit to directly charge the charging battery in a constant voltage.  
         [0025]     The controlling chip controls the charger with modulateable output through the feedback circuit to directly charge the charging battery in a constant current. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0026]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a charging apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0027]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a charging apparatus in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0028]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart of a charging method of the present invention.  
         [0029]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a prior art charging apparatus. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0030]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , showing a block diagram of a charging apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The charging apparatus  100  of the present invention comprises a charging battery  10 , a controlling chip  11 , an adjusting transistor  12 , a feedback circuit  13 , and a charger with modulateable output  2 , wherein the charging battery  10 , controlling chip  11 , adjusting transistor  12 , and feedback circuit  13  are embodied in a portable electronic product  1 .  
         [0031]     Please keep on referring to  FIG. 1 . The controlling chip  11  is a programmable chip. The controlling chip  11  is used to detect electric quantities of the charging battery  10  and determine a status of the charging battery  10 . The feedback circuit  13  returns signals of the electric quantities detected by the controlling chip  11  to the charger with modulateable output  2 . The charger with modulateable output  2  has an external alternating-current power source, and the charger with modulateable output  2  provides an electric quantity to the charging battery  10  of the portable electronic product  1 . The charger with modulateable output  2  adjusts its output voltage according to the signals of the electric quantities delivered by the feedback circuit  13  to charge the charging battery  10 . Besides, the adjusting transistor  12  is used to control the charger with modulateable output  2  charging the charging batter  10 , or cutting off the adjusting transistor  12  to stop charging the charging batter  10 .  
         [0032]     The adjusting transistor  12  can be a transistor or a field effect transistor to control the charging voltage and current of the charging battery  10 .  
         [0033]     To charge the charging battery  10  of the portable electronic product  1 , first the controlling chip  11  is used to detect the electric quantities of the charging battery  10  and determine whether the electric quantities of the charging battery  10  are insufficient, and it is needed to charge the charging battery  10 . The detected and determined information is transferred to signals, and the feedback circuit  13  delivers the signals of the electric quantities to the charger with modulateable output  2 . The charger with modulateable output  2  adjust its output voltage according to the received signals of the electric quantities, meanwhile the controlling chip  11  controls the adjusting transistor  12  to adjust the output voltage so that the output voltage of the charger with modulateable output  2  is a little higher than the end voltage of the charging battery  10 , i.e. about 0.3˜1V. At this time, the adjusting transistor  12  is controlled to charge the charging battery  10 . When the controlling chip  11  detects the electric quantities of the charging battery  10  and determine the electric quantities of the charging battery  10  is full charged, the controlling chip  11  is used to control the adjusting transistor  12  so that the adjusting transistor  12  has a status of cut-off point to stop the charger with modulateable output  2  charging the charging battery  10 .  
         [0034]     The preferred embodiment of the present invention is embodied in a portable electronic product  1 . The charging battery  10 , controlling chip  11 , adjusting transistor  12 , and feedback circuit  13  can be packed to a battery packet type and then combined into the portable electronic product  1 , instead of building-in the portable electronic product  1  so that it can be produced massively and can apply in any electronic product.  
         [0035]     Please refer  FIG. 2 , showing a block diagram of the charging apparatus of another embodiment of the present invention. The charging apparatus  100  of the present invention comprises a charging battery  10 , a controlling chip  14  with a constant voltage and current, a feedback circuit  13 , and a charger with modulateable output  2 , wherein the charging battery  10 , controlling chip  14  with a constant voltage and current, and feedback circuit  13  are embodied in a portable electronic product  1 .  
         [0036]     Please keep on referring to  FIG. 2 . The controlling chip  14  with a constant voltage and current is used to detect the charging quantities needed by the charging battery  10  and determine the status of the charging battery  10 . The feedback circuit  13  converts the detected signals of electric quantities and the determined status of the charging battery  10  by the controlling chip  14  to signals and transfer to the charger with modulateable output  2  by a signal transmission line. The charger with modulateable output  2  has an external alternating-current power source. The charger with modulateable output  2  provides an electric quantity to the charging battery  10  of the portable electronic product  1 . The charger with modulateable output  2  adjusts the output voltage of the charger with modulateable output  2  according to the received signals of the electric quantities to directly charge the charging battery  10  in a constant voltage or current.  
         [0037]     To charge the charging battery  10  of the portable electronic product  1 , first the controlling chip  14  with a constant voltage and current is used to detect the electric quantities of the charging battery  10  and determine whether electric quantities of the charging battery  10  are insufficient and it is needed to charge the charging battery  10 . The detected and determined information is converted to signals, and the feedback circuit  13  is used to deliver the signals of the electric quantities to the charger with modulateable output  2 . The charger with modulateable output  2  adjusts its output voltage according to the received output voltage of the signals of the electric quantities to directly charge the charging battery  10  in a constant voltage or current. When the controlling chip  14  with a constant voltage and current detects the electric quantities of the charging battery  10  and determines the electric quantities of the charging battery  10  is full-charged, the controlling chip  14  with a constant voltage and current is used to control the charger with modulateable output  2  to stop charging the charging battery  10 .  
         [0038]     The preferred embodiment of the present invention is embodied in a portable electronic product  1 . The charging battery  10 , controlling chip  14  with a constant voltage and current, and feedback circuit  13  can be packed to a battery packet type and then combined into the portable electronic product  1 , instead of building-in the portable electronic product  1  so that it can be produced massively and can apply in any electronic product.  
         [0039]     Please refer to  FIG. 3  accompanying with  FIG. 1 , showing a flow chart of the charging method of the present invention. The charging method of the present invention comprises the following steps:  
         [0000]     a. Detecting  200 :  
         [0040]     The controlling chip  11  is used to detect the electric quantities of the charging battery  10 .  
         [0000]     b. Determining  201 :  
         [0041]     Meanwhile, the controlling chip  11  is used to determine whether the charging battery  10  needs to be charged or is in a status of full-charged.  
         [0000]     c. Feedback  202 :  
         [0042]     The feedback circuit  13  is used to deliver the signals of the electric quantities of the charging battery  10  detected by the controlling chip  11  to the charger with modulateable output  2 .  
         [0000]     d. Controlling  203 :  
         [0043]     The charger with modulateable output  2  is used to adjust the output voltage of the charger with modulateable output  2  according to the received signals of the electric quantities. Meanwhile the controlling chip  11  controls the adjusting transistor  12  to adjust the output voltage so that the output voltage of the charger with modulateable output  2  is a little higher than the end voltage of the charging battery  10 .  
         [0000]     e. Charging  204 :  
         [0044]     According to the received feedback signals, the output voltage of the charger with modulateable charge  2  is adjusted to charge the charging battery  10 .  
         [0000]     f. Stop Charging  205 :  
         [0045]     According to the received feedback signals, the switch transistor  12  is cut off to stop charging the charging battery  10 .  
         [0046]     In this embodiment, the controlling chip  11  controls the charger with modulateable output  2  through the feedback circuit  13  to directly charge the charging battery  10  in a constant voltage or current.  
         [0047]     These embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.