Universal charger

A universal charger includes a portable charger housing, an universal charging arrangement, and an energy input device. The universal charging arrangement includes a charging circuitry for managing electricity charging of the rechargeable battery, and a plurality of charging terminals movably provided in the battery compartment of the portable charging housing, wherein the charging terminals are adapted to move in the battery compartment to accurately and adjustably align with the battery terminals of the rechargeable battery. The energy input device is electrically connected with the charging circuitry, which is capable of charging a wide variety of electronic devices by acquiring power through a convention USB port.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a charger, and more particularly to a universal charger which is capable of conveniently charging a wide variety of rechargeable batteries through conventional USB ports.

2. Description of Related Arts

A conventional charger usually comprises a charger housing having a battery compartment formed thereon and a power plug extended from the charger housing, and a charging circuitry provided within the charger housing to electrically connect between the power plug and the battery compartment. When a rechargeable battery, such as a cellular phone battery, is placed in the battery compartment, a user can electrically connect the power plug to an external AC power source for charging the rechargeable battery received in the battery compartment.

A main disadvantage of this conventional charger is the need to have an external AC power source for charging the rechargeable battery. Strictly speaking, therefore, the conventional charger is not portable in the sense that the user is usually not able to use it in outdoor environment where an external AC power source is not available. Moreover, the conventional charger is only suitable for one particular type of rechargeable battery. If the user has a number of electronic devices (such as a cellular phone and a camera or a video recorder), he or she has to bring two separate chargers for charging the electronic devices.

In order to resolve this limitation, a number of variations for the above conventional charger have been developed. For example, some chargers have been developed to allow rechargeable batteries to be recharged through USB port. However, those USB chargers have several limitations. First, almost all USB chargers have a rather limited maximum charging capacity, so that they are only capable of charging rechargeable batteries of around 4V capacity. This limitation is due to limited voltage output of a typical USB port of a typical computer. In other words, one may not charge a wide range of rechargeable batteries by a conventional USB ports, because of its inadequate voltage output, and this problem cannot be resolved by buying a new computer, since the power output for a typical USB port of a typical computer is standardized by computers' manufacturers.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

A main object of the present invention is to provide a universal charger which is capable of conveniently charging a wide variety of rechargeable batteries through a typical USB port, so that the present invention is adapted to be used in a wide variety of circumstances for charging most rechargeable batteries, i.e. a truly universal charger. In other words, there is virtually no geographical or environmental limitation as to the use of the universal charger of the present invention.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a universal charger which comprises an energy input device which allows the universal charger to selectively acquire electricity source through an external USB port, or an external AC power source.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a universal charger comprising a universal charging arrangement and an energy input device which allow the user to recharge most rechargeable batteries for typical portable electronic devices (such as a cellular phone and a digital camera) without needing to carry many battery chargers for different kinds of portable electronic devices and through a standard USB port in a computer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a universal charger, wherein the universal charging arrangement allows charging of rechargeable batteries having a relatively high voltage capacity through a conventional USB port. In other words, the present invention overcomes the conventional problems of limited voltage output of a typical USB port without modifying the computer. In other words, the user may use the universal charger of the present invention to charge a wide range of rechargeable batteries by a conventional computer without modifying its electrical output.

Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a universal charger for a rechargeable battery having a plurality of battery terminals, comprising:

a portable charger housing having a receiving cavity and a battery compartment for fittingly receiving the rechargeable battery;

an universal charging arrangement, which comprises:

a charging circuitry provided within the receiving cavity for managing electricity charging of the rechargeable battery; and

a plurality of charging terminals movably provided in the battery compartment of the portable charging housing, wherein the charging terminals are adapted to move in the battery compartment to accurately and adjustably align with the battery terminals of the rechargeable battery; and

an energy input device which is electrically connected with the charging circuitry, and comprises a USB plug extended from the portable charger housing to electrically connect with an external USB socket for acquiring electricity from the USB socket to charge the rechargeable battery, whereby a user is able to utilize an external power socket for charging the rechargeable battery having various voltage capacities.

The above mentioned objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly and unambiguously explicated and shown in the following detailed description, drawings, and the claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring toFIG. 1toFIG. 4,FIG. 5AtoFIG. 5D, of the drawings, a universal charger for charging a rechargeable battery70according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The universal charger comprises a portable charger housing10, a universal charging arrangement20, and an energy input device30. The rechargeable battery70, such as a conventional rechargeable battery for a cellular phone or a camcorder, has a plurality of battery terminals71spacedly provided thereon. Note also that the rechargeable battery70can be a Li-ion rechargeable battery70or a Ni-MH AA/AAA rechargeable battery70.

The portable charger housing10has a receiving cavity11and a battery compartment12for fittingly receiving the rechargeable battery70within the battery compartment12.

The universal charging arrangement20comprises a charging circuitry21and a plurality of charging terminals22, wherein the charging circuitry21is provided within the receiving cavity11for managing electricity charging of the rechargeable battery70. On the other hand, the charging terminals22are movably provided in the battery compartment12of the portable charger housing10, in which the charging terminals22are adapted to adjustably move in the battery compartment12to accurately align with the battery terminals71of the rechargeable battery70when the rechargeable battery70is disposed into the battery compartment12.

The energy input device30is electrically connected with the charging circuitry21, and comprises a USB plug31extended from the portable charger housing10to electrically connect with an external USB socket (of a computer) for acquiring electricity from the USB socket to charge the rechargeable battery70, so that a user is able to utilize an external USB socket for conveniently charging the rechargeable battery70having various capacities.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the portable charger housing10has a supporting base13and a cover member14movably provided on top of the supporting base13to define the battery compartment12of the portable charger housing10, wherein the rechargeable battery70is adapted to be fittedly disposed into the battery compartment12for recharging thereof. In other words, the cover member14is adapted to displace on the supporting base13to adjust a size of the battery compartment12such that the rechargeable battery70is capable of being fittingly disposed into the battery compartment12. Thus, the size of the battery compartment12is optimally adjustable for fitting rechargeable batteries70of varying sizes.

The energy input device30further comprises a USB cord32flexibly connecting between the portable charger housing10and the USB plug31so as to extend the USB plug31to an external USB socket, such as a USB socket in a desktop computer. It is worth mentioning that the USB cord32can be attached onto the portable charger housing10or it can be detachable from the portable charger housing10so as to reduce the universal charger into a compact portable accessory.

It is worth mentioning that the charging circuitry21is arranged to raise the voltage of a typical USB electrical supply voltage of approximately 4.2V to approximately 5.5V for charging the rechargeable battery70having such a high capacity. For a conventional USB port, the output voltage is typically approximately 4.2V, thereby merely capable of charging a lithium battery pack having two rechargeable lithium batteries of 4.2V each (i.e. 8.4V for the entire battery pack). For the present invention, however, the adjustable charger of the present invention is capable of recharging not only cellular phone batteries, but also batteries for camcorders, digital cameras and the likes having a charging voltage of up to 11V (for a battery pack having two lithium battery of 5.5V each). In short, the adjustable charger of the present invention can be utilized for charging rechargeable lithium-ion batteries70of most, if not virtually all, foreseeable portable electronic devices which one uses in an outdoor environment for self-enjoyment.

Referring toFIG. 5AtoFIG. 5Dof the drawings, the charging circuitry21comprises a charging module211which contains a battery charging module2111adapted for charging at least one Li-ion battery and/or at least one Ni-MH battery, a detection module2112, a charger control module2113for controlling the main charging process of the universal charger, and a display module2114. Note that the battery charging module2111, the detection module2112, the charger control module2113, and the display module2114are incorporated into one single circuit board forming the charging circuitry21which has the charging module211. However, they can also be provided in the portable charger housing10separately, which further comprises a display15for displaying a charging status of the rechargeable battery70as controlled by the display module2114.

As shown inFIG. 5Aof the drawings, the battery charging module2111is arranged to utilize Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control of battery charging for adjusting and controlling battery voltage and accomplishing current control. The battery charging module2111has a step-down converter (for 3.6V Li-ion and AA/AAA battery charging) and step-up converter (for 7.2V Li-ion battery charging). As shown inFIG. 5Bof the drawings, the detection module2112is arranged to detect a positive and negative nature of the rechargeable Li-ion battery70, the voltage, the current and the temperature of the rechargeable battery70which is being charged, and control the one/off status of the battery charging module2111. As shown inFIG. 5Cof the drawings, the charger control module2113comprises a Main controller (MCU) of the universal charger which controls and operates all functions, and other modules and determines the charging reference voltage of the universal charger. As shown inFIG. 5Dof the drawings, the display module2114is arranged to control the operation of the display15in responsive to the charging status of the rechargeable battery70. The display module2114is embodied as a LED display circuit, wherein the display of the Li-ion rechargeable battery70is by one dual-color LED and three green LED, and the display of two AA/AAA rechargeable batteries70is by using two dual-color LED (Red-Green).

The universal charging arrangement20further comprises a terminal matching device which contains a guiding slot23longitudinally formed in the battery compartment12of the portable charger housing10, wherein the charging terminals22are adapted to adjustably slide along the guiding slot23for aligning with the battery terminals71respectively. A user is then able to slidably move the charging terminals22along the guiding slot23for aligning the battery terminals71with the charging terminals22respectively. The terminal matching device23further comprises a plurality of terminal holders24slidably mounted at the guiding slot23, wherein the charging terminals22are affixed at the terminal holders24so as to be slidably mounted at the guiding slot23.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the terminal matching device23further comprises a plurality of adjustment guider25extended from the terminal holders24respectively to expose to an exterior of the charger housing10through a bottom surface thereof, wherein a user is able to conveniently move the terminal matching device23to slide along the guiding slot23by manually moving the adjustment guider25along the through guiding slot23as formed at the bottom surface of the charger housing10, as shown inFIG. 4of the drawings.

When the rechargeable battery70is disposed into the battery compartment12, the charging circuitry21will check for battery temperature as well as the working conditions of the universal charger. For example, the charging circuitry21will check for battery capacity and stops charging the rechargeable battery70when it is full in electricity capacity.

It is worth mentioning that the user is able to selectively utilize the energy input device30as an energy source for charging the rechargeable battery70. For example, the user may extend the USB plug31to an external USB socket on his laptop computer for acquiring electricity.

As such, a user is able to conveniently carry the universal charger of the present invention to a wide range of outdoor activities without worrying absence of conventional power source. Moreover, since the universal charger of the present invention is capable of charging rechargeable batteries70of various kinds, the user is able to charge rechargeable battery70for most of his or her portable electronic devices by one single universal charger which is conveniently and easily portable.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is illustrative only and not intended to be limiting. All embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.