Abstract:
A stackable modular battery pack system is disclosed that includes at least two modular battery packs, including first and second battery packs. Each of the modular battery packs comprises a case in which a battery is disposed, first electrical contacts electrically connected to the battery and disposed on an exterior of the case, and second electrical contacts electrically connected to the battery, with the second electrical contacts being disposed on the exterior of the case. The case of the first battery pack is configured to releasably engage the case of the second battery case. The first electrical contacts are located on the first battery case and the second electrical contacts are located on the second battery case so that the first electrical contacts contact the second electrical contacts where the case of the first battery case and the case of the second electrical contacts are engaged.

Description:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a battery pack and, more particularly, to a modular battery pack adapted to be combined with other battery packs, particularly for use in connection with computers, particularly laptop or notebook type computers. 
         [0002]    Many modern, battery powered computers, such as notebook or laptop computers, have different power requirements and use custom battery packs usable only with one computer model. Furthermore, it is often desired to offer batteries of different charge capacities for the same computer. For example, users who travel may require use of the computer for longer time periods between battery recharging events and may desire a battery of enhanced capacity despite the higher battery cost, while more typical users may only need a battery of a reduced capacity and do not want to pay the higher cost of a battery having a higher capacity. It is therefore not uncommon to offer different batteries of different capacities for the same computer which are interchangeable on the computer. Further, higher capacity batteries typically weigh more and than lower capacity batteries, and thus add weight to portable computers, and while some users may be willing to tolerate the greater weight to obtain the longer battery charge life, other users may not. As a result, substantial inventories of different battery configurations must be maintained to manufacture different computer models or to permit a repair facility to replace a computer&#39;s battery. It is desirable to avoid the need for substantial inventories and to simplify the manufacture and repair of computers, while still providing consumers with a range of battery capacities to meet their needs and budgets. 
         [0003]    In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a stackable modular battery pack system comprises at least two modular battery packs including a first battery pack and a second battery pack. Each of the modular battery packs may comprise a case in which a battery is disposed, first electrical contacts electrically connected to the battery and disposed on an exterior of the case and second electrical contacts electrically connected to the battery. The second electrical contacts may be disposed on the exterior of the case. The case of the first battery pack may be configured to releasably engage the case of the second battery case. The first electrical contacts may be located on the first battery case and the second electrical contacts may be located on the second battery case so that the first electrical contacts contact the second electrical contacts where the case of the first battery case and the case of the second electrical contacts are engaged. 
         [0004]    In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a stackable modular battery pack is disclosed, and includes a case in which a battery is disposed, first electrical contacts electrically connected to the battery and disposed on an exterior of the case, and second electrical contacts electrically connected to the battery, with the second electrical contacts being disposed on the exterior of the case. The first electrical contacts may be located on a first side of the case and the second electrical contacts may be located on a second side of the case, and the first and second sides may be located on substantially opposite locations on the case. The case may include a male connecting structure and a female connecting structure. The first electrical contacts may be associated with a first one of the male and female connecting structures and the second electrical contacts may be associated with a second one of the male and female connecting structures. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]    The features and advantages of the present invention are well understood by reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings in which like numerals indicate similar elements and in which: 
           [0006]      FIG. 1A  is a schematic top, rear perspective views of a battery module according to an aspect of the present disclosure showing a door in a closed position and a male lock member in an extended position; 
           [0007]      FIG. 1B  is a schematic top, rear perspective views of a battery module according to an aspect of the present disclosure showing a door in an open position and a male lock member in a retracted position; 
           [0008]      FIG. 1C  is a schematic top, front perspective view of the battery module of  FIGS. 1A and 1B ; 
           [0009]      FIG. 2A  is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of battery modules according to an aspect of the present invention in a separated condition; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2B  is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of battery modules according to an aspect of the present invention in a joined condition; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a battery module according to another aspect of the present disclosure; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a schematic perspective view of a portion of a battery module according to another aspect of the present disclosure; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 5A  is a schematic partial cross-sectional side view of a computer with a pair of modular batteries according to an aspect of the present disclosure; and 
           [0014]      FIG. 5B  is a schematic partial cross-sectional side view of the computer of a family of computers with three modular batteries according to the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    A modular battery pack  21  according to an aspect of the present invention is shown in  FIGS. 1A-1C . The modular battery pack  21  comprises a battery and a case  25  in which the battery is disposed. The battery can be any suitable type of battery, however, it is presently believed that a three cell battery  233  (shown in phantom in  FIG. 1A ) or four cell battery  234  (shown in phantom in  FIG. 1B ) will be of particular use in applications such as powering laptop or notebook computers. 
         [0016]    As seen in  FIG. 1B , first electrical contacts  27  may be provided that are electrically connected to the battery  233  of the battery pack  21 , and the contacts  27  may be disposed in a recess  29  in the case  25  of the pack  21 . As seen in  FIG. 1C , second electrical contacts  31  may be provided that are electrically connected to the battery  233  in any suitable fashion. Additional contacts or pins may be included on the case  25  that are not in communication with the battery, and may be provided for purposes other than communicating power. These additional contacts may be employed, as an example, for communicating control information between battery packs, and between a battery pack and the device being powered by the battery pack. 
         [0017]    A door  33  may be provided on the case  25 , and may be arranged to cover the first contacts  27 . The door  33  may be slidable between two or more positions, such as an open position shown in  FIG. 1B  to expose the first contacts  27  and a closed position shown in  FIG. 1A  to cover the first contacts. The case  25  have connecting structures formed thereon for removably connecting to suitably configured connecting structures on another case. In one embodiment, the connecting structure may include a male member  35  extending from the case  25  and the connecting structure may also include the recess  29 . The male member  35  may be configured to removably insert into the recess  29 .The second contacts  31  may be disposed in the male member  35 . 
         [0018]    As seen in  FIG. 2A , when the door  33  on a first modular battery pack  21   a  is opened, the first contacts  27   a  connected to the battery  23   a  may be exposed. The male member  35   b  on a similarly configured second modular battery pack  21   b  may be adapted to be moved in a first direction D 1  into the recess  29   a  on the first modular battery pack  21   a  so that the first contacts  27   a  on the first modular battery pack and the second contacts  31   b  on the second modular battery pack mate as seen in  FIG. 2B . The second contacts  31   b  are connected to the battery  23   b  (shown in phantom). In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 2A and 2B , the first contacts  27   a  are female contacts comprising openings  37   a  in a platform  39   a  in the recess  29   a,  and the second contacts  31   b  are male contacts comprising pins  41   b  surrounded by a rigid wall  43   b  defining the male member  35   b.  The wall  43   b  may be adapted to be received in the recess  29   a  and surround the platform  39   a.  Those skilled in the art will recognize that the configuration of the first  27   a  and second  31   b  contacts may be reversed. For example, as seen in  FIG. 3 , instead of the configuration shown in  FIGS. 2A-2B , pins  141   a  can be disposed in a recess  129   a  and openings  137   b  for the pins can be disposed in a male member  135   b.    
         [0019]    As seen in  FIG. 1A and 1B , the door  33  may be adapted to slide in a slot  45  in the case between a first closed position ( FIG. 1A ) in which the door covers the first contacts and a second open position ( FIG. 1B ) in which the first contacts  27  are exposed. A resilient member  47  such a spring, compressible foam, or the like, may be provided for urging or biasing the door  33  toward the first closed position so that the recess  29  and the structures, such as openings  37  for the first contacts  27  on a platform  39 , will ordinarily be covered by the door when not exposed for purposes of connecting the male member  35  and the structures, such as pins  41  for the second contacts  31 , that connect to the structures in the recess. The slot  45  of a first modular battery pack may be adapted to receive the male member  35  of a second modular battery pack in a second direction D 2  ( FIG. 1A ) substantially perpendicular to the first direction to move the door to the second position. 
         [0020]    As seen in  FIG. 4 , the door  133  may be a hinged door that is pivotable about a hinge  135  between a first closed position in which the door covers the first contacts and a second open position in which the first contacts are exposed. The hinged door  133  can pivot into the recess  129  in the case  125  upon being contacted by the male member of another modular battery pack or can be pivoted out of the recess and out of the way to permit the male member to be received in the recess. In an embodiment with a hinged door  133  that pivots into the recess  129 , one suitable form of contacts  137  may include sliding contacts positioned on or against a wall located opposite of the wall of the recess proximate which the door is attached and toward which the door moves. 
         [0021]    As seen in  FIG. 2B , a lock may be provided on the case for securing the first modular battery pack  21   a  to the second modular battery pack  21   b  to help support or transfer the weight of the second modular battery pack to the first modular battery pack, instead of having the entire weight of the second pack being borne by the male member/recess connection and any pin/recess connections. The lock can be in any suitable form.  FIG. 2B  shows one illustrative example, in which a case  25   a  and a case  25   b  include a male lock member  49   a  and  49   b  disposed in a lock slot  51   a  and  51   b  in the case. The lock can be locked when the male lock member  49   b  in the lock slot  51   b  in the case  25   b  of the second modular battery  21   b  is slid in the lock slot  51   b  and received in the lock slot  51   a  of the first modular battery pack  21   a,  or vice versa. A projection  53   a  and  53   b  can be provided on each of the lock members  49   a  and  49   b  to assist in finger movement of the lock members relative to the lock slots  51   b.  As seen in  FIGS. 1A-1C , the lock slots  51  can extend to an outer surface of the case  25  and the projection  53  from the lock members  49  can extend through the lock slots. It should be recognized that corresponding lock slots may be formed on the housing of a laptop or portable computer to removably secure the battery pack or packs to the computer. 
         [0022]    As seen, for example, in  FIGS. 1B-1C , the second contacts  31  may ordinarily be disposed on the case at a location that is remote from a location of the first contacts  27  on the case. The second contacts  31  may be of a type that is adapted to mate with the first contacts. Typically, the recess  29  for the first contacts  27  is disposed on a first side  55  of the case  25  and the male member  35  for the second contacts  31  is disposed on a second side  57  of the case, and the first and second sides  55 ,  57  typically face in substantially opposite directions on the case to facilitate the connection of a plurality of battery modules in a linear arrangement. The positioning of the first contacts and second contacts on opposite sides of the case  25  permits the stacking of additional modular battery packs onto a battery pack that is mounted on a laptop or portable computer in a manner that merely extends or enlarges the overall dimension of the computer assembly in one direction (see  FIGS. 5A and 5B ). 
         [0023]      FIGS. 5A and 5B  show computers  101  and  201  that may be members of a family of battery powered computers. The first computer  101  has first battery power requirements that can be met using, for example, two connected modular battery packs  21   a  and  21   b,  and the second computer  201  has second battery power requirements different from the first battery power requirements that can be met using, for example, three connected modular battery packs  21   a,    21   b,  and  21   c.  The battery power requirements may include virtually any characteristic of power provided by a battery. The requirements may include, for example, current requirements, voltage requirements, and charge capacity (operation time) requirements. Significantly, the addition of a second battery pack to a first battery pack mounted on a device such as a computer may provide twice the charge capacity of the first battery pack alone. The addition of further battery packs may further increase the charge capacity of the overall battery pack assembly associated with the device. Other computers can have still other power requirements that can be met by other numbers of connected modular battery packs. It will be understood that all computers of the family of computers may be designed so that their power requirements can be met by some combination of one or more of the modular battery packs. The modular battery packs will ordinarily be connected in parallel with other substantially identically-equipped (or identically-equipped) modular battery packs to provide the requisite power. The first computer  101  and the second computer  201  may be notebook or laptop computers, although they can be desk top computers or other types of devices that can be broadly classified as computers. 
         [0024]    As seen in  FIG. 5A , the first computer  101  defines a first computer footprint and includes an opening  103  or cavity configured to receive the first modular battery pack  21   a  inside the first computer footprint. The at least one other modular battery pack  21   b  may be disposed outside the first computer footprint. Other computers can define computer footprints in which more than one modular battery pack is disposed inside the computer footprint, or in which no modular battery packs are disposed inside the computer footprint. 
         [0025]    In the present application, the use of terms such as “including” is open-ended and is intended to have the same meaning as terms such as “comprising” and not preclude the presence of other structure, material, or acts. Similarly, though the use of terms such as “can” or “may” is intended to be open-ended and to reflect that structure, material, or acts are not necessary, the failure to use such terms is not intended to reflect that structure, material, or acts are essential. To the extent that structure, material, or acts are presently considered to be essential, they are identified as such. 
         [0026]    While this invention has been illustrated and described in accordance with a preferred embodiment, it is recognized that variations and changes may be made therein without departing from the invention as set forth in the claims.