Abstract:
A battery control system includes N batteries, N control switches, a solar energy charging module, and a processing module, wherein N is a positive integer larger than one. The N batteries are arranged in parallel, each of the control switches is connected to one of the batteries, and the solar energy charging module is connected to the control switches. The processing module is connected to the control switches and the solar energy charging module. The processing module selectively controls the i-th control switch to form a close circuit between the corresponding i-th battery and the solar energy charging module and controls the other N−1 control switches to form open circuits between the corresponding N−1 batteries and the solar energy charging module, wherein i is a positive integer smaller than or equal to N.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention relates to a battery control system and, more particularly, to a battery control system utilizing a solar energy charging module to charge one of a plurality of batteries. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    Recently, with the global warming effect, green technology becomes a broadly-discussed topic, and development of green energy and alternative energy such as solar power, wind power and so on arise accordingly. Since the solar power and its relative application are getting more and more popular, the advanced countries have invested the solar energy related industries. In such a manner, various kinds of solar energy related products, especially for electronic devices, rise in human life gradually. 
         [0005]    Generally speaking, electronic devices such as cell phone, laptop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA) and so on are powered by batteries. With development of solar energy related industries, some electronic devices are equipped with solar energy charging module and a plurality of serial-arranged or parallel-arranged batteries. When the batteries are out of electricity, the solar energy charging module can charge the batteries. However, when the conventional solar energy charging module charges multiple batteries simultaneously, the solar energy charging module cannot provide with a sufficient current for the multiple batteries, such that the batteries with insufficient electricity cannot be fully charged. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    An objective of the invention is to provide a battery control system utilizing a solar energy charging module to charge one of a plurality of batteries. 
         [0007]    Another objective of the invention is to provide a battery control system capable of automatically detecting electricity of each battery so as to charge the battery with insufficient electricity. 
         [0008]    According to one embodiment of the invention, the battery control system comprises N batteries, N control switches, a solar energy charging module and a processing module, wherein N is a positive integer larger than one. The N batteries are arranged in parallel, each of the control switches is connected to one of the batteries respectively, and the solar energy charging module is connected to the control switches. The processing module is connected to the control switches and the solar energy charging module. The processing module selectively controls the i-th control switch to form a close circuit between the corresponding i-th battery and the solar energy charging module and controls the other N−1 control switches to form open circuits between the other corresponding N−1 batteries and the solar energy charging module, wherein i is a positive integer smaller than or equal to N. 
         [0009]    In this embodiment, the processing module can comprise a voltage detecting unit connected to the control switches. When M batteries of the batteries are idle (e.g. neither in charged state nor in power supplying state), the processing module controls the corresponding M control switches to form close circuits between the M batteries and the voltage detecting unit, wherein M is a positive integer smaller than N. 
         [0010]    In summary, according to the battery control system of the invention, each of the multiple batteries is connected to the solar energy charging module via one corresponding control switch respectively. Accordingly, the solar energy charging module can charge one of the multiple batteries by switching operations of the control switches. Furthermore, the voltage detecting unit of the processing module can automatically detect electricity of each of the batteries by switching operations of the control switches, so as to control the solar energy charging module to charge the battery with insufficient electricity. 
         [0011]    These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a circuit diagram illustrating a battery control system according to one embodiment of the invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a circuit diagram illustrating the three batteries being in charged state, power supplying state and idle state correspondingly. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a circuit diagram illustrating the three batteries being in idle state, charged state and power supplying state correspondingly. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    Referring to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 1  is a circuit diagram illustrating a battery control system  1  according to one embodiment of the invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the battery control system  1  comprises three batteries  10   a - 10   c , three control switches  12   a - 12   c , a solar energy charging module  14 , a processing module  16  and a load  18 . It should be noticed that the number of the batteries and the control switches is not limited to three and it can increase or decrease based on practical applications (at least two). Furthermore, the battery control system  1  can be applied to any electronic devices such as cell phone, laptop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA) and so on. 
         [0016]    Each of the control switches  12   a - 12   c  is connected to one of the batteries  10   a - 10   c  respectively, and the solar energy charging module  14  is connected to the control switches  12   a - 12   c . The processing module  16  is connected to the control switches  12   a - 12   c  and the solar energy charging module  14 , and the load  18  is connected to the control switches  12   a - 12   c  and the processing module  16 . Furthermore, the processing module  16  further comprises a voltage detecting unit  160  connected to the control switches  12   a - 12   c . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the processing module  16  controls the control switches  12   a - 12   c  to form close circuits between the batteries  10   a - 10   c  and the voltage detecting unit  160  correspondingly. In the meanwhile, the voltage detecting unit  160  can detect electricity of each of the batteries  10   a - 10   c.    
         [0017]    Referring to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 2  is a circuit diagram illustrating the three batteries  10   a - 10   c  being in charged state, power supplying state and idle state correspondingly. In this embodiment, when the processing module  16  judges a voltage of the first battery  10   a  is lower than voltages of the other two batteries  10   b ,  10   c , the processing module  16  controls the corresponding first control switch  12   a  to form a close circuit between the first battery  10   a  and the solar energy charging module  14 , such that the solar energy charging module  14  can charge the battery  10   a . When the processing module  16  judges a voltage of the second battery  10   b  is higher than voltages of the other two batteries  10   a ,  10   c , the processing module  16  controls the corresponding second control switch  12   b  to form a close circuit between the second battery  10   b  and the load  18 , such that the battery  10   b  can discharge electricity to the load  18 . When the processing module  16  judges a voltage of the third battery  10   c  is between voltages of the first battery  10   a  and the second battery  10   b , the processing module  16  controls the corresponding third control switch  12   c  to form a close circuit between the third battery  10   c  and the voltage detecting unit  160 , such that the voltage detecting unit  160  can continuously detect electricity of the battery  10   c.    
         [0018]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , when a close circuit is formed between the battery  10   a  with minimum electricity and the solar energy charging module  14 , open circuits are formed between the other two batteries  10   b ,  10   c  and the solar energy charging module  14  accordingly. In other words, in this embodiment, the solar energy charging module  14  charges the battery  10   a  with minimum electricity. Furthermore, the battery  10   b  with maximum electricity discharges electricity to the load  18 . It should be noticed that since the battery  10   c  is neither in charged state nor in power supplying state, the battery  10   c  is in idle state. After the solar energy charging module  14  completes charging the battery  10   a , the processing module  16  detects voltages of each of the batteries  10   a - 10   c  and controls the corresponding control switches to enable the solar energy charging module  14  to charge another battery with minimum electricity. 
         [0019]    It should be noticed that if the battery control system  1  of the invention comprises more than three batteries, the processing module  16  controls each of the control switches to form a close circuit between the battery with minimum electricity and the solar energy charging module  14 , to form a close circuit between the battery with maximum battery and the load  18 , and to form close circuits between the other batteries and the voltage detecting unit  160  respectively. 
         [0020]    In this embodiment, the voltage detecting unit  160  can be an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC), and the processing module  16  can be a processor with data processing and signal control functions. Furthermore, the solar energy charging module  18  can comprise a plurality of solar energy charging circuits (that is, the solar energy charging module  18  can consist of a plurality of solar energy panels) so as to speed up charging. 
         [0021]    Referring to  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 3  is a circuit diagram illustrating the three batteries  10   a - 10   c  being in idle state, charged state and power supplying state correspondingly. In this embodiment, when the second battery  10   b  continuously discharges until the voltage of the second battery  10   b  is lower than a predetermined voltage and its electricity is minimum, the processing module  16  controls the corresponding second control switch  12   b  to form a close circuit between the second battery  10   b  and the solar energy charging module  14  and controls the first control switch  12   a  to form an open circuit between the first battery  10   a  and the solar energy charging module  14 . It should be noticed that the aforesaid predetermined voltage can be a minimum working voltage of the load  18  or can be arbitrarily set up by user. 
         [0022]    Afterward, the processing module  16  judges which one of the batteries  10   a ,  10   c  has the largest electricity. For example, as shown in  FIG. 3 , when the third battery  10   c  has the largest electricity, the processing module  16  controls the corresponding third control switch  12   c  to form a close circuit between the third battery  10   c  and the load  18 , such that the battery  10   c  can discharge electricity to the load  18 . In the meanwhile, the processing module  16  controls the corresponding first control switch  12   a  to form a close circuit between the first battery  10   a  and the voltage detecting unit  160 . 
         [0023]    Please refer to  FIG. 2  again. In another embodiment, after the solar energy charging module  14  charges the first battery  10   a  for a predetermined time or after the solar energy charging module  14  completes charging the first battery  10   a , the processing module  16  controls the second control switch  12   b  to form a close circuit between the second battery  10   b  and the solar energy charging module  14  and controls the first control switch  12   a  to form an open circuit between the first battery  10   a  and the solar energy charging module  14 . In other words, the processing module  16  controls the solar energy charging module  14  to automatically charge the next battery  10   b  after the predetermined time. If the battery  10   a  has been completely charged within the predetermined time, the processing module  16  controls the solar energy charging module  14  to automatically charge the next battery  10   b , and time is reset simultaneously. If the battery  10   a  has not been completely charged within the predetermined time, the processing module  16  still controls the solar energy charging module  14  to automatically charge the next battery  10   b . In such a manner, the solar energy charging module  14  can charge the batteries  10   a - 10   c  timely and sequentially. The aforesaid charging mechanism can be achieved by circuit design and signal control, and it will not be depicted herein. Furthermore, the aforesaid predetermined time can be arbitrarily set up by user, e.g. three minutes, five minutes and so on. 
         [0024]    Compared to the prior art, according to the battery control system of the invention, each of the multiple batteries is connected to the solar energy charging module via one corresponding control switch respectively. Accordingly, the solar energy charging module can charge one of the multiple batteries by switching operations of the control switches. Furthermore, the voltage detecting unit of the processing module automatically detects electricity of each of the batteries by switching operations of the control switches, so as to control the solar energy charging module to charge the battery with insufficient electricity. Moreover, according to ranking of the electricity, the battery control system of the invention can control the solar energy charging module to automatically charge one single battery. Alternatively, after a predetermined time or after one of the batteries has been completely charged, the battery control system of the invention can control the solar energy charging module to automatically charge the next battery. 
         [0025]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention.