Abstract:
A method of eliminating vampire energy loss in battery charges is provided. Vampire energy loss occurs when an electronic or mechanical machine consumes energy while not being utilized for the purpose of its existence, for example, energy loss in re-charging consumer electronic devices. By employing the use of an electromechanical switching method that creates a conductive short circuit to the charger after disconnecting the charged target device, the vampire or no load energy loss can be eliminated with or without disconnecting the charger.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/154,414, filed on Feb. 22, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to energy loss elimination. Particularly, the present invention relates to power efficient battery chargers and technology that eliminates vampire energy loss by using an electromechanical switching method for the power grid disconnect of the battery charger. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Nowadays, energy conservancy has become a big issue in the overall global warming concern. How to prevent vampire energy loss presents a challenge to our industry because vampire energy loss, also called no-load/phantom loads energy loss or standby power loss, constitutes a substantial amount of our nation&#39;s energy waste. 
         [0004]    The basic scheme of a charger with a target load is depicted in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the charger is plugged into an AC power source  102  in the wall; through a wall receptacle it employs the use of a step-down transformer  104 , signal rectification circuitry  106 , and voltage regulation circuitry  108 . The transformer consists of two conductively independent coils that are mutually coupled by magnetic flux when current flows in one of them. The AC current flowing in the primary coil produces a changing magnetic field within the transformer core and thereby induces an electric current in the secondary coil as described by Faraday&#39;s Law. 
         [0005]    With a conductive path established between the AC power source  102  and the AC current domain of the primary coil of the transformer  104  magnetic coupling between the secondary coil commences to allow a stepped down AC power signal to the rectification circuitry  106  and then DC power to the regulation circuitry  108  of the DC power supply or battery charger  112 . 
         [0006]    However, this charger use comes with energy loss. The “no-load loss” or the so-called “phantom loads loss” are energy loss that occurs when an electronic or mechanical machine still consumes energy while not being used. The “no-load loss” or the “vampire energy loss”, from the transformer theory, is energy loss that occurs even when the secondary coil is left open or not attached to a load. According to academic literatures, the cause of no-load loss within transformers is attributed to eddy currents and magnetic hysteresis within the transformer core. 
         [0007]    In addition to no-load loss or vampire loss from the transformer, DC power supplies also incur dynamic and static power loss within the rectification and regulation circuitry. Further, all of these combined losses within the DC power supply attribute to a significant portion of “vampire energy loss” which exists in many electronic product domains. Although techniques have been in place to reduce no-load loss within transformers, however, the only way to completely stop no-load loss of the DC power supply or charger is to completely disconnect it from the power grid. There are existing solutions for reducing vampire power loss but they are markedly different from the present invention. 
         [0008]    One solution is about the USB Ecostrip. In the design of this USB connected power strip, the power bus of a standard USB compliant port of a host device is used to provide the power to the switching mechanisms of the power strip. If the USB host is turned off, the power strip then provides no power for other devices on the power strip. In another power strip design called the Smart Power Strip, one master outlet on the strip controls six other slave outlets. When the power usage of the master outlet decreases, it automatically turns off the slave outlets. The smart power strip monitors the power usage of a master device and makes the assumption that a slave device adheres to the same use case as the master device. 
         [0009]    There are many possible cases where slave devices require power during times that a master device does not. These conditions may limit the functionality of both the USB Ecostrip and the Smart Power Strip for many peripheral devices which could result in vampire energy loss. 
         [0010]    Alternative solution from aforementioned solution is to utilize electronic control circuits for applications that can specifically shutdown the charger from the power grid when not in use. However, this alternative requires more electronic circuitry and is relatively expensive to manufacture. 
         [0011]    Another solution is to involve the use of solid state devices and additional circuitry in manufacturing to initiate self-disconnect when the circuitry is not in use. However, the additional circuitry and solid state devices add more costs and making the solution more expensive to produce. 
         [0012]    Furthermore, many inventions lack an application specific shutdown mechanism, which makes the disconnection less elegant where energy loss can occur, such as a smart strip. In a smart strip operation, for example, a charger attached to a slave outlet does not charge batteries unless the master outlet on the smart strip is in use. In an application specific shutdown, to the contrary, the charger can remain on the grid and does not incur vampire loss. 
         [0013]    In addition to have chargers remain on the grid, the cost of application specific shutdown mechanism is low. Mobile device battery chargers and commercial electronic products are extremely price sensitive. A viable solution must be able to be implemented at a low cost. Therefore, there is a need for a cost effective battery charger that eliminates the vampire energy loss without the use of costly circuitry. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0014]    Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of eliminating vampire power loss with low manufacturing cost. 
         [0015]    It is also an object of the present invention to provide an electromechanical vampire proof battery charger system for controlling and disconnecting of the charger from the power grid. 
         [0016]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a method that requires the existence of support hardware on a target device to implement a mechanical switching mechanism to disconnect charger from an electric power grid. 
         [0017]    An actual switching mechanism is provided in the form of a conductive short circuit on the phone or other target devices to eliminate vampire energy loss. This actual switching mechanism is capable of being integrated into future target designs. 
         [0018]    The actual switching mechanism of the present invention requires hardware support from the target devices, and can be applied to other mobile computing devices and electrical machines. 
         [0019]    Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0020]      FIG. 1  illustrates basic components of a typical battery charger without vampire proof capabilities; 
           [0021]      FIG. 2  illustrates a preferred embodiment of the present invention showing an application block diagram of the integration of the electromechanical switching circuit with future charger designs and the necessary circuit signal support from future mobile devices; 
           [0022]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating connection ports which map to signals shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  diagrams and the design of the necessary hardware with the charger&#39;s AC signal from the charger to the target devices; 
           [0023]      FIG. 4  is a usage flow chart that illustrates temporal operation of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0024]      FIG. 5  illustrates a charger hardware with four terminal connection ports of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0025]      FIG. 6  illustrates an example of expansion use of a preferred embodiment of the present invention into other products and machines of various types of battery operated portable devices. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0026]    The present invention comprises a short circuit feedback loop and requires some hardware support from target devices. The present invention also requires the use of conductive wires and connector plugs to route the AC power source to the target device, then for feedback directly or indirectly to the primary coil of the charger&#39;s transformer. 
         [0027]    Now referring to  FIG. 2 , an AC power source  102 , a set of charger components  216 , and a target device  110  are depicted. The basic battery charger or DC power supply circuitry  112  is slightly augmented  216  to allow one port of the AC power source  102  to be routed to the target device  110  for feedback directly or indirectly to the primary coil of the step down transformer  104 . 
         [0028]    In this preferred embodiment, a switching mechanism is employed to eliminate vampire energy loss. As shown in  FIG. 2 , an augmented charger  216  including a charger  112  is connected with a target device  110  in series with an AC power source  102 . There are two ports  202  and  204  and two ground signals  114  and  116 . The charger  112  includes a step-down transformer  104 , a signal rectification circuitry  106 , and a voltage regulation circuitry  108 . 
         [0029]    Specifically, the AC power signal  102  going directly from the wall receptacle to the primary coil is diverted to the target device  110  via two conductive paths depicted by  202  and  204 . At the target device  110 , a feedback loop composed of a conductive short circuit is implemented on the target device. Whenever the target device is removed from the charger, the feedback loop with ports  114  and  116  not connected to ports  202  and  204 , a short circuit is formed. 
         [0030]    This formed short circuit will prevent vampire loss via the open circuit of signal ports  202  and  204  from the broken conductivity of circuit  304  after breaking the conductive feedback loop  304 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . This disallows current to flow into the primary coil of the voltage transformer  104  which electrically disconnects the charger from the AC power source  102  and thus eliminates all “no-load” energy losses associated with the AC to DC power conversion process. 
         [0031]    Now referring to  FIG. 3 , the actual switching mechanism is realized in the form of a conductive short circuit as shown by  304 . The support hardware of the target device  110  is consisted of a conductive feedback loop  304  in connection to ports  202  and  204 . The support hardware is also connected to DC power and ground signals  114  and  116 . All signal ports  114 ,  116 ,  202 , and  204  are in connection to the augmented charger  216 . 
         [0032]    Now referring to  FIG. 4 , a flow chart explicitly shows the operation of an electrical device and the functions of the switching mechanism of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. To start charging the battery  402 , a charger is first plugged into a wall AC power source and then connect target device  404 . By connecting to the AC power resource, the electrical continuity is established to the AC feedback loop  406 . 
         [0033]    Further, the feedback circuit allowing AC current directly or indirectly to the primary coil of the transformer allows the AC to DC power conversion  408 . The DC power is then available to charge the target device. The charging begins  410 . The target device is now left connected to the power source and the charge session continues  412 . 
         [0034]    When the battery is fully charged, the operation moves to the next step  414 . If not, the charge session will continue. After finishing up the charge session, the target device will be disconnected from the charger  416 . That is, the continuity is broken in the feedback loop which disallows the current flow to the primary coil of the step down transformer  418  or to the input of the power conversion circuit, and the battery charge is electrically off of the power grid, thus eliminating no load or vampire energy loss  420 . The charge session is now ended  422 . 
         [0035]    In  FIG. 4 , the feedback loop bridges the circuit to the primary coil of the step down transformer  104  or the power conversion input circuit allowing AC current to flow to the charger. Shown in step  404 , the conductive path between ports  202  and  204  is established via physical and electrical short circuit  304  that is provided on the target device  110 , also shown in  FIG. 3 . The process just stated is shown temporally the temporal between steps  404  to  410  that are completed nearly instantaneously to provide the appropriate DC voltage via signals  114  and  116  to target device  110  which is shown as the effective resistive load  302  in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0036]    A charger enclosure  506  with two AC prongs  504  and a 4-port connection plug terminal  502  are depicted in  FIG. 5 . The present invention eliminates vampire energy loss in this particular application domain which includes the “no load loss” of the step down transformer  104 , static and dynamic power consumption of the signal rectification  106  and regulation  108  circuitry within the device battery charger  112 . The circuitry of the present invention has been designed to be integrated into future charger designs and requires hardware support from the target device. 
         [0037]    In  FIG. 5 , to initiate a charge session, the charger&#39;s prongs  504  must be plugged into the wall receptacle and the target device must be connected to the 4 port charger connection terminal  502 . Once the battery is charged the user can simply disconnect the 4-port charger&#39;s connector  502  composed of signals  114 ,  116 ,  202 , and  204  from the target device  110  without removing the chargers AC prongs  504  from the AC power source  102  at the wall receptacle. With or without unplug the charger prongs, vampire energy loss is eliminated. 
         [0038]    At this point the charger is physically plugged into the wall but electrically disconnected from the power grid via open circuit of signal ports  202  and  204  from the broken conductivity of circuit  304 . This disallows current to flow into the primary coil of the voltage transformer  104  or the power conversion input circuit which electrically disconnects the charger from the AC power source  102  and thus eliminates all vampire or no load energy losses. 
         [0039]    Now refer to  FIG. 6 , many applications and mobile devices that the electromechanical switching mechanism of the present invention can be applied to or integrated into are shown in the schematic diagram, such as GPS systems  602 , power tools  604 , notebook computers  606 , mobile phones  608 , MP3/media Player  610 , and digital cameras  612 . Many other applications and devices can also be utilized coupled with the electromechanical switching mechanism of the present invention. 
         [0040]    The aforementioned preferred embodiments of the present invention were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the present invention and the practical applications, and best understand the present invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 
         [0041]    The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the present invention in the form disclosed. Modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.