Patent ID: 8436589

Claim:
A charging device comprising: a plurality of capacitors that are connected in series; a charging unit that charges the capacitors; a plurality of bypass units, each of which respectively connects in parallel to each of the capacitors, wherein each bypass unit causes, when a charged voltage of any of the capacitors has reached a set voltage, a charging current to bypass the capacitor whose charged voltage has reached the set voltage; and a control unit that controls the charging unit to charge the capacitors in such a manner that, when a charging voltage of the any of the capacitors has reached the set voltage, the control unit causes the charging unit to reduce the charging current that is to be applied to the any of the capacitors, and if a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the charging voltage of the any capacitor has reached the set voltage, and if a charging voltage of any of the other capacitors has not reached the set voltage after the predetermined period of time has elapsed, the control unit causes the charging unit to increase the charging current that is to be applied to the capacitors, wherein the capacitors include electric double layer capacitors or lithium ion capacitors.