Patent ID: 8638065

Claim:
A battery pack usable as a power source of an electric device, comprising: a battery module group in which a plurality of battery modules are interconnected in series; and a discharge output terminal through which discharge power is supplied from the battery module group to the electric device, wherein each battery module is configured to include a battery cell group in which a plurality of battery cells are interconnected in series, the battery pack further comprising: a discharge controller configured to control the discharge power which is supplied from the battery module group to the electric device; and an output voltage modulator configured to modulate a module output voltage of each battery module between a high voltage and a low voltage which is higher than zero and lower than the high voltage, depending on an instruction signal from the discharge controller, the output voltage modulator is configured to include: a switching device which is connected with a current path allowing a current to flow to the battery module group and the discharge output terminal, and which varies between an ON state and an OFF state, in response to a control signal, and switching-control circuitry configured to perform switching control for the switching device, by supplying the control signal with a variable duty ratio, to the switching device, and to control the control signal such that the duty ratio varies between when the module output voltage is equal to the high voltage and when the module output voltage is equal to the low voltage, and wherein: the electric device is configured to include a load device, the load device operates by the discharge power of the battery module group when each battery module outputs the high voltage, and does not operate by the discharge power of the battery module group when each battery module outputs the low voltage, and the discharge controller operates by the battery module group, irrespective of whether each battery module outputs the high voltage or the low voltage.