Power System

Abstract

To provide a power supply system capable of reducing voltage drop loss caused by voltage conversion and reducing loss of power consumption caused by voltage drop.SOLUTION: A power supply system includes a first battery pack, a second battery pack, and a power management circuit. The first battery pack has a first end and a second end and has a first battery capacity. The second battery pack has a third end and a fourth end. The third end is coupled to the second end of the first battery pack and provides a low battery voltage. The fourth end is grounded, the second battery pack has a second battery capacity, and the second battery capacity is larger than the first battery capacity. The power management circuit is coupled to the second battery pack, receives the low battery voltage, and provides a component operation voltage to electronic components based on the low battery voltage.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to power supply systems, and more particularly to power supply systems having rechargeable batteries. [Background technology]

[0002] Currently, rechargeable batteries are used to power various portable electronic devices such as laptops, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital music players, wireless power tools, etc., or to power automotive electronic devices as standby power sources. Existing battery protection boards control the power of all components by supplying power from the battery string to the power supply at the highest voltage (e.g., 19V for portable electronic devices and 58.8V for automotive electronic devices), which is then converted by a power conversion circuit to a voltage that the components can use (e.g., 5V and 3.3V). However, the voltage used by the components is much lower than the maximum voltage of the battery string, and converting from the maximum voltage of the battery string to the voltage used by the components results in a voltage drop loss, so the battery reduces the power consumption loss caused by unnecessary voltage drop. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0003] The present invention provides a power supply system capable of reducing the loss of voltage drop caused by voltage conversion and reducing the loss of power consumption caused by the voltage drop. [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] The power supply system in the present invention includes a first battery pack, a second battery pack, and a power management circuit. The first battery pack has a first end and a second end and has a first battery capacity. The second battery pack has a third end and a fourth end. The third end is coupled to the second end of the first battery pack and provides a low battery voltage. The fourth end is grounded. The second battery pack has a second battery capacity, the second battery capacity being greater than the first battery capacity. The power management circuit is coupled to the second battery pack and receives the low battery voltage and provides a component operating voltage to the electronic component based on the low battery voltage. Effect of the Invention

[0005] As described above, in the power supply system according to the embodiment of the present invention, the power management circuit converts a low battery voltage having a lower voltage into a component operating voltage for the electronic components, instead of supplying the positive battery pack voltage having the highest voltage to the electronic components, thereby reducing the power consumption loss due to the voltage conversion.

[0006] In order to make the above content easier to understand, several embodiments will be described in detail below in conjunction with the drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the principles of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a power supply system according to one embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] In conventional practice, the operating voltage (e.g., 3.3V or 5V) provided to the component is much lower than the battery pack voltage (e.g., 58.8V or 19V) provided by the battery pack, so that the loss of voltage drop occurs by converting the battery pack voltage to the low operating voltage. In order to reduce the loss of power consumption caused by unnecessary voltage drop in the battery pack, the present invention divides the battery string into at least two groups to increase the number of batteries in the low potential battery pack. That is, the battery capacity of the low potential battery pack is increased, and then the voltage of the low potential battery pack is used to generate the operating voltage of the component. This method can extend the standby time of the battery pack without depleting the battery capacity of the battery module.

[0010] Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a power supply system according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 1, in the embodiment of the present invention, the power supply system 100 is, for example, a battery module of a portable electronic device (not shown). That is, the power supply system 100 includes, for example, a positive input / output terminal Tio+ and a negative input / output terminal Tio-. The positive input / output terminal Tio+ and the negative input / output terminal Tio- are used to provide a positive battery pack voltage PACK+ and a negative battery pack voltage PACK- to the portable electronic device (not shown).

[0011] In this embodiment, the power supply system 100 includes a first battery pack BP1, a second battery pack BP2, and a power management circuit 110. The first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2 are connected in series between a positive input / output terminal Tio+ and a negative input / output terminal Tio-.

[0012] Further, the first battery pack BP1 has a first end a and a second end b coupled to the positive input / output end Tio+, and has a first battery capacity. The first end a provides a positive battery pack voltage PACK+. The second battery pack BP2 has a third end c coupled to the first battery pack BP1 and a fourth end d coupled to a ground voltage node GND (i.e., ground), and has a second battery capacity. The third end c provides a low battery voltage BAT2+, and the ground voltage node GND is coupled to the negative input / output end Tio- via a resistor, and the second battery capacity is greater than the first battery capacity.

[0013] The power management circuit 110 is coupled to the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2, and receives a low battery voltage BAT2+. The power management circuit 110 provides a component operating voltage to the electronic components based on the low battery voltage BAT2+. According to the above, the low battery voltage BAT2+ is smaller than the positive battery pack voltage PACK+, so that the loss of the voltage drop caused by the voltage conversion can be reduced, and the power consumption loss caused by the voltage drop can be reduced.

[0014] In this embodiment, the power supply system 100 may further include a charging / discharging circuit 120, which is coupled between a first end a of the first battery pack BP1 and a third end c of the second battery pack BP2. The power supply management circuit 110 is, for example, an analog front end (AFE) chip, and has a system low voltage pin VSS, a plurality of voltage sensing pins VC0 to VC16, a system high voltage pin BAT, a charging protection pin CHG, a discharging protection pin DSG, a bias voltage pin BREG, a voltage regulation input pin REGIN, voltage regulation output pins REG1 and REG2, a data pin SDA, and a clock pin SCL.

[0015] In this embodiment, the system low voltage pin VSS is coupled to the ground voltage node GND. In this embodiment, the power supply system 100 may further include a diode D1 and a resistor R1, and the system high voltage pin BAT is coupled to the first end a of the first battery pack BP1 via the diode D1 and the resistor R1.

[0016] In this embodiment, the first battery pack BP1 is formed by connecting a plurality of first battery cells BC1 in series, and the second battery pack BP2 is formed by connecting a plurality of second battery cells BC2 in series and in parallel. In this embodiment, the power supply system 100 may further include a plurality of resistors R2 and R3. The voltage sensing pins VC3 to VC16 are coupled to the contacts of the first battery cell BC1 via the plurality of resistors R2, and the voltage sensing pins VC0 to VC2 are coupled to the contacts of the second battery cell BC2 via the plurality of resistors R3, and the first power of the first battery pack BP1, the first power of the second battery pack BP2, and the charging and discharging states of the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2 are detected by detecting the voltages of the respective contacts. The first battery pack BP1 may be composed of a plurality of first battery cells BC1 connected in series and in parallel, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0017] In this embodiment, the power supply system 100 may further include a charge protection transistor MC and a discharge protection transistor MD. A charge protection pin CHG of the power supply management circuit 110 is coupled to the charge protection transistor MC, and a discharge protection pin DSG of the power supply management circuit 110 is coupled to the discharge protection transistor MD. The power supply management circuit 110 provides a charge protection signal Schg and a discharge protection signal Sdsg based on the charge states and discharge states of the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2. Furthermore, the power supply management circuit 110 can determine whether the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2 are overvoltage or undervoltage based on the charge states and discharge states of the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2, and provide the charge protection signal Schg and the discharge protection signal Sdsg accordingly.

[0018] In this embodiment, the power supply system 100 may further include a voltage regulation circuit 130. A bias voltage pin BREG and a voltage regulation input pin REGIN of the power management circuit 110 are coupled to the voltage regulation circuit 130. The bias voltage pin BREG is used to provide a bias voltage VB1 to the voltage regulation circuit 130, and the voltage regulation input pin REGIN is used to receive a low battery voltage BAT2+ transmitted by the voltage regulation circuit 130. In this embodiment, the power supply system 100 may further include a controller 140 and a communication circuit 150. In one embodiment, the communication circuit 150 may communicate with a control circuit (not shown) in the portable electronic device. The power management circuit 110 provides component operating voltages (e.g., Vop1 and Vop2) to electronic components (e.g., the controller 140 and the communication circuit 150) based on the low battery voltage BAT2+. The component operating voltage Vop1 provided to the controller 140 is, for example, 3.3V, and the component operating voltage Vop2 provided to the communication circuit 150 is, for example, 5V, but the voltage levels depend on the operating requirements of the components and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. In more detail, a voltage regulation output pin REG1 of the power management circuit 110 is coupled to the controller 140 and provides the component operating voltage Vop1, and a voltage regulation output pin REG2 of the power management circuit 110 is coupled to the communication circuit 150 and provides the component operating voltage Vop2.

[0019] The data pin SDA and the clock pin SCL of the power management circuit 110 are coupled to the controller 140 to perform communication between the power management circuit 110 and the controller 140. The data pin SDA and the clock pin SCL are connected to an Inter-Integrated Circuit (IIC). 2C) communication protocol, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. Furthermore, the controller 140 is further coupled to the charging / discharging circuit 120. The controller 140 receives power information IFVC indicating the first power of the first battery pack BP1 and the second power of the second battery pack BP2 from the power management circuit 110, and provides a reverse charging signal Schi to the charging / discharging circuit 120 based on the power information IFVC.

[0020] In this embodiment, the charge protection transistor MC has a first source / drain coupled to the first terminal a, a first gate receiving the charge protection signal Schg, and a second source / drain, and the discharge protection transistor MD has a third source / drain coupled to the second source / drain of the charge protection transistor MC, a second gate receiving the discharge protection signal Sdsg, and a fourth source / drain coupled to the positive input / output terminal Tio+.

[0021] In this embodiment, the voltage regulation circuit 130 is coupled between the third terminal c and the power management circuit 110 to transmit the low battery voltage BAT2+ to the power management circuit 110. The voltage regulation circuit 130 includes, for example, a bipolar junction transistor T1, which includes a collector receiving the low battery voltage BAT2+, a base receiving the bias voltage VB1, and an emitter coupled to the power management circuit 110. The power supply system 100 may further include a plurality of capacitors disposed within the power supply system 100 for voltage regulation and voltage buffering.

[0022] When the power supply system 100 is charging, the first terminal a of the first battery pack BP1 receives an external charging voltage Vche from an external charger (not shown) and directly charges the first battery pack BP1 using the external charging voltage Vche. Furthermore, the charging / discharging circuit 120 can additionally charge the second battery pack BP2 using the external charging voltage Vche, so that the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2 having different battery power sources can be charged substantially simultaneously.

[0023] When the power supply system 100 is discharging, the first terminal a of the first battery pack BP1 provides a positive battery pack voltage PACK+ to the positive input / output terminal Tio+ via the charge protection transistor MC and the discharge protection transistor MD, and the power management circuit 110 provides component operating voltages Vop1 and Vop2 using the low battery voltage BAT2+. When the first power of the first battery pack BP1 is less than the second power of the second battery pack BP2 and reaches the limit power, the power management circuit 110 provides a reverse charge signal Schi to the charge / discharge circuit 120, and the charge / discharge circuit 120 provides a reverse charge voltage Vchg to the first terminal a using the low battery voltage BAT2+ based on the reverse charge signal Schi to charge the first battery pack BP1. The reverse charge signal Schi is supplied to an Inter-Integrated Circuit (IIC) 122. 2 C) signal, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0024] For example, the entire system is designed with a battery capacity of 15 ampere hours (Ah) for the first battery pack BP1, and the number of parallel cells in the second battery pack BP2 is increased to increase the battery capacity of the second battery pack BP2 to 20 ampere hours. If the standby power consumption of a portable electronic device (not shown) is 10 milliamperes (mA) and its standby time is 1500 hours (h), the battery capacity of the original design is only 10 ampere hours. However, the standby time of the power supply system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention (when the battery of the second battery pack BP2 is added) can be extended to 2000 hours, and the battery power of the first battery pack BP1 does not decay because the first 500 hours only use the power of the second battery pack BP2. That is, the battery power of the first battery pack BP1 of 15 ampere hours of the original design is maintained.

[0025] In this embodiment, the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2 are a combination of battery packs with unbalanced capacities, but power balance can be achieved by controlling the charge / discharge circuit 120. The following example is an example in which the battery capacity of the first battery pack BP1 is 15 ampere-hours and the battery capacity of the second battery pack BP2 is increased to 20 ampere-hours.

[0026] When the total battery pack (first battery pack BP1 and second battery pack BP2) is at 0 amp-hours, the charging function of the charging / discharging circuit 120 is activated to charge the second battery pack BP2 with a current of 5 amps. Then, an external charger (not shown) in the system is used to provide 15 amps to charge the total battery pack (first battery pack BP1 and second battery pack BP2). In this way, the charging current of the first battery pack BP1 can be maintained at 15 amps, and the charging current of the second battery pack BP2 can be maintained at 20 amps, so that they are expected to be fully charged at the same time.

[0027] When the battery power of the second battery pack BP2 is 5 amp-hours and the battery power of the first battery pack BP1 is 0 amp-hours, it is expected that they can be charged by using only the 15 amps provided by an external charger (not shown) in the system and can be fully charged at the same time.

[0028] When the battery power of the second battery pack BP2 is 7 amp-hours and the battery power of the first battery pack BP1 is 0 amp-hours, in addition to charging with 15 amps provided by an external charger (not shown) in the system, the boost load function of the charging / discharging circuit 120 is turned on to reverse charge the battery power of the second battery pack BP2 (i.e., the low battery voltage BAT2+) to the positive input / output terminal Tio+ of the entire battery pack. That is, the reverse charging voltage Vchg is provided to the positive input / output terminal Tio+ to charge the first battery pack BP1 until the battery power of the first battery pack BP1 and the battery power of the second battery pack BP2 are balanced. That is, when the difference between the battery power of the first battery pack BP1 and the battery power of the second battery pack BP2 becomes approximately the default difference (e.g., 5 amp-hours), the boost load function is turned off.

[0029] When the battery power of the second battery pack BP2 is 10 amp-hours and the battery power of the first battery pack BP1 is 5 amp-hours, it is expected that they can be charged by using only the 15 amps provided by an external charger (not shown) in the system and can be fully charged at the same time.

[0030] When the battery power of the second battery pack BP2 is 18 ampere-hours and the battery power of the first battery pack BP1 is 15 ampere-hours, the charging protection transistor MC of the power supply system 100 turns off, so that an external charger (not shown) cannot charge the first battery pack BP1, and the charging function of the charging / discharging circuit 120 continues to charge the second battery pack BP2.

[0031] The above charging and discharging states are examples for illustration, and at least one of the voltage, current, temperature, and battery power of the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2 may be monitored by the controller 140. Based on the monitoring results, the controller 140 is fine-tuned to control the charging of the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2.

[0032] Based on the above, the embodiment of the present invention changes the power input initially provided to the electronic components from the positive battery pack voltage PACK+ (i.e., the first battery pack BP1 and the second battery pack BP2) having the highest voltage in the battery pack to the second battery pack BP2 having a lower potential, increasing the battery capacity of the second battery pack BP2 to offset the loss of the second battery pack BP2 due to the power consumption of the external components, thereby increasing the standby time of the entire system. Furthermore, since a charging / discharging circuit 120 can be added to the power supply system 100 for the second battery pack BP2, the second battery pack BP2 can be additionally charged, and when the battery power of the second battery pack BP2 is greater than that of the first battery pack BP1 during charging, a reverse boost discharge can be performed to balance the battery power of the second battery pack BP2 and the battery power of the first battery pack BP1.

[0033] As described above, in the power supply system according to the embodiment of the present invention, the power management circuit converts the low battery voltage having a low voltage into a component operating voltage provided to the electronic components instead of the positive battery pack voltage having the highest voltage, thereby reducing the voltage drop of the component operating voltage caused by the voltage conversion and the power consumption loss caused by the voltage drop. [Industrial Applicability]

[0034] The power supply system according to the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to portable electronic devices and manufacturing methods thereof.

[0035] It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and variations may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of this, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations that come within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 100 Power System 110 Power management circuit 120 Charge / discharge circuit 130 Voltage Regulator Circuit 140 Controller 150 Communication Circuit a First end b Second end BAT System High Voltage Pin BAT2+ Low battery voltage BC1 1st battery cell BC2 Second Battery Cell BP1 1st battery pack BP2 Second Battery Pack BREG Bias Voltage Pin c 3rd end CHG Charging protection pin d 4th end D1 Diode DSG Discharge protection pin GND Ground voltage node IFVC Power Information MC charging protection transistor MD discharge protection transistor PACK- Negative battery pack voltage PACK+ Positive battery pack voltage R1, R2, R3 resistors REG1, REG2 Voltage Regulator Output Pins REGIN Voltage regulation input pin Schg charging protection signal Schi reverse charge signal SCL Clock pin SDA Data pin Sdsg Discharge protection signal T1 Bipolar junction transistor Tio- Negative input / output terminal Tio+ Positive input / output terminal VB1 bias voltage VC0~VC16 Voltage sensing pins Vop1, Vop2 Component operating voltage VSS System low voltage pin

Claims

1. A power supply system, a first battery pack having a first end and a second end and having a first battery capacity; a second battery pack coupled to the second end of the first battery pack, the second battery pack having a third end providing a low battery voltage and a fourth end connected to ground, the second battery pack having a second battery capacity greater than the first battery capacity; a power management circuit coupled to the second battery pack to receive the low battery voltage and to provide a component operating voltage to an electronic component based on the low battery voltage; Including, The first end receives an external charging voltage from an external charger, and the power supply system further comprises: a charging / discharging circuit coupled between the first end of the first battery pack and the third end of the second battery pack, the charging / discharging circuit being adapted to charge the second battery pack based on the external charging voltage, and to provide a reverse charging voltage to the first end based on the low battery voltage when a first power of the first battery pack is less than a second power of the second battery pack and reaches a limit power, to charge the first battery pack.

2. 2. The power system of claim 1, wherein the power management circuit is further coupled to the first battery pack to detect the first power of the first battery pack and the second power of the second battery pack.

3. a controller coupled to the power management circuit and the charging / discharging circuit, the controller being adapted to receive power information indicative of the first power and the second power from the power management circuit, and providing a reverse charging signal to the charging / discharging circuit based on the power information; 3. The power supply system of claim 2, wherein the charge / discharge circuit is adapted to provide the reverse charge voltage based on the reverse charge signal.

4. 2. The power system of claim 1, wherein the first battery pack is charged using the external charging voltage.

5. 2. The power system of claim 1, further comprising a voltage regulation circuit coupled between the third end of the second battery pack and the power management circuit and configured to transmit the low battery voltage to the power management circuit.

6. 6. The power system of claim 5, wherein the voltage regulation circuit includes a bipolar junction transistor having a collector receiving the low battery voltage, a base receiving a bias voltage, and an emitter coupled to the power management circuit.

7. a charge protection transistor having a first source / drain coupled to the first end, a first gate for receiving a charge protection signal, and a second source / drain; a discharge protection transistor having a third source / drain coupled to the second source / drain of the charge protection transistor, a second gate receiving a discharge protection signal, and a fourth source / drain coupled to a positive input / output terminal; 2. The power system of claim 1, further comprising: a power management circuit further coupled to the first battery pack, the charge protection transistor, and the discharge protection transistor, for detecting a charge state and a discharge state of the first battery pack and the second battery pack, and for providing the charge protection signal and the discharge protection signal based on the charge state and the discharge state.

8. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic components include at least one of a controller and a communication circuit.

9. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the power management circuitry includes an analog front-end chip.

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