JP5262008B2 - Vehicle battery state detection device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a state detection device for a starter battery of a vehicle that uses an engine as a main power.

  As motorization progresses in recent years, the percentage of starter battery failures has increased as the cause of vehicle failure requiring external rescue, which is the largest cause. (Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association 2003 Survey Results) Currently, many vehicles traveling in the city have an engine as a power source, and when the engine is started, the starter motor is operated by receiving power from the battery. In such a configuration, when a battery malfunction occurs, the engine cannot be started, and the engine is started by receiving power supply from the outside. If there is no vehicle with an engine in the vicinity, a specific contractor is called and the engine is started.

  Thus, battery failure is undesirable because it requires time and money. Although the vehicle itself has a battery warning light, it is a function that indicates an abnormality in the charging system of the vehicle, and is not a function that detects a deterioration of the battery and warns of a start mistake in advance. Therefore, the thing which measures the voltage and internal resistance of a battery, displays it on the battery surface, or warns with a buzzer has been put into practical use. When performing such electrical detection and display, it is common to provide a microcomputer or DA converter inside to determine battery deterioration based on battery voltage or the like. In order to increase the accuracy of the determination, the change over time in the battery characteristics is stored in a nonvolatile memory or the like.

  When such a battery state detection device is commercially available, there is a demand for obtaining more detailed information when the deterioration is determined. This is because the environmental information on how the battery was used, how it was used, and the cause and effect of deterioration were investigated, whether there was a problem with the battery, whether there was a problem with the vehicle, whether it was left extremely, etc. This is because it is possible to respond more appropriately by knowing. Since such information is generally difficult to display on the display device of the detector body, it is common to adopt a configuration in which data is transferred to an external terminal or the like for display and analysis.

  In order to adopt such a configuration, there has conventionally been a device in which a switch is provided in a detection device and internal information is output by serial communication by a switch operation (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

In general, there is a configuration in which a bidirectional infrared communication port and a bidirectional RS232C port are provided to request communication from an external terminal. Adopting such a configuration allows us to receive communication requests from terminals at any time and immediately send information, which increases convenience, but it also increases the cost of the detection device body by providing two-way communication parts, switches and connectors. It was.
JP 2005-327604 A JP 2003-264209 A

  As described above, in the conventional configuration, since a communication request for reading the internal information of the starter battery state detection device is input from the outside, a switch, a bidirectional communication component, and a connector are provided, leading to an increase in cost.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention detects the state of a battery for an engine starter of a vehicle having an engine as a main power source, and driving power is supplied from the battery, It has a non-volatile memory that records information on the state of the battery, detects that the alternator is operating, and sends the contents of the non-volatile memory to the outside by communication during all or part of the operating period The state detection device of the vehicle can send information to the outside by constant communication without providing a switch or an infrared input / output device. In this case, in order to minimize the components necessary for transmission, the communication method is preferably optical communication using visible light or infrared LED. As a result, a communication circuit can be configured with only one infrared LED and a current limiting circuit. However, in this case, there is a problem that the power required for blinking the LED is always taken out from the battery and the battery is consumed. Therefore, the communication period is limited to the period during which the alternator generates power. This can prevent the battery from being consumed while stopped.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the battery state detection device of the first aspect, the operation of the alternator is detected by the terminal voltage of the battery. Since the battery terminal voltage is constantly measured to detect the state of the battery, it can be detected without adding special parts.

  The invention according to claim 3 of the present invention is a method for improving the convenience in the battery state detection device of claim 1, wherein transmission is started after a predetermined time such as 5 seconds after the alternator is operated. If the receiving terminal attached to the outside has a function of detecting the start of the alternator, the reception can be started together with the transmission of the detector, so that convenience is enhanced.

  In addition, when the alternator is in operation, charging and discharging are usually performed with a current of several tens of amperes, so the power used for communication, that is, several mA, is hardly considered a problem. Therefore, if communication takes 10 seconds, it can be determined 5 seconds, 16 seconds, 27 seconds, etc. after the start of the alternator is detected. As a result, even if the first communication fails, it can be received after waiting for the second communication. Since the failure message and the time until communication restart can be displayed on the receiving terminal each time communication fails, operability is improved.

In the invention according to claim 4 of the present invention, the state of a battery for an engine starter of a vehicle having an engine as a main power source is detected, driving power is supplied from the battery, and information on the state of the battery is stored therein. It is a vehicle battery status detection device that has a nonvolatile memory to record, detects the moment when the alternator stops, and starts the procedure of sending the contents of the nonvolatile memory to the outside by communication. as a method, a method of alternator operation to send a certain time from the end. In this case, if the transmission is continued permanently, the battery will be consumed, so it is necessary to stop the transmission in a certain time, but it is also convenient.

  According to the battery state detection device of the present invention described above, communication output can be performed only by adding an infrared LED and its current limiting circuit to an external terminal without newly providing an infrared transmission / reception port, RS-232C port, switch, or the like. Realized high convenience at low cost.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of a battery state detection apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a terminal connected to the battery negative electrode, and 2 is a terminal connected to the positive electrode. Reference numeral 3 denotes a connection lead, and 4 denotes the insulating clothing. Reference numeral 5 denotes a stabilized power supply for supplying power from the battery to the microcomputer and the LED. A microcomputer unit 6 is supplied with power from a stabilized power source and detects a battery voltage through a battery voltage detection line connected to the battery positive and negative terminals. Internally, a flash memory is selected from a group of A / D converters and nonvolatile memories , and these functions are combined . The A / D converter detects the voltage between the terminals 1 and 2 once every 1 msec. Whether the vehicle from the detected battery voltage is in the running state, variation in the battery deterioration level, the count-up of the use time of the battery, determined by calculating the presence or absence of a charge voltage level error, the result in the flash memory The deterioration level is output to the battery status display LED 7 while being stored.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an infrared LED for communication. If the voltage fluctuation between terminals 1 and 2 exceeds ± 0.03 V per second, it is determined that the alternator is operating, and communication is started after a pause of 1 second. In the communication mode, the microcomputer unit outputs the contents of the flash memory to the outside through the infrared light emitting LED 8 for communication. The LED is output on a 38 kHz modulated wave. Reference numeral 9 denotes an LED current limiting resistor. Communication is usually completed in about 60 seconds depending on the amount of transmission data. Assuming a communication error, the transmission may be repeated during the operation of the alternator.

  FIG. 2 shows a configuration when data in the flash memory is transferred to a personal computer using a dedicated reader while the battery state detection device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is connected to a battery mounted on a vehicle. Indicates. The connection terminals 1 and 2 of the state detection device 14 are connected to the battery terminal 22 via a mounting bracket. The state detection device housing is fixed to the upper surface of the battery 23 by double-sided tape. The receiving terminal consists of a reader and a personal computer. The connection clip 21 is connected to the battery status indicator terminals 1 and 2. The reader 24 and the personal computer 26 are connected via a USB cable 25. Reference numeral 24 denotes an A / D converter 27, an infrared light receiving module 15, and a microcomputer unit 28. Each component is connected by a power line 30 and a signal line 29.

  These components are supplied with power from a personal computer via a USB cable. In the reading operation, the communication infrared LED 8 of the state detection device and the infrared light receiving module of the reader are installed at a visible position. With the engine stopped, 21 connection clips are connected to the battery terminals. Start the dedicated reading software on the computer after connection. As a result, the reader receives a flash reading command from the personal computer via the USB cable. The reader activates the A / D converter, checks the change in the battery terminal voltage, and detects the communication data with the infrared light receiving unit. If communication data cannot be detected even after 1.2 seconds or more have elapsed since the voltage change has detected a fluctuation of ± 0.03 V or more per second, an error display is displayed and the communication data is retransmitted. When the communication data can be received, the reception is displayed and reception is performed. The received data is transferred to the personal computer via the USB cable and displayed.

  FIG. 10 shows an operation flow of the battery state detection apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. When the battery state detection device is connected to the battery, this operation flow is repeated infinitely. The battery status detection device checks whether the alternator is operating. When the alternator is not operating, the battery state detection device performs a normal battery state detection operation. If the alternator is in operation and the number of communications is set to 5 in this case, but less than 5 times, the contents of the memory are sent out to the reader via communications.

  The battery state detection device of the present invention and the battery state detection device of the comparative example were prepared, and the number of parts, the unit price of parts, and the housing size were compared.

  FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of the battery state detection apparatus (Embodiment 1) according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the state in which the data reader is combined.

  Prior art examples A, B, and C having functions similar to those of the battery state detection apparatus of the present invention are shown in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6, respectively. Moreover, the state which combined the data reader in the state connected to the battery mounted in the vehicle was shown in FIG.7, FIG.8, FIG.9.

  Commonly used components are the microcomputer unit 6 having the functions of 8-bit, in-vehicle grade, 10-bit AD converter, general-purpose IO port, 8 kbyte flash memory, and USART. The stabilized power source 5 is composed of a three-terminal regulator and a capacitor, and supplies a stabilized power source of 3V from the battery voltage. The battery status display LED 7 is a chip type high brightness type. 9 is a current regulating resistor having a resistance of 0.125W500Ω. This is to reduce current consumption while the vehicle is stopped in order to keep current consumption by the LED low. The communication infrared LED 8 uses the same resistance, but a resistance of about 100Ω may be used in order to increase communication reliability.

  The connected battery is a commercially available D26 size battery. Data readers were created for individual items, but these do not directly affect product cost and dimensions, so detailed specifications are not specified. Moreover, the personal computer used for data reading used the thing which has RS232C and USB terminal which are generally sold. The communication with the reader requires a custom program, but this is also a product that matches the specifications of the battery state detection device and does not affect the product cost or product specifications, so a detailed description is omitted.

  Next, the conventional example A will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 is different from the present invention in that it has 15 infrared light receiving modules. This module detects a transmission request. The microcomputer unit starts communication by a transmission request signal from the reader. FIG. 7 shows a state connected to a battery mounted on a vehicle and combined with a data reader. When a flash memory read command is sent from the personal computer to the data reader via the USB cable, the microcomputer unit of the data reader sends a signal to the infrared LED 8 for communication. This is transmitted to the infrared light receiving module 15 of the battery state detection device 23 and further transmitted to the microcomputer unit 6. As a result, communication is started. Thereafter, the contents of the flash memory are transmitted from the battery state detection device to the data reader and personal computer in the same manner as in the present invention.

  Next, the conventional example B will be described with reference to FIGS. The difference from the present invention in FIG. The switch 16 is a return type switch and starts communication when the microcomputer unit 6 detects a one-shot signal. Thereafter, the same operation as in the conventional example A is performed.

  Next, Conventional Example C will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 is different from the present invention in that a line driver / receiver IC 17 and an RS232C connector 18 are provided. FIG. 3 shows a configuration for reading data in the in-vehicle state. Thus, in this configuration, a data reader is not necessary. Data can be read by connecting the RS232C connector of the personal computer and the RS232C connector 18 of the battery state monitoring device with a commercially available RS232C cable. The flash memory read command is sent from the personal computer via the RS232C cable. When the microcomputer unit of the battery state detection device receives it by communication, it starts transmission.

  The main components and unit prices for the first embodiment according to the present invention and the conventional examples A, B, and C are shown in the following table.

  From the results shown in Table 1, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily read out the contents of the flash memory stored in the low-cost and compact battery state detection device by reducing the number of parts, which is highly convenient for users and producers. It provides sex.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a battery state detection device that can read the history data of the battery recorded in the flash memory or the like of the microcomputer unit with a small number of parts, thereby reducing the product cost and reducing the product compactness. It is excellent in that it can contribute to

Configuration diagram of Embodiment 1 of a battery state detection device of the present invention The figure which shows the form which connected Embodiment 1 of state detection apparatus to the data reader and the personal computer in the state mounted in a vehicle Operation flow diagram of Embodiment 1 of the battery state detection device of the present invention Configuration diagram of battery state detection device of conventional example A Configuration diagram of battery state detection device of conventional example B Configuration diagram of battery state detection device of conventional example C The figure which shows the form which connected the battery state detection apparatus of the prior art example A to the data reader and the personal computer in the state mounted in a vehicle. The figure which shows the form which connected the battery state detection apparatus of the prior art example B to the data reader and the personal computer in the state mounted in a vehicle. The figure which shows the form which connected the state detection apparatus of the battery of the prior art example C to the personal computer for data reading in the state mounted in a vehicle

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Negative connection terminal 2 Positive connection terminal 3 Lead wire 4 Flexible tape 5 Stabilized power supply 6 Microcomputer part 7 Battery state display LED
8 Infrared LED for communication
9 LED current limiting resistor 10 Stabilized power supply line 11 Battery voltage detection line 12 Microcomputer power supply line 13 Circuit board 14 Battery state detection device housing 15 Infrared light receiving module 16 Communication mode switching switch 17 Line driver / receiver IC
18 RS232C connector 19 Vehicle ground side cable 20 Vehicle + 12V power cable 21 Data reader connection clip wire 22 Battery terminal and cable mounting bracket 23 Battery 24 Reader housing 25 USB cable and connector 26 Personal computer 27 Battery terminal voltage detection line 28 Reading Microcomputer unit 29 Data communication line 30 Power line

Claims (4)

It detects the state of the engine starter battery of the vehicle whose main power source is the engine, the drive power is supplied from the battery, it has a non-volatile memory that records information about the state of the battery inside, and the alternator operates. A vehicle battery state detection device that detects the presence of the non-volatile memory and transmits the contents of the nonvolatile memory to the outside by communication during all or part of the operation period.   2. The vehicle battery state detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a fluctuation of the battery terminal within a predetermined time is detected as a method of detecting the operation of the alternator.   2. The vehicle battery state detection device according to claim 1, wherein the communication start procedure is started after the start of operation of the alternator is detected. Detects the state of a battery for an engine starter of a vehicle whose main power source is an engine, driving power is supplied from the battery, has a non-volatile memory for recording information on the state of the battery, and the alternator stops. A vehicle battery state detection device that detects a moment and starts a procedure of transmitting the contents of the nonvolatile memory to the outside by communication.

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