An intelligence battery charger

Abstract

Three major reasons for this project: (I) People are having more and more chargers for their portable electronic devices, such as Mobile phone, MP3 player, Digital cameras, PDA … etc. It creates troubles in carrying and handling these chargers. The disposal of the chargers will create a lot of environmental issues. (II) The trend of USB port is getting more and more popular. People can access the USB port in the office, school, internet café, library and airport where ac power may not be available. (III) Battery analyzer/re-conditioner can prolong the life of battery and repair battery in some cases but they are expensive. It is worthwhile to develop a low cost intelligence charger for personal usage. The goal of this project is to design a low cost (below HK$30) & portable universal charger (80x40x25mm), for charging NiCd, NiMH and Lithium battery. The designed charger obtains power supply either from main or USB. In additional, the charger also allows data connection from USB port to provide monitoring and reconditioning functions. This product is expected to have its unique market competitive edge. The major components of this charger include MCU、USB communication IC, memory IC, A/D converter and charging/discharging components. The system firmware is written in C language. The monitoring program is written in Visual C+. Charging status is indicated by LEDs.