Rechargeable battery device having a protection circuit for protecting from overcharge and overdischarge
Charging and discharging lines for a rechargeable battery are arranged independently from each other, and as a protection circuit for the rechargeable battery, there are provided a nonreturn-type switch (for example, thermo-fuse with an internal heater) that is interposed in the charging line in series and interrupts the charging line by blowout and a semiconductor switch (for example, MOS-FET) that is interposed in the discharging line in series and electrically continues or interrupts the discharging line. The switch control circuit turns off the semiconductor switch element when detecting overdischarge of the rechargeable battery, and blows out the nonreturn-type switch when detecting overcharge of the rechargeable battery or a malfunction of the semiconductor switch element.
1. A rechargeable battery device comprising a rechargeable battery and a protection circuit for protecting the rechargeable battery from overcharge and overdischarge, wherein
the rechargeable battery device has a charging/discharging line, a charging line and a discharging line for the rechargeable battery, which are all arranged independently from each other;
the protection circuit includes a nonreturn-type switch that is interposed in the charging line in series and interrupts the charging line by blowout;
a semiconductor switch that is interposed in the discharging line in series and electrically continues or interrupts the discharging line; and
a switch control circuit that turns off the semiconductor switch element when detecting overdischarge of the rechargeable battery, and blows out the nonreturn-type switch when detecting a malfunction of the rechargeable battery device.
2. The rechargeable battery device according to claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor switch element is a MOS-FET, and the nonreturn-type switch is a thermo-fuse.
3. The rechargeable battery device according to claim 1 , wherein a malfunction of the rechargeable battery device is a malfunction of the semiconductor switch element, and is detected by measuring heat temperature of the semiconductor switch element which is obtained by using a thermo-sensor provided to the semiconductor switch element.
4. The rechargeable battery device according to claim 1 , including as external connection terminals:
a charging terminal connected to one electrode of the rechargeable battery through the charging line, a discharging terminal that is connected to the one electrode of the rechargeable battery through the discharging line and arranged independently from the charging terminal, and a common terminal that is connected to the other electrode of the rechargeable battery and makes a pair both with the charging terminal and the discharging terminal.