A battery pack includes a secondary cell, a selection unit, a judging unit, an elapsed time period comparing unit, and a control unit. The selection unit selects either a first operation state or a second operation state. The control unit controls the selection unit to switch from the first operation state to the second operation state when the elapsed time period is longer than a predetermined time period. The control unit also controls the selection unit to switch from a second operation state to a first operation state either (a) when judged as being in an used state by the judging unit while the second operation is selected (b) when a voltage of the second cell becomes equal to or less than a second voltage threshold value which is smaller than a first voltage threshold value while the second operation state is selected.
1. A battery pack comprising:
a secondary cell;
a selection unit for selecting either a first operation state having a first power consumption or a second operation state having a second power consumption larger than the first power consumption;
a judging unit for judging whether the secondary cell is in a used state or an unused state;
an elapsed time period comparing unit for comparing an elapsed time period with a predetermined time period, the elapsed time period being a time period over which a voltage of the secondary cell is not less than a first voltage threshold value and the secondary cell is in the unused state; and
a control unit for controlling the selection unit based on a comparison output from the elapsed time period comparing unit,
wherein the control unit controls the selection unit to switch from the first operation state to the second operation state when the elapsed time period is longer than the predetermined time period, and
the control unit controls the selection unit to switch from the second operation state to the first operation state either (a) when judged as being in the used state by the judging unit while the second operation is selected, or (b) when the voltage of the secondary cell becomes equal to or less than a second voltage threshold value which is smaller than the first voltage threshold value while the second operation state is selected.
2. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the judging unit judges that the secondary cell is in the unused state when either a charging current or a discharging current is equal to or less than the predetermined current threshold value.
3. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein:
the control unit is capable of performing a data communication with an external equipment, and
the judging unit judges a state of not performing the data communication to be the unused state.
4. The battery pack according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a temperature measuring unit for measuring a temperature of the secondary cell, and
wherein the predetermined time period varies based on the measured temperature.
5. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein:
the control unit is composed of a processor,
the control with is capable of switching between a high-speed mode where the processor operates by clock of high frequency and a low-speed mode where the processor operates by clock of low frequency, and is capable of setting (a) a normal mode in which the high-speed mode of a first time period and the low-speed mode of a second time period is performed alternately, the second time period being longer than the first time period, and
(b) a degradation control mode in which the high-speed mode continues, and
wherein the first operation state is either the low-speed mode or the normal mode, and the second operation state is the degradation control mode.
6. The battery pack according to claim 5 , wherein, in the degradation control mode, an amount of data processing of the processor is increased compared to an amount of data processing in the high-speed mode so that a consumption current larger than a consumption current in the high-speed mode is fed.
7. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the first voltage threshold value is set to a value at which degradation is caused if the secondary cell is left at a predetermined voltage value or above.
8. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the second voltage threshold value is set to be a voltage at which the secondary cell becomes at an overdischarge state.
9. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first voltage threshold value is set to be a voltage value at which a residual capacity of the secondary cell becomes 50% of total capacity, and
the second voltage threshold value is set to be a voltage value at which the residual capacity of the secondary cell becomes 20% of the total capacity.