12V, 4-AA Cell Differential Temperature Charger

Published:2012/10/25 21:06:00 Author:muriel | Keyword: 12V, 4-AA , Cell Differential Temperature, Charger | From:SeekIC

12VDC power is supplied to the circuit from an external source such as a car battery system, a 12V solar power system or a regulated wall wart supply. If DC power is applied backwards, the 6A05 crowbar diode causes the 3A fuse to blow, protecting the circuit from reverse voltage. The power switch routes power to the 78L09 voltage regulator and the battery. The 78L09 regulator provides regulated power to the rest of the circuit. The battery current loop starts with the +12V supply, then runs through the battery and through a 1N5819 reverse voltage protection diode. Current continues through the LM317 1 amp adjustable voltage regulator which is wired as a constant current source, through the IRFD110 power MOSFET transistor, which switches charging current on and off, through the 0.1 ohm current sensing resistor to ground (12VDC negative). The charge current is selected by jumpering one of three current-set resistors on the negative side of the LM317 regulator. The 120 ohm trickle charge resistor always allows 10mA of current to flow through the battery. The temperature control part of the circuit starts with a matched pair of 10K NTC thermistors. One thermistor is epoxied to a small metal reference temperature plate. The other thermistor is epoxied to a metal battery holder. The temperature sensors are balanced by the calibrate potentiometer. The 100nF and 50nF capacitors across the thermistors cause different start-up time delays to insure that the following circuitry powers up in the off state. The upper half of the TLC2272CP rail-to-rail op-amp is wired as a latching comparator when the Cal/Latch jumper is present (operate mode), the circuit becomes a regular comparator with hysteresis when the jumper is off (calibrate mode). Assuming the battery is cold and the circuit is in operate mode, the start switch turns the op-amp on for a charging cycle. When the battery temperature exceeds the reference temperature, the op-amp turns off and the diode in the feedback loop latches the op-amp off. The op-amp output also drives the IRFD110 current switch MOSFET. The lower half of the TLC2272CP simply inverts the output from the upper part of the op-amp, this gives a bipolar drive signal for running the Red/Green Charging/Done light. An optional current flow lamp was added to the circuit. Rechargeable batteries tend to get corroded contacts which can prevent the charging current from flowing. The lamp provides an indication that the charging current is really making its way through the batteries. The current Flow lamp circuit consists of an LM358 op-amp wired as a current measurement amplifier that monitors the voltage drop across a 0.1 ohm resistor. The LM358 is specially suited for this type of circuit. The output of the first LM358 stage is further boosted and offset by the second LM358 stage. This produces a digital signal that drives the indicator LED through a current limiting resistor. If you don't want to add the Current Flow circuit, replace the 0.1 ohm resistor with a wire jumper.



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