Overview of Battery Xtender

- Description
- Technology Benefits Summary
- Technology Benefits
- Technology Differentiation and Uniqueness
- Technical Details - Long Description

“Battery Xtender” Alkaline Battery Recharger with automatic operation

Description
Many products claiming to recharge alkaline single-use batteries have appeared on the market in the past, but have failed to live up to their claims. Now we have a safe, proven, patented technology that does what it claims to do. It restores the energy that was originally housed in 1.5-volt alkaline batteries many times over while restoring their terminal voltage to near-new conditions, as long as the batteries were not completely drained in their previous operation.

Even in cases where a battery has been used to be point of near exhaustion, more useful life can be put back into it, with some diminishment of number of times it can be further recharged, and a slight decrease in terminal voltage.

The recharger handles all popular sizes of 1.5-volt batteries, AAA, AA, C and D, and accepts four at a time in any combination of sizes. Batteries of other chemistry systems such as nickel-metal hydride, carbon-zinc, and nickel-cadmium may also be intermixed with the batteries being charged, and the system will respond accordingly. Insertion of batteries is simple and easy, and may be done with one hand. Three LED indicators show the status, whether charging, finished charging, or a bad result due to a defective battery or incorrect polarity of insertion. There is no danger of overcharging, batteries may be left in the charger indefinitely, as currents are turned off when charging is complete.

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Technology Benefits Summary
Use of this technology will result in a number of benefits to the consumer. There is a definite economic benefit in terms of the expenditure for single-use batteries when it is possible to reuse them instead of throwing them away. Purchasers can look forward to having the cost of the recharger repaid within one year through savings in battery use. Then there are the ecological concerns about the billions of batteries that end up in U.S. and Canadian landfills every year. Recharging helps to reduce this waste and contamination. In Germany and other European countries, people must take their used batteries to collection centers or be subject to fines.

The convenience aspect is also appealing. A ready supply of recharged batteries can be available at any time of the day or night. Developing good housekeeping habits in this respect is a good idea. Have a number of freshly recharged batteries on hand to replace the batteries in an electronic device. This avoids waiting for the charge cycle to be finished. The operation of the charger is easy for children, so training them in good habits of battery management makes them responsible for the care and maintenance of their own batteries in their toys.

The charging process is continuously monitored by a dedicated microprocessor, and each battery's voltage is individually monitored and recorded. The monitoring program follows a comprehensive set of logical instructions to ensure safety and efficiency. Years of research and development have gone into the optimization of the programs for safety and efficiency. The charger also contains redundant circuitry to help ensure safety and reliability.

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Technology Benefits
The power, dependability, and shelf life of alkaline batteries have been recognized for a number of years. Their disadvantage has been the lack of a readily available means to recharge them. The proven technology of the patented “Battery Xtender” Alkaline Battery Charger has now made that disadvantage all but disappear. Batteries in portable equipment are so much a part of our lives that we now take them for granted. Where great importance is placed on the reliability of battery power, the familiar one-time use alkaline batteries have always been a standby. Examples of use are in emergency flashlights, pagers for people who must be continually accessible for quick response, and for portable cardiac monitoring equipment in hospitals. When a commercially available product such as the “Battery Xtender” Alkaline Battery Charger is available at reasonable cost to replenish the stored energy of these dependable batteries, there will be a growing public awareness of the benefits of recharging alkaline batteries, as well as other types. Institutions will make use of the technology to reduce their battery consumption. Home use will grow as people find they can depend on this charger for keeping their batteries in a state of readiness.

Many families will find that one charger is not enough, and will keep one at their summer cottage, one in the workshop, and one in the office or other place of work. The rate of expansion of production of alkaline batteries has been growing steadily over the last decade, at a rate of six to eight percent per year. Part of this growth may be due to restrictions placed on nickel-cadmium batteries, both from the point of view of proper disposal and out of concern for the health of workers exposed to dangerous cadmium contamination in their manufacture.

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Technology Differentiation and Uniqueness
The “Battery Xtender” Alkaline Battery Recharger uses patented microprocessor control techniques to continuously monitor and control the charging of up to four batteries simultaneously. The same techniques can readily be extended to eight batteries as well. There is no temperature rise in the batteries being recharged, and careful control of the process ensures that there is no buildup of gas or pressure. Fifteen years of testing and improvement has gone into the development and as a result the performance has been fine tuned to achieve manifold increases in the number of times the original energy of the battery may be recycled through recharging.

Other features of the battery charger include automatic adjustment of the charging currents in proportion to the size of the batteries being charged. These features have been the subject of additional patent applications.

Technical Details Long Description
The invention, Alkaline Battery Charging Method and Battery Charger, is a method of recharging single-use batteries, known as primary batteries, of the alkaline-manganese dioxide-zinc type, commonly referred to as alkaline batteries, and sold under such trade names as Eveready Energizer and Duracell Coppertop. These are only two of a dozen or more brands of alkaline batteries. A special technology is necessary to recharge these batteries successfully and safely. This technology is represented in the patent and the current state of product improvement that is part of the intellectual property of the inventor of the Battery Xtender.

The charging process must not only be unconditionally safe, but must be convenient to use and understand. The present consumer product is intuitively easy to operate. Simply pull back a light spring-loaded slide, insert the battery with its positive terminal facing forward, and release the slide. When the slide contacts the negative end of the battery, a yellow light will indicate that charging has started, or a red light will signal that the battery was accidentally reversed end-for-end, resulting in incorrect polarity. Size-detection features will automatically determine the appropriate charging current magnitude for the size of battery inserted. During the time the battery is under charge, the yellow light remains lit. The terminal voltage of the battery is continuously monitored during this time. At frequent intervals throughout the charge cycle, a supplementary current boost is given to the battery, an operation referred to in the patent as the BTEST. Any voltage change at the battery terminals in response to this test is detected and used in the program logic to further control the charging, following a set of logic rules permanently incorporated into the microprocessor. The user is unaware that such operations are taking place, and only perceives that eventually the green light will turn on, indicating that charging is complete. At this point, the charging currents are turned off, and the battery may be removed, or may be left in place without danger of overcharging.

Although the microprocessor uses elapsed time since when the battery was first inserted as one of its measured variables, no Y2K or other date rollovers will affect the program operation. If there is an interruption of power during the charging cycle, the reapplication of power will cause a reset of the microprocessor, and charging will begin anew. This may occur any number of times without affecting the outcome of charging for batteries previously charged and turned off, or batteries undergoing charge at the time the power failed.

The charger receives its power through a wall adapter running on a-c voltage, through a 2-m long cord with detachable plug. The transformer adapter carries UL and CUL certification. For other countries the appropriate a-c voltage and frequency ratings are supplied, with acceptance according to C-E or other standards.

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