Principles and performance of the battery adapter

 

 

The popularity of mobile phones has greatly changed our lifestyle and rhythm of life. With mobile phones, we can play games, swipe videos, and do work anytime, anywhere. It can be said that mobile phones greatly facilitate our lives. Therefore, we are becoming increasingly inseparable from mobile phones, and the time spent using mobile phones is getting longer and longer.

 

However, the lifepo4 battery that comes with the mobile phone cannot be discharged continuously. Therefore, we need to charge. The charging method of mobile phones has developed with the development of mobile phones, and now the charging module of mobile phones is basically the structure of battery adapter and charging cable. Among them, the battery adapter is commonly known as the charging plug.

1. How the battery adapter works

Battery adapters are power conversion devices for small portable energy storage, home energy storage and electronic appliances such as mobile phones and tablet computers. Its working principle is to convert the input alternating current into direct current and output, which can be divided into wall type and desktop type according to the connection method. Battery adapters derive different physical interfaces and charging power according to the different needs of different mobile phone manufacturers.

After market screening, the current battery adapters mainly have the following types: the physical interface type of the mobile phone battery adapter can be divided into Type A and Type C two types. Charging power from the battery adapter can be divided into several types. According to the type of charging protocol, it can be divided into QC, PD and AFC battery adapters, Huawei battery adapters, etc.

Although there are many types of battery adapters nowadays, different adapters have the problem of incompatibility. Fortunately, battery adapters are now becoming more and more functional. There is a battery adapter with different physical jacks that can be compatible with many different protocols and a wide range of power, voltage, and current.

How the battery adapter works

 

It is believed that in the near future, there will be battery adapters that can unify related physical interfaces and protocols. When we contact the mobile phone battery adapter every day, we usually only know that the battery adapter is composed of two pins and a shell. I don't know much about the internal structure, only that inside is a circuit board (PBC board).

2. Structure of the battery adapter

● Metal prongs

Mobile phone battery adapter, also called AC battery adapter, is a DC power device that converts input AC power into output. Common mobile phone battery adapters are in-line battery adapters, and the plug and housing of the adapter constitute a whole. In-line battery adapter pins are usually made of iron or copper.

In terms of conductivity (resistivity) of conductors, the conductivity of iron pins is much worse than that of copper pins, so a good battery adapter must choose copper pins. The conductivity of copper pins is good, but copper will oxidize in the atmosphere for a long time and reduce resistivity, which will greatly reduce charging performance, so it is necessary to plate the surface of the pin with nickel for anti-oxidation treatment.

● Plastic housing

The shell material of the battery adapter is plastic, and it should have good heat resistance, durability, mechanical properties and dimensional stability of environmentally friendly composite materials. The material of the current shell is commonly environmentally friendly flame retardant PC glue, which has a high flame retardant grade.

● PCB board

Finally, there is the PCB board, commonly known as the circuit board. The PCB board determines the electrical performance of the entire circuit. The core of every mobile phone battery adapter is the PCB board. Components such as chips, capacitors, inductors, and PCB boards are soldered to the PCB.

Each component of the PCB board plays a different role in ensuring that the electrical performance of the entire circuit can be monitored in real time to ensure that the circuit will not have problems that damage electrical performance, such as overvoltage and overtemperature.

Structure of the battery adapter

 

In this regard, different manufacturers have different design solutions for self-designed battery adapters. It is mainly reflected in the use of components, circuit design, chip design, etc. Battery adapters with different power, circuit design, component use, and chip design are also different.

3. Function of the battery adapter

The battery adapter converts the input AC power into the output DC power supply, which is achieved by combining chips, capacitors, inductors, PCB boards and other components. Different functions of different components.

● Solid capacitor filtering

Solid capacitor filtering has a stable impedance over a wide temperature range and is suitable for power supply filtering. And it has high stability, which is especially important in overclocking. Solid capacitor filtering is mainly used to efficiently provide a stable and abundant power supply.

● Thermistor

Thermistors are used to reduce power surges. Varistors for overvoltage protection. These two together constitute an anti-surge protection module, which can effectively reduce the damage of the surge to the power supply equipment, and also has a certain lightning protection effect.

● Slow-fuse

Also known as delay fuse, its delay characteristics are manifested in the circuit when the non-fault pulse current remains intact and can provide protection against long-term overload.

● Transformer

The main thing is to change AC voltage to DC voltage and AC to DC current. In general, the voltage converter plays the role of voltage conversion, current conversion, etc. At present, the most advanced technology of battery adapters is super fast charging. From the data of the major e-commerce platforms, we can see that the retrieval frequency of the 5A super fast charging battery adapter is the highest. But for what super fast charging is, most users are not very clear.

4. Output voltage and current

To understand the super fast charging battery adapter, you must first understand the output voltage and current of the battery adapter. Many users know Huawei's 40W SuperCharge battery adapter (charging head), and probably know which voltages and current specifications it can support that exceed (including) 4A current can be defined as super fast charging.

Output voltage and current

 

It is not correct to define whether the battery adapter is super fast charging only from the output current and voltage of the adapter. To determine whether a battery adapter is super fast charging, you need to start with the fast charging protocol that the battery adapter can be compatible with.

The fast charging protocol refers to the code written in the battery adapter data line and the mobile phone charging module chip. With this code, the mobile phone can complete fast charging.

● Quick charge

QC fast charging is a fast charging technology in qualcomm snapdragon chip system, and its performance is achieved by qualcomm snapdragon series chips, which is currently the most widely used fast charging protocol.

● USB power delivery

USB power delivery, or USB PD for short, is a USB charging standard and technology. As one of the most popular fast charging protocols, PD protocol is also developing at the forefront of the times, as a mainstream charging protocol, and constantly updating charging standard technology.

● AFC fast charging protocol

Samsung, once the largest mobile phone manufacturer, has also created magic in the semiconductor field. The above are the common fast charging protocol types of battery adapters. For battery adapters, after writing the protocol and packaging, the most important thing is the performance test. When choosing a battery adapter, it is recommended to match the battery, or go to the battery stores nearby for consultation.

5. Battery adapter performance test

Regarding the test of battery adapter, it is mainly tested in two aspects: physical structure, and electrical performance.

Battery adapter performance test

 

● Physical structure

Mainly, the interface plug and pull test, plug and connection socket are plugged and unplugged, 3000 cycles of plug and unplugging, the mechanical structure should be free of damage. In addition, the shell material must have good heat resistance, durability, mechanical properties and dimensional stability. The current plug-in cycle of the battery adapter is generally greater than 5000 cycles.

● Electrical performance

Electrical performance test, via the charger tester, to test charger performance indicators, such as input, output voltage and current, and charger embedded in the fast charging protocol.

6. Conclusion

Battery adapters are often encountered in life, and understanding their structure and function helps us buy them. They can also be well protected during daily use, and choosing the right battery can also extend battery life.

 

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