Considerations to improve the practical design of universal and full-effective NiCd/NiMH battery fast-chargers

An effective fast-charger for NiCd/NiMH batteries used in portable applications must be able to estimate previous battery charge state and to make decisions to minimize charging time without negative effects on battery-life. In this paper, some new methods for estimating and making decisions are presented. Due to these methods can be easily implemented, effective and universal battery fast-chargers can be obtained by using few and inexpensive components.