System and method for managing fault in a power system

• US 20050180065A1
• Filed: 07/13/2004
• Published: 08/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bel Power Solutions Inc.
• Original Assignee: Power-One Incorporated (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Chapuis, Alain
• Granted Patent: US 7,372,682 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 361/18
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 7/261 involving signal transmission between at least two stations transmission of signals in general H02H1/0061

Abstract

A power control system comprises a plurality of power control groups, with each group comprising a plurality of individual point-of-load regulators each adapted to provide respective regulated voltage outputs. The point-of-load regulators may be selected for inclusion in a power control groups based on characteristics of loads supplied by the point-of-load regulators. An intermediate bus controller is coupled to each of said power control groups through a serial data bus interface common to each group and an OK status line for each respective group. A front end regulator provides an intermediate bus voltage to each of the plurality of power control groups and to the intermediate bus controller. The plurality of point-of-load regulators of each group each further comprises a respective fault manager adapted to detect fault conditions and selectively communicate notifications of the fault conditions to other ones of the plurality of point-of-load regulators of the group and to the intermediate bus controller. This way, a common response to the fault conditions is taken by the point-of-load regulators of the group and other groups. A method for managing faults in the power control system is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A power control system comprising:

a plurality of power control groups, with each said group comprising a plurality of individual point-of-load regulators each adapted to provide respective regulated voltage outputs;

an intermediate bus controller in communication with each of said power control groups through a serial data bus interface common to each group and an OK status line unique for each respective group; and

a front end regulator providing an intermediate bus voltage to each of said plurality of power control groups;

wherein, said plurality of point-of-load regulators of each said group each further comprises a respective fault manager adapted to detect fault conditions and selectively communicate notifications of said fault conditions to other ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators of said group and to said intermediate bus controller so that a common response to said fault conditions is taken by said ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators of said group and other groups.

2. The power control system of claim 1, wherein said intermediate bus controller further comprises a master fault manager in communication with each said group through said OK status lines, said master fault manager receiving said notifications of said fault conditions and selectively communicating said notifications to said groups.

3. The power control system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of point-of-load regulators each further comprises a status register storing a data record of said detected fault conditions.

4. The power control system of claim 3, wherein said status register further comprises plural data fields corresponding to plural categories of said detected fault conditions.

5. The power control system of claim 1, wherein said fault manager of each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators is adapted to disable a corresponding point-of-load regulator in response to one of said fault conditions.

6. The power control system of claim 5, wherein said fault manager of each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators is adapted to re-enable said corresponding point-of-load regulator after a pause period.

7. The power control system of claim 5, wherein said fault manager of each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators is further adapted immediately disable said corresponding point-of-load regulator in response to said one of said fault conditions.

8. The power control system of claim 5, wherein said fault manager of each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators is further adapted disable said corresponding point-of-load regulator in accordance with a predetermined ramp-down rate in response to said one of said fault conditions.

9. The power control system of claim 5, wherein said fault manager of each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators is further adapted to latch said corresponding point-of-load regulator in the disabled state.

10. The power control system of claim 1, wherein said fault manager of each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators is adapted to communicate said notifications of said fault conditions to said intermediate bus controller via a corresponding one of said OK status lines.

11. The power control system of claim 1, wherein said fault manager of each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators of one of said groups is adapted to receive said notifications of said fault conditions from any one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators of said one of said groups.

12. The power control system of claim 1, wherein said fault manager of each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators of all of said groups is adapted to receive said notifications of said fault conditions from said intermediate bus controller.

13. The power control system of claim 1, wherein said intermediate bus controller is adapted to disable said front end regulator in response to one of said notifications of said fault conditions to thereby cut off said intermediate bus voltage from each of said plurality of power control groups.

14. The power control system of claim 1, further comprising a crowbar circuit responsive to said intermediate bus controller to drive said intermediate bus voltage to ground in response to one of said notifications of said fault conditions.

15. The power control system of claim 1, wherein said intermediate bus controller further comprises an interface permitting communication of programming data to program operation of said fault managers.

16. The power control system of claim 1, wherein said intermediate bus controller further comprises an interface permitting communication to a user of said notifications of said fault conditions.

17. A method for managing fault conditions in a power control system comprising a plurality of power control groups, with each said group comprising a plurality of individual point-of-load regulators each adapted to provide respective regulated voltage outputs, the method comprising:

detecting fault conditions locally within each point-of-load regulator of each said group;

selectively communicating notifications of said fault conditions to other ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators of said group and to other ones of said groups; and

responding to said fault conditions in a common manner by said ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators of said group.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving said notifications of said fault conditions and selectively communicating said notifications to other ones of said groups.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising storing a data record of said detected fault conditions.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said data record further comprises plural data fields corresponding to plural categories of said detected fault conditions.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising disabling a corresponding point-of-load regulator in response to one of said fault conditions.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising re-enabling said corresponding point-of-load regulator after a pause period.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising latching said corresponding point-of-load regulator in the disabled state.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising communicating said notifications of said fault conditions via a corresponding OK status line.

25. The method of claim 17, receiving said notifications of said fault conditions from any one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators of one of said groups.

26. The method of claim 17, further comprising disabling all point-of-load regulators of one of said groups in response to one of said fault conditions.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising restarting said disabled point-of-load regulators synchronously after a predetermined time period.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising restarting said disabled point-of-load regulators synchronously after said one of said fault conditions has cleared.

29. The method of claim 17, further comprising disabling all point-of-load regulators of all of said groups in response to one of said fault conditions.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising restarting said disabled point-of-load regulators synchronously after a predetermined time period.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising restarting said disabled point-of-load regulators synchronously after said one of said fault conditions has cleared.

32. The method of claim 17, further comprising cutting off an input voltage provided to each of said plurality of power control groups in response to one of said notifications of said fault conditions.

33. The method of claim 17, further comprising driving to ground an input voltage provided to each of said plurality of power control groups in response to one of said notifications of said fault conditions.

34. The method of claim 17, selecting ones of said point-of-load regulators for inclusion in at least one of said plurality of power control groups based on characteristics of loads supplied by said point-of-load regulators.

35. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving programming instructions determining manner of performing said step of selectively communicating notifications.

36. A point-of-load regulator for use in a power system including a plurality of like point-of-load regulators, comprising:

a power conversion circuit adapted to convert an intermediate bus voltage to an output voltage;

at least one sensor adapted to detect plural fault conditions of said power conversion circuit; and

a fault manager operatively coupled to said at least one sensor and said power conversion circuit, said fault manager being programmable to take corrective actions upon detection of said fault conditions, to selectively communicate notifications of said fault conditions to other ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators, and to receive like notifications of fault conditions of other ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators.

37. The point-of-load regulator of claim 36, further comprising a status register operative coupled to said at least one sensor and said fault manager, and having a memory storing a data record of said fault conditions.

38. The point-of-load regulator of claim 37, wherein said status register further comprises plural data fields corresponding to plural categories of said fault conditions.

39. The point-of-load regulator of claim 36, wherein said fault manager is adapted to disable said power conversion circuit in response to at least one of said plural fault conditions.

40. The point-of-load regulator of claim 39, wherein said fault manager is adapted to re-enable said power conversion circuit after a pause period.

41. The point-of-load regulator of claim 39, wherein said fault manager is further adapted immediately disable said power conversion circuit in response to said at least one of said plural fault conditions.

42. The point-of-load regulator of claim 39, wherein said fault manager is further adapted disable said power conversion circuit in accordance with a predetermined ramp-down rate in response to said at least one of said plural fault conditions.

43. The point-of-load regulator of claim 39, wherein said fault manager is further adapted to latch said power conversion circuit in the disabled state.

44. The point-of-load regulator of claim 36, wherein said fault manager is adapted to receive programming data defining said corrective actions.

45. A method for programming a power control system including a plurality of point-of-load regulators, comprising:

displaying at least one screen depicting a matrix including a first axis identifying each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators and a second axis identifying a plurality of virtual power control groups, said matrix further including a plurality of user selectable icons defining intersections between each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators and each of said plurality of power control groups;

receiving user input selecting ones of said user selectable icons; and

assigning selected ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators to ones of said plurality of power control groups in accordance with said user input;

wherein, fault conditions detected by any one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators assigned to a particular one of said plurality of power control groups are selectively propagated to other ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators assigned to said particular one of said plurality of power control groups so that a common response to said fault conditions is taken by each one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators assigned to said particular one of said plurality of power control groups.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising receiving user input to save a configuration file defining an assignment of said selected ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators to said ones of said plurality of power control groups.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising receiving user input to edit a saved configuration file defining an assignment of said selected ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators to said ones of said plurality of power control groups.

48. A method for programming a power control system including a plurality of point-of-load regulators, comprising:

displaying at least one screen depicting a plurality of potential fault conditions and selectable types of corrective actions to be taken responsive to said potential fault conditions;

receiving user input to select ones of said selectable types of corrective actions; and

programming at least one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators in accordance with said user input;

wherein, said at least one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators performs said selected types of corrective actions in response to actual fault conditions in accordance with said programming step.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein said selectable types of fault conditions include at least one of over-temperature, over-current, under-voltage, over-voltage, and phase voltage error.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein said selectable types of corrective actions include at least one of disabling a power conversion circuit of said at least one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators, restarting said power conversion circuit after a predetermined delay, latching said power conversion circuit in a disabled state, and propagating a fault condition notification to other ones of said plurality of point-of-load regulators of said power control system.

51. The method of claim 48, wherein said step of receiving user input further comprises receiving user input to determine whether said selected types of corrective action apply to a single one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators.

52. The method of claim 48, wherein said step of receiving user input further comprises receiving user input to determine whether said selected types of corrective action apply to all point-of-load regulators of a virtual group.

53. The method of claim 48, wherein said step of receiving user input further comprises receiving user input to determine whether said selected types of corrective action apply to all point-of-load regulators of said power control system.

54. A method for programming a power control system, comprising:

displaying at least one screen depicting a configuration of communication paths between a plurality of virtual power control groups, each one of said plurality of virtual power control groups having a respective plurality of point-of-load regulators assigned thereto;

receiving user input to enable selected ones of said communication paths defining propagation of fault notifications from ones of said plurality of virtual power control groups to others of said plurality of virtual power control groups; and

programming said plurality of point-of-load regulators of each of said plurality of virtual power control groups in accordance with said user input;

wherein, said plurality of point-of-load regulators of each of said plurality of virtual power control groups propagate said fault notifications in accordance with said programming step.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein said step of receiving user input further comprises receiving user input to disable a front end providing input voltage to each of said plurality of virtual power control groups in addition to said propagation of fault notifications from ones of said plurality of virtual power control groups to others of said plurality of virtual power control groups.

56. The method of claim 54, wherein said step of receiving user input further comprises receiving user input to trigger a crowbar circuit to short an input voltage to each of said plurality of virtual power control groups in addition to said propagation of fault notifications from ones of said plurality of virtual power control groups to others of said plurality of virtual power control groups.