RECTIFIER CIRCUIT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, SUCH AS FOR USE IN CELL SITE POWER SYSTEMS
First Claim
1. A method for managing rectifier circuitry that supplies power to radio and telecommunications circuitry at a cell site, wherein the rectifier circuitry includes multiple rectifiers, the method comprising:
- monitoring a current drawn by the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site, whereinone or more rectifiers in the rectifier circuitry are online, and wherein the online rectifiers rectify an input power source and provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site; and
one or more rectifiers in the rectifier circuitry are offline, and wherein the offline rectifiers do not provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site;
determining whether the drawn current or a rectifier rotation policy necessitates changing which rectifiers in the rectifier circuitry are online, wherein the determination further comprises—
determining whether the drawn current or the rectifier rotation policy necessitates bringing one or more rectifiers online; and
determining whether the drawn current or the rectifier rotation policy necessitates taking one or more outgoing rectifiers offline;
when the drawn current or the rotation policy necessitates bringing one or more rectifiers online, then;
selecting, in accordance with the rectifier rotation policy, one or more rectifiers to bring online;
bringing the selected rectifiers online so that they rectify the input power source and provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site;
determining currents provided by each of the online rectifiers; and
comparing the currents of the online rectifiers to test the online rectifiers for failures; and
,when the drawn current or the rotation policy necessitates taking one or more rectifiers offline, then;
identifying, in accordance with the rectifier rotation policy, one or more outgoing rectifiers to take offline; and
taking the identified rectifiers offline so that they do not provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems, apparatus, methods, and manufactures for conserving power in a communications system such as a communications service cell site or cell site. The methods include adjusting the RF coverage of the cell site antenna, selective control of the RF output transmit power, selective control of the communications bit rate, transfer of communications to other cell sites, adjustment of indicators such that mobile devices transfer communications to other cell sites, and reallocation of logical slots between radios in the cell site. In some examples, the cell site employs a power controller. The power controller may utilize a switching circuit to produce two different voltages from a single battery string during a commercial power failure with improved conversion efficiencies. In another example, a power controller may manage multiple rectifiers so that the rectifiers operate more efficiently, such as with approximately equal runtime and with regular testing.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for managing rectifier circuitry that supplies power to radio and telecommunications circuitry at a cell site, wherein the rectifier circuitry includes multiple rectifiers, the method comprising:
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monitoring a current drawn by the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site, wherein one or more rectifiers in the rectifier circuitry are online, and wherein the online rectifiers rectify an input power source and provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site; and one or more rectifiers in the rectifier circuitry are offline, and wherein the offline rectifiers do not provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site; determining whether the drawn current or a rectifier rotation policy necessitates changing which rectifiers in the rectifier circuitry are online, wherein the determination further comprises— determining whether the drawn current or the rectifier rotation policy necessitates bringing one or more rectifiers online; and determining whether the drawn current or the rectifier rotation policy necessitates taking one or more outgoing rectifiers offline; when the drawn current or the rotation policy necessitates bringing one or more rectifiers online, then; selecting, in accordance with the rectifier rotation policy, one or more rectifiers to bring online; bringing the selected rectifiers online so that they rectify the input power source and provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site; determining currents provided by each of the online rectifiers; and comparing the currents of the online rectifiers to test the online rectifiers for failures; and
,when the drawn current or the rotation policy necessitates taking one or more rectifiers offline, then; identifying, in accordance with the rectifier rotation policy, one or more outgoing rectifiers to take offline; and taking the identified rectifiers offline so that they do not provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A power controller system for managing a rectifier and switch circuit, wherein the rectifier and switch circuit includes multiple rectifiers, and wherein the power controller system provides power to telecommunications circuitry at a base station, the system comprising:
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multiple rectifiers configured to provide power to telecommunications circuitry at the base station; multiple switches, wherein each of the multiple rectifiers is coupled to one of the multiple switcher; and
,at least one processor, wherein the processor is configured to— receive sense signals representing a condition of each of the multiple rectifiers; select, in accordance with a rotation policy or the sense signals, one or more incoming rectifiers to bring online; select, in accordance with the applicable rotation policy or the sense signals, one or more outgoing rectifiers to take offline; and
,provide control signals to the multiple switches to control which of the multiple rectifiers are online and which of the multiple rectifiers are offline, wherein online rectifiers provide power to the power to telecommunications circuitry at the base station, and wherein offline rectifiers do not provide power to the power to telecommunications circuitry. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A power controller system for managing multiple rectifiers that provide power to telecommunications circuitry at a base station, the system comprising:
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means for receiving sense signals representing a condition of each of the multiple rectifiers; means for selecting, in accordance with a rotation policy or the received sense signals, one or more incoming rectifiers to bring online or one or more outgoing rectifiers to take offline; and
,means for switching the multiple rectifiers online and offline, wherein online rectifiers provide power to the power to telecommunications circuitry at the base station, wherein offline rectifiers do not provide power to the power to telecommunications circuitry, and wherein only when the telecommunications circuitry at the base station requires full power are all of the multiple rectifiers online, but otherwise a number of rectifiers are online to operate the online rectifiers at an efficiency above 85%.
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16. A system for supplying backup battery power to radio and telecommunications circuitry at a cell site, comprising:
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a battery string having one or more serially connected batteries, wherein the battery string has a native voltage across first and second terminals of the battery string; a switching circuit that is configured to produce an output voltage at an output node that is greater than the native voltage of the battery string by alternatively coupling the output node to the first terminal of the battery string, then coupling the output node to the second terminal of the battery string; and
,a power controller configured to control the switching circuit and to control routing of power from the battery string and the switching circuit to provide the native voltage to a first telecommunications circuitry subsystem during a power failure, and to provide the greater voltage to a second telecommunications circuitry subsystem during the power failure. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification