LOAD SHARING ARCHITECTURE FOR REDUNDANT CHANNEL CONTROLLERS

• US 20110276190A1
• Filed: 05/10/2010
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Lillis, Mark, Hojnowski, Walter S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,644,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/293
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/44 for aircrafts
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/007 Arrangements for selectively connecting the load or loads to one or several among a plurality of power lines or power sources for providing uninterruptable power supply H02J9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 4/00 Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks not specified as ac or dc
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 9/04 in which the distribution system is disconnected from the normal source and connected to a standby source

Abstract

A redundant, multi-source architecture provides output loads access to each of the plurality of power sources. The architecture includes at a least a first power bus and a second power bus. A plurality of loads are connected to the first power bus and the second power bus. Redundant first and second channel controllers are connected to receive power from the first power bus and the second power bus, respectively, wherein one of the first and second channel controllers is designated as the active channel controller. The active channel controller allocates power from both the first power bus and the second power bus to each of the plurality of loads.

Claims

1. A redundant, load-sharing system comprising:

a first power bus;

a second power bus;

a plurality of loads each connected to both the first power bus and the second power bus;

a first channel controller connected to receive power from the first power bus and connected to provide power allocation instructions to each of the plurality of loads; and

a second channel controller redundant to the first channel controller and connected to receive power from the second power bus and connected to provide power allocation instructions to each of the plurality of loads, wherein one of the first and second channel controllers is designated as an active channel controller, the active channel controller providing power allocation instructions to each of the plurality of loads to allocate power from both the first power bus and the second power bus to the plurality of loads.

2. The redundant, load-sharing system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of loads includes a load setting register that stores power allocation instructions received from the active channel controller.

3. The redundant, load-sharing system of claim 1, wherein the first power bus and the second power bus each include a protective circuit defined by a trip threshold, wherein the active channel controller allocates power to the plurality of loads such that the power provided by the first power bus and the second power bus is less than the trip threshold of each protective circuit.

4. The redundant, load-sharing system of claim 3, wherein the protective circuit is a circuit breaker.

5. The redundant, load-sharing system of claim 3, wherein the active channel controller further allocates power to the plurality of loads based on nominal, transient, and worst case scenarios associated with each of the plurality of loads.

6. The redundant, load-sharing system of claim 1, wherein the first channel controller and the second channel controller include hardware for determining power allocation between the first power bus and the second power bus.

7. The redundant, load-sharing system of claim 1, wherein the first channel controller and the second channel controller each include a microprocessor for executing software stored on a computer readable medium for determining power allocation between the first power bus and the second power bus.

8. The redundant, load-sharing system of claim 1, wherein the active channel controller implements a reduced performance mode when either the first power bus or the second power bus becomes unavailable.

9. The redundant, load-sharing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of loads are organized into power groups based in part on the expected power drawn by each of the plurality of loads.

10. A channel controller for use in a redundant, load-sharing architecture in which a plurality of loads are connected to selectively receive power from either a local power bus or a redundant power bus, the channel controller comprising:

a power allocation module that monitors the status of the local power bus, receives input from a redundant channel controller regarding the status of the redundant power bus, evaluates power demands of the plurality of loads, and allocates power from the local power bus and the redundant power bus to the plurality of loads; and

a communication output for providing power allocation instructions to each of the plurality of loads based upon the allocation of power determined by the power allocation module.

11. The channel controller of claim 10, wherein the power allocation module determines power allocation to the plurality of loads based, in part, on expected power required by each load and power thresholds associated with the local and redundant power buses.

12. The channel controller of claim 11, wherein the power allocation module determines power allocation to the plurality of loads based, in addition, on nominal, transient, and worst case scenarios regarding expected power requirements of each of the plurality of loads.

13. The channel controller of claim 10, wherein the power allocation module includes a microprocessor executing software stored on a computer readable medium for making determinations regarding the allocation of power from the local power bus and the redundant power bus to the plurality of loads.

14. The channel controller of claim 10, wherein the power allocation module includes power share arbitration logic for making determinations regarding the allocation of power from the local power bus and the redundant power bus to the plurality of loads.

15. The channel controller of claim 10, further including:

an input interface for providing instructions regarding load operation for use by the power allocation module in determining allocation of power.

16. A method of allocating power to a plurality of loads from both a first power bus and a second power bus connected to each of the plurality of loads, the method comprising:

selecting an active channel controller from a first channel controller and a second channel controller, the first chancel controller connected to receive and monitor power from the first power bus, the second channel controller connected to receive and monitor power from the second power bus;

evaluating power demand requirements of the plurality of loads;

allocating power from the first power bus and the second power bus to the plurality of loads; and

communicating the allocation of power from the active channel controller to the plurality of loads.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein allocating power from the first power bus and the second power bus to the plurality of loads includes:

ensuring allocation of power from the first power bus does not exceed a trip threshold of a first protective circuit associated with the first power bus; and

ensuring allocation of power from the second power bus does not exceed a trip threshold of a second protective circuit associated with the second power bus.