POWER DISTRIBUTION APPARATUS

• US 20120083936A1
• Filed: 06/21/2010
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Wagner, Bernhard, Van Helvoort, Marinus Johannes Adrianus Maria, Van Vliet, Johannes Antonius, Kleihorst, Robert Paul, Leymann, Peter-Christian Erich Heinrich Han-Joach, Ostendorf, Arno
• Granted Patent: US 10,581,243 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/293
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/60 Limiting power consumption in the network or in one section of the network, e.g. load shedding or peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/66 one of the loads acting as master and the other or others acting as slaves
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/144 Demand-response operation of the power transmission or distribution network
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving

Abstract

The invention relates to an electrical power distribution apparatus (100) connectible to one or more loads (119). The electrical power distribution apparatus (100) comprises inter alia one or more taps (112) for supplying the loads (119) with electrical power. On top of circuit breakers (108) to switch off the power supply in order to protect the loads against damage, there is also arranged a second layer of soft fuse switches (110) which are arranged to switch on or off the power supply at the taps (112) to control distribution of the power. The soft fuses (110) operate in dependence on and in response to commands issued from a controller (105) which in turn operates and issues those commands in response to and independence on the voltages and amperages monitored at those taps (112) by way of a monitoring module (111). Switching on/off occurs at amperage and voltages lower than the critical threshold values to which the circuit breakers (108) respond to.

Claims

1. An electrical power distribution apparatus connectable to one or more loads, the apparatus comprising:

A mains transformer having a mains input for receiving electrical power to be distributed to one or more loads;

one or more taps for supplying the loads with the electrical power so received;

one or more circuit breakers operative to switch off the power supply at the one or more loads, if the voltage or amperage associated with the power supplied at the one or more loads exceeds a predetermined critical threshold values, thereby protecting the loads against damage;

a monitoring module arranged to monitor the voltage or amperage at the one or more loads;

a programmable control module arranged to issue control commands in response to and in dependence on the monitored voltage or amperage;

one more programmable fuses arranged to switch on or off in response to the issued control commands the supplied power at the one or more taps, the switching on or off the fuses occurring at voltages or amperages lower than the critical threshold value, thereby controlling the distribution of the electrical power throughout the one or more loads.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control module or the fuses are programmable or re-programmable during operation of the power distribution apparatus.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fuses are programmable to change the switching time of the fuse or a time-current characteristic of the fuse.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring module is further arranged to monitor the voltage or amperage at the mains input.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one or more taps are arranged in groups, each one of the groups of taps being supplied with a group specific amount of electrical power, the specific amount of power corresponding to the power requirements of the loads connectable to the taps within any one of the groups of taps.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the control module has a distributed architecture, comprising:

a master module arranged to control the group specific supply of the electric power from the main transformer to the groups of taps;

one or more slave control modules each associated with one of the groups of the taps, the slave control modules arranged to switch on or off the fuses of the taps within the associated group of taps.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the one or more slave control modules are arranged to receive configuration commands from the master control, the commands so received being suitable to re-program any one of the slave modules or to re-program any one of the fuses associated with any one of the one or more slave controllers.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an uninterruptible back-up power supply (UPS) suitable to supply mission critical ones of the one or more loads with electrical power in the event the apparatus, when in use, no longer receives electrical power at the mains input.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein, if the back-up power supply approaches a drained state, the fuses are switched off in a prioritized sequence so that mission critical loads having a higher priority are disconnected from the back-up power supply later than mission critical loads having a lower priority.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, the loads are medical imaging equipment in a medical facility.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fuse are arranged as solid state switches such as thryistors.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control module is arranged to split a 3-phase power signal at the mains input into three single ones, so as to supply ones of the connectable loads with the single phase power signals so obtained.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 where, based on the monitored amperages and voltage, the total load connected is load-balanced across the three input phases.

14. A method of distributing electrical power to one or more loads, the method comprising:

switching off power supplied at the one or more loads, if the voltage or amperage associated with the power supplied at the one or more loads exceeds a predetermined critical threshold values, thereby protecting the loads against damage;

monitoring a voltage or amperage at the one or more loads;

issuing control commands in response to and in dependence on the monitored voltage or amperage;

switching on or off in response to the issued control commands the supplied power at the one or more loads, the switching on or off occurring at voltages or amperages lower than the critical threshold value, thereby controlling the distribution of the electrical power throughout the one or more loads.

15. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer readable instructions suitable to cause a computer to perform the following steps in relation to distributing electrical power to one or more loads:

switching off power supplied at the one or more loads, if the voltage or amperage associated with the power supplied at the one or more loads exceeds a predetermined critical threshold values, thereby protecting the loads against damage;

monitoring a voltage or amperage at the one or more loads;

issuing control commands in response to and in dependence on the monitored voltage or amperage;

switching on or off in response to the issued control commands the supplied power at the one or more taps, the switching on or off occurring at voltages or amperages lower than the critical threshold value, thereby controlling the distribution of the electrical power throughout the one or more loads.