POWER MANAGER
First Claim
1. A power manager comprising:
- a power bus operating at with a first substantially constant DC bus voltage operating point;
an electronic controller including a memory module;
a plurality device ports operably connectable to the power bus wherein at least a portion of the plurality of device ports is interfaced with an external power device;
an input power converter having an input side and an output side disposed along an input power converting channel between the power bus and an input device port wherein the input power converter input side connects to the input device port and the input power converter output side connects to the power bus;
an output power converter having an input side and an output side disposed along an input power converting channel between the power bus and an output device port wherein the output power converter output side connects to the output device port and the output power converter input side connects to the power bus; and
a bus sensor module in communication with the electronic controller configured to sense the DC bus voltage,wherein the power manager is operable to select one or more external power devices to connect to the power bus over one of the input power converter and the output power converter and to calculate a total power conversion loss associated with power converting the selected external power devices based on the first substantially constant DC bus voltage operating point.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An improved power manager includes a power bus (410) and multiple device ports (1-5), with at least one device port configured as a universal port (3 and 4) to be selectively connected to the power bus over an input power channel that includes an input power converter (510) or over a output or universal power channel (412, 416) that includes an output power converter (440, 442). The universal power channel (412) allows the input port (4) to be selected as an output power channel instead of an input power channel (i.e. operated as a universal port) for outputting power to device port (4) over power converter (440). The improved power manager (500) includes operating modes for altering an operating voltage of the power bus (505), to minimize overall power conversion losses due to DC to DC power conversions used to connect non-bus voltage compatible power devices to the power bus.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A power manager comprising:
-
a power bus operating at with a first substantially constant DC bus voltage operating point; an electronic controller including a memory module; a plurality device ports operably connectable to the power bus wherein at least a portion of the plurality of device ports is interfaced with an external power device; an input power converter having an input side and an output side disposed along an input power converting channel between the power bus and an input device port wherein the input power converter input side connects to the input device port and the input power converter output side connects to the power bus; an output power converter having an input side and an output side disposed along an input power converting channel between the power bus and an output device port wherein the output power converter output side connects to the output device port and the output power converter input side connects to the power bus; and a bus sensor module in communication with the electronic controller configured to sense the DC bus voltage, wherein the power manager is operable to select one or more external power devices to connect to the power bus over one of the input power converter and the output power converter and to calculate a total power conversion loss associated with power converting the selected external power devices based on the first substantially constant DC bus voltage operating point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method for operating a power manager comprising a plurality of device ports operably connectable to a power bus over a power converter or over a non-converting power channel and an electronic controller in communication with each device port;
- comprising the steps of;
receiving data from each external power device connected to the power manager within the electronic controller, wherein the data at least includes a device type and an operating voltage of the external power device; selecting one or more external power devices for connection to the power bus over a power converter; and calculating a first total power conversion loss associated with connecting the selected one or more external power devices to the power bus over a power converter based on a first substantially constant DC bus voltage operating point. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
- comprising the steps of;
-
17. A power manager comprising:
-
an electronic controller and associated memory module; six device ports operably connectable to a power bus wherein the six device ports comprising two input device ports sharing a single input power converter disposed between each of the two input device ports and the power bus, a first pair of two output device ports sharing a first output power converter disposed between the first pair of two output device ports and the power bus, and a second pair of two output device ports sharing a second output power converter disposed between the second pair of two output device ports and the power bus; a non-converting power channel disposed between each of the six device port and the power bus; a controllable switch in communication with the electronic controller disposed along each of the six non-converting power channels between the device port and the power bus; a controllable switch in communication with the electronic controller disposed between each one of the two input ports and an input side of the single input power converter; a controllable switch in communication with the electronic controller disposed between each one of the first two output ports and an output side of the first output power converter; a controllable switch in communication with the electronic controller disposed between each one of the second two output ports and an output side of the second output power converter; wherein the power bus is operable at one or more substantially constant DC bus voltage operating points; and
,wherein the electronic controller is operable to select an optimal DC bus voltage operating point suitable for minimizing total power conversion loss. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
-
Specification