ACTIVE DROOP CURRENT SHARING AMONG POWER SUPPLY UNITS
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for active droop current sharing, the method comprising:
- responsive to switching a load to a first power supply and to switching the load to a second power supply, activating droop control of a first current supplied by the first power supply and a second current supplied by the second power supply;
detecting that the first current is stable within a tolerance over a time period and that the second current is stable within the tolerance over the time period; and
responsive to detecting that the first current and the second current are stable and that a current difference between the first current and the second current is greater than a first maximum threshold, regulating the first current and the second current using active current control to reduce the current difference to correspond to the first maximum threshold.
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Abstract
Active droop current sharing among power supply units may regulate output currents of power supply units supplying shared current to a common load. The regulation may employ a combination of droop control and active current control. The shared current may be regulated such that each power supply unit provides a substantially equal share of the total current supplied. A current difference between two power supplies may be regulated to be within a desired maximum threshold for current difference.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for active droop current sharing, the method comprising:
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responsive to switching a load to a first power supply and to switching the load to a second power supply, activating droop control of a first current supplied by the first power supply and a second current supplied by the second power supply; detecting that the first current is stable within a tolerance over a time period and that the second current is stable within the tolerance over the time period; and responsive to detecting that the first current and the second current are stable and that a current difference between the first current and the second current is greater than a first maximum threshold, regulating the first current and the second current using active current control to reduce the current difference to correspond to the first maximum threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A power supply unit comprising:
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a first direct current (DC) power converter supplying a first current at an output voltage; a first mixer to generate an active current control feedback signal associated with active current control of the first current; a second mixer to generate a droop control feedback signal associated with droop control of the first current; and a master/slave determination unit to; when the first current is greater than a second current supplied by a second DC power converter, generate an external current sharing signal indicative of the first current; and when the first current is less than the second current, receive an external current sharing signal indicative of the second current, wherein the power supply unit is to; activate the droop control of the first current in response to switching a load to the power supply unit, detect that the first current is stable within a tolerance over a time period, and in response to detecting that the first current is stable, regulate the first current using the active current control to reduce a current difference between the first current and the second current to correspond to a first maximum threshold. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A power supply unit, comprising:
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a first direct current (DC) power converter supplying a first current to a load at a first output voltage; and a processor having access to a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to; activate droop control of the first current in response to switching a load to the power supply unit; generate an active current control feedback signal associated with active current control of the first current; generate a droop control feedback signal associated with droop control of the first current; when the first current is greater than a second current supplied by a second DC power converter, generate an external current sharing signal indicative of the first current; when the first current is less than the second current, receive an external current sharing signal indicative of the second current; detect that the first current is stable within a tolerance over a time period; and in response to detecting that the first current is stable, regulate the first current using the active current control to reduce a current difference between the first current and the second current to correspond to a maximum threshold. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification