Power management in a system having a plurality of power supplies

• US 7,105,950 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2003
• Issued: 09/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Bemat, Mohamed A., Nguyen, Hai N.
• Primary Examiner(s): DeBeradinis, Robert L.
• Application Number:
  US10/672,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20050067902A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• Field of Search: 307/52
• US Class Current: 307/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 1/102 being switching converters H02J1/108, H02J1/12 take precedence

Abstract

A system may include a plurality of loads, a plurality of power supplies adapted to provide power to the loads, and control logic coupled to the power supplies. The control logic may determine whether output current from at least one of the power supplies to a load is below a lower threshold and, if so, may cause at least one of the power supplies to be disabled.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a plurality of loads;

a plurality of power supplies coupled to a common power distribution system, the plurality of power supplies are adapted to provide power to said loads; and

control logic coupled to said power supplies, said control logic determines whether output current from a power supply to a load is below a first threshold and, if so, causes one or more power supplies to be disabled;

wherein the control logic continues to disable power supplies until the output current from the power supplies then supplying power to a load is equal to or above said first threshold.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said control logic also determines whether output current from at least one of said power supplies exceeds a second threshold and, if so, causes a presently disabled power supply to be enabled.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said loads comprise computers.

4. A system, comprising:

a plurality of servers;

a plurality of power supplies adapted to provide power to said servers via a common distribution system; and

a power supply communication module coupled to said power supplies, said power supply communication module monitors loads on said power supplies and disables a power supply if a load is below a first threshold;

wherein after disabling a power supply, the power supply communication module monitors the loads on the power supplies presently supplying power to the servers and disables another power supply if a load is still below the first threshold.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the power supply communication module monitors loads by monitoring the output current of the power supplies.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the power supply communication module couples to the power supplies via a communication bus and requests a power supply to provide a value indicative of its load via the communication bus.

7. A system comprising:

a plurality of servers;

a plurality of power supplies adapted to provide power to said servers via a common distribution system; and

a power supply communication module coupled to said power supplies, said power supply communication module monitors loads on said power supplies and disables a power supply if a load is below a first threshold, wherein the power supply communication module enables a presently disabled power supply if a load on a power supply exceeds a second threshold.

8. A system, comprising:

a plurality of loads;

a plurality of power supplies adapted to provide power to said loads via a common distribution system;

means for determining whether output current from at least one of said power supplies to a load is below a first threshold and, if so, causing at least one of said power supplies to be disabled; and

means for continuing to disable power supplies until the output current from the power supplies presently supplying power to a load is equal or greater than said first threshold.

9. The system of claim 8, further including a means for determining whether output current from at least one of said power supplies exceeds a second threshold and, if so, causing a presently disabled power supply to be enabled.

10. Control logic adapted to dynamically control a plurality of power supplies, comprising:

a controller; and

memory coupled to said controller;

wherein said controller determines whether output current from at least one of said power supplies is below a first threshold and, if so, causing at least one of said power supplies to be disabled, and wherein said controller continues to disable power supplies until the output current from the power supplies is equal or greater than said first threshold.

11. The control logic of claim 10 wherein said controller also determines whether output current from at least one of said power supplies exceeds a second threshold and, if so, causes a presently disabled power supply to be enabled.

12. A method usable in a system including a plurality of power supplies which provide power to a plurality electrical devices, comprising:

monitoring the load on each of a plurality of power supplies;

comparing each of the loads to a first threshold; and

disabling a power supply if a load is below said first threshold thereby causing the load on the remaining power supplies to increase;

wherein disabling a power supply is repeated as long as a load on a power supply is below said first threshold.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein monitoring the load includes requesting the load to report its output current.

14. A method usable in a system including a plurality of power supplies which provide power to a plurality electrical devices, comprising:

monitoring the load on each of a plurality of power supplies;

comparing each of the loads to a first threshold;

disabling a power supply if a load is below said first threshold thereby causing the load on the remaining power supplies to increase; and

enabling a power supply if a load is greater than a second threshold.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein enabling a power supply is repeated as long as a load on a power supply is above said second threshold.