Apparatus, system and method for a UPS

• US 7,786,618 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2008
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Spitaels, James S., Melanson, Mark R., Colucci, David A., Cohen, Daniel C.
• Primary Examiner(s): DeBeradinis; Robert L.
• Application Number:
  US12/061,397
• Publication Number:
  US 20090251002A1
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• Field of Search: 307/65
• US Class Current: 307/65
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 9/062 for AC powered loads

Abstract

According to one aspect of the invention, a UPS includes an input configured to be coupled to an AC power source, a DC power source, an output configured to receive power from at least one of the AC power source and the DC power source, a first switched receptacle outlet coupled to the output and configured to be coupled to a first electrical load and a second receptacle outlet coupled to the output and configured to be coupled to a second electrical load. According to some embodiments, the UPS also includes a control unit configurable to provide a first configuration associated with the first switched receptacle outlet, where the first configuration is employed by the control unit to control a connection of the first switched receptacle outlet to the output independent of the second receptacle outlet.

Claims

1. A UPS, comprising:

an input configured to be coupled to an AC power source;

a DC power source;

an output configured to receive power from at least one of the AC power source and the DC power source;

a first switched receptacle outlet coupled to the output and configured to be coupled to a first electrical load;

a second switched receptacle outlet coupled to the output and configured to be coupled to a second electrical load; and

a control unit configurable to provide a first configuration associated with the first switched receptacle outlet and a second configuration associated with the second switched receptacle outlet, wherein the first configuration is employed by the control unit to control a connection of the first switched receptacle outlet to the output based on a first status of the UPS and a status of the first electrical load, and wherein the second configuration is employed by the control unit to control a connection of the second switched receptacle outlet to the output based on a second status of the UPS and a status of the second electrical load.

2. The UPS of claim 1, further comprising a housing enclosing the UPS, wherein each of the first switched receptacle outlet and the second switched receptacle outlet are located at an exterior surface of the housing.

3. The UPS of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first switched receptacle outlet and the second switched receptacle outlet includes a plurality of switched receptacle outlets.

4. The UPS of claim 1, further comprising an interface coupled to the control unit, wherein the interface is configured to be employed in configuring the control unit with the first configuration.

5. The UPS of claim 4, wherein the interface is configured to allow a configuration of the control unit over a network using a web-based protocol.

6. The UPS of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to disconnect the first switched receptacle outlet from the output based on the first configuration.

7. The UPS of claim 6, wherein the DC power source includes a battery, and wherein the status of the UPS is evaluated at least in part by a capacity of the battery.

8. The UPS of claim 1, wherein the status of the first electrical load includes an on/off status of the first electrical load.

9. The UPS of claim 1, wherein the UPS further comprises:

a first switching device coupled to the output and the first switched receptacle outlet; and

a second switching device coupled to the output and the second switched receptacle outlet,

wherein the control unit is further configured to control an operation of the first switching device and an operation of the second switching device.

10. The UPS of claim 9, wherein the control unit generates a signal based at least on a condition included in the first configuration being met, and wherein the signal is received by the first switching device which acts to operate the first switching device to disconnect the first switched receptacle outlet from the output following receipt of the signal.

11. A method of independently controlling a first power outlet and a second power outlet included in a UPS, the first power outlet coupled to an output of the UPS and supplying power to a first electrical load and the second power outlet coupled to the output of the UPS and supplying power to a second electrical load, the method comprising acts of:

configuring the UPS to operate to turn off power to the first power outlet based on a first condition that concerns a first status of the UPS and a status of the first electrical load; and

configuring the UPS to operate to turn off power to the second power outlet based on a second condition that concerns a second status of the UPS and a status of the second electrical load.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the UPS includes an AC input configured to receive power from an AC power source, and wherein the status of the UPS includes an availability of the AC power at the AC input.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of configuring includes an act of configuring the UPS over a network using the web-based protocol.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising an act of communicating status information from the first electrical load to the UPS over the network.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the UPS includes an interface, and wherein the act of configuring includes an act of employing the interface to configure the UPS.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising acts of:

configuring the UPS to turn off power to a first plurality of power outlets based on the first condition, wherein the first power outlet is included in the first plurality of power outlets;

configuring the UPS to turn off power to a second plurality of power outlets based on the second condition, wherein the second power outlet is included in the second plurality of power outlets.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the UPS includes a DC power source, and wherein the method further comprises an act of determining whether each of the first condition is met and the second condition is met based at least in part on an expected runtime of the UPS supplying power to the first electrical load and the second electrical load from the DC power source.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the UPS includes a battery, and wherein the first condition includes a charge state of the battery.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the UPS is configured over a network using a web-based protocol.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising acts of storing a first shutdown configuration for the first power outlet and configuring the UPS to turn off power to the first power outlet based on the first shutdown configuration regardless of whether a connection of the UPS to the network is available.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein the first status of the UPS is different than the second status of the UPS.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein the first condition is independent of the second power outlet and the second electrical load, and wherein the second condition is independent of the first power outlet and the first electrical load.

23. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions including instructions that will cause a processor to perform a method of isolating each of a first power outlet and a second power outlet included in a UPS from an output of the UPS where the first power outlet is configured to be coupled to a first electrical load and the second power outlet is configured to be coupled to a second electrical load, the method comprising acts of:

receiving configuration information, including a first condition concerning a first status of the UPS and a status of the first electrical load, and also including a second condition concerning a second status of the UPS and a status of the second electrical load;

determining whether to disconnect the first power outlet from the output based on the first condition; and

determining whether to disconnect the second power outlet from the output based on the second condition.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises an act of receiving the configuration information over a network.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises an act of configuring the UPS to selectively turn off power to the first power outlet and the second power outlet based on a first shutdown configuration and a second shutdown configuration, respectively, regardless of whether a connection of the UPS to the network is available.