Apparatus and method for controlling a power supply
First Claim
1. A power supply circuit for supplying an output voltage to an electrical load, the power supply circuit comprising:
- an energy source device configured to generate a supply voltage;
a power converter circuit electrically coupled to the energy source device, the power converter circuit being configured to receive the supply voltage from the energy source device and produce the output voltage based on the supply voltage; and
a controller electrically coupled to the power converter and having a plurality of inputs configured to receive a plurality of input signals, at least one of the plurality of input signals being dependent upon an output signal of a separate controller of another power supply circuit, the controller being configured to control the operation of the power converter circuit based on the plurality of input signals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an electrical power supply having a plurality of switching power converter circuits and configured to supply a voltage to an electrical load, a method of controlling a duty cycle of at least one switch of one of the plurality of switching power converter circuits includes determining a storage voltage produced by the one of the plurality of energy storage devices. The method further includes determining an average storage voltage corresponding to an average of storage voltages produced by each of the plurality of energy storage devices. The method further includes determining at least one control signal as a function of the storage voltage, the average storage voltage, and a reference voltage. The method further includes controlling the duty cycle of the at least one switch of the one of the plurality of switching power converter circuits based upon the at least one control signal.
62 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A power supply circuit for supplying an output voltage to an electrical load, the power supply circuit comprising:
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an energy source device configured to generate a supply voltage; a power converter circuit electrically coupled to the energy source device, the power converter circuit being configured to receive the supply voltage from the energy source device and produce the output voltage based on the supply voltage; and a controller electrically coupled to the power converter and having a plurality of inputs configured to receive a plurality of input signals, at least one of the plurality of input signals being dependent upon an output signal of a separate controller of another power supply circuit, the controller being configured to control the operation of the power converter circuit based on the plurality of input signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12)
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10. A power supply circuit for supplying an output voltage to an electrical load, the power supply circuit comprising:
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an energy source device configured to generate a supply voltage; a power converter circuit electrically coupled to the energy source device, the power converter circuit being configured to receive the supply voltage from the energy source device and produce the output voltage based on the supply voltage; and a controller electrically coupled to the power converter and having a plurality of inputs configured to receive a plurality of input signals, the plurality of input signals including an average voltage signal, a reference voltage signal, and the supply voltage, at least one of the plurality of input signals being dependent upon an output signal of another power supply circuit, the controller being configured to control a duty cycle of the power converter circuit based on the average voltage signal, the reference voltage signal, and the supply voltage.
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13. A power supply system comprising:
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a plurality of energy source devices; a plurality of power supply circuits, each power supply circuit being coupled to a separate energy source device and including (i) a converter configured to produce an output voltage based on a supply voltage received from the separate energy source device and (ii) a controller electrically coupled to the converter and having a first input terminal, the controller being configured to control the operation of the converter based on a first input signal received on the first input terminal, wherein the first input terminal of each controller is electrically coupled to each other. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for generating an output voltage by a power supply circuit, the method comprising:
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receiving, with a power converter circuit of the power supply circuit, a supply voltage produced by an energy storage device; receiving (i) a first input signal by a first input of a controller of the power supply circuit and (ii) a second input signal by a second input of the controller, the first and second input signals being dependent upon operation of another power supply circuit; generating a control signal with the controller based on the first input signal and the second input signal; and controlling a duty cycle of the converter using the control signal so as to generate the output voltage based on the supply voltage.
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Specification