Direct current power supply for mission critical applications
First Claim
1. A direct current power supply apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of transmutor modules;
current and voltage sensors connected to an output of each of said transmutor modules;
a droop controller connected to said output of each of said transmutor modules;
a respective compensation device connected to each droop controller for adjusting an output voltage of each transmutor module under control of said droop controller; and
a low bandwidth communications link connecting said droop controllers for sharing current data,wherein the droop controller implements a droop algorithm for respectively adjusting said module output voltages to compensate for droop at the respective module outputs, andsaid droop controller also implements a virtual bus algorithm in parallel with said droop algorithm for adjusting an output current by a correction factor calculated according to current data supplied by said low bandwidth communications link, said virtual bus algorithm being used solely for recalibration due to long term drifts.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A DC power supply apparatus and method of supplying DC power for mission critical applications utilizes multiple power circuits in one unit, the power circuits being optimizable for efficiency as the load increases or decreases. The individual power supplies may use a multiphase topology within the power circuits, with logic phase shifts between multiphase, and two types of power management circuits arranged in parallel, or an equivalent controller, for implementing: (a) a variable linear or variable exponential precision droop algorithm, and (b) a “virtual bus” or current averaging/active current sharing circuit, the current sharing being provided by a low bandwidth communications link between droop controllers in each of the power circuits. In addition, the droop/paralleling circuitry and/or programmed components may be arranged to implement two types of arc detection and suppression, including: (a) unequal positive and negative current in each power circuit to shut down the output power, and (b) monitoring output current for an arc “signature” to protect against arcs between positive and negative.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A direct current power supply apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of transmutor modules; current and voltage sensors connected to an output of each of said transmutor modules; a droop controller connected to said output of each of said transmutor modules; a respective compensation device connected to each droop controller for adjusting an output voltage of each transmutor module under control of said droop controller; and a low bandwidth communications link connecting said droop controllers for sharing current data, wherein the droop controller implements a droop algorithm for respectively adjusting said module output voltages to compensate for droop at the respective module outputs, and said droop controller also implements a virtual bus algorithm in parallel with said droop algorithm for adjusting an output current by a correction factor calculated according to current data supplied by said low bandwidth communications link, said virtual bus algorithm being used solely for recalibration due to long term drifts. - View Dependent Claims (2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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- 3. A direct current power supply apparatus as claimed 2, wherein said transmutor modules are three phase transmutor modules, in which a DC power input is fed to three pairs of power switching devices and the power switching device outputs are routed to a three legged, three phase transformer that outputs three square waves with a 60 degree overlap.
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13. A direct current power supply method for a DC power supply that includes a plurality of transmutor modules;
- a droop controller connected to an output of each of said transmutor modules;
a respective compensation device connected to each droop controller for adjusting an output voltage of each transmutor module under control of said droop controller; and
a low bandwidth communications link connecting said droop controllers for sharing current data, comprising the steps of;the droop controller implementing a droop algorithm for respectively adjusting said module output voltages to compensate for droop at the respective module outputs, and said droop controller also implementing a virtual bus algorithm in parallel with said droop algorithm for adjusting an output current by a correction factor calculated according to current data supplied by said low bandwidth communications link, said virtual bus algorithm being used solely for recalibration due to long term drifts. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
- a droop controller connected to an output of each of said transmutor modules;
Specification