Power source redundancy in a power supply

• US 9,705,321 B1
• Filed: 04/30/2014
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ross, Peter G., Frink, Darin Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Barnie, Rexford
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dhillon, Jagdeep
• Application Number:
  US14/265,686
• Time in Patent Office: 1,168 Days
• Field of Search: 307 43, 307 64, 307 91, 307 101, 307 66, 361624, 361622, 429 7, 320101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/263 Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC G06F1/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/305 in the event of power-supply fluctuations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2015 Redundant power supplies power supply failure G06F1/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3031 where the computing system component is a motherboard or an expansion card
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 1/10 Parallel operation of dc sources
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 1/108 using diodes blocking reverse current flow H02J1/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 1/14 Balancing the load in a network
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 9/06 with automatic change-over , e.g. UPS systems

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments of power source redundancy in a power supply for a rack mounted computing device. The power supply includes a plurality of AC power converters configured to receive power from corresponding power sources. A first AC power converter provides DC power to a common DC bus of the power supply. A second AC power converter provides DC power to the common DC bus in response to a change in the voltage level provided by the first AC power converter.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing direct current (DC) power at a first voltage level to a common DC bus in a power supply in a rack mounted computing device, the DC power converted from alternating current (AC) power received from a first AC power source;

providing regulated DC power from the common DC bus to elements of the rack mounted computing device; and

providing DC power at a second voltage level to the common DC bus through a diode in response to the first voltage level dropping below the second voltage level, the DC power provided through the diode converted from AC power received from a second AC power source; and

disconnecting a source of the DC power at the first voltage level from the common DC bus in response to comparison of the first voltage level to a predefined threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the regulated DC power is provided at a plurality of predefined voltages.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the DC power at the first voltage level is provided to the common DC bus via a second diode.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising coupling the power supply to the first and second AC power sources through a plurality of quick disconnect connectors.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the source of the DC power at the first voltage level is a primary AC power converter and a source of the DC power at the second voltage level is a backup AC power converter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the rack mounted computing device is a rack mounted server.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a program executable in at least one computing device, where execution of the program by the at least one computing device causes the at least one computing device to at least:

monitor a voltage level of direct current (DC) power provided to a common DC bus of a rack mounted computing device by a primary alternating current (AC) power converter receiving AC power from a first AC power source; and

facilitate provision of DC power to the common DC bus by a backup AC power converter receiving AC power from a second AC power source in response to a change in the voltage level provided by the primary AC power converter; and

disconnect the primary AC power converter from the common DC bus in response to a comparison of the voltage level to a predefined threshold.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the at least one computing device is the rack mounted computing device.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the program causes the at least one computing device to initiate provision of DC power from the backup AC power converter to the common DC bus in response to a change in the voltage level provided by the primary AC power converter breaching a predefined threshold.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the program causes the at least one computing device to initiate provision of DC power from the backup AC power converter to the common DC bus in response to the voltage level provided by the primary AC power converter dropping below the predefined threshold.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the program causes the at least one computing device to initiate provision of DC power from the backup AC power converter to the common DC bus in response to a rate of change in the voltage level provided by the primary AC power converter exceeding the predefined threshold.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the program causes the at least one computing device to provide an indication of an operational status of the backup AC power converter in response to breaching the predefined threshold.

13. A method, comprising:

providing direct current (DC) power converted by a first alternating current (AC) power converter in a power supply in a rack mounted computing device, to a common DC bus in the power supply;

monitoring a voltage level provided by the first AC power converter; and

in response to detecting a change in the voltage level provided by the first AC power converter, controlling provision of DC power converted by a second AC power converter in the power supply to the common DC bus, where the first AC power converter is disconnected from the common DC bus in response to the voltage level provided by the first AC power converter dropping below a voltage level of the second AC power converter.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first AC power converter receives power from one of a plurality of AC power sources, and the second AC power converter receives power from another one of the plurality of AC power sources.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the provision of the DC power by the second AC power converter is initiated in response to a comparison of the voltage level provided by the first AC power converter to a predefined threshold.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the provision of the DC power by the second AC power converter is initiated in response to a rate of change in the voltage level provided by the first AC power converter breaching a predefined threshold.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing an indication of an operational status of the second AC power converter in response to the comparison of the voltage level provided by the first AC power converter to the predefined threshold.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the indication is provided to a power management application.