Reactive power control in power systems

A controller operative to control reactive power of a power system, the power system comprising a power supply unit, PSU, with a power input connected to a power grid, the PSU having a power output connected to a power input of a power distribution unit, PDU, that distributes power to a processing arrangement, whereby the power system serves the processing arrangement with power via the PDU, the processing arrangement having a data traffic workload, the power system further comprising a super capacitor unit being connected to the power output of the PSU, the controller being adapted to be connected to the processing arrangement, the PDU and the super capacitor unit, the controller is configured to schedule the data traffic workload of the processing arrangement, whereby the controller is configured to have information at time t(n) about the data traffic workload of the processing arrangement at a subsequent time t(n+1), where the time t(n+1) is one time interval from, and next to, the time t(n), the controller further comprising:

• a processing circuitry;
• and
• a memory having instructions executable by the processing circuitry, wherein said processing circuitry when executing said instructions is configured to:
• obtain at the time t(n), information about data traffic workload to be processed by the processing arrangement at the time t(n+1);
• estimate a power required by the processing arrangement for processing the data traffic workload scheduled at the time t(n+1), based on the obtained information about the data traffic workload at the time t(n);
• and
• upon determining that the power required by the processing arrangement is higher than a power threshold,
• retrieve super capacitor data from the memory, where said super capacitor data corresponds to the power required by the processing arrangement;
• and
• trigger discharge of the super capacitor unit based on the super capacitor data at the time t(n+1), such that power from the super capacitor unit is fed to the power input of the PDU at the time t(n+1), whereby transients in a voltage at the power input of the PDU are, at least in part, diminished at the time t(n+1), which reduces the reactive power of the power system, where said transients are related to the data traffic workload of the processing arrangement.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a computer program product including instructions to cause at least one processor of a controller operative to control reactive power of a power system, the power system comprising a power supply unit, PSU, with a power input connected to a power grid, the PSU having a power output connected to a power input of a power distribution unit, PDU, that distributes power to a processing arrangement, whereby the power system serves the processing arrangement with power via the PDU, the processing arrangement having a data traffic workload, the power system further comprising a super capacitor unit being connected to the power output of the PSU, the controller being adapted to be connected to the processing arrangement, the PDU and the super capacitor unit, the controller is configured to schedule the data traffic workload of the processing arrangement, whereby the controller is configured to have information at time t(n) about the data traffic workload of the processing arrangement at a subsequent time t(n+1), where the time t(n+1) is one time interval from, and next to, the time t(n), to:

• obtain, at the time t(n), information about data traffic workload to be processed by the processing arrangement at the time t(n+1);
• estimate a power required by the processing arrangement for processing the data traffic workload scheduled at the time t(n+1), based on the obtained information about the data traffic workload at the time t(n);
• and
• upon determining that the power required by the processing arrangement is higher than a power threshold,
• retrieve super capacitor data from a memory, where said super capacitor data corresponds to the power required by the processing arrangement;
• and
• trigger discharge of the super capacitor unit based on the super capacitor data at t time t(n+1), such that power from the super capacitor unit is fed to the power input of the PDU at the time t(n+1), whereby transients in a voltage at the power input of the PDU are, at least in part, diminished at the time t(n+1), which reduces the reactive power of the power system, where said transients are related to the data traffic workload of the processing arrangement.