Method and apparatus for detecting conditions in paralleled DC power cables
AssigneeENI Technology, Inc.
InventorsDavid C. Halstead, Michael R. Gilbert
Life of this patent
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Abstract
To provide protection for power supplies in which a plurality of paralleled identical DC power cables are provided between a source and a load, one aspect of the present invention provides a method for detecting conditions in parallel DC power cables. The method includes supplying current from a power supply to each of a plurality of DC power cables, determining an average current per cable flowing in the plurality of parallel DC power cables, comparing currents in each of the DC power cables with the determined average current, and signaling the existence of a condition in response to the comparison.
Claims19
A method for detecting conditions in parallel DC power cables comprising:
- supplying current from a power supply to each of a plurality of DC power cables;
- determining an average current per cable flowing in the plurality of parallel DC power cables;
- comparing currents in each of the DC power cables with the determined average current;
- and
- signaling the existence of a condition in response to the comparison.
A condition detecting apparatus for cables connecting a power supply to a load, said apparatus configured to:
- determine an average current per cable flowing in a plurality of parallel DC power cables connected to the DC power supply;
- compare currents in each of the DC power cables with the determined average current;
- and
- signal the existence of a condition in response to the comparison.
A DC power supply configured to supply power to a load through a plurality of parallel DC cables, said power supply comprising:
- a DC current source;
- connectors coupled to the DC current source and configured to provide current from the DC current source to a plurality of parallel DC cables;
- current sensors configured to measure DC current flowing through each of the connectors;
- an averaging circuit responsive to the current sensors and configured to determine an average of the measured DC currents;
- a comparison circuit responsive to the averaging circuit and to the current sensors and configured to compare measured DC current flowing through each of the connectors with the average of the measured DC currents;
- and
- a control circuit responsive to the comparison circuit and configured to shut down the DC current source when the comparison circuit detects that at least one of the measured DC currents has dropped below the average of the measured DC currents by a predetermined percentage of the average current.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.