Method and arrangement for supervising power supply systems

Power supply supervising means comprising,

• a plurality of scaling circuits for normalizing respective power supply outputs to be supervised,
• means applying the normalized supply voltage appearing at the output of each of said circuits to a respective input of a series of comparators, and
• means connecting the other input of each comparator to a reference voltage source,
• said comparator emitting an output signal each time the normalized supply voltage connected thereto exceeds applied reference voltage in a given direction, and
• a circuit for evaluating the output signals emitted by the comparators.

A power system for incorporation into a data processing system comprising,

• power supply means providing a plurality of controllable outputs,
• scanning means for sampling said outputs in groupings of said outputs according to similar tolerances,
• test means receiving sample signals from said scanning means corresponding to said outputs, said test means comprising
• multiple threshold detector means for comparing said sample signals to individually predetermined tolerance digital values, said detector means providing an interrupt signal to arrest said scanning means when a sample signal exceeds the corresponding tolerance, indicating an out-of-tolerance condition,
• measuring means responsive to said interrupt signal to further evaluate the relationship of the indicated out-of-tolerance sample signal and the corresponding tolerance level,
• and feedback control means responsive to said measuring means for altering the operation of said supply means.