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US 5,847,950 AGranted
Control system for a power supply
AssigneeElectronic Measurements, Inc.
InventorPradeep Madhav Bhagwat
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A power supply having a control system for permitting intelligent operation. The power supply: (i) is convenient, safe, and easy to program; (ii) is provided with a graceful shutdown in which output filter capacitor(s) are rapidly discharged while minimizing wasted energy; (iii) tracks and optimizes scheduled maintenance; (iv) permits two-way communication between the power supply and its controller; and/or (v) permits intelligent reconfiguration of a group of connected power supplies when one or more fails.
Claims13
A programmable power converter comprising:
- a) a power converter for converting an input power to an output power;
- b) a controller for controlling a gain of the power converter based on a sensed output of the power converter;
- c) an input device, the input device receiving scaled analog inputs and control inputs;
- and
- d) an output device providing scaled measurement analog outputs and monitor outputs,
- wherein the scaled analog inputs received by the input device include a first scaled signal representing a desired output voltage, a second scaled signal representing an output voltage limit, a third scaled signal representing a desired output current, and a fourth scaled signal representing an output current limit.
3 more elements
A programmable power converter comprising:
- a) a power converter for converting an input power to an output power;
- b) a controller for controlling a gain of the power converter based on a sensed output of the power converter;
- c) an input device, the input device receiving scaled analog inputs and control inputs;
- and
- d) an output device providing scaled measurement analog outputs and monitor outputs,
- wherein the scaled analog inputs received by the input device include at least one scaled signal representing information selected from a group consisting of:
- (i) desired output voltage;
- (ii) desired output current;
- (iii) program read back voltage gain;
- (iv) program read back current gain;
- (v) output voltage limit;
- (vi) output current limit;
- (vii) output over-voltage limit;
- (viii) output power limit;
- and (ix) over-voltage.
12 more elements
A programmable power converter comprising:
- a) a power converter for converting an input power to an output power;
- b) a controller for controlling a gain of the power converter based on a sensed output of the power converter;
- c) an input device, the input device receiving scaled analog inputs and control inputs;
- and
- d) an output device providing scaled measurement analog outputs and monitor outputs,
- wherein the scaled measurement analog outputs provided by the output device includes a first scaled output representing output voltage and a second scaled output representing output current.
3 more elements
A programmable power converter comprising:
- a) a power converter for converting an input power to an output power;
- b) a controller for controlling a gain of the power converter based on a sensed output of the power converter;
- c) an input device, the input device receiving scaled analog inputs and control inputs;
- and
- d) an output device providing scaled measurement analog outputs and monitor outputs,
- wherein the monitor outputs provided by the output device include PASS/FAIL or ON/OFF indications for at least one parameter selected from a group consisting of:
- (i) line brown out voltage;
- (ii) line frequency;
- (iii) line phase;
- (iv) neutral current;
- (v) temperature;
- (vi) local mode;
- (vii) remote mode;
- (viii) auto remote mode;
- (ix) RS232 interface;
- (x) IEEE488.2 interface;
- (xi) external analog voltage programming;
- (xii) external analog current programming;
- (xiii) master/slave condition;
- (xiv) voltage/current mode;
- and (xv) inverter temperature.
18 more elements
A programmable power converter comprising:
- a) a power converter for converting an input power to an output power;
- b) a controller for controlling a gain of the power converter based on a sensed output of the power converter;
- c) an input device, the input device receiving scaled analog inputs and control inputs;
- and
- d) an output device providing scaled measurement analog outputs and monitor outputs,
- wherein the output device further provides GO/NO-GO indicator signals and display signals.
3 more elements
A programmable power converter comprising:
- a) a power converter for converting an input power to an output power;
- b) a controller for controlling a gain of the power converter based on a sensed output of the power converter;
- c) an input device, the input device receiving scaled analog inputs and control inputs;
- d) an output device providing scaled measurement analog outputs and monitor outputs;
- e) an input device for receiving temperature, average output power, and operating time from the power supply;
- f) a storage device for storing the temperature, average output power, and operating time received from the input device;
- g) a maintenance factor generator for determining at least one maintenance factor from the stored temperature, average output power, and operating time;
- h) a comparison device for comparing the at least one maintenance factor with at least one maintenance threshold;
- and
- i) an output device providing at least one of (i) a message and (ii) an alarm when the at least one maintenance factor is greater than the at least one maintenance threshold.
7 more elements
A system for providing power to a load, the system comprising:
- a) a plurality of power converters, each of the plurality of power converters having:
- i) a positive output voltage terminal coupled with the load;
- ii) a negative output voltage terminal coupled with the load;
- iii) a master enable input for accepting a master enable signal corresponding to the particular power converter;
- iv) a watchdog signal output;
- and
- v) a programmable voltage input/output terminal for providing a scaled signal representing its output voltage if enabled as a master and for receiving a scaled signal representing a desired output voltage if a slave;
- and
- b) a processor, the processor
- i) receiving a watchdog signal from each of the plurality of power converters,
- ii) determining a next available master power converter based on the received watchdog signals, and
- iii) providing master enable signals to each of the plurality of power converters, wherein one of the master enable signals has a first state for enabling the power converter associated with it to act as a master, and wherein a remainder of the master enable signals have a second state for making the power converters associated with these signals slaves.
9 more elements
A system for providing power to a load, the system comprising:
- a) a plurality of power converters, each of the plurality of power converters having:
- i) a positive output voltage terminal coupled with the load;
- ii) a negative output voltage terminal coupled with the load;
- iii) a master enable input for accepting a master enable signal corresponding to the particular power converter;
- iv) a watchdog signal output;
- v) a programmable current input/output terminal for providing a scaled signal representing its output current if enabled as a master and for receiving a scaled signal representing a desired output current if a slave;
- and
- b) a processor, the processor
- i) receiving a watchdog signal from each of the plurality of power converters,
- ii) determining a next available master power converter based on the received watchdog signals, and
- iii) providing master enable signals to each of the plurality of power converters, wherein one of the master enable signals has a first state for enabling the power converter associated with it to act as a master, and wherein a remainder of the master enable signals have a second state for making the power converters associated with these signals slaves.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.