Power management system
AssigneeAlaris Medical Systems, Inc.
InventorsHouston A. Brown, John Mossman, George C. Lysy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a power supply of a patient care system, a power management system monitors the temperature of an off-line switcher and adjusts the amount of current supplied by the off-line switcher to operate the off-line switcher within a range of temperature and power limits.
Claims32
A power supply for a patient care system, comprising:
- an off-line switcher having an external power input and an internal power output;
- a first temperature sensor outputting a first signal representative of a first sensed temperature adjacent the off-line switcher;
- a voltage sensor outputting a second signal VS representative of a sensed output voltage of the off-line switcher;
- a current sensor outputting a third signal IS representative of a sensed output current of the off-line switcher;
- a battery;
- a battery charger communicating with the off-line switcher and the battery to charge the battery at a charge rate;
- a memory storing a power management procedure;
- and
- processor means communicating with said sensors for varying the charge rate to the battery in accordance with the power management procedure in response to said first, second and third signals.
A patient care system comprising:
- at least one functional unit;
- and
- an interface unit adapted to be coupled to and communicate with the at least one functional unit, the advanced interface unit including:
- an off-line switcher having an external power input and an internal power output;
- a first temperature sensor outputting a first signal representative of a first sensed temperature;
- a voltage sensor outputting a second signal VS representative of a sensed output voltage of the off-line switcher;
- a current sensor outputting a third signal IS representative of a sensed output current of the off-line switcher;
- a battery to supply a battery voltage;
- a battery charger electrically coupled to the off-line switcher and to the battery charging said battery at a charge rate;
- system DC power means, electrically connected to the off-line switcher and electrically connected to the battery to alternately receive system DC power therefrom, the system DC power means generating a set of voltages, at least one voltage of said set of voltages being supplied to the at least one functional unit;
- a memory storing a power management procedure;
- and
- processor means communicating with said sensors for varying the charge rate of the battery in accordance with the power management procedure in response to the first, second and third signals.
A method of managing power in a patient care system comprising:
- charging a battery at a first charge rate;
- measuring a first temperature of an internal power source;
- measuring a supplied voltage VH and a supplied current IH from the internal power source;
- determining a supplied power supplied by the internal power source at the first charge rate;
- determining a maximum allowable power PTEMP for the first temperature;
- and
- varying the charge rate of the battery when the supplied power exceeds the maximum allowable power PTEMP.
A computer program product for managing power in a patient care system, the computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising:
- a power manager that:
- causes a battery to charge at a first charge rate,
- measures a first temperature of an internal power source,
- determines a supplied power supplied by the internal power source at the first charge rate,
- determines a maximum allowable power for the first temperature, and
- varies the charge rate of the battery when the supplied power exceeds the maximum allowable power;
- and
- instructions that periodically invoke the power manager.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.