Dual input, hot swappable dual redundant, enhanced N‘AC to DC power system
The inventive system uses modular N+1 bulk power supplies to power a computer system. Thus, the individual BPSs may be replaced while the system is on-line. Each BPS is split into two halves, with each halve being run by a separate power grid. This means that if one of the power grids goes down, the other grid fills the power. Thus, there are no switching times or latencies, the inventive power supply system keeps running. When both power grids are present, each power supply halve in a BPS load shares 50/50. The two input AC power grids are each controlled separately via two power distribution control assemblies (PDCA). Each assembly can be separately configured for 3 phase wye, 3-phase delta or single phase inputs.
The present invention is a continuation of and claims priority to copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/171,915 entitled “Dual Input, Hot Swappable Dual Redundant, Enhanced N+1 AC to DC Power System,” filed Jun. 14, 2002, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/940,973 entitled, “Dual Input, Hot Swappable Dual Redundant, Enhanced N+1 AC to DC Power System,” filed Aug. 28, 2001, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,470 entitled, “Dual Input, Hot Swappable Dual Redundant, Enhanced N+1 AC to DC Power System,” issued Mar. 12, 2002, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF INVENTIONThis application is related in general to power supplies, and in specific to a N+1 power supply system that can be configured for different input AC power formats.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ARTLarge, multi-processor computer systems are business enterprise servers for use by large corporations with high speed computer needs, e.g. automotive companies, large accounting firms, Internet companies, etc. Enterprise servers take large amounts of AC current from the site power, typically on the order of 10-20 kilowatts of power. Therefore, 3-phase power is usually used to power these systems. One of the major requirement for enterprise servers is what is called high availability. The meaning here is that there is the desire that there are no external events force the machine to crash. One common event that leads to a system crash is loss of the system power. This may occur as a result of a commercial power producer problem or it may originate with loss of a system power component. Note that with three phase power, the problem can be from the loss of the entire 3-phase grid, or loss of one of the three legs.
To avert such failures, enterprise server customers generally try to have an un-interruptible power supply or back-up motor generator running their systems. In this case, the un-interruptible power supply, or UPS, is always online and of course, it too can fail. What was needed, then, was a different way to ensure availability and reliability.
One typical way is to have two power grids available for the product. One power grid could be the site 3-phase power, and the other one could be an un-interruptible power supply or perhaps even a motor generator. Thus, when a failure is sensed on one of those power grids, an active switch mechanism changes the power feed to the computer product. In other words, if grid A failed, it would be sensed and grid B would be switched over into the machine. There are problems with this approach, primarily because the phase relationship between grid A and grid B must be the same. Also, the tolerances of the power should also be the same, i.e. the power supplied by both grids should have the same voltages and current levels. The biggest problem is that there is a latency time relating to that switchover. Thus, the computer may suffer a power drop during switch over, and thus may crash. Systems with such backups are referred to as N+1 systems, the N being the required number of power grids, the +1 being the backup grid.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThese and other objects, features and technical advantages are achieved by a system and method which uses modular N+1 power sources. Thus, the individual power supplies, or bulk power supplies (BPSs) may be swapped out of the computer. The BPSs supply power to the computer components. The power supply system uses a plurality of BPSs according to an N+1 requirement. For example, if 5 BPSs are required to run the computer system, then 6 BPSs would be installed in the power supply system. Thus, if one BPS goes down, the remaining five can satisfy the system's power needs. This also allows the BPSs to be hot swappable, meaning that a BPS can be changed for a new one, without shutting the system down. This allows for the system to be repaired, e.g. defective BPSs can be swapped, or upgraded, e.g. a newer model replaces an older one. This also allows for repairs or modifications to be performed while the system is running, e.g. one BPS is pulled for repair/modification, while the other BPSs provide power to the system.
Each BPS is split into two halves, with each halve being run by a separate power grid. This means that if one of the power grids goes down, the other grid fills the power. Thus, there are no switching times or latencies, the inventive power supply system keeps running. When both power grids are present, each power supply halve in a BPS load shares 50/50. To make this possible, it was necessary to be able to accommodate two input power grids of basically any voltage between 176 and 284 VAC. The phase relationship of these voltages is unimportant.
The two input AC power grids are each controlled separately via two power distribution control assemblies (PDCA). Each assembly can be separately configured for 3 phase wye or 3-phase delta inputs. Each PDCA can also be separately configured to receive single phase power. Each PDCA divides the power among the BPSs. The wiring blocks used to configure the PDCA for any 3 phase wye, 3-phase delta inputs, or single phase are field configurable, and can be changed out to permit a different power input. Thus, if one power grid or PDCA goes down, the BPSs will pull their power needs from the other PDCA and grid. Thus, if one PDCA goes down, the remaining one can satisfy the system's power needs. This also allows the PDCAs to be hot swapped, meaning that a PDCA can be changed for a new one, without shutting the system down. This allows for the system to be repaired, e.g. defective PDCAs can be swapped, or upgraded, e.g. a newer model replaces an older one. This also allows for repairs or modifications to be performed while the system is running, e.g. one PDCA is pulled for repair/modification, while the other PDCA provides power to the system.
Therefore, it is a technical advantage of the present invention to be able use any form of power to supply the computer system, e.g. 3-phase delta power, 3-phase wye power, single phase power, motor generated power, or UPS power. Any of these configurations can be accommodated as either the primary and/or the backup power source.
It is another a technical advantage of the present invention to be able have a two way redundant power supply. One is AC input power redundancy, via two PDCAs. The other is DC power redundancy, via N+1 BPSs.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFor a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:
The PDCAs 104, 106 can be field-configured to accept 3-phase delta, 3-phase wye, or single phase as the power source, depending on the grid 103, 105 being used. The phase legs of the three phase inputs are arranged such that legs, L1, L2, and L3, each feeds two BPS slots. Each BPS receives an input from each PDCA. Thus, a power loss from one of the PDCAs would only disable one-half of each BPS. Each BPS is connected to a power monitor (301 of
The wiring blocks of
Although the invention has been described in terms of three phase power grids, 103, 104. These grids could either or both be large single phase grids. In that case, the wiring in the PDCA would be a 6 way split of the input power grid, with one line to each slot.
Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.
Claims
1. A bulk power supply providing a supply power output for a user system comprising:
- a first converter subsystem that receives a first type of power from a first grid and is capable of producing a first power output; and
- a second converter subsystem that receives a second type of power from a second grid and is capable of producing a second power output;
- wherein if the first and second converter subsystems are operating, then the supply power output is equal to approximately one half of the first power output plus approximately one half of the second power output;
- wherein if the first converter subsystem fails, then the supply power output is equal to the second power output.
2. The bulk power supply of claim 1 wherein:
- the first type is different from the second type.
3. The bulk power supply of claim 2 wherein each of the first type and the second type is selected from the group consisting of:
- three phase delta, three phase wye, and single phase power.
4. The bulk power supply of claim 1 wherein:
- the first type is the same as the second type.
5. The bulk power supply of claim 4 wherein the first type is selected from the group consisting of:
- three phase delta, three phase wye, and single phase power.
6. The bulk power supply of claim 1 wherein each converter subsystem comprises:
- a line filter that prevents signals from being reflected back in the grid;
- a rectifier for converting the power from the grid to DC power;
- a power factor correction to ensure the DC power has at least a predetermined value for power factor; and
- a DC converter that receives the corrected DC power and produces an output that is at a level usable by the user system.
7. The bulk power supply of claim 1 wherein
- the bulk power supply is one of a plurality of bulk power supplies;
- the plurality of bulk power supplies is equal to N+1, wherein N is the number of bulk power supplies required to supply the user system; and
- whereby a failure of one bulk power supply will permit the remaining bulk power supplies to provide power to the user system.
8. The bulk power supply system of claim 3 wherein:
- each bulk power supply may be replaced while the user system is on-line.
9. A method of providing a supply power output for a user system comprising:
- receiving a first type of power from a first grid;
- forming a first power output from the first type of power by a first system;
- receiving a second type of power from a second grid and is capable of producing a second power output;
- forming a second power output from the second type of power by a second system;
- forming the supply power output from approximately one half of the first power output and approximately one half of the second power output, if the first system and the second system are operating; and
- forming the supply power output from the second power output, if the first system is not operating.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein:
- the first type is different from the second type.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein each of the first type and the second type is selected from the group consisting of:
- three phase delta, three phase wye, and single phase power.
12. The method of claim 9 wherein:
- the first type is the same as the second type.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein the first type is selected from the group consisting of:
- three phase delta, three phase wye, and single phase power.
14. The method of claim 9 wherein forming the first power output and forming the second power output each comprises:
- preventing signals from being reflected back in the grid;
- converting the power from the grid to DC power;
- correcting the DC power to ensure the DC power has at least a predetermined value for power factor; and
- producing an output that is at a level usable by the user system from the corrected DC power.
15. A method of providing a supply power output for a user system comprising:
- receiving AC power from a first grid;
- forming a first power output from the AC power from the first grid by a first system;
- receiving AC power from a second grid;
- forming a second power output from the AC power from the first grid by a second system;
- forming the supply power output from approximately one half of the first power output and approximately one half of the second power output, if the first system and the second system are operating; and
- forming the supply power output from the second power output, if the first systems is not operating.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein forming the first power output and forming the second power output each comprises:
- preventing signals from being reflected back in the grid;
- converting the AC power to DC power;
- correcting the DC power to ensure the DC power has at least a predetermined value for power factor; and
- producing an output that is at a level usable by the user system from the corrected DC power.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 15, 2003
Publication Date: Dec 20, 2007
Inventors: Ray Sadler (Plano, TX), Shaun Harris (McKinney, TX)
Application Number: 10/662,178
International Classification: H02M 1/00 (20060101);