REDUNDANT POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM
A redundant power supply system includes a system cabinet, a first power supply apparatus, a second power supply apparatus and a power converting circuit board. The system cabinet at least includes a first receptacle and a second receptacle. The first power supply apparatus has a first connection interface. The second power supply apparatus has a second connection interface. The power converting circuit board is disposed inside the system cabinet and includes a first insertion slot, a second insertion slot and a power converting circuit. A voltage outputted from the first power supply apparatus and/or the second power supply apparatus is converted by the power converting circuit into a regulated voltage when the first connection interface of the first power supply apparatus and the second connection interface of the second power supply apparatus are inserted into the first insertion slot and the second insertion slot, respectively.
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The present invention relates to a power supply system, and more particularly to a redundant power supply system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONPower supply apparatuses are essential for many electronic appliances such as personal computers, industrial computers, servers, communication products or network products. Normally, the power supply apparatus may provide stable electricity to the electronic appliance. In a case that the power supply apparatus has a breakdown, the electronic appliance is possibly damaged or the data stored in the electronic appliance is lost. For enhancing capacity and reliability of power supply, a redundant power supply system has been proposed. The redundant power supply system includes a plurality of separated power supply apparatuses, which are electrically to each other and contained in a system cabinet. During operation of the redundant power supply system, individual power supply apparatuses share responsibility for providing electricity to the electronic appliance. If one of the power supply apparatuses has a breakdown and fails to normally provide electricity, the others could continuously provide electricity to the loads.
Referring to
Since the backside plate 13 of the redundant power supply system 1 is an adapter interface for transferring the electricity provided by the first power supply apparatus 11 and the second power supply apparatus 12. Under this circumstance, no power converting circuit is arranged on the backside plate 13. For converting input voltages into regulated voltages, the first power supply apparatus 11 and the second power supply apparatus 12 further include power converting circuits such as AC-to-DC converting circuits or DC-to-DC converting circuits. When the first connection interface 111 of the first power supply apparatus 11 and the second connection interface 121 of the second power supply apparatus 12 are respectively inserted into the first insertion slot 131 and the second insertion slot 132 of the backside plate 13, the power converting circuits inside the first power supply apparatus 11 and the second power supply apparatus 12 are electrically to the electronic appliance. As a consequence, the first power supply apparatus 11 and the second power supply apparatus 12 are relatively long. In a case that one of the power supply apparatuses has a breakdown and fails to normally provide electricity, the other power supply apparatus could continuously provide electricity to the electronic appliance. However, there are still some drawbacks. For example, the heat generated from the backside plate 13 fails to be effectively dissipated away. In addition, the airflows driven by the fans inside the power supply apparatuses are impeded by the backside plate 13. Since no additional airflow is provided in the system cabinet 10, the redundant power supply system 1 has insufficient heat-dissipating efficiency, lowered power-converting efficiency or shortened life.
Referring to
Although the first backside plate 181, the second backside plate 182 and the circuit boards 185 cooperatively form a power converting circuit, there are still some drawbacks. Since the first backside plate 181 and the second backside plate 182 are respectively parallel with the first power supply apparatus 16 and the second power supply apparatus 17, the overall length of the redundant power supply system 1 fails to be further reduced. In addition, the configuration of the redundant power supply system 1 shown in
In views of the above-described disadvantages resulted from the conventional method, the applicant keeps on carving unflaggingly to develop a redundant power supply system according to the present invention through wholehearted experience and research.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to provide a redundant power supply system having a scale-down size and enhanced heat-dissipating efficiency.
Another object of the present invention provides a redundant power supply system, in which a power converting circuit board cooperates with the ventilation holes of the system cabinet to remove heat and shorten the length of the whole system.
A further object of the present invention provides a redundant power supply system, which is electrically connected to many kinds of electronic appliances (e.g. personal computers, industrial computers, servers, communication products or network products) via electronic connectors of different specifications.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a redundant power supply system. The redundant power supply system includes a system cabinet, a first power supply apparatus, a second power supply apparatus and a power converting circuit board. The system cabinet at least includes a first receptacle and a second receptacle. The first power supply apparatus has a first connection interface. The second power supply apparatus has a second connection interface. The power converting circuit board is disposed inside the system cabinet and includes a first insertion slot, a second insertion slot and a power converting circuit. The power converting circuit board is substantially perpendicular to the length directions of the first power supply apparatus and the second power supply apparatus. A voltage outputted from the first power supply apparatus and/or the second power supply apparatus is converted by the power converting circuit into a regulated voltage when the first connection interface of the first power supply apparatus and the second connection interface of the second power supply apparatus are inserted into the first insertion slot and the second insertion slot, respectively.
The above contents of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
Referring to
A further embodiment of the power converting circuit board 23 is illustrated in
Referring to
In the above embodiments, the first power supply apparatus 21 and the second power supply apparatus 22 are mounted on the power converting circuit board 23 within the redundant power supply system 2. Since the power converting circuit board 23 is substantially perpendicular to the length directions of the power supply apparatuses 21 and 22, the power supply apparatuses 21 and 22 may be shortened in order to scale down the size of the redundant power supply system 2. Moreover, since the power converting circuit board 23 is disposed on the inner surface of the backside of the system cabinet 20, the power converting circuit board 23 may cooperate with the ventilation holes 204 of the system cabinet 20 and the notch 215 of the casing 210 to provide a path for allowing airflow to remove heat of the power converting circuit board 23 even if one of the power supply apparatuses 21 and 22 has a breakdown.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
Claims
1. A redundant power supply system comprising:
- a system cabinet at least including a first receptacle and a second receptacle;
- a first power supply apparatus having a first connection interface;
- a second power supply apparatus having a second connection interface; and
- a power converting circuit board disposed inside said system cabinet and including a first insertion slot, a second insertion slot and a power converting circuit, said power converting circuit board being substantially perpendicular to the length directions of said first power supply apparatus and said second power supply apparatus, wherein a voltage outputted from said first power supply apparatus and/or said second power supply apparatus is converted by said power converting circuit into a regulated voltage when said first connection interface of said first power supply apparatus and said second connection interface of said second power supply apparatus are inserted into said first insertion slot and said second insertion slot, respectively.
2. The redundant power supply system according to claim 1 wherein said first receptacle and said second receptacle is separated by a partition plate.
3. The redundant power supply system according to claim 2 wherein said first power supply apparatus and said second power supply apparatus are swappable to be embedded into said first receptacle and said second receptacle, respectively.
4. The redundant power supply system according to claim 1 wherein said power converting circuit is a DC/DC converting circuit.
5. The redundant power supply system according to claim 1 wherein said power converting circuit board is disposed on an inner surface of a backside of said system cabinet.
6. The redundant power supply system according to claim 1 wherein said first connection interface and said second connection interface are edge connectors.
7. The redundant power supply system according to claim 1 wherein said system cabinet further includes plural ventilation holes in the vicinity of said power converting circuit board.
8. The redundant power supply system according to claim 1 wherein each of said first power supply apparatus and said second power supply apparatus includes:
- a casing;
- a main circuit board disposed within said casing, wherein first airflow channel is cooperatively defined by an upper inner wall of said casing and an upper surface of said main circuit board, and a second airflow channel is cooperatively defined by a lower inner wall of said casing and a lower surface of said main circuit board; and
- a fan disposed in the middle region of said main circuit board.
9. The redundant power supply system according to claim 8 wherein said first connection interface and said second connection interface are penetrated through corresponding airflow openings of said casings of said first power supply apparatus and said second power supply apparatus.
10. The redundant power supply system according to claim 9 wherein said casing further includes a notch at a bottom edge thereof.
11. The redundant power supply system according to claim 1 wherein at least a heat sink is attached onto a surface of said power converting circuit board.
12. The redundant power supply system according to claim 1 wherein said first insertion slot and said second insertion slot are mounted on a first surface of said power converting circuit board, and an auxiliary circuit board is further mounted on a second surface of the power converting circuit board, wherein said second surface is opposed to said first surface.
13. The redundant power supply system according to claim 12 wherein said auxiliary circuit board is fixed onto said power converting circuit board via plural fixing elements.
14. The redundant power supply system according to claim 13 wherein said fixing elements are screw posts having respective inner-threaded grooves, said auxiliary circuit board being fixed onto said power converting circuit board by penetrating screws through said power converting circuit board, said fixing elements and said auxiliary circuit board and engaging said screws with corresponding screw nuts.
15. The redundant power supply system according to claim 13 wherein plural electronic connectors are mounted on said auxiliary circuit board at the surface far away from said power converting circuit board, and said electronic connectors are electrically connected to said power converting circuit board through said auxiliary circuit board and said plural fixing elements.
16. The redundant power supply system according to claim 1 wherein said first insertion slot and said second insertion slot are mounted on a first surface of said power converting circuit board, and a metallic frame is further disposed on said first surface of said power converting circuit board.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 18, 2007
Publication Date: Oct 30, 2008
Applicant: DELTA ELECTRONICS (THAILAND) PUBLIC CO., LTD. (Samutprakarn)
Inventors: Ran Li (Amphur Muang), Chanwit Prasantnakorn (Amphur Muang), Chin-Huat Lim (Amphur Muang)
Application Number: 11/764,346
International Classification: H05K 7/20 (20060101); H05K 5/00 (20060101);