Patent Application
20140292070
Power supply devices are typically employed to supply many electronic components such as personal computers, industrial computers, servers, communication products or network products with stable electricity. Redundant power supply devices are often used to substantially ensure that the electronic components remain active even in the event of a power supply device failure. That is, if the power supply device that is currently supplying power to an electronic component fails, another one of the power supply devices supplies power to that electronic component to enable continuous operation of the electronic component.
Features of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example and not limited in the following figure(s), in which like numerals indicate like elements, in which:
For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the present disclosure is described by referring mainly to an example thereof. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It will be readily apparent however, that the present disclosure may be practiced without limitation to these specific details. In other instances, some methods and structures have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the present disclosure. As used herein, the term “includes” means includes but not limited to, the term “including” means including but not limited to. The term “based on” means based at least in part on.
Disclosed herein are an adapter and a method of implementing an adapter to supply redundant power to a plurality of electronic components from a power supply. As discussed herein, the adapter may include a first connector to connect to the power supply and a plurality of second connectors to connect to the electronic components. The adapter may also include a plurality of power lines connecting the first connector to the second connectors and a plurality of power converters to convert the voltage of power conducted through the plurality of power lines. The adapter may further include a controller to detect a fault in the receipt of power from a second power supply in an electronic component of the plurality of electronic components and to request allocation of power from the power supply to provide power to the electronic component.
In one regard, the adapter may operate transparently to both the power supply and the electronic components because the adapter may detect the fault and may automatically cause power from the power supply to be provided to the electronic components. As such, the power supply and the electronic components may operate normally when the adapter is implemented and may not need to determine that the adapter is being implemented.
The power converters in the adapter may convert the voltage of power supplied from the power supply to a voltage that is suitable for use by the electronic components. That is, for instance, the power supply may supply power at a voltage that is suitable for use by devices that are to receive power over Ethernet (PoE) and the electronic components may comprise non-PoE devices. In this example, the electronic components may require power at a lower voltage than is outputted by the power supply. Thus, the adapter disclosed herein may enable a power supply that is designed to provide redundant power to PoE devices may be implemented to provide redundant power to non-PoE devices.
In addition, the adapter disclosed herein may enable the power supply to provide redundant, standby power to a relatively larger number of electronic components than would be possible without the adapter. Particularly, the adapter disclosed herein may take a single power input and may split the power out to a plurality of electronic components. Accordingly, the adapter disclosed herein may substantially reduce or minimize the costs and space requirements associated with providing redundant power supplies to a relatively large number of electronic components, and particularly, non-PoE electronic components.
With reference first to
Generally speaking, the adapter 100 may be cable, a connector, or other physical structure over which power and data signals may be communicated. As shown in
The power converters 140a-140f may be any suitable converters, i.e., circuits and other hardware, that are to convert voltage supplied through the power line 112 from a first voltage to a second voltage. For instance, the power converters 140a-140f are direct-current (DC) to DC converters and are to down-convert a voltage. Various manners in which the power converters 140a-140f may function are described in greater detail herein below.
The power lines 112 and 142 may be any suitable types of wires or conductors over which power may be supplied. Moreover, the first connector 110 and the second connectors 120a-120f may be any suitable type of male or female connector through which power and communication signals may be conveyed. In addition, the first connector 110 may or may not have the same configuration and/or size as the second connectors 120a-120f. Thus, the adapter 100 may enable interconnection of differently configured connectors on a power supply and an electronic component.
The controller 130 may be connected to the first connector 110 and to each of the second connectors 120a-120f through a plurality of communication signal lines 132. The communication signal lines 132 are shown in dashed lines to more readily distinguish them from the power lines 112, 142. Generally speaking, the controller 130 may operate as a logic device in the adapter 100 and may be a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a general purpose processor, etc. The controller 130 may include firmware and/or may access machine readable instructions stored, for instance, in a machine readable medium, that when executed by the controller 130 cause the controller 130 to perform various functions in the adapter.
For instance, the controller 130 may receive signals from the second connectors 120a-120f when electronic components (shown in
The controller 130 may also detect when a fault has occurred on an electronic component, such as when the power supplied by a primary power source to the electronic component has decreased or stopped. The controller 130 may make this determination based upon signals received from the second connector 120a via the communication signal line 132. That is, for instance, the electronic component may output a signal to the controller 130 through the second connector 120a that additional power is required. In addition, or alternatively, the controller 130 may monitor the power consumed by the electronic component from the primary power source (or supply), and may determine when the fault occurs.
The controller 130 may further request allocation of power from a redundant power supply (shown in
Although the adapter 100 has been depicted as being contained in a single housing, it should be understood that the adapter 100 may have different physical configurations without departing from a scope of the adapter 100. That is, for instance, each of the second connectors 120a-120f may be housed in individual sections of a housing such that the individual sections are flexibly movable with respect to each other. As such, for instance, the adapter 100 may provide redundant power to electronic components that may be physically separate from each other.
Turning now to
As shown in
The electronic components 220a-220f may be any type of electronic component that may receive power primarily from a primary power supply and may receive power redundantly from a redundant power supply. Examples of suitable electronic components 220a-220f may include, for instance, network switches, servers, computers, etc. In addition, the first power supply 210 may be a power supply available from the Hewlett Packard Company™ of Palo Alto, Calif.
As discussed above, the adapter 100 may include a controller 130 that may detect when the electronic components 220a-220f are connected to the second connectors 120a-120f. The controller 130 may also detect when a fault in the supply of power from the second power supply 230 to any of the electronic components 220a-220f occurs and may request allocation of power from the first power supply 210 to supply the electronic components 220a-220f with redundant power.
According to an example, the first power supply 210 includes an interface through which the first power supply 210 is to supply power at a first voltage, which may differ from a second voltage at which the electronic components 220a-220f are to operate. By way of particular example, the first power supply 210 is to supply power over Ethernet (PoE) such that the voltage of the power supplied is at the first voltage. In addition, the electronic components 220a-220f are non-PoE components and thus operate a second voltage that is lower than the first voltage. That is, for instance, the first power supply 210 may include a plurality of channels, in which the first power supply 210 may output power at 54V through each of the channels. In this example, the electronic components 220a-220f may operate at 12V.
As discussed herein above, the adapter 100 may include power converters 140a-140f that are to convert the power from 54V to 12V, such that the power is suitable for use by the electronic components 220a-220f. The adapter 100 may therefore allow for a relatively larger number of electronic components 220a-220f to be redundantly powered by the first power supply 210 than the number of channels contained in the first power supply 210. In one regard, therefore, the adapter 100 may split the power outputted by the first power supply 210 to multiple destinations. In addition, the adapter 100 generally enables the use of fewer redundant power supplies to power a number of electronic components 220a-220f.
Turning now to
At block 302, a connection between an electronic component 220a and a second connector 120a of the adapter 100 may be detected, for instance, by the controller 130. The controller 130 may detect the connection in any of the manners discussed above.
At block 304, a fault in the supply of power to the electronic component 220a from the second power supply 230 may be detected, for instance, by the controller 130. As discussed above, the controller 130 may detect the fault based upon, for instance, the electronic component 220a requiring additional power from the first power supply 210. That is, under normal operating conditions, the electronic component 220 may receive power from both the second power supply 230 and the first power supply 210. In the event that the second power supply 230 ceases supplying power or the amount of power being supplied by the second power supply 230 decreases, the electronic component 220a may require additional power from the first power supply 210 to compensate for the reduction or loss in power from the second power supply 230.
At block 306, in response to detection of the fault, allocation of power for the electronic component 220a may be requested from the first power supply, for instance, by the controller 130. That is, the controller 130 may communicate a request to the first power supply 210 for the power allocation through the connection with the first power supply 210 at the first connector 110. In response, the first power supply 210 may supply power through the channel that is connected to the first connector 110.
At block 308, power may be received into the first connector 110 from the first power supply 210 at a first voltage. In addition, at block 310, the received power may be converted to a second voltage, for instance, by a power converter 140a inside the adapter 100. As discussed above, the first power supply 210 may supply power at a first voltage that is intended for a PoE device, whereas the electronic component 220a may be a non-PoE device. In this regard, the power converter 140a may convert the power from the first voltage to a second voltage at which electronic component 220a is to operate. The power converter 140a may include any suitable circuitry or other components to perform the conversion.
At block 312, power at the second voltage may be supplied to the electronic component 220a through the second connector 120a. The electronic component 220a may therefore receive back-up or redundant power from the first power supply 210 in the event that the second power supply 230 fails.
Although described specifically throughout the entirety of the instant disclosure, representative examples of the present disclosure have utility over a wide range of applications, and the above discussion is not intended and should not be construed to be limiting, but is offered as an illustrative discussion of aspects of the disclosure.
What has been described and illustrated herein is an example of the disclosure along with some of its variations. The terms, descriptions and figures used herein are set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant as limitations. Many variations are possible within the spirit and scope of the disclosure, which is intended to be defined by the following claims—and their equivalents—in which all terms are meant in their broadest reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated.
