Patent Application
20090300398
The present invention relates to a control structure for a power supply cluster and particularly to a power supply cluster to provide power needed on a computer system by concurrently starting a primary power supply and a secondary power supply.
To meet the requirements of rapid technology progress of multimedia and the Internet, the performance power of CPU, motherboards and computer peripheral devices such as graphic interface cards also soars. As a result of power needed by computers increases greatly, hence once the computer facilities are upgraded, the original power supply also has to be upgraded to provide additional power needed. As the pace of computer upgrade is very fast, to upgrade the power specification of the power supply with upgrade of personal computers becomes a heavy cost burden to many users. One common approach to address this issue is procuring a higher capacity power supply based on the maximum power requirement by taking into account of possible upgrades in the future. However, the power supply with higher capacity is more expensive than the one with small and medium capacities. Users often are reluctant to make such a procurement because future upgrade requirements are difficult to predict. Hence another approach is adopted by procuring two or more power supplies. A power supply with a lower or medium capacity is purchased first. In the event that the personal computer is upgraded and more electric power is needed, another power supply is procured. Each power supply has an independent AC input end and a DC output end to supply DC power to computer peripheral devices (such as VGA, HDD, CPU and the like).
Japan patent publication No. 3122194 discloses a technique that has a primary power supply and a secondary power supply. The primary power supply has an input end connecting to city power and an output end to output DC power. After the primary power supply is started the output end outputs a start power to activate the secondary power supply. R.O.C. patent No. M292102 discloses another technique which has a signal synchronous unit electrically connected to a motherboard, a first power supply and a second power supply. When in use the motherboard generates a start signal which is sent to the first power supply and the second power supply through the signal synchronous unit so that the first and the second power supplies are activated concurrently to supply power to the motherboard and a video graphic card on the motherboard.
The two cited references set forth above provide two sets of power supplies to supply electric power required by the peripheral devices of the computer. But in Japan No. 3122194, the primary power supply has to be started first before activating the secondary power supply. They are not started concurrently. Hence there is a time lag between activation of the primary power supply and the secondary power supply. When the peripheral devices (such as motherboard) driven by the primary power supply are operating, the peripheral devices (such as display card, hard disk and the like) driven by the secondary power supply are not yet started and cannot be detected. Moreover, the time of power transformation or output of activation power of the primary power supply with different specifications is different, systemic matching becomes a problem. R.O.C. patent No. M292102 overcomes this problem by providing synchronous activation, but it requires an additional transmission line with a 24PIN connector to connect the motherboard, the first power supply and the second power supply. More wiring is needed in the computer host, and the installation cost is higher. Besides, cooling of the computer host also becomes another problem.
The primary object of the present invention is to solve the aforesaid disadvantages by providing a technique to concurrently start a primary power supply and a secondary power supply and simplifying wiring of the primary power supply and the secondary power supply.
To achieve the foregoing object the present invention provides a control structure for a power supply cluster. The power supply cluster includes a primary power supply and a secondary power supply that are independently linked to AC power and transform the AC power to DC power to supply electric power required by an electronic device in a computer equipment. The control structure has a switch unit connecting to the primary power supply and the secondary power supply, and a judgment unit connecting to the primary power supply and the switch unit that has a delay time reference value. The switch unit gets a start signal showing the start status of the primary power supply and transfers to the secondary power supply to concurrently activate the secondary power supply. And the power of the primary power supply is transferred to the electronic device and a first power supply status is presented. The switch unit also gets the start signal and outputs a switch signal to the switch unit after a delay time period according to the delay time reference value. Thereby the electronic device gets the power from the secondary power supply and a second power supply status is presented. Thus the primary power supply provides power to the electronic device at the start time, and the secondary power supply also gets the start signal through the switch unit and is started concurrently with the primary power supply, and outputs power to the electronic devices to switch power supply status in order to allow the electronic device to receive the power continuously.
By means of the technique provided by the invention, many benefits can be obtained, notably:
1. The electronic device driven by the primary power supply and the electronic device driven by the secondary power supply can be matched closely.
2. Wiring in the computer host can be simplified, and the cost of installation and time also are reduced. Cooling efficiency of the electronic device in the computer host also improves.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Please refer to
The switch unit 20 is a normally-closed relay. Referring to
The control structure of the invention first makes the primary power supply 10 to provide power to the electronic device 50 at the start time and concurrently activates the secondary power supply 40. When the secondary power supply 40 starts, the power is transferred to the electronic device 50. Through the switch unit 20 the second power supply 40, electronic device 50 and primary power supply 10 are set on so that the electronic device 50 is driven by the secondary power supply 40. Thus after the primary power supply 10 is started the electronic device 50 can continuously receive electric power without the problem of being unable to detect the electronic device 50 by the computer system that might otherwise occur under a circumstance where the primary power supply 10 and the secondary power supply 40 are not started concurrently. It also resolves the disadvantage of the conventional technique of synchronous start of the power supply cluster that requires an additional 24PIN transmission line.
As a conclusion, the invention provides many benefits over the conventional techniques, notably:
1. The electronic device driven by the primary power supply and the electronic device driven by the secondary power supply can be matched closely.
2. Wiring in the computer host is simplified. Cooling efficiency of the electronic device in the computer host also improves.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.
