Patent Application
20050094330
Intermediate bus (IB) power architectures are one solution for applications that require low cost and flexibility in power system design. As illustrated in
For example, an input fault within one of the non-isolated converters 110 will cause a disturbance on the intermediate bus 100 and thereby affect the operation of the remaining good non-isolated converters 110. This situation was addressed by adding fault protection components to the circuit. For example, the intermediate bus 100 includes a fuse 115, an isolation diode 120, and local storage capacitance 125 on the input of each non-isolated converter 110. Upon an input fault on a failing non-isolated converter 110, the fuse 115 would be cleared to remove the failing non-isolated converter from the circuit. The isolation diode 120 and local storage capacitance 125 provide isolated stored energy to the remaining good non-isolated converters that allow them to operate through the disturbance created on the intermediate bus 100 as the fuse is cleared. Additionally, isolation diodes 130 are positioned on the outputs of all the isolated power converters 105 to prevent faults within these converters from affecting the intermediate bus 100. The use of isolation diodes 120 and 130 can increase power system losses and can decrease power system efficiency. In general, additional circuit components can add cost, increase power losses, and can reduce hardware reliability.
The circuit may also include any number of other components such as a hot swap manager 135 and a filter 140. The hot swap manager 135 is a component that provides control of in-rush current that may occur when plugging in components. The filter 140 may be an EMI-type filter to reduce or prevent high frequency noise from traveling back through the circuit. These components are not important to the discussions herein and will not be further described.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate various example systems, methods, and so on that illustrate various example embodiments of aspects of the invention. It will be appreciated that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one example of the boundaries. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that one element may be designed as multiple elements or that multiple elements may be designed as one element. An element shown as an internal component of another element may be implemented as an external component and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to scale.
The following includes definitions of selected terms employed herein. The definitions include various examples and/or forms of components that fall within the scope of a term and that may be used for implementation. The examples are not intended to be limiting. Both singular and plural forms of terms may be within the definitions.
“Logic”, as used herein, includes but is not limited to hardware, firmware, software and/or combinations of each to perform a function(s) or an action(s), and/or to cause a function or action from another component. For example, based on a desired application or needs, logic may include a software controlled microprocessor, discrete logic like an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmed logic device, a memory device containing instructions, or the like. Logic may include one or more gates, combinations of gates, or other circuit components. Logic may also be fully embodied as software. Where multiple logical logics are described, it may be possible to incorporate the multiple logical logics into one physical logic. Similarly, where a single logical logic is described, it may be possible to distribute that single logical logic between multiple physical logics.
An “operable connection”, or a connection by which entities are “operably connected”, is one in which signals, physical communication flow, and/or logical communication flow may be sent and/or received. Typically, an operable connection may include a physical interface, an electrical interface, and/or a data interface, but it is to be noted that an operable connection may include differing combinations of these or other types of connections sufficient to allow operable control. For example, two entities can be operably connected by being able to communicate signals to each other directly or through one or more intermediate entities like a processor, operating system, other software, a logic device, a chip, a circuit, or other entity. Logical and/or physical communication channels can be used to create an operable connection.
“Signal”, as used herein, includes but is not limited to one or more electrical or optical signals, analog or digital, one or more computer or processor instructions, messages, a bit or bit stream, or other means that can be received, transmitted, and/or detected.
It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to signals as voltages, currents, power levels, bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be borne in mind, however, that these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, it is appreciated that throughout the description, terms like processing, providing, transmitting, supplying, computing, calculating, determining, displaying, or the like, refer to actions and processes of a computer system, logic, processor, or similar electronic device that manipulates and/or transforms signals represented as physical (electronic) quantities.
Illustrated in
It will be appreciated that the power conversion circuit 200 can be used in many electronic environments such as on a printed circuit board of a computer or other electronic device where power levels are converted/distributed to other components. An electronic device may also include any number of power conversion circuits 200 that may have different combinations and configurations of components based on the desired types of power conversion and power distribution needed.
With further reference to
As one example, the interleaved intermediate bus 225 can be configured with multiple independent intermediate buses to supply input to individual power converters 220. If a fault occurs on any one of the independent intermediate buses, the fault may affect the particular power converter 220 that it is connected to but would not affect the other, separate independent buses and thus, not affect the other power converters 220. Furthermore, to support an N+1 application, the conversion circuit 200 can be configured to have multiple power converters 220 operating in parallel to support a particular system load and provide N+1 redundancy.
For example, a group of the power converters 220 can have their outputs combined to generate one system output level 210 where the group includes at least one redundant power converter. Thus, if one of the power converters 220 in the group would go down, the group would still have enough power to generate the system output level 210 associated with the group. Thus generally speaking, each output 210 of the circuit has connected to it, an extra power converter 220 and an extra independent intermediate bus from one of the power converters 215 so that any of the independent intermediate buses associated with a group power converters 220 can fail and the output 210 can still be generated.
As will be described with reference to the following examples, the interleaved intermediate bus 225 can be configured to provide voltages on multiple intermediate buses from the first set of power converters 215 to the second set of power converters 220 such that a loss or disturbance on any one of the multiple intermediate buses will not affect the system load on the other intermediate buses. Furthermore, the interleaved intermediate bus 225 can be configured to supply redundant input to the second set of power converters 220 from one or more output power levels from the first set of power converters 215. With the interleaved intermediate bus 225, the bus can be configured without fault protection components and still provide a desired level of system reliability.
It will be appreciated that the first set of power converters 215 can include isolated power converters. The second set of power converters 220 can include non-isolated converters. Of course, other types of power converters or transformers can be used and can be interchanged and/or combined in different combinations and configurations.
Illustrated in
For example, the +3.3 volt output level can be generated by combining five (5) non-isolated converters 315. Additionally, each output voltage (e.g. +3.3 volts, +1.5 volts, and +5 volts) can be produced by having a redundant (N+1) non-isolated converter within its group. Thus, if one of the non-isolated converters 315 in the group associated with the +3.3V output would fail, the other four (4) non-isolated converters would generated enough power to provided the +3.3V output.
The circuit 300 can include one or more power converters, such as isolated intermediate bus converters 320, that can be configured to distribute the input voltage level of +48 volts to an intermediate voltage level. The intermediate voltage level is then supplied to the non-isolated converters 315 across the intermediate bus architecture 305. In one example, each isolated converter 320 can be a power transformer that converts a +48 volt input level to a +12 volt output level. One example is a BusQor BQ50120QTA20 bus converter module manufactured by SynQor. Of course, other types and numbers of converters can be used, as well as converters having different input/output ranges.
The non-isolated converters 315 can be, for example, a DC/DC converter such as a SIL30C series non-isolated converter manufactured by Artesyn Technologies. Each of the non-isolated converters 315 can be configured to accept a range of input voltages and provide a range of output voltages. For example, the non-isolated converter 315 can include one or more trim pins that allow the output to be adjustable to a selected voltage level, for example between a 0.9 volt to 5 volt output voltage range. In this manner, a selected number of non-isolated converters 315 can be combined in parallel to produce a desired output voltage level. For example, the +5 volt output level shown in
With further reference to
Thus in the example configuration, the +3.3 volt output is generated from a first group of five (5) non-isolated converters 315 operating in parallel to support the load and provide N+1 redundancy. As such, five intermediate buses A-E are configured to provide an independent input voltage to each of the five non-isolated converters 315. The other non-isolated converters are combined as two other groups that generate the other system voltages (e.g., +1.5 volts and +5 volts). Each group of non-isolated converters are configured to receive selective input from the five intermediate buses A-E in a distributed manner.
In a particular example from
The interleaved intermediate bus 305 can be configured, in one example, where each independent bus A-E is split to provide an input to two (2) non-isolated converters 315. It will be appreciated that the intermediate bus 305 can be configured where the independent buses A-E are configured to provide input to one or more non-isolated converters 315. Another example of an interleaved bus configuration is shown in
Illustrated in
The interleaved intermediate bus 405 is interleaved by configuring the independent buses A-C to provide separate input to a group of power converters 415 per output voltage (e.g. output 1). The independent buses A-C are also split to provide selective input to other groups of power converters 415 (e.g. output 2 and/or 3). For example, the bus “A” provides input to two other power converters, one forming the group associated with output 2 and one converter associated with the group forming output 3. The independent buses B and C are also similarly interleaved to provide input power/voltage to one or more power converters 415.
As described previously, each of the outputs 1-3 are formed with a redundant power converter 415 (e.g. N+1) that receives power from an independent bus A-C, thus making that bus a redundant bus. This configuration allows one power converter 415 per output group to fail or one of the independent buses A-C to fail without affecting the outputs 1, 2, or 3.
In this manner, fault protection components may be eliminated from the interleaved intermediate bus architecture 405 since a power component failure will only affect one power path (e.g., voltage on bus A, B, or C) associated with a particular group of power converters 415 that are combined to form a desired output. The remaining power paths will be undisturbed and can support the system load due to the N+1 redundancy in the number of power converters 415. It will be appreciated that in the design of the power conversion system 400 or other circuits described herein, any number of power converters can be used and combined in any desired manner to convert an input voltage level to a desired output voltage level.
With reference to
In the flow diagrams, blocks denote “processing blocks” that may be implemented with logic. A flow diagram does not depict syntax for any particular programming language, logic device, methodology, or style (e.g., procedural, object-oriented). Rather, a flow diagram illustrates functional information one skilled in the art may employ to develop logic to perform the illustrated processing. It will be further appreciated that electronic and software applications may involve dynamic and flexible processes so that the illustrated blocks can be performed in other sequences that are different from those shown and/or that blocks may be combined or separated into multiple components.
With reference to
The multiple intermediate power levels are also interleaved to provide independent input signals to a second set of power converters including a redundant input signal (Block 520). In this respect, the second set of power converters could include another group of non-isolated converters that are combined to form a separate output voltage such as the +1.5 volt output shown in
Illustrated in
With reference to
As described in previous examples, using independent buses allow the buses to be designed without including fault protection components. The operably connecting steps form an interleaved power bus that includes the independent intermediate buses. For example, in each group of power converters, the inputs can be connected to each of the independent intermediate buses as a one-to-one relationship. In other words, only one input from each intermediate bus is connected to a group of power converters per each output voltage. Reference to
It will be appreciated that the power conversion systems and/or circuits as described herein may be embodied in a variety of desired applications. For example, the power conversion system can be embedded into a computer, a server, a central processing unit (CPU) board, an input/output chassis, and/or in any desired electronic component or product, like an image forming device, where an input power level is desired to be converted to one or more output levels. The input power level can be converted or distributed to different output power levels that become input to components such as ASICS, chips, and/or other logic devices. It will be appreciated that any of the described power converters can be implemented by using isolated converters, non-isolated converters, AC or DC power transformers, other types of converter circuits or logic, and can be interchanged with other types of converters as desired for converting an input power level to a different power level. Furthermore, any of the described bus architectures can be used for redundantly connecting a first set of power converters to a second set of power converters and to supply an intermediate power level as interleaved independent input signals to the second set of power converters.
Using the described power conversion systems, circuits, bus architectures, and methodologies, an intermediate bus architecture in an N+1 application can be implemented without fault protection components such as fuses, isolation diodes, and/or capacitors. In one example, fuses can be eliminated and overload protection can be provided by using the current limit latching function of each intermediate bus power converter. Power losses may be reduced due to the elimination of multiple isolation diodes in series. Efficiency can be increased due to the reduced power losses. Additionally, by eliminating components, a printed circuit board area can be reduced with the described or similar architecture. Furthermore, eliminating components in the intermediate bus architecture may increase reliability and may increase efficiency and lower the cost associated with the components.
While example systems, methods, and so on have been illustrated by describing examples, and while the examples have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicants to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the systems, methods, and so on described herein. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention, in its broader aspects, is not limited to the specific details, the representative apparatus, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of the applicants' general inventive concept. Thus, this application is intended to embrace alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, the preceding description is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
To the extent that the term “includes” or “including” is employed in the detailed description or the claims, it is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as that term is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “or” is employed in the claims (e.g., A or B) it is intended to mean “A or B or both”. When the applicants intend to indicate “only A or B but not both” then the term “only A or B but not both” will be employed. Thus, use of the term “or” herein is the inclusive, and not the exclusive use. See, Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modem Legal Usage 624 (2d. Ed. 1995).
