Patent Application
20130119766
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling uninterruptible and parallel power modules, and more particularly to a method for dynamically adjusting a load ratio of each of uninterruptible and parallel power modules and raising overall output efficiency under the premise of meeting the redundancy requirement.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lots of modernized electronic equipment requires uninterruptible power supply (UPS) as a backup power source. Particularly, information equipment like computers has stricter requirement for UPS. To enhance reliability and usability of the UPS, parallel redundancy systems are brought into play. With reference to
Despite the high reliability, unsatisfactory output efficiency of the power modules is still an issue to be improved in the parallel redundancy system. As described earlier, the existing parallel redundancy system employs an even sharing scheme. For instance, if a parallel redundancy system has four power modules and the load is 1200 W, through the even sharing scheme each power module shares a load of 300 W. Under the circumstance, all the power modules are supposed to have identical output efficiency. However, based on experimental results, the power modules of the parallel redundancy system perform differently when subjected to different loads. With reference to
The load-sharing scheme under a low load condition is rather inefficient from the energy-saving perspective. Whereas, the power modules in the parallel redundancy system parallelly connected to evenly share the load emphasize ensuring system reliability, which is as important as the output efficiency. Accordingly, how to take both the system reliability and the output efficiency of each power module into account needs to be tackled by a feasible solution.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling uninterruptible and parallel power modules for dynamically adjusting a load ratio of each of uninterruptible and parallel power modules and raising overall output efficiency under the premise of meeting the redundancy requirement.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the method for controlling uninterruptible and parallel power modules has steps of
parallelly and unloadably connecting multiple power modules to a load;
acquiring a number and a load wattage of the power modules connected to the load, and acquiring an instant load ratio;
selecting a simulated number of the power modules being smaller than the number of the power module;
calculating a simulated load ratio in accordance with the simulated number of the power modules and the load wattage;
determining if the simulated load ratio is closer to half load than the instant load ratio is and if a redundancy requirement is met; and
if the simulated load ratio is closer to half load and the redundancy requirement is met, unloading at least one of the power modules connected to the load to make the number of the power modules connected to the load equal to the simulated number of the power modules.
Under the premise of meeting the redundancy requirement (i.e. at least two power modules connected to the load), the method for controlling uninterruptible and parallel power modules can dynamically unload at least one power module connected to the load and allocate the load released from the unloaded power modules to the power modules connected to the load. Accordingly, besides increasing the load ratio and output efficiency of the power modules connected to the load, the energy-saving objective can also be achieved.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
Each switch K1 to Kn is controlled by the central control module to be on or off. In other words, the central control module 20 can switch each switch K1 to Kn on or off in accordance with a load condition. When any switch K1 to Kn is on, it represents that a corresponding power module 101 to (100+n) is connected to the load. On the other hand, when any switch K1 to Kn is off, it represents that a corresponding power module 101 to (100+n) is disconnected from the load 30 and is therefore unloaded.
With reference to
parallelly and unloadably connecting multiple power modules 101 to (100+n) to a load 30 (step 201);
acquiring a number M and a load wattage P of the power modules connected to the load 30, and acquiring an instant load ratio L in accordance with the following equations (step 202);
L(%)=PE/PO
P
E
=P/M
where PE is an average wattage; and
selecting a simulated number M′ of the power modules being smaller than the number M of the power module (step 203);
calculating a simulated load ratio L′ using the following equations in accordance with the simulated number M′ of the power modules and the load wattage P (step 204);
P
E
′=P/M′
L′(%)=PE′/PO
M′<M
where PE′ is a simulated average wattage;
determining if the simulated load ratio L′ is closer to a half load (a load ratio being 50%) than the instant load ratio L is (step 205);
when the simulated load ratio L′ is closer to the half load than the instant load ratio L is, further determining if a redundancy requirement is met (step 206); and
if the redundancy requirement is not met, maintaining the number M of the power modules connected to the load; and
if the redundancy requirement is met, unloading at least one of the power modules connected to the load 30 to make the number M of the power modules connected to the load equal to the simulated number M′ of the power modules (step 207).
The foregoing method can be exemplified as follows.
If the load wattage P is 1200 W, the number M of the power modules connected to the load 30 is 3, and the rated wattage PO is 1800 W, then
the average wattage PE=1200 W/3=400 W;
the instant load ratio L (%)=400 W/1800 W=22.2%;
assume that the central control module 20 sets the simulated number M′ of the power modules to be the number M of the power modules connected to the load 30 minus 1;
the simulated average wattage PE′=1200 W/(3−1)=600 W; and
the simulated load ratio L′(%)=600 W/1800 W=33.3%.
As the simulated load ratio 33.3% is greater than the instant load ratio 22.2% and approaches the half load 50%, and the simulated number M′ of the power modules is two and thus satisfies the 1+1 redundancy requirement, the central control module 20 switches off one of the switches to disconnect a corresponding power module from the load and unload the power module. The unloaded module then stays in an idle state while the other two of the power modules connected to the load 30 need to share the additional load released from the unloaded power module. In other words, the load ratio of each of the two power modules connected to the load 30 increases from original 22.2% to 33.3%.
If the load wattage P is 1800 W, the number M of the power modules connected to the load 30 is 4, and the rated wattage PO is 1800 W, then
the average wattage PE=1800 W/4=450 W;
the instant load ratio L (%)=450 W/1800 W=22.2%;
assume that the central control module 20 sets the first simulated number M′ of the power modules to be the number M of the power modules connected to the load 30 minus 1;
the first simulated average wattage PE′=1800 W/(4−1)=600 W; and
the first simulated load ratio L′(%)=600 W/1800 W=33.3%.
To verify if the simulated load ratio L′ is the optimized efficiency, the central control module 20 further sets the second simulated number M″ of the power modules to be a number deducting 2 from the number M of the power modules connected to the load 30. Under the new condition, then
the second simulated average wattage PE″=1800 W/(4−2)=900 W; and
the second simulated load ratio L″ (%)=900 W/1800 W=50%.
As the second simulated load ratio 50% is greater than the first simulated load ratio 33.3% and is even closer to half load 50%, and the second simulated number M″ of the power modules is two and thus satisfies the 1+1 redundancy requirement, the central control module 20 then switches off two of the switches to disconnect two corresponding power modules from the load and unload the two power modules. The unloaded power modules then stay in an idle state while the other two of the power modules connected to the load 30 need to share the additional load released from the unloaded power modules. In other words, the load ratio of each of the two power modules connected to the load 30 increases from original 22.2% to 50%.
Consequently, when the redundancy requirement (i.e. at least two power modules connected to the load 30) is met, the method of the present invention dynamically unloads at least one power module depending upon an actual load condition and lets other power modules connected to the load share the additional load released from the unloaded power module, thereby increasing the load ratio and the output efficiency of each power module connected to the load and achieving the energy-saving objective.
Moreover, the central control module 20 can set up a duty cycle for at least one power module 101 to (100+n) connected to the load 30 to periodically get unloaded and for unloaded power module 101 to (100+n) corresponding to the at least one power module 101 to (100+n) connected to the load 30 to connect to the load 30 at the same time in accordance with the duty cycle so as to keep the number of the power modules connected to the load equal to the simulated number of the power modules. Hence, each power module connected to the load can have the chance to be idle from time to time so as to prolong its life cycle. The duty cycle can be chosen to be a few weeks or a few months to suit actual working condition.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
