Apparatus and methods for UPS bypass monitoring and control

The invention relates to power conversion apparatus and methods, and more particularly, to uninterruptible power supply (UPS) apparatus and methods.

A typical conventional “on-line” UPS may include an AC/DC converter (e.g., a rectifier) that is configured to be coupled to an AC power source, such as a utility source, and a DC/AC converter (e.g., an inverter) that is coupled to the AC/DC converter by a DC link and which produces an AC voltage at an output (load) bus of the UPS. The UPS may further include a bypass circuit, e.g., a static switch, which can be used to couple the AC power source directly to the output bus of the UPS, such that the AC/DC converter and DC/AC converter are bypassed. The bypass circuit can be used, for example, to provide an economy mode of operation and/or to provide power to the load when either or both of the converters are damaged or inoperative.

Bypass circuits can create dangerous conditions in applications in which multiple UPSs are feeding a common load bus in parallel. In particular, a bypass source to a UPS in such a parallel-connected configuration may be absent due to, for example, tripping of a breaker or opening of a switch in the bypass source path. However, if the bypass circuit of the UPS is closed, voltage may be backfed from the common load bus through the closed bypass circuit. Accordingly, monitoring the voltage at an input of the bypass circuit may not reveal the absence of the bypass source, as the backfed voltage may provide an appearance that the bypass source is present. Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL®) views such a state as a potential hazard, and has promulgated standards that require that such a condition be detected and avoided.

In some embodiments of the invention, a power conversion apparatus including a plurality of parallel-connected uninterruptible power supplies is monitored and/or controlled. A status of a bypass source of the plurality of parallel-connected UPSs is determined from a load share when a loading of the plurality of parallel-connected UPSs meets a predetermined criterion. A status of the bypass source is determined from a bypass source voltage when the loading of the plurality of parallel-connected UPSs fails to meet the predetermined criterion. The loading may include an aggregate loading, and failure of a bypass source of a UPS may be identified responsive to detecting that a load share of the UPS is less than a predetermined proportion of the aggregate loading. Determining a status of the bypass source from a bypass source voltage when the loading of the plurality of parallel-connected UPSs fails to meet the predetermined criterion may include decoupling a bypass source of a UPS from an output of the UPS, determining a bypass source voltage of the decoupled bypass source, and identifying failure of the bypass source responsive to detecting that the determined bypass voltage fails to meet a predetermined criterion. Bypass circuits of the UPSs may be controlled responsive to load share and/or bypass source voltage.

In further embodiments of the invention, an aggregate loading of a plurality of parallel-connected UPSs is determined. One of a load share provided by a first UPS of the plurality of parallel-connected UPSs or a bypass source voltage for the first UPS is selectively determined responsive to the determined aggregate loading. A bypass circuit of the first UPS is controlled responsive to the selectively determined load share or bypass source voltage.

According to additional embodiments of the invention, a power conversion apparatus includes a plurality of UPSs connected in parallel at a load bus. The apparatus further includes a control circuit operative to determine an aggregate loading of the parallel-connected UPSs at the load bus, to selectively determine one of a load share provided by a first UPS of the plurality of parallel-connected UPSs or a bypass source voltage for the first UPS responsive to the determined aggregate loading, and to control a bypass circuit of the first UPS responsive to the selectively determined load share or bypass source voltage.

In other embodiments of the invention, a power conversion apparatus includes a plurality of parallel-connected UPSs and a control circuit operative to determine a status of a bypass source of the plurality of parallel-connected UPSs from a load share when a loading of the plurality of parallel-connected UPSs meets a predetermined criterion and to determine a status of a bypass source from a bypass source voltage when the loading of the plurality of parallel-connected UPSs fails to meet the predetermined criterion. In some embodiments, the control circuit includes respective control circuits positioned in respective ones of the UPSs. The plurality of control circuits may include at least one master control circuit and at least one slave control circuit. In further embodiments, the plurality of control circuits includes a plurality of peer control circuits.

In still further embodiments of the invention, a UPS includes a power conversion circuit operative to transfer power to a load bus, a bypass circuit operative to couple and decouple a bypass source to and from the load bus, and a communications circuit operative to communicate with at least one other UPS. The UPS further includes a control circuit operatively associated with the communications circuit and the bypass circuit and operative to determine a loading of the UPS, to selectively determine a load share of the UPS or a bypass source voltage of the bypass source responsive to the determined aggregate loading, and to control the bypass circuit responsive to the selectively determined load share or bypass source voltage.

FIGS. 1 and 4 are schematic diagrams illustrating a parallel connected UPS configurations and operations according to various embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 2 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary operations of the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 4 according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary operations in a master/slave control configuration of FIG. 1 according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary operations in a peer/peer control configuration of FIG. 4 according to some embodiments of the invention

Specific exemplary embodiments of the invention now will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. As used herein the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Embodiments of the invention include circuitry configured to provide functions described herein. It will be appreciated that such circuitry may include analog circuits, digital circuits, and combinations of analog and digital circuits.

The invention is described below with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods and wireless terminals according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations, can be implemented by analog and/or digital hardware, and/or computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, ASIC, and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations. In some alternate implementations, the functions/acts noted in the figures may occur out of the order noted in the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations. For example, two operations shown as occurring in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently or the operations may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the invention may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java®, Smalltalk or C++, conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language, or lower-level code, such as assembly language and/or microcode. The program code may execute entirely on a single processor and/or across multiple processors, as a stand-alone software package or as part of another software package.

FIG. 1 illustrates a power conversion apparatus 100 according to some embodiments of the invention. The apparatus 100 includes a plurality of UPSs 110 1 , 110 2 , . . . , 110 n connected in parallel to a load bus. Each UPS 110 1 , 110 2 , . . . , 110 n includes a power converter circuit 112 that receives power from a converter source 120 1 , 120 2 , . . . , 120 n and a bypass circuit (e.g., a static switch or other switching circuit) 114 that receives power from a bypass source 130 1 , 130 2 , . . . , 130 n . The converter sources 120 1 , 120 2 , . . . , 120 n and the bypass sources 130 1 , 130 2 , . . . , 130 n are shown as being separate to indicate that power may be provided to the converter circuits 112 and the bypass circuits 114 over separate paths, e.g., via separate conductors, switches, relays, breakers, and the like, even though the converter sources 120 1 , 120 2 , . . . , 120 n and the bypass sources 130 1 , 130 2 , . . . , 130 n are ultimately fed from a common AC power source, e.g., a utility source. It will, therefore, be understood that a “bypass source” as described herein may include this common AC power source and/or a path component, e.g., a line, breaker, switch, relay or the like, that feeds the bypass circuit 114 , and that failure of such a bypass source may include failure of the common AC power source and/or a failure arising from a state of component in a path feeding the bypass circuit 114 .

The respective bypass circuits 114 are controlled by respective control circuits, here shown as including a master control circuit 116 ′ in a first UPS 110 1 and slave control circuits 116 ″ in the other UPSs 110 2 , . . . , 110 n . The control circuits 116 ′, 116 ″ are operatively associated with communications circuits (e.g., controller area network (CAN) transceivers) 118 that are operative to communicate loading info (e.g., current measurements) and control commands.

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary operations that may be performed by the apparatus 100 according to some embodiments of the invention. Responsive to a determination that the apparatus 100 is in a bypass mode (Block 205 ), the apparatus 100 determines if a loading of the UPSs 110 1 , 110 2 , . . . , 110 n meets a predetermined criterion (Block 210 ). For example, the apparatus 100 may determine an aggregate loading of the UPSs 110 1 , 110 2 , . . . , 110 n at the load bus 140 from individual loading (e.g., current) measurements made by each of the UPSs 110 1 , 110 2 , . . . , 110 n and communicated by the communications circuits 118 , and may determine if the aggregate loading is greater than a predetermined threshold value. In some embodiments, the predetermined threshold value may be a value, for example, that corresponds to a loading level above which it may be accurately determined, using the load share measurements described below, which UPSs are supplying the load bus 140 . The threshold value could also represent a loading level above which it is not feasible to disconnect a load-sharing UPS from the load bus 140 for the bypass voltage testing described below without overloading the remaining UPSs supplying power to the load bus 140 .

If the loading meets the predetermined criterion, load shares of the individual UPSs 110 1 , 110 2 , . . . , 110 n may be evaluated to determine whether they meet a predetermined criterion (Block 215 ). For example, if n equivalent UPSs are connected in parallel, failure of a particular UPS's bypass source with respect to the load share criterion may be detected by detecting that the UPS's load share is significantly less than 1/n times the aggregate loading. If the load share of a particular UPS fails to meet the predetermined criterion, for example, is less than a predetermined proportion of the aggregate loading, the bypass circuit 114 of the UPS is turned off (Block 225 ) so that voltage on the load bus 140 does not backfeed through the UPS's bypass circuit. If the load share meets the predetermined criterion, however, the UPS's bypass circuit 114 is kept on (Block 220 ). It will be appreciated that the load share determination of the individual UPS's and/or control of their respective bypass circuits 114 may be done in a parallel or quasi-parallel manner, e.g., concurrently, or may be done in a serial fashion, as indicated by the dashed arrows.

If the aggregate loading fails to meet the predetermined criterion (e.g., is less than a predetermined threshold value), individual bypass source voltage tests are performed on the UPSs. In particular, a bypass circuit 114 of a first UPS is turned off (Block 230 ) to decouple its bypass source from the load bus 140 . The bypass source voltage may then be determined (Block 235 ), e.g., by measuring the voltage at an input of the bypass circuit 114 . If the bypass source voltage fails to meet a predetermined criterion (e.g., is less than a predetermined threshold value), indicating a failure of the bypass source, the UPS's bypass circuit 114 is left off to prevent voltage backfeed (Blocks 240 , 250 ). If the bypass source voltage meets the predetermined criterion (e.g., is greater than the predetermined threshold value), the bypass circuit 114 is turned on (Blocks 240 , 245 ). Upon completion of these steps, a next UPS may be evaluated (Block 255 ). It will be appreciated that bypass source voltage testing of the individual UPSs may also be done in a quasi-parallel manner, i.e., multiple units may be tested concurrently while leaving the bypass circuits of one or more units on to maintain the load. It will be appreciated that a variety of loading and voltage criteria may be used for the operations described above. For example, average loading, min-max loading, or other loading criteria may be used instead of or in conjunction with an aggregate loading criterion.

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary allocation of tasks along the lines illustrated in FIG. 2 in a master/slave control configuration such as that illustrated in FIG. 1 . The slave control circuits 116 ″ communicate loading information (e.g., current measurements) to the master control circuit 116 ′ (Block 310 ). The master control circuit 116 ′ then determines the aggregate loading of the UPSs 110 1 , 110 2 , . . . , 110 n (Block 320 ). If the aggregate loading is less than a predetermined threshold value, the master control circuit 116 ′ determines the individual load shares of the UPSs 110 1 , 110 2 , . . . , 110 n (Blocks 330 , 350 ). The master control circuit 116 ′ then instructs the slave control circuits 116 ″ to control their bypass circuits 114 accordingly (Block 350 ). Alternatively, the master control circuit 116 ′ could communicate the aggregate loading information to the other control circuits 116 ″, which could, in turn, compute their own load shares and control their bypass circuits 114 accordingly.

If the aggregate loading is less than the predetermined threshold value, the master control circuit 116 ′ schedules bypass source voltage tests for the UPSs 110 1 , 110 2 , . . . , 110 n (Blocks 330 , 360 ). The master control circuit 116 ′ then instructs the slave control circuits 116 ″ to determine their respective bypass source voltages and to control their bypass circuits 114 accordingly (Block 370 ). These operations may occur in a number of different ways. For example, the slave control circuits 116 ″ could relay bypass source voltage measurements back to the master control circuit 116 ′, which could, in turn, responsively command the slave control circuits 116 ″ to place their bypass circuits 114 in appropriate states. Alternatively, each of the slave control circuits 116 ″ may independently test its bypass source voltage and responsively control its bypass circuit 114 responsive to a scheduling command from the master control circuit 116 ′.

FIG. 4 illustrates a power conversion apparatus 400 according to further embodiments of the invention. The apparatus 400 includes a plurality of UPSs 410 1 , 410 2 , . . . , 410 n connected in parallel to a load bus 440 . Each UPS 410 1 , 410 2 , . . . , 410 n includes a power converter 412 that receives power from a primary source 420 1 , 420 2 , . . . , 420 n and a bypass circuit (e.g., a static switch) 414 that receives power from a bypass source 430 1 , 430 2 , . . . , 430 n . The respective bypass circuits 414 are controlled by respective peer control circuits 416 . The peer control circuits 416 are operatively associated with respective communications circuits (e.g., controller area network (CAN) transceivers) 418 that are operative to communicate loading info (e.g., current measurements) therebetween. The apparatus 400 may be configured to provide bypass source monitoring and bypass circuit control operations along the lines described above with reference to FIG. 2 .

FIG. 5 illustrates exemplary allocation of tasks among the peer control circuits 416 according to further embodiments of the invention. The control circuits 416 communicate loading info among themselves via the communications circuits 418 (Block 510 ). Each control circuit 416 determines an aggregate loading of the apparatus 400 from the communicated information (Block 520 ). At an individual peer, if the determined aggregate loading is greater than a predetermined threshold, the control circuit determines a load share of the UPS and controls its bypass circuit accordingly (Blocks 530 , 540 , 550 ). If the determined aggregate loading is less than the predetermined threshold, the control circuit may determine its bypass source voltage (e.g., by opening its bypass circuit and measuring the bypass circuit input voltage), and control its bypass circuit accordingly (Blocks 570 ). It will be appreciated that the bypass source voltage tests may occur according to some predetermined schedule or order, such that sufficient power supply to the load is maintained.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention. Although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined by the following claims.