Overvoltage protection method and overvoltage protection device using same

Abstract

The invention provides an overvoltage protection method and an overvoltage protection device. The method includes electrically connecting an input terminal of a one-way transfer circuit to a first device and an output terminal of the one-way transfer circuit to a second device; electrically connecting the converter to the output terminal and the supercapacitor; detecting, by the converter, a first voltage of the first power flow at the output terminal; and charging the supercapacitor through the first power flow in response to the first voltage being greater than the first threshold.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an overvoltage protection method and an overvoltage protection device. Background Art

[0002] Automated logistics is a precise process where different motors in a conveyor system may stop or start at different times. When a motor stops suddenly, a voltage surge is generated on the power line, which may cause possible damage to the motor controller or equipment on the power line. Dedicated power supplies for motors may have built-in protection to prevent voltage surges from returning to the equipment, while voltage surges for motor controllers can be avoided by configuring a more gentle stop. However, voltage surges on power lines cannot be effectively handled, for example when using existing power supplies without built-in protection or when emergency motor braking is required. Therefore, a separate protector device for surge elimination is needed. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present invention relates to an overvoltage protection method and an overvoltage protection device, which can protect equipment from voltage surges according to voltage detection results.

[0004] The present disclosure relates to an overvoltage protection device, comprising a unidirectional transfer circuit, a supercapacitor, and a converter. The unidirectional transfer circuit comprises an input terminal electrically connected to a first device and an output terminal electrically connected to a second device. The converter is electrically connected to the output terminal and the supercapacitor, wherein the converter detects a first voltage of a first power flow at the output terminal, and charges the supercapacitor through the first power flow in response to the first voltage being greater than a first threshold.

[0005] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the converter discharges the ultracapacitor in response to a second voltage stored by the ultracapacitor being greater than a second threshold.

[0006] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the converter discharges the supercapacitor in response to a third voltage at the output terminal being less than a third threshold, wherein the third threshold is less than or equal to the first threshold.

[0007] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the third threshold is greater than a fourth voltage of the second power flow provided by the first device.

[0008] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the converter provides the third power flow to the second device via the output terminal by discharging the supercapacitor.

[0009] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the converter converts a third power flow discharged by the supercapacitor from the second voltage to a third voltage, and provides the converted third power flow to the second device, wherein the third voltage is greater than the second voltage.

[0010] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a converter converts a first power flow from a first voltage to a fifth voltage, and charges a supercapacitor through the converted first power flow, wherein the fifth voltage is lower than the first voltage.

[0011] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first device comprises a power source and the second device comprises a motor.

[0012] The present disclosure relates to a method for overvoltage protection, comprising: electrically connecting an input terminal of a unidirectional transfer circuit to a first device, and electrically connecting an output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit to a second device; electrically connecting a converter to the output terminal and a supercapacitor; detecting a first voltage of a first power flow at the output terminal through the converter; and charging the supercapacitor through the first power flow in response to the first voltage being greater than a first threshold.

[0013] According to the above description, the present disclosure can protect a device from voltage surge by simply configuring an overvoltage protection device between a power source and the device.

[0014] In order to make the foregoing content better understood, several embodiments accompanied by drawings are described in detail as follows. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The accompanying drawings are included to provide further understanding of the present disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The accompanying drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an overvoltage protection device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0017] Figure 2 A flow chart showing an overvoltage protection method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Description of Figure Numbers

[0019] 10, 20: Equipment;

[0020] 100: Overvoltage protection device;

[0021] 110: One-way transmission circuit;

[0022] 120: converter;

[0023] 130: Supercapacitor;

[0024] S201, S202, S203, S204: steps;

[0025] V1, V2, V3, V4, V5: voltage. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] In order to make the present disclosure more understandable, several embodiments are described below as examples of implementation of the present disclosure. In addition, when appropriate, elements / components / steps with the same reference numerals are used to represent consistent or similar parts in the figures and embodiments.

[0027] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an overvoltage protection device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The overvoltage protection device 100 may be configured between a device 10 and a device 20, wherein the device 10 may include a power supply, and the device 20 may include an electrical load, such as a motor or a motor control card. The overvoltage protection device 100 may protect the device 10 from being damaged by a voltage surge caused by a stop of the device 20.

[0028] The overvoltage protection device 100 may include a unidirectional transfer circuit 110, a converter 120, and a super capacitor 130. An input terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit 110 may be electrically connected to the device 10, and an output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit 110 may be electrically connected to the device 20. The unidirectional transfer circuit 110 may limit the direction of a signal (e.g., power flow, current, or voltage) so that the signal can be transmitted only from the device 10 to the device 20. A signal from the device 20 cannot be transmitted to the device 10 through the unidirectional transfer circuit 110. When a voltage surge occurs in the power supply device 20, the power surge cannot pass through the unidirectional transfer circuit 110. In one embodiment, the unidirectional transfer circuit 110 may be implemented by an ORing diode.

[0029] The converter 120 may include a bidirectional direct current (DC) to DC converter and may be disposed between the output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit 110 and the super capacitor 130 , and may be electrically connected to the output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit 110 and the super capacitor 130 .

[0030] The converter 120 may detect a voltage V1 of the power flow at the output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit 110. If the voltage V1 is greater than a first threshold value (e.g., 26 V), for example, due to a power surge caused by the stop of the device 20, the converter 120 may convert the voltage of the power flow from the voltage V1 to the voltage V5, and the converter 120 may direct the converted power flow to the supercapacitor 130 to charge the supercapacitor 130, wherein the voltage V5 (e.g., 12 V) may be less than the voltage V1 (e.g., 26 V). On the other hand, if the voltage V1 is not greater than the first threshold value, the converter 120 may not direct the power flow to the supercapacitor 130 and may not charge the supercapacitor 130.

[0031] In one embodiment, the converter 120 may detect the voltage V2 stored by the supercapacitor 130. If the voltage V2 is greater than a second threshold value (e.g., 10V), the converter 120 may discharge the supercapacitor 130, and may provide the power flow discharged by the supercapacitor 130 to the device 20 via the output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit 110. Specifically, the converter 120 may convert the power flow discharged by the supercapacitor 130 from the voltage V2 to the voltage V3, and may provide the converted power flow to the device 20, wherein the voltage V3 (e.g., 25V) may be greater than the voltage V2 (e.g., 10V).

[0032] In one embodiment, the converter 120 may detect a voltage V3 at the output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit 110. If the voltage V3 is less than a third threshold value (e.g., 26V), the converter 120 may discharge the supercapacitor 130 to provide a power flow to the device 20 through the output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit 110, wherein the third threshold value (e.g., 26V) may be less than or equal to the first threshold value (e.g., 26V). In one embodiment, the third threshold value (e.g., 26V) may be greater than a voltage V4 (e.g., 24V) of the power flow provided by the device 10.

[0033] Figure 2 A flow chart showing a method for overvoltage protection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown, wherein the method can be performed as follows: Figure 1 The invention is implemented by the overvoltage protection device 100 shown in FIG. In step S201, the input terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit is electrically connected to the first device and the output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit is electrically connected to the second device. In step S202, the converter is electrically connected to the output terminal and the super capacitor. In step S203, the first voltage of the first power flow at the output terminal is detected by the converter. In step S204, the super capacitor is charged by the first power flow in response to the first voltage being greater than the first threshold.

[0034] In summary, the overvoltage protection device of the present disclosure may configure a unidirectional transfer circuit between the device and the power supply. The overvoltage protection device may detect the voltage of the output terminal of the unidirectional transfer circuit and may direct the power flow from the unidirectional transfer circuit to the supercapacitor when the detected voltage is greater than the voltage threshold, so as to reduce the voltage of the surge power. The supercapacitor may be charged accordingly. When the supercapacitor is no longer charged and reaches its discharge voltage, power may flow from the supercapacitor to the converter. The converter may increase the discharge voltage to a value higher than the voltage provided by the power supply. Therefore, when an electrical load is established from a power supply device, before the power from the power supply flows to the power supply device through the unidirectional transfer circuit, the power discharged from the supercapacitor may flow to the device through the converter to provide power to the power supply device. Therefore, the supercapacitor may not accumulate power, but will undergo a charge and discharge cycle.

[0035] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the present disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure encompasses modifications and variations, provided that the modifications and variations fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An overvoltage protection device, characterized in that: include: a unidirectional transfer circuit including an input terminal electrically connected to a first device and an output terminal electrically connected to a second device; Supercapacitors; as well as A converter is electrically connected to the output terminal and the supercapacitor, wherein the converter detects a first voltage of a first power flow at the output terminal and charges the supercapacitor through the first power flow in response to the first voltage being greater than a first threshold. 2 . The overvoltage protection device of claim 1 , wherein the converter discharges the supercapacitor in response to a second voltage stored by the supercapacitor being greater than a second threshold. 3 . The overvoltage protection device of claim 2 , wherein the converter discharges the supercapacitor in response to a third voltage at the output terminal being less than a third threshold, wherein the third threshold is less than or equal to the first threshold. 4 . The overvoltage protection device of claim 3 , wherein the third threshold is greater than a fourth voltage of the second power flow provided by the first device. 5 . The overvoltage protection device of claim 2 , wherein the converter provides a third power flow to the second device via the output terminal by discharging the supercapacitor.

6. The overvoltage protection device according to claim 5, wherein the converter converts the third power flow discharged by the supercapacitor from the second voltage to the third voltage, and provides the converted third power flow to the second device, wherein the third voltage is greater than the second voltage. 7 . The overvoltage protection device according to claim 2 , wherein the converter converts the first power flow from the first voltage to a fifth voltage, and charges the supercapacitor through the converted first power flow, wherein the fifth voltage is lower than the first voltage.

8. The overvoltage protection device of claim 1, wherein the first device comprises a power supply and the second device comprises a motor.

9. A method for overvoltage protection, characterized in that: include: electrically connecting an input terminal of a one-way transfer circuit to a first device, and electrically connecting an output terminal of the one-way transfer circuit to a second device; electrically connecting a converter to the output terminal and the supercapacitor; detecting, by the converter, a first voltage of a first power flow at the output terminal; as well as The ultracapacitor is charged by the first power flow in response to the first voltage being greater than a first threshold.

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