Cascaded unit and control method thereof, cascaded system and controller

Abstract

This application discloses a cascaded unit and its control method, cascaded system, and controller. The cascaded unit is one of n cascaded units connected in a cascaded sequence within the cascaded system, where n is a positive integer greater than 1. The cascaded unit includes an encoding circuit and a control unit. The encoding circuit includes a power supply and a variable resistor circuit. The power supply provides a constant voltage to the variable resistor. The n encoding circuits corresponding to the n cascaded units are connected in series to form a voltage divider circuit. The control unit is connected to the variable resistor circuit and configured to: detect the voltage of the variable resistor circuit and determine the sequential encoding used to identify the cascaded unit based on the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit. This method only requires the voltage sampling interface of the control unit within the cascaded unit to perform sequential encoding of the cascaded unit, saving the I / O resources of the control unit within the cascaded unit and improving the utilization rate of the control unit's peripheral resources.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of new energy technology, and more specifically, to a cascaded unit and its control method, cascaded system and controller. Background Technology

[0002] In some application scenarios, multiple cascaded units need to be connected sequentially to form a cascaded system in order to improve system capacity or processing power. Within a cascaded system, it is necessary to identify the identity of each cascaded unit for precise management.

[0003] In related technologies, cascaded units are typically identified by encoding them based on the states of multiple input / output (IO) interfaces of the control unit (e.g., microcontroller unit, MCU). However, this approach requires the use of multiple IO ports of the processing unit, resulting in high resource consumption. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a cascaded unit and its control method, a cascaded system, and a controller. The various aspects involved in this application's embodiments are described below.

[0005] In a first aspect, a cascade unit is provided, wherein the cascade unit is one of n cascade units connected in a cascade system according to a cascade order, where n is a positive integer greater than 1. The cascade unit includes: an encoding circuit, including a power supply and a variable resistor circuit, wherein the power supply provides a constant voltage to the variable resistor circuit; and a control unit connected to the variable resistor circuit, wherein the control unit is configured to: detect the voltage of the variable resistor circuit to obtain a detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit, and determine the sequential encoding of the cascade unit based on the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit, wherein the sequential encoding is used to identify the cascade unit; wherein the n encoding circuits corresponding to the n cascade units are connected in series to form a voltage divider circuit.

[0006] In some embodiments, the control unit is configured to: determine the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit and the calculated voltage of the n variable resistor circuits, wherein the calculated voltage of the n variable resistor circuits is determined based on the design resistance value of the n variable resistor circuits, and the design resistance value of each variable resistor circuit among the design resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits is related to the sequence code of the corresponding cascaded unit.

[0007] In some embodiments, the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit includes n controllable circuits connected in parallel. Each controllable circuit includes a resistor and a switch. The resistor and the switch are connected in series. The resistors in each of the n controllable circuits have the same resistance value. The number of switches in the n controllable circuits that are in the closed state is the same as the sequence code of the cascaded unit, so that the actual resistance value of the variable resistor circuit is the same as the designed resistance value of the variable resistor circuit.

[0008] In some embodiments, the control unit is configured to: determine the calculated voltage of each variable resistor circuit based on the proportion of the designed resistance value of each variable resistor circuit in the sum of the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits.

[0009] In some embodiments, the control unit is configured to: in response to the presence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, determine the sequence code corresponding to the target calculated voltage as the sequence code of the cascaded unit; in response to the absence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, output first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a fault in the switch closing state of the n variable resistor circuits; wherein, the target calculated voltage is one of the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits and the difference between the target calculated voltage and the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit is within the sampling error range.

[0010] In some embodiments, the control unit is further configured to: determine whether the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit is greater than a preset threshold; in response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being greater than the preset threshold, determine the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit; and in response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being less than or equal to the preset threshold, output second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate a wiring fault in the cascaded unit.

[0011] Secondly, a control method for a cascaded unit is provided. The cascaded unit is one of n cascaded units connected in a cascaded system according to a cascaded sequence, where n is a positive integer greater than 1. The cascaded unit includes an encoding circuit, which includes a power supply and a variable resistor circuit. The n encoding circuits corresponding to the n cascaded units are connected in series to form a voltage divider circuit. The control method includes: detecting the voltage of the variable resistor circuit to obtain a detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit; and determining the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit, wherein the sequence code is used to identify the cascaded unit.

[0012] In some embodiments, determining the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit includes: determining the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit and the calculated voltages of n variable resistor circuits; wherein the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits are determined based on the design resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits, and the design resistance value of each variable resistor circuit among the design resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits is related to the sequence code of the corresponding cascaded unit.

[0013] In some embodiments, the control method further includes: determining the calculated voltage of each variable resistor circuit based on the proportion of the designed resistance value of each variable resistor circuit in the sum of the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits.

[0014] In some embodiments, the control method further includes: in response to the presence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, determining the sequence code corresponding to the target calculated voltage as the sequence code of the cascaded unit; in response to the absence of the target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, outputting first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a fault in the switch closing state of the n variable resistor circuits; wherein the target calculated voltage is one of the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits and the difference between the target calculated voltage and the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit is within the sampling error range.

[0015] In some embodiments, the control method further includes: determining whether the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit is greater than a preset threshold; in response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being greater than the preset threshold, determining the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit; and in response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being less than or equal to the preset threshold, outputting second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate a wiring fault in the cascaded unit.

[0016] Thirdly, a cascaded system is provided, comprising n cascaded units as described in the first aspect, connected in a cascaded order.

[0017] Fourthly, a controller is provided for performing the method as described in the second aspect.

[0018] The cascading unit provided in this embodiment is one of n cascading units connected in cascading order in a cascading system, where n is a positive integer greater than 1. The cascading unit includes an encoding circuit and a control unit. The encoding circuit includes a power supply and a variable resistor circuit. The power supply provides a constant voltage to the variable resistor. The n encoding circuits corresponding to the n cascading units are connected in series to form a voltage divider circuit. The control unit is connected to the variable resistor circuit and configured to: detect the voltage of the variable resistor circuit and determine the sequential encoding used to identify the cascading unit based on the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit. This method only requires the voltage sampling interface of the control unit in the cascading unit to perform sequential encoding of the cascading unit, saving the I / O resources of the control unit within the cascading unit and improving the utilization rate of the control unit's peripheral resources. Attached Figure Description

[0019] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the coding principle of the control unit in the cascaded unit in related technologies.

[0020] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a cascaded system provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0021] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a cascaded system provided in another embodiment of this application.

[0022] Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating the method executed by the control unit in the cascaded unit #x provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0023] Figure 5 This is a flowchart illustrating the control method for the cascaded unit provided in the embodiments of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0024] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present application should fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0025] In this document, the term "embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of this application. The appearance of this phrase in various places throughout the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it a separate or alternative embodiment mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It will be explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

[0026] In some application scenarios, multiple cascaded units need to be connected in a cascaded order (or cascade sequence) to form a cascaded system in order to improve system capacity, manageability, or scalability. The cascaded order mentioned in this application refers to the sequential connection of multiple cascaded units in a physically or logically similar chain-like topology. Each cascaded unit is assigned a unique sequence code on the connection chain; this process is called sorting. The sequence code is a unique identifier for the cascaded unit, used to identify the cascaded unit and the order in which it is connected (or incorporated) into the cascaded system. In other words, the sequence code identifies the cascaded unit in the cascaded order, or its position in the cascade chain.

[0027] For example, in communication equipment applications, multiple slave devices in a master-slave communication architecture need to be connected sequentially in a cascading order to form a slave group and communicate with the master. This allows the master to manage each slave device in the group uniformly, improving the manageability and scalability of the communication system. Sequence encoding is used to identify each slave device in the cascading order, so that when multiple slave devices communicate with the master, the master can identify which slave device the interaction information comes from. Based on this, a slave device is a cascading unit, and a communication system is a cascading system.

[0028] For example, in applications involving power electronic devices, multiple power electronic devices can be connected sequentially in a cascaded order to form a power supply system, thereby increasing the output voltage or current of that system. Based on this, power electronic devices are cascaded units, and power supply systems are cascaded systems. Sequence coding is used to identify each power electronic device in the cascaded sequence, enabling the power supply system to recognize the identity of the power electronic devices for appropriate control (e.g., fault control or power output control).

[0029] As a specific example, power electronic equipment can be a power conversion device. A power conversion device can be one or more of the following: a modular inverter, a modular power conversion system (PCS), a modular rectifier, and a modular optimizer, etc. When the cascaded unit is one of the above-mentioned power conversion devices, cascading can be understood as either series or parallel connection. Based on this, the cascading order is also the order of series connections or parallel connections.

[0030] In cascaded systems, it is necessary to identify the identity of each cascaded unit (i.e., sequential encoding (or unit number)) for accurate management. In related technologies, the identity of cascaded units is typically identified by sequential encoding based on the status of multiple I / O interfaces of the control unit (e.g., MCU) within the cascaded unit. To facilitate understanding of these technologies, the following section will combine... Figure 1 This will be explained in detail. For example... Figure 1The diagram shown illustrates the I / O level encoding principle of the control unit in a single cascaded unit. See details... Figure 1 Each cascaded unit's control unit has m I / O interfaces, each of which can be in either a high or low state. The specific state of an I / O port is controlled by an external switch connected to it. Figure 1 Interface IO1-IO m The voltage levels are controlled by external switches K1-Km respectively. Through the control of these external switches, interfaces IO1-IO... m There may be 1~2 n Therefore, 1~2 states can be achieved. n Address encoding. The control unit can obtain interface IO1-IO. m The status is then binary encoded (i.e., sequential encoding) to identify the cascaded unit corresponding to the control unit. However, the methods in related technologies require multiple I / O ports of the control unit of each cascaded unit, resulting in high resource consumption.

[0031] In view of this, this application provides a cascading unit, which is one of n cascading units connected in a cascading order in a cascading system, where n is a positive integer greater than 1. The cascading unit includes an encoding circuit and a control unit. The encoding circuit includes a power supply and a variable resistor circuit. The power supply provides a constant voltage to the variable resistor. The n encoding circuits corresponding to the n cascading units are connected in series to form a voltage divider circuit. The control unit is connected to the variable resistor circuit and configured to: detect the voltage of the variable resistor circuit and determine the sequential encoding used to identify the cascading unit based on the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit. This method only requires the voltage sampling interface of the control unit in the cascading unit to perform sequential encoding of the cascading unit, which can save the I / O resources of the control unit in the cascading unit and improve the utilization rate of the peripheral resources of the control unit.

[0032] To facilitate understanding of this application, the following is combined with... Figure 2 The cascading unit and the cascading system 20 formed by the cascading unit provided in the embodiments of this application will be described in more detail.

[0033] like Figure 2 As shown, the cascading system 20 provided in this embodiment includes n cascading units. These n cascading units are connected in cascading order and are labeled #1, #2…#n. n is a positive integer greater than 1, meaning it is at least a positive integer of 2. This embodiment does not impose a specific limitation on n; it can be designed according to design requirements.

[0034] For any cascade unit #x among n cascade units, where x is any one of 1 to n, see details. Figure 2The cascaded unit #x includes an encoding circuit and a control unit. Based on this, it can be seen that the n cascaded units in the cascaded system 20 correspond to n encoding circuits (i.e., encoding circuit 1 to encoding circuit n) and n control units (i.e., control unit 1 to control unit n). For any encoding circuit, the encoding circuit is a hardware circuit used to assist the control algorithm in the corresponding control unit in determining the sequential encoding of the cascaded units. In the embodiments of this application, as... Figure 2 As shown, the encoding circuit may include a power supply and a variable resistor circuit. The power supply provides a constant voltage V to the variable resistor circuit. ref The actual resistance value of the variable resistor circuit is controllable. For example, the actual resistance value of the variable resistor can be controlled based on the relevant operations described later. In other words, after performing relevant operations on the variable resistor circuit (such as manual operation), the resistance value of the variable resistor circuit is the actual resistance value of the variable resistor circuit. The actual resistance value of the variable circuit should be related to the order in which the cascaded units are connected to the cascade system 20 (i.e., the sequential coding of the cascaded units).

[0035] The n encoding circuits correspond to n power supplies and n variable resistor circuits (i.e., variable resistor circuit 1 - variable resistor circuit n). In the embodiments of this application, as... Figure 2 As shown, n encoding circuits are connected in series to form a voltage divider circuit. Specifically, each encoding circuit has an input terminal and an output terminal. The input terminal of the current encoding circuit is connected to the output terminal of the previous encoding circuit, and the output terminal of the current encoding circuit is connected to the input terminal of the next encoding circuit. The input terminal of the first encoding circuit in the n encoding circuits is connected to the output terminal of the last encoding circuit to ultimately form the voltage divider circuit. In each encoding circuit, a power supply and a variable resistor circuit are connected in series to form a series circuit. One end of this series circuit is the input terminal, and the other end is the output terminal. The n power supplies, based on their series connection, collectively form the supply voltage n of the voltage divider circuit. V ref The resistance values ​​(e.g., designed or actual resistance values) of n variable resistor circuits are formed to create n voltage dividers. V ref n equivalent voltage divider resistors.

[0036] The control unit serves as the control center within the cascaded unit, participating in functions such as cascading sequence identification, fault detection, voltage detection, and communication to ensure the normal operation of the cascaded unit. In this embodiment, the control unit x in cascaded unit #x is connected to the variable resistor circuit x in cascaded unit #x, and the control unit x is configured to: detect the voltage of the variable resistor circuit x to obtain the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit; and determine the sequence code of cascaded unit #x based on the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x. As mentioned earlier, the sequence code is used to identify the cascaded unit.

[0037] This application does not specifically limit the type of control unit, as long as the control unit is capable of detecting the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit and sequentially encoding the cascaded units. For example, the control unit can be a controller with voltage sampling function and the ability to determine the sequential encoding of the cascaded units based on the sampled voltage. As an example, the control unit can be one of the following: MCU, System on Chip (SoC), or Digital Signal Processor (DSP).

[0038] This application does not specifically limit the method by which the control unit detects the voltage of the variable resistor circuit. As one implementation, the control unit is a controller with a voltage sampling interface, such as an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) interface. The control unit can sample the voltage of the variable resistor circuit based on the ADC interface.

[0039] This application does not specifically limit the method for determining the sequence code of cascaded units based on the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit. For example, the control unit can determine the sequence code of the cascaded units based on the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit and the calculated voltages of n variable resistor circuits, as detailed below. Alternatively, the control unit can determine the sequence code of the cascaded units based on whether the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit meets a preset condition. As a concrete example, different preset conditions can be set for the sequence codes of different cascaded units. In response to the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit meeting the preset condition corresponding to the corresponding sequence code, that sequence code is determined as the sequence code of the cascaded unit.

[0040] By implementing the embodiments of this application, only the voltage sampling interface of the control unit is needed to perform sequential encoding of the cascaded unit, which can save the IO resources of the control unit within the cascaded unit and improve the utilization rate of the peripheral resources of the control unit.

[0041] As mentioned earlier, the control unit x can determine the voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x and the calculated voltage V of the n variable resistor circuits. 1_ref ~V n_ref Determine the sequential encoding of the cascaded unit x. For ease of understanding, this scheme will be described in detail below.

[0042] The calculated voltages V1_ref to Vn_ref of n variable resistor circuits can be determined based on the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits. Specifically, the calculated voltage of any single variable resistor circuit can be obtained based on the voltage divider characteristics and the designed resistance value of that variable resistor circuit. For the n cascaded units in the cascade system 20, the designed resistance values ​​(or theoretical resistance values, ideal resistance values, or preset resistance values) of the corresponding n variable resistor circuits are all different. Specifically, the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits are related to the sequential coding of the corresponding n cascaded units; in other words, the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits can reflect the sequential coding of the corresponding n cascaded units. For example, there should be a one-to-one mapping relationship between the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits and the sequential coding of the corresponding n cascaded units. As a concrete example, corresponding to the cascade order, the designed resistance values ​​R1-Rn of the n variable resistor circuits can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 ... R, (1 / 2) R, (1 / 3)R, (1 / 4) R…(1 / n)R, where the denominator of the coefficient of R is the sequential code of the cascaded unit corresponding to each variable resistor circuit.

[0043] Based on this, due to the voltage division characteristics of resistors, the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits are also different, and the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits are also related to the sequential codes of the corresponding n cascaded units. In other words, the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits can reflect the sequential codes of the corresponding n cascaded units. For example, the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits have a one-to-one mapping relationship with the sequential codes of the corresponding n cascaded units.

[0044] As mentioned earlier, the actual resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits are all controllable. If the operation of the n variable resistor circuits is correct, their actual resistance values ​​should be the same as their designed resistance values. Furthermore, since the detection voltages of the n variable resistor circuits are determined based on the voltage divider characteristics and their actual resistance values, the detection voltages V1-act to Vn-act of the n variable resistor circuits should be the same as or close to the calculated voltages V1_ref to Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits. It should be understood that "close" means the difference between the detection voltage and the calculated voltage is within the sampling error range (-δ, δ). The sampling error range can be preset; for example, it can be obtained based on selection experience, testing experience, and / or experiments.

[0045] Based on the above calculation process of the calculated voltage and the relationship between the detected voltage and the calculated voltage, it can be seen that determining the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detected voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit and the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits can be specifically obtained based on an adaptive algorithm. Specifically, it involves determining which calculated voltage among the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits matches the detected voltage Vx-act, and determining the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the matched calculated voltage. In some embodiments, the matched calculated voltage can also be referred to as the target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits; that is, the target calculated voltage is the calculated voltage among the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits that matches the detected voltage. Here, matching the target calculated voltage with the detected voltage can be understood as the target calculated voltage being close to the detected voltage, and the difference between the detected voltage and the calculated voltage being within the sampling error range (-δ, δ).

[0046] The sequential code of the cascaded unit is determined by detecting the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit of the cascaded unit and then calculating the target voltage that matches the detection voltage. This method does not require too many interfaces of the control unit and the algorithm is simple and easy to implement. It is beneficial to improve the utilization rate of peripheral resources of the control unit and also to reduce the overall cost.

[0047] As mentioned earlier, the actual resistance value of the variable resistor circuit is controllable and can be controlled manually. To achieve controllable actual resistance value and ensure that the actual resistance value of the variable resistor is the same as the designed resistance value of the variable resistor circuit so as to facilitate determining the sequence encoding of cascaded power supplies based on calculated voltage, one possible implementation method is... Figure 3 As shown, the variable resistor circuit in any cascaded unit includes n controllable circuits connected in parallel. For any one of the n controllable circuits, the controllable circuit includes a resistor and a switch, with the resistor and switch connected in series. The on / off state of the switch controls whether the resistor connected in series with it is connected to the variable resistor circuit. Therefore, in some embodiments, the switch can also be called a switching switch. The resistors in each of the n controllable circuits have the same resistance value; for example, the resistance value of each resistor in the controllable circuit is R. The number of switches S1-Sn in the n controllable circuits that are in the closed state is the same as the sequential code of the cascaded unit, so that the actual resistance value of the variable resistor circuit is the same as the designed resistance value of the variable resistor circuit. The variable resistor circuit provided in this application has a simple structure and is easy to implement, which helps to reduce overall hardware and control costs.

[0048] In some embodiments, manual operation is required to ensure that the number of switches S1-Sn in the n controllable circuits in the closed state is the same as the sequential code of the cascade unit. For example, for the n switches in the variable resistor circuit of the first cascade unit connected to the cascade system 20 (i.e., the first cascade unit in the cascade sequence, i.e., the cascade unit with sequential code 1), one switch can be manually closed while n-1 switches remain open. In this case, the actual resistance value of the variable resistor circuit is R. For the n switches in the variable resistor circuit of the second cascade unit connected to the cascade system 20, two switches can be manually closed while n-2 switches remain open. In this case, the actual resistance value of the variable resistor circuit is (1 / 2). R. For the n switches in the variable resistor circuit of the third cascade unit connected to the cascade system 20, 3 switches can be manually closed while keeping n-3 switches open. At this time, the actual resistance of the variable resistor circuit is (1 / 3). R. This process continues until, for the nth cascade unit connected to the cascade system 20, n switches in the variable resistor circuit can be manually closed. At this point, the actual resistance of the variable resistor circuit is (1 / n). R. If the above operations for the variable resistor circuits within each cascade unit are correct, the actual resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits should be the same as the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits, which is beneficial for determining the sequential encoding of the cascade units.

[0049] As mentioned earlier, the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits have a one-to-one mapping relationship with the sequential codes of the corresponding n cascaded units. As a concrete example, the calculated voltage of each variable resistor circuit can be calculated based on its voltage divider characteristics. Since the design resistance value of each variable resistor circuit is related to the sequential code of the corresponding cascaded unit, the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits calculated based on the voltage divider characteristics have a one-to-one mapping relationship with the sequential codes of the corresponding n cascaded units. Specifically, the control unit x is configured to determine the calculated voltage of each variable resistor circuit based on the proportion of the design resistance value of each variable resistor circuit in the sum of the design resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits. That is, the calculation formula for the calculated voltage Vi-ref of any variable resistor circuit is as follows: Vi-ref = (Ri / (R1+R2+…+Rn)) n V refWhere i is any one of 1 to n, and i is the sequential code of the cascaded unit; Rx is the design resistance value of any variable resistor circuit; and R1+R2+…+Rn is the sum of the design resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits. Therefore, given the cascade order, the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits are known. In other words, the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits can be determined based on pre-calculation. This means that the control unit x can determine the calculated voltages of the variable resistor circuits in the n cascaded units based on calculation, and the sequential codes corresponding to different calculated voltages are known.

[0050] The calculation method for the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits used to determine the sequential encoding of the cascaded unit in the embodiments of this application is simple and easy to implement, does not require high computing power from the control unit, and is conducive to reducing the overall cost.

[0051] As previously mentioned, control unit x can be configured to determine the sequence code of cascaded units based on the target calculated voltage. Therefore, in some embodiments, control unit x can be specifically configured to: in response to the presence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits, determine the sequence code corresponding to the target calculated voltage as the sequence code of cascaded unit #x; in response to the absence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits, output first indication information, which indicates a fault in the switch closure state of the n variable resistor circuits. The target calculated voltage is one of the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits, and the difference between the target calculated voltage and the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit is within the sampling error range (-δ, δ). The absence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits can be understood as the difference between each calculated voltage and the detection voltage among the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of the n variable resistor circuits not being within the sampling error range.

[0052] By sequentially encoding or outputting the first indication information based on the calculated voltages V1_ref~Vn_ref of n variable resistor circuits, it is not only beneficial to determine the sequential encoding of cascaded units, but also to automatically detect whether the manual operation of each switch in the variable resistor circuit within the cascaded unit is accurate when the cascaded unit is incorporated into the cascaded system 20. This enhances the automation level of the system and ensures the accuracy of the manual intervention.

[0053] As previously described, after obtaining the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x, the control unit x can determine the sequence code of the cascaded units based on the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x. In some embodiments, the control unit x can first pre-screen the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x, and then determine the sequence code of the cascaded units #x based on the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x that meets the pre-screening conditions. The screening condition may be, for example, that the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x is greater than a preset threshold. The preset threshold is a voltage value used to initially measure whether the detection voltage is abnormal. For example, the preset voltage value may be 0. Or, the preset voltage value may be δ. Or, the preset voltage value may be -δ. Specifically, the control unit x is further configured to: determine whether the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x is greater than the preset threshold; in response to the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x being greater than the preset threshold, determine the sequence code of the cascaded units based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit; and in response to the detection voltage Vx-act of the variable resistor circuit x being less than or equal to the preset threshold, output second indication information. The second indication information is used to indicate a wiring fault in the cascade unit #x, so that users can monitor the wiring between cascade units based on the second indication information.

[0054] By implementing the embodiments of this application, a front-end signal quality control mechanism is essentially set up before determining the sequential encoding of cascaded units based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit. This avoids the control unit from performing complex analysis on erroneous detection voltages, reduces unnecessary calculations and judgments, and improves processing efficiency. Furthermore, by outputting a second indication when the detection voltage does not meet the pre-screening conditions, it also helps prompt the user to troubleshoot, improving the reliability and stability of the system operation.

[0055] To facilitate understanding of the above scheme for determining the sequential encoding of cascaded units, a specific example will be used below for detailed explanation. The cascaded system 20 in this specific example can be as follows: Figure 3 As shown. For Figure 3 The cascaded system 20 in the middle includes n cascaded units (#1-#n). The variable resistor circuit of each cascaded unit includes n resistors and n switches (S1-Sn). n represents the maximum number of cascaded units and n is on the finite order of magnitude. Specifically, n is at least greater than 1.

[0056] When different cascade units are connected, the switches S1-Sn in the cascade unit are set as shown in Table 1 according to the order in which the different cascade units are connected.

[0057] Table 1 Based on the control logic of the switches described above, the calculated voltage V of the n variable resistor circuits corresponding to the n cascaded units can be obtained using the following formula. 1_ref ~V n_ref。

[0058] Taking any cascade unit #x out of n cascaded units as an example, Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating the adaptive coding method executed by the control unit in this cascaded unit. It should be noted that the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit within cascaded unit #x is Vx-act, and the sampling error is δ. See details... Figure 4 The adaptive coding method executed by the control unit within the cascaded unit #x includes steps S410-S420.

[0059] In step S410: Determine whether the detection voltage Vx-act±δ is greater than 0.

[0060] If yes, proceed to step S420. If no, proceed to step S430.

[0061] In step S420: Calculate the calculated voltage V of the n variable resistor circuits corresponding to the n cascaded units in sequence. 1_ref ~V n_ref .

[0062] In step S430: Output the second instruction information.

[0063] The second indication information is used to indicate wiring faults in cascaded units, and it is necessary to check whether the wiring between cascaded units is intact.

[0064] In step S440: sequentially determine V 1_ref ~V n_ref Does it match Vx-act?

[0065] If V 1_ref ~V n_ref any V in i_ref If it matches Vx-act, then proceed to step S450. 1_ref ~V n_ref If none of them match Vx-act, then proceed to step S460.

[0066] In step S450: V i_ref The sequential code i is determined as the sequential code of the cascade unit #x.

[0067] In step S460: Output the first indication information. The first indication information is used when there is a fault in the closed state of the switches in the n variable resistor circuits, and it is necessary to check whether the switches in the variable resistor circuits in the cascaded unit are correct.

[0068] In step S470: Perform relevant initialization operations.

[0069] It should be noted that, Figure 3 and Figure 4 The structures described above are merely illustrative and intended to facilitate understanding of the solutions presented in this application. They should not be construed as limiting the scope of this application. The solutions described above can also be reasonably rearranged, and such rearranged solutions should also be included within the protection scope of this application.

[0070] The above text combined Figures 1 to 4 The device embodiments of this application have been described in detail below, in conjunction with... Figure 5 The method embodiments of this application are described in detail below. It should be understood that the description of the method embodiments corresponds to the description of the apparatus embodiments; therefore, any parts not described in detail can be referred to the foregoing apparatus embodiments.

[0071] like Figure 5 As shown, the control method S500 for cascaded units provided in this application embodiment includes steps S510-S520. It should be noted that the control method is applied to cascaded units, where a cascaded unit is one of n cascaded units connected in a cascaded system according to a cascaded sequence, and n is a positive integer greater than 1. Each cascaded unit includes an encoding circuit, which includes a power supply and a variable resistor circuit. The n encoding circuits corresponding to the n cascaded units are connected in series to form a voltage divider circuit.

[0072] See details Figure 5 In step S510: the voltage of the variable resistor circuit is detected to obtain the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit.

[0073] In step S520: The sequence code of the cascaded unit is determined based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit. The sequence code is used to identify the cascaded unit.

[0074] In some embodiments, step S520 includes: determining the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit and the calculated voltage of the n variable resistor circuits. The calculated voltage of the n variable resistor circuits is determined based on the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits, and the designed resistance value of each of the n variable resistor circuits is related to the sequence code of the corresponding cascaded unit.

[0075] In some embodiments, the control method further includes: determining the calculated voltage of each variable resistor circuit based on the proportion of the designed resistance value of each variable resistor circuit in the sum of the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits.

[0076] In some embodiments, the control method further includes: in response to the presence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, determining the sequence code corresponding to the target calculated voltage as the sequence code of the cascaded unit; in response to the absence of the target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, outputting first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a fault in the switch closing state of the n variable resistor circuits; wherein, the target calculated voltage is one of the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits and the difference between the target calculated voltage and the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit is within the sampling error range.

[0077] In some embodiments, the control method further includes: determining whether the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit is greater than a preset threshold; in response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being greater than the preset threshold, determining the sequence code of the cascaded units based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit; and in response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being less than or equal to the preset threshold, outputting second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate a wiring fault in the cascaded units.

[0078] This application also provides a controller that can be used to execute the methods described in the above method embodiments. This application does not limit the specific implementation of the controller. For example, the controller can be implemented in hardware when executing the above methods. Alternatively, the controller can be implemented using a combination of software and hardware. Yet another example is that the controller can be implemented in software, such as by an MCU running a computer program to execute the above methods.

[0079] This application also provides a chip, including a processor, which can be used to call and run a computer program from memory, causing a power converter or power system on which the chip is installed to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. It is understood that the processor can be any type of processor mentioned above. It is also understood that the memory can be independent of the chip or integrated into the chip.

[0080] This application also provides a machine-readable storage medium for storing a program. This program causes a computer to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of this application.

[0081] This application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes a program. The program causes a computer to perform the methods described in various embodiments of this application.

[0082] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, through software, hardware, firmware, or any other combination. When implemented in software, it can be implemented, in whole or in part, as a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this disclosure are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a machine-readable storage medium or transmitted from one machine-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The machine-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state drives (SSDs)).

[0083] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this disclosure.

[0084] In the several embodiments provided in this disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0085] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0086] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of this disclosure can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0087] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this disclosure, but the scope of protection of this disclosure is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this disclosure should be included within the scope of protection of this disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of this disclosure should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A cascaded unit, characterized in that, The cascaded unit is one of n cascaded units connected in cascade order in a cascaded system, where n is a positive integer greater than 1. The cascaded unit includes: The encoding circuit includes a power supply and a variable resistor circuit, wherein the power supply provides a constant voltage to the variable resistor circuit; A control unit, connected to a variable resistor circuit, is configured to: detect the voltage of the variable resistor circuit to obtain a detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit, and determine the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detected voltage of the variable resistor circuit, the sequence code being used to identify the cascaded unit; The n cascaded units are connected in series with the n encoding circuits corresponding to them to form a voltage divider circuit.

2. The cascade unit according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control unit is configured to: determine the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit and the calculated voltage of the n variable resistor circuits, wherein the calculated voltage of the n variable resistor circuits is determined based on the design resistance value of the n variable resistor circuits, and the design resistance value of each variable resistor circuit among the design resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits is related to the sequence code of the corresponding cascaded unit.

3. The cascade unit according to claim 2, characterized in that, The variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit includes n controllable circuits connected in parallel. Each controllable circuit includes a resistor and a switch. The resistor and the switch are connected in series. The resistance values ​​of the resistors in each of the n controllable circuits are the same. The number of switches in the n controllable circuits that are in the closed state is the same as the sequence code of the cascaded unit, so that the actual resistance value of the variable resistor circuit is the same as the designed resistance value of the variable resistor circuit.

4. The cascade unit according to claim 2, characterized in that, The control unit is configured to determine the calculated voltage of each variable resistor circuit based on the proportion of the designed resistance value of each variable resistor circuit in the sum of the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits.

5. The cascade unit according to claim 2, characterized in that, The control unit is configured as follows: In response to the existence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, the sequence code corresponding to the target calculated voltage is determined as the sequence code of the cascaded unit; In response to the absence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, a first indication is output, which indicates that there is a fault in the switch closing state of the n variable resistor circuits. The target calculated voltage is one of the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, and the difference between the target calculated voltage and the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit is within the sampling error range.

6. The cascade unit according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control unit is also configured to: Determine whether the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit is greater than a preset threshold. In response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being greater than the preset threshold, the sequence code of the cascaded unit is determined based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit; In response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being less than or equal to the preset threshold, a second indication is output, which is used to indicate a wiring fault in the cascaded unit.

7. A cascaded system, characterized in that, It includes n cascaded units as described in any one of claims 1-6, connected in a cascaded order, where n is a positive integer greater than 1.

8. A control method for a cascaded unit, characterized in that, The cascaded unit is one of n cascaded units connected in cascade order in a cascaded system, where n is a positive integer greater than 1. The cascaded unit includes an encoding circuit, which includes a power supply and a variable resistor circuit. The n encoding circuits corresponding to the n cascaded units are connected in series to form a voltage divider circuit. The control method includes: The voltage of the variable resistor circuit is detected to obtain the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit; The sequence code of the cascaded unit is determined based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit, and the sequence code is used to identify the cascaded unit.

9. The control method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The step of determining the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit includes: determining the sequence code of the cascaded unit based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit and the calculated voltage of n variable resistor circuits; The calculated voltage of the n variable resistor circuits is determined based on the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits, and the designed resistance value of each variable resistor circuit is related to the sequential code of the corresponding cascade unit.

10. The control method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The control method further includes: The calculated voltage of each variable resistor circuit is determined based on the proportion of the designed resistance value of each variable resistor circuit in the sum of the designed resistance values ​​of the n variable resistor circuits.

11. The control method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The control method further includes: In response to the existence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, the sequence code corresponding to the target calculated voltage is determined as the sequence code of the cascaded unit; In response to the absence of a target calculated voltage among the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, a first indication is output, which indicates that there is a fault in the switch closing state of the n variable resistor circuits. The target calculated voltage is one of the calculated voltages of the n variable resistor circuits, and the difference between the target calculated voltage and the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit in the cascaded unit is within the sampling error range.

12. The control method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The control method further includes: Determine whether the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit is greater than a preset threshold. In response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being greater than the preset threshold, the sequence code of the cascaded unit is determined based on the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit; In response to the detection voltage of the variable resistor circuit being less than or equal to the preset threshold, a second indication is output, which is used to indicate a wiring fault in the cascaded unit.

13. A controller, characterized in that, Used to perform the method as described in any one of claims 8-12.

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