Fieldbus Power Supply Current Sharing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fieldbus power supplies face inefficiencies and high costs due to duplicated circuitry and high loading requirements, leading to operational issues like heating and space consumption, despite incorporating redundancy for fault tolerance.
Innovation Solution
A power supply system with a current share controller that balances output current across modules, using a common transformer and N+1 redundancy architecture, where each module tracks the output voltage of a regulated channel, reducing individual module load and power handling needs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundancy is incorporated into fieldbus power supplies to ensure fault tolerance, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to high duplication of circuitry
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple power supply channels onto a single primary winding of the transformer, allowing multiple secondary windings to serve different channels. This consolidation reduces the duplication of circuitry while maintaining the redundancy needed for fault tolerance, directly resolving the contradiction between reliability and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The primary winding serves multiple channels simultaneously, making it a universal component that fulfills multiple functions. This multi-functionality approach allows the power supply to maintain redundancy across channels without requiring separate dedicated circuitry for each channel, thereby reducing overall system complexity while preserving reliability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If each module has dedicated PSU and conditioner circuitry for isolated channels, then channel independence is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple channels that share common requirements onto a single primary winding, reducing the number of separate PSUs and conditioner circuits needed. This merging approach maintains functional independence where necessary while eliminating redundant circuitry, thereby reducing manufacturing costs without sacrificing essential channel independence.
Solution Approach 2:
A single PSU and conditioner circuitry are designed to serve multiple channels through the multi-winding transformer architecture. This universal design allows one set of circuitry to fulfill the roles of multiple dedicated units, significantly reducing manufacturing complexity and cost while maintaining the ability to independently control channels when needed.
3Productivity
If modules are arranged to share power requirement on 50/50 basis, then load distribution is improved, but power handling requirements still lead to heating issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the power handling function across multiple secondary windings on a single primary winding, allowing the load to be distributed not only across modules but also across multiple isolated channels. This segmentation of the power path reduces the power handling burden on any single component, thereby reducing heat generation while maintaining effective load distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The transformer with multiple secondary windings acts as an intermediary that distributes power to multiple channels from a single primary input. This intermediary structure enables fine-grained load distribution across multiple output channels, reducing the power handling requirements and associated heating issues in each individual channel while maintaining overall system productivity.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention can provide for a power supply, and in particular a fieldbus power supply, comprising a plurality of power supply modules each arranged to output power on a plurality of channels; a current share controller arranged to share an output current requirement across the plurality of power supply modules and wherein; at least a second of the plurality of channels in each module is arranged to track the loading of the first of the plurality of channels in each respective module and so that a multichannel and multimodule power supply with reduced power handling requirements for each module can be provided.