Redundant Power Supply Feedback Circuit for ORing Fault Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing redundant power supply systems face issues where a fault in one power supply can affect the entire system operation due to direct physical connections through an output common bus, leading to unreliable voltage regulation and failure to detect over-voltage, under-voltage, and component faults accurately.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating multiple feedback modules (first, second, and third feedback modules) connected to a controller via resistor networks to provide voltage feedbacks, allowing the controller to regulate output voltage and detect states such as over-voltage, under-voltage, and component faults by using reflected voltages from different nodes of an ORing device, ensuring reliable voltage maintenance on the common bus.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple feedback modules are added to detect faults accurately, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The feedback system is segmented into three distinct feedback modules, each monitoring different voltage points (output terminal, ORing device input terminal, and ORing device output terminal). This segmentation allows precise fault detection by comparing voltages at different locations, enabling the system to identify whether faults originate from power supply units, ORing devices, or the common bus without requiring a single complex feedback mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller acts as an intermediary that receives voltage feedback from multiple feedback modules and processes this information to detect faults. By using the controller as a central processing point, the system can accurately determine fault locations through voltage comparison without requiring direct complex interconnections between all feedback modules, thus managing device complexity while maintaining high measurement precision.
2Ease of operation
If power supply units are directly connected through an output common bus, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The ORing device serves as an intermediary component between power supply units and the output common bus. It enables multiple power supply units to be connected to the common bus while providing automatic fault isolation - when a power supply unit fails, the ORing device prevents the fault from propagating to other units, thus maintaining both ease of operation (simple parallel connection) and reliability (fault isolation capability).
Solution Approach 2:
The system architecture segments the power supply connection through individual ORing devices for each power supply unit. This segmentation allows each unit to be independently monitored and isolated, preventing cascade failures while maintaining the simplicity of parallel connection to the common bus.
3Device complexity
If voltage feedback is taken only from the output terminal, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of a single feedback connection at the output terminal, the voltage feedback is segmented into three measurement points: the output terminal voltage, the ORing device input terminal voltage, and the ORing device output terminal voltage. This segmentation enables precise identification of fault locations by comparing voltages at different points in the circuit, allowing the system to distinguish between faults in power supply units versus faults in ORing devices or the common bus.
Solution Approach 2:
The feedback system adds spatial dimensionality by measuring voltages at multiple locations along the power supply path rather than at a single point. This multi-dimensional voltage monitoring approach provides comprehensive fault detection capability, enabling the controller to trace fault origins through voltage comparisons across different circuit nodes.
Data Source
AI summary
A power supply apparatus includes a power converter, a controller, an ORing device, and a first feedback module. The power converter is configured to provide an output voltage via the ORing device. The first feedback module is connected between a downstream node of the ORing device and the controller and is configured to provide a first voltage feedback to the controller. The power supply apparatus further includes a second feedback module connected between an upstream node of the ORing device and the controller and configured to provide a second voltage feedback to the controller, and a third feedback module connected between the upstream node of the ORing device and the controller and configured to provide a third voltage feedback to the controller. The controller is configured or programmed to control the power supply apparatus based on the first voltage feedback, the second voltage feedback, and the third voltage feedback.