Eaton Corporation

Eaton Power Quality Corporation

Exide Electronics Corporation

Powerware Corporation

John Gaylord Tracy

Frederick Tassitino, Jr

Hans-Erik Pfitzer

Miguel Eduardo Chavez

Robert William Johnson, Jr

Rune Lennart Jonsson

Rennie Bobb

William J Raddi

Jason Scott Anderson

Larry Van Lynam

Miguel Douglas Chavez

Julius Rice

Edward Akbari

Keith Bauman

Paul Lukosius

Hans Pfitzer

Fred Tassitino

Blazej W Sonnenberg

Miguel E Chavez

Jr Frederick Tassitino

A UPS is operated by deasserting a static switch drive signal, e.g., a gate signal to a thyristor, and then delaying provision of power from a converter circuit of the UPS, e.g., an inverter or other source of AC power, until after the switch has current commutated to an off state. For example, expiration of a predetermined time interval following deassertion of the switch drive signal may be detected, and the converter circuit may be enabled to drive the output of the UPS responsive to the detected expiration of the predetermined time interval. Alternatively, a current in the static switch may be detected, and the converter circuit may be enabled to drive the output of the UPS responsive to the detected current. The invention may be embodied as methods and apparatus.

Uninterruptible power supplies with converter operation conditioned upon static switch commutation and methods of operation thereof

A power supply apparatus includes first and second parallel-connected uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), each including an AC/DC converter circuit and a DC/AC converter circuit having an input coupled to an output of the AC/DC converter circuit by a DC link, inputs of the AC/DC converter circuits of the first and second UPSs connected in common to an AC source and outputs of the DC/AC converter circuits of the first and second UPSs connected in common to a load. The first and second UPSs are configured to support a test mode wherein the first UPS is test loaded by transferring power from the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the first UPS to the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the second UPS. The first UPS may be configured to provide power to the load concurrent with test loading by the second UPS.

Self-testing power supply apparatus, methods and computer program products

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system includes at least three UPSs configured to be connected in parallel to a common load. The system further includes control circuitry configured to support at least two redundant groups among the UPSs and to support at least two redundant subgroups among at least one of the redundant groups of UPSs. In this manner, a nested redundancy may be provided.

Nested redundant uninterruptible power supply apparatus and methods

Power module connection assemblies include a longitudinally extending channel member and cam member. The longitudinally extending channel member includes a first end of a connector member in a sidewall thereof having a face exposed to an interior channel of the channel member. The connector member has an electrical connection section on a second end of the connector member, the second end being displaced from the first end. The longitudinally extending cam member is configured to be positioned in the channel of the channel member. The cam member is rotatably movable within the channel from a first position, wherein a mating connector bar may be received in the channel of the channel member proximate the first end of the connector member, to a second position to press the mating connector bar and the first end of the connector member together.

Power module connection assemblies and universal power supplies and methods including the same

In a power converter apparatus, such as an uninterruptible power supply, a phase reference signal is generated responsive to a DC voltage on a DC bus. A magnitude reference signal may be generated responsive to a phase current of an AC bus and/or the DC voltage on the DC bus. Power is transferred between the AC and DC busses responsive to the phase reference signal and the magnitude reference signal. Generation of the phase reference signal may include generating a DC voltage error signal responsive to the DC voltage on the DC bus, generating a phase offset signal responsive to the DC voltage error signal, and generating the phase reference signal responsive to the phase offset signal. Generation of the magnitude reference signal may include generating a volt-amperes reactive (VAR) error signal responsive to the phase current and generating the magnitude reference signal responsive to the VAR error signal.

Power converter apparatus and methods using a phase reference derived from a DC bus voltage

A closed loop power converter circuit of a UPS or other power supply includes a pulse width modulator circuit in a forward path of the closed loop power circuit. A compensation circuit provides pulse width commands to the pulse width modulator at a first rate. A feedback circuit digitally filters samples of an output of the closed loop power converter at a second rate greater the first rate and that provides the filtered samples to the compensation circuit. In some embodiments, the compensation circuit may be operative to compensate for the phase lag associated with a low pass output filter.

PWM power supplies using controlled feedback timing and methods of operating same

A power converter apparatus, such as a double-conversion or line-interactive UPS, includes first and second DC voltage busses and a polyphase DC to AC converter circuit coupled to the first and second DC voltage busses and operative to generate a polyphase AC output. The apparatus further includes a control circuit operatively associated with the polyphase DC to AC converter circuit and configured to shift a DC voltage range of the first and second DC voltage busses with respect to a reference voltage responsive to a relationship among phase components associated with the polyphase AC output. The components may include, for example, actual phase voltages or modulation commands (e.g., count values) from which the polyphase AC output is generated. The reference voltage may be a neutral voltage, e.g., a voltage of an actual neutral of a load receiving the AC output or a synthetic neutral voltage.

Power conversion apparatus and methods using DC bus shifting

An uninterruptible power supply apparatus includes a first bidirectional power converter circuit having first and second ports and a second bidirectional power converter circuit having first and second ports. The apparatus further includes a DC link that couples the second port of the first bidirectional power converter circuit to the first port of the second bidirectional power converter circuit. A first load port is coupled to the second port of the second bidirectional power converter circuit and a second load port is coupled to the first port of the first bidirectional power converter circuit. The apparatus further includes a control circuit that is configured to control the first and second bidirectional power converter circuits such that each of the first and second bidirectional power converter circuits can generate and/or condition AC power at each of the first and second load ports.

Multi-mode uninterruptible power supplies and methods of operation thereof

Twelve-pulse rectifiers include a first controller that controls a first six-pulse rectifier, a second controller that controls a second six-pulse rectifier and a data network that couples the first controller and the second controller to exchange data therebetween. The first and second controllers preferably have a common architecture and preferably operate independently. Each controller preferably controls its associated six-pulse rectifier as a function of the current and/or voltage output of the associated six-pulse rectifier, preferably using conventional feedback control techniques. Moreover, the first controller also preferably controls the first six-pulse rectifier as a function of a second current at the second six-pulse rectifier output, and the second controller preferably controls the second six-pulse rectifier as a function of a first current at the first six-pulse rectifier output. Thus, each six-pulse rectifier may be controlled as a function of the current at the other six-pulse rectifier output. The first controller preferably receives second data representing the second current at the second six-pulse rectifier output via the data network, and the second controller preferably receives first data representing a first current at the first six-pulse rectifier output via the data network. The first controller preferably continues to control the first six-pulse rectifier upon failure of the second controller to thereby provide a first output current from the first six-pulse rectifier at the twelve-pulse rectifier output. Similarly, the second controller preferably continues to control the second six-pulse rectifier upon failure of the first controller to thereby provide a second output current from the second six-pulse rectifier at the twelve-pulse rectifier output. When the first and second controllers are operational, the first and second six-pulse rectifiers may be controlled by their respective first and second controllers.

Twelve-pulse rectifiers including separate six-pulse controllers and methods of controlling same

Uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), power conversion apparatus and power conversion methods are provided which may improve phase regulation of polyphase AC voltages in the presence of load imbalances. According to one embodiment, a UPS includes a DC voltage generating circuit that produces a DC voltage. A space vector domain controlled inverter couples the DC voltage generating circuit to an AC load, and produces a polyphase AC output voltage at the load by sensing a plurality of voltages at the load, transforming the plurality of sensed voltages according to a space vector (d-q) transformation to produce an output space vector, generating an error space vector from the output space vector and a reference space vector, and selectively coupling the DC voltage generating circuit to the load responsive to the error space vector. In this manner, a voltage control loop is closed in the d-q domain, which may improve per-phase regulation of the polyphase AC output. Preferably, compensation is applied to the error space vector to produce a control space vector that compensates for poles or other transfer characteristics of the forward path of the voltage control loop. In another embodiment, the reference space vector is generated by an outer voltage amplitude loop that compares a sum of the plurality of output voltages at the load to a reference voltage amplitude, generating an error amplitude voltage which is compensated and then transformed according to a space vector transformation to produce the reference space vector that serves as the set point for the inner space vector domain control loop.

Apparatus and methods for space-vector domain control in uninterruptible power supplies

A parallel redundant power supply system which does not use any inter-unit signaling is obtained by using the AC output power level of a power system to coordinate load sharing. The necessary information for load sharing is derived solely from each power system's output power level in such a manner that the output of a power system is inherently phase locked to the output of other power systems to which it is connected in parallel. Each parallel connected power system designed in accordance with the invention includes means for generating an AC output voltage from a DC input power source, means for sampling either a DC input voltage from the DC input power source or the AC output voltage from the AC output voltage generating means to provide power level samples, and means for determining the AC output power of the AC output voltage generating means from the power level samples. A control signal is then generated and provided to the AC output voltage generating means to control the AC output phase and output frequency of the AC output voltage from the AC output voltage generating means based on the output power level of the AC output voltage generating means and a derivative of the output power level of the AC output voltage generating means so as to affect load sharing in a manner proportional to a unit power rating of the power system with other power systems to which the power system is connected in parallel without requiring inter-unit signaling between the power systems. Generally, the control signal is determined by integrating the derivative of the output power level of the AC output voltage generating means as determined from the power level samples.

Independent load sharing of AC power systems connected in parallel

A parallel redundant power supply system which does not use any inter-unit signaling is obtained by deriving all information necessary for a robust selective trip regime from the output signals of each respective power system. Each respective power system monitors its own power output and keeps a running average of its own performance to determine whether it is operating properly, rather than comparing itself to other units. The trip function is created by sampling the AC output voltage of the power system and multiplying an instantaneous difference in voltage (compared with a previous cycle) with the instantaneous difference in current (also compared with a previous cycle) of the power system's AC output power. If the two transients are in opposite directions, then the multiplicative product will be negative and indicative of a good power system. On the other hand, if the two transients are in the same direction, then the multiplicative product will be positive and indicative of a failed unit. The power system is removed from the power circuit when the multiplicative product is positive and greater than a predetermined trip value. The same technique may be used for self-monitoring of a single power supply connected to a load.

Wireless selective tripping of AC power systems connected in parallel

An uninterruptible power supply including a transformer having a first input winding normally coupling an inverter AC source with a critical AC load, which transformer also includes a second input winding operable to supply power from a bypass source to the load in the event of malfunction of the inverter circuit. The inverter is of the four-quadrant pulse-width-modulated type, thereby to permit recharging of the battery which serves as the DC source to the inverter. An inductance is provided for varying the phase relationship between a utility voltage source and the inverter voltage to produce minimum real inverter current and the 'break-even' operating conduction, and a step-up device is provided for increasing the utility voltage to further minimize the break-even inverter current required during normal operation, and to maximize the through-put efficiency.

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Hendersonville, NC, United States of America

John Gaylord Tracy