The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 07, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 07, 2000
Philip D. Olson, Kenwood, CA (US);
SS8 Networks, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A method for monitoring current in a power supply system including multiple parallel power supplies and current load sharing devices for each power supply. The error voltage generated by the current load sharing devices, in the process of balancing the power supply outputs, is proportional to current provided by a single power supply. The total number of power supplies may be determined by including a small current source with each power supply, and using the current sources to drive a “present” line, the current on this line indicating the number of power supplies present. The error voltage and the present line signal are used by a control circuit that includes analog-to-digital conversion and a CPU to calculate the total current drawn by the supply, and to trigger a circuit breaker if the total current exceeds a predetermined limit.