Dynamic power demand allocation on redundant power buses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11014686-B2
Application number	US-201816167917-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 23, 2018
Priority date	Oct 23, 2018
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

A redundant, load-sharing system and method for distributing electrical power to components in a vehicle. The system including a source of power, multiple power distribution buses, a plurality of switching devices and at least two channel controllers. The system being configured to isolate the components and power sources that are determined to be electrically noisy from the components and the power sources that are sensitive to electric noise. Each of the components may be assigned a priority based on the criticality of the component to the operation of the vehicle. In the event of at least a partial loss of power in one or more of the power distribution buses, the switching devices disconnect the components from the effected power distribution buses in reverse order of the assigned priority.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A redundant, load-sharing system to distribute electrical power to a plurality of components in a vehicle, the system comprising:
at least two power distribution buses;
a plurality of components electrically coupled to the at least two power distribution buses;
a plurality of power sources electrically coupled to the at least two power distribution buses;
a plurality of switching devices, wherein each of the switching devices is configured to electrically couple and/or decouple one or more of the plurality of components to at least one of the power distribution buses; and
at least two channel controllers, wherein each of the channel controllers is configured to receive power from at least one of the power distribution buses and provide power allocation instructions to one or more of the plurality of switching devices;
wherein the plurality of switching devices isolate the plurality of components and the power sources that are determined to be electrically noisy from the plurality of components and the power sources that are sensitive to electric noise, and
wherein an amount of electric noise generated by each of the plurality of components and power sources is either measured in-situ during operation of the vehicle or supplied as existing information provided by a supplier or measured prior to the operation of the vehicle.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of components include one or more active components and one or more redundant components providing the same functionality as the one or more active components.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of components is configured to draw power from more than one of the power distribution buses.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of components is assigned a priority based on the criticality of the plurality of components to the operation of the vehicle.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein in the event of at least a partial loss of power in one or more of the power distribution buses, the plurality of switching devices disconnect the plurality of components from the effected power distribution buses in reverse order of the assigned priority.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the power distribution buses includes one or more voltage sensors configured to measure the electrical noise generated by one or more of the plurality of components and power sources connected to the at least one power distribution bus.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the electrical noise is determined from the electrical current present after each of the components and power sources.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of components are connected to the power distribution buses such that the amount of electrical noise generated or expected to be generated by the sum of the plurality of components and power sources connected to each of the power distribution buses is less than the amount of electrical noise tolerated or expected to be tolerated by each of the plurality of components or power sources.

9. A method of distributing electrical power to a plurality of components of a vehicle, the method comprising:
providing a redundant, load-sharing system comprising:
at least two power distribution buses, wherein each of the power distribution buses is electrically coupled to one or more of the power sources;
a plurality of components electrically coupled to the at least two power distribution buses;
a plurality of power sources electrically coupled to the at least two power distribution buses;
a plurality of switching devices, wherein each of the switching devices is configured to electrically couple and/or decouple one or more of the components to at least one of the power distribution buses; and
at least two channel controllers, wherein each of the channel controllers is configured to receive power from at least one of the power distribution buses and provide power allocation instructions to one or more of the plurality of switching devices; and

using the plurality of switching devices to isolate the plurality of components and the power sources that are determined to be electrically noisy from the plurality of components and the power sources that are sensitive to electric noise;
wherein the plurality of components include one or more active components and one or more redundant components providing the same functionality as the one or more active components.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises assigning a priority to each of the plurality of components based on the criticality of the component to the operation of the vehicle;
wherein, in the event of at least a partial loss of power in one or more of the power distribution buses, the plurality of switching devices disconnect the respective one or more of the plurality of components in reverse order of the assigned priority.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises measuring the amount of electric noise generated by each of the the plurality of components and power sources in-situ during the operation of the vehicle.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the amount of electrical noise generated by each of the plurality of components and power sources is measured using one or more voltage sensors coupled to at least one of the power distribution buses.

13. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises connecting the plurality of components to the power distribution buses such that the amount of electrical noise generated or expected to be generated by the sum of the plurality of components and power sources connected to each of the power distribution buses is less than the amount of electrical noise tolerated or expected to be tolerated by each of the plurality of components or power sources.

14. A redundant, load-sharing system configured to distribute electrical power to the plurality of components of the vehicle according to the method of claim 9 .

15. A load-sharing system for distributing electrical power to a plurality of components, the system comprising:
two or more power distribution buses, wherein each of the power distribution buses are electrically coupled to at least one means of power;
a plurality of components electrically coupled to the two or more power distribution buses wherein at least one of the components is configured to draw power from more than one of the power distribution buses;
a plurality of switching devices, wherein each of the switching devices is in communication with a controller that is configured to instruct the plurality of switching devices to electrically couple and/or decouple one or more of the plurality of components from at least one of the power distribution buses;
wherein the plurality of switching devices isolate the plurality of components that are determined to be electrically noisy from the components that are sensitive to electric noise.

16. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the plurality of components include one or more active components and one or more redundant components providing the same functionality as the one or more active components.

17. The system according to claim 15 , wherein each of the plurality of components is assigned a priority based on the criticality of the component to the operation of the vehicle;
wherein, in the event of at least a partial loss of power in one or more of the power distribution buses, the plurality of switc

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Nam Tech Inc

Inventors

• Trawick David R
• Loder David

Classifications

• H02J2105/32

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• B64D41/00 Primary

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• H02J1/14

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