Systems, methods, and devices for control of multimode UPS

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9425650-B2
Application number	US-201213363172-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2012
Priority date	Jan 31, 2012
Publication date	Aug 23, 2016
Grant date	Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided to control a multimode uninterruptible power supply (UPS) using external information relevant to the stability of the power source. In one example, a UPS system may include at least one inverter feed path and at least one bypass feed path. A controller may command the inverter feed path and the bypass feed path based at least in part on information relevant to the stability of the power source that supplies the first inverter feed path or the first bypass feed path, or both. This information relevant to the stability of the power source may derive from at least one information provider external to the UPS system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system comprising:
a first inverter feed path comprising a rectifier in series with an inverter to supply a first amount of power to a load based at least in part on a first command;
a first bypass feed path in parallel with the inverter feed path to supply a second amount of power to the load based at least in part on a second command; and
a controller to generate the first and second commands to vary the first amount of power and the second amount of power based at least in part on information relevant to the stability of a power source that supplies the first inverter feed path or the first bypass feed path, or both, wherein the information relevant to the stability of the power source derives from at least one information provider external to the UPS system, wherein the controller is configured:
when the information relevant to the stability of the power source indicates that a likelihood of a power supply disturbance is within an allowable likelihood, to generate the first and second commands based at least in part on whether an electrical measurement of power flowing through the uninterruptible power supply is outside a first limit; and
when the information relevant to the stability of the power source indicates that the likelihood of the power supply disturbance is not within the allowable likelihood, to generate the first and second commands based at least in part on whether the electrical measurement of power flowing through the uninterruptible power supply is outside a second limit more protective than the first limit.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the information relevant to the stability of the power source comprises a current weather alert, a weather forecast, historical weather data, a news event, an indication of a scheduled power outage, an indication of currently unexpected demand, historical demand data, or network traffic over a power line data network, or any combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises a network connection coupled to the information provider, wherein the information provider comprises a meteorological service, a news service, a utility provider, or a power source stability rating service, or any combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:
detect when a local power supply disturbance occurs based at least in part on an electrical measurement of power flowing through the uninterruptible power supply;
when the local power supply disturbance is detected to have occurred, request the information relevant to the stability of the power source from the at least one information provider; and
when the information relevant to the stability of the power source is indicates the local power supply disturbance is related to an event external to the UPS, generate the first and second commands in a manner that offers more protection to the load.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured, when the information relevant to the stability of the power source indicates that a likelihood of a power supply disturbance is beyond the allowable likelihood, to cause the controller to generate the first and second commands so as to increase the first amount of power and decrease the second amount of power.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to generate the first and second commands based at least in part on a rating of the stability of the power source, wherein the rating is determined by a computing device external to the UPS system based at least in part on the information relevant to the stability of the power source.

7. The system of claim 1 , comprising an electronic agent to:
receive the information relevant to the stability of the power source from the at least one information provider; and
when the information relevant to the stability of the power source indicates that a likelihood of a power supply disturbance is within the allowable likelihood, provide a control signal to the controller to cause the controller to operate in the more protective mode.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the electronic agent is a component of the controller.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the electronic agent is configured to receive the information relevant to the stability of the power source with the at least one information provider via HTTP, HTTPS, RSS, XML, Atom syndication, SOAP, Ajax, SOAP over SMTP, or any combination thereof.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises a processor and one or more tangible, machine-readable media at least collectively comprising machine-executable instructions, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions, the instructions comprising:
instructions to receive the information relevant to the stability of the power source that derives from the at least one information provider external to the UPS system;
instructions to estimate a likelihood of a power supply disturbance in the UPS system based at least in part on the information relevant to the stability of the power source; and
instructions to cause the UPS system to operate in a more protective mode when the likelihood of the power supply disturbance exceeds an allowable likelihood and in a less protective mode when the likelihood of the power supply disturbance does not exceed the allowable likelihood.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:
cause the UPS to operate in a first mode when the information relevant to the stability of the power source indicates a first likelihood of disturbances; and
cause the UPS to operate in a second mode when the information relevant to the stability of the power source indicates a second likelihood of disturbances, wherein the second likelihood of disturbances is higher than the first likelihood of disturbances and the second mode is more protective than the first mode.

12. An article of manufacture comprising:
one or more tangible, machine-readable media at least collectively comprising machine-executable instructions, the instructions comprising:
instructions to receive information relevant to a stability of a power source that supplies power to at least one uninterruptible power supply (UPS), wherein the information relevant to the stability of the power source derives from at least one information provider located off-site from the at least one UPS;
instructions to estimate a likelihood of a power supply disturbance in the at least one UPS based at least in part on the information relevant to the stability of the power source; and
instructions to cause the at least one UPS to operate in a more protective mode when the likelihood of the power supply disturbance exceeds an allowable likelihood, wherein the instructions to cause the at least one UPS to operate in a more protective mode comprise instructions to cause the at least one UPS to more evenly distribute power supplied in parallel by multiple individual UPS s comprised by the at least one UPS.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12 , wherein the instructions to receive the information relevant to the stability of the power source comprise instructions to receive a numeric code that indicates a weather condition or forecast from a remote server.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 12 , wherein the instructions to receive the information relevant to the stability of the power source comprise instructions to receive a textual indication of a weather condition or forecast from a remote server and instructions to parse the textual indication to identify the weather co

Assignees

• Giuntini Lorenzo
• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Giuntini Lorenzo

Classifications

• H02J9/062 Primary

  for AC powered loads · CPC title

• Y04S20/248

  UPS systems or standby or emergency generators · CPC title

• Y04S20/12

  Energy storage units, uninterruptible power supply [UPS] systems or standby or emergency generators, e.g. in the last power distribution stages · CPC title

• H02J9/068

  Electronic means for switching from one power supply to another power supply, e.g. to avoid parallel connection · CPC title

• H02J9/061

  for DC powered loads · CPC title