Methods, systems, and apparatus for datacenter power distribution

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9490660-B2
Application number	US-201414203103-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2014
Priority date	Apr 10, 2013
Publication date	Nov 8, 2016
Grant date	Nov 8, 2016

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus for electrical power distribution are described. One or more conditions of power provided from one or more fuel cells and one or more fuel cell bypass devices are monitored. At least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices is configured to provide power from a first alternate power source to a first electrical device if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is not satisfied and to allow power to be provided from at least one of the one or more fuel cells if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is satisfied. A static transfer switch is configured to provide power based on one or more monitored power conditions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for distributing electrical power, the apparatus comprising:
one or more fuel cells, at least one of the one or more fuel cells coupled to a first electrical device, the at least one of the one or more fuel cells being configured to selectively provide power to the first electrical device; and
one or more fuel cell bypass devices, at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices coupled to the at least one of the one or more fuel cells, coupled to the first electrical device, and coupled to a first alternate power source, the at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices configured to selectively provide power from the first alternate power source to the first electrical device; and
one or more static transfer switches, at least one of the one or more static transfer switches coupled to a second alternate power source, coupled to a second electrical device, coupled to one or more of the fuel cells, and coupled to the at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices, the at least one static transfer switch configured to selectively provide power to the second electrical device from the second alternate power source or from one of the one or more fuel cells and the at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first alternate power source is dynamically configurable to provide power from a utility power line or a carbon fuel powered generator.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second alternate power source is dynamically configurable to provide power from a second utility power line or a carbon fuel powered generator.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a processor;
memory to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
configure the at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices to selectively provide power from the first alternate power source to the first electrical device; and
configure the at least one of the one or more static transfer switches to selectively provide power to the second electrical device from the second alternate power source or from one of the one or more fuel cells and the at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices.

5. A method to configure an electrical power distribution system, the method comprising:
monitoring one or more conditions of power provided from one or more fuel cells and one or more fuel cell bypass devices;
configuring at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices to provide power from a first alternate power source to a first electrical device if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is not satisfied and to allow power to be provided from at least one of the one or more fuel cells if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is satisfied; and
configuring a static transfer switch to provide power from at least one of the one or more fuel cells if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is satisfied; to provide power from at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is not satisfied and the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices is satisfied; and to provide power from a second alternate power source to the second electrical device if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells and the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices are not satisfied.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein each power condition is a predefined percent of deviation of a power level from a nominal rating and the monitored power condition is satisfied if the corresponding power level is within the corresponding predefined percent of deviation from the nominal rating.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising monitoring a condition of power provided by the static transfer switch and issuing an error message if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells, the monitored condition of power provided by the one or more fuel cell bypass devices, and the monitored condition of power provided by the static transfer switch are not satisfied.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform operations comprising:
monitoring one or more conditions of power provided from one or more fuel cells and one or more fuel cell bypass devices;
configuring at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices to provide power from a first alternate power source to a first electrical device if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is not satisfied and to allow power to be provided from at least one of the one or more fuel cells if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is satisfied; and
configuring a static transfer switch to provide power from one of the one or more fuel cells if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is satisfied; to provide power from at least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is not satisfied and the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices is satisfied; and to provide power from a second alternate power source to the second electrical device if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells and the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices are not satisfied.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein each power condition is a predefined percent of deviation of a power level from a nominal rating and the monitored power condition is satisfied if the corresponding power level is within the corresponding predefined percent of deviation from the nominal rating.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform operations comprising monitoring a condition of power provided by the static transfer switch and issuing an error message if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells, the monitored condition of power provided by the one or more fuel cell bypass devices, and the monitored condition of power provided by the static transfer switch are not satisfied.

Assignees

• Ebay Inc

Inventors

• Monahan James Joseph

Classifications

• G06F1/26

  Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) · CPC title

• H02J9/06 Primary

  with automatic change-over {, e.g. UPS systems} · CPC title

• H01M2250/10

  Fuel cells in stationary systems, e.g. emergency power source in plant · CPC title

• H05K7/1498

  Resource management, Optimisation arrangements, e.g. configuration, identification, tracking, physical location (thermal management H05K7/20836) · CPC title

• H02J3/005

  Electricity · mapped topic