JP2001242969A - Uninterruptible power supply - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an uninterruptible power supply to be used without replacement of UPS or hardware when software needs to be changed for various reasons. SOLUTION: UPS 10 is comprised of a charging circuit 16, storage battery 17, and inverter 18. When the UPS 10 is supplied with electric power from external power supply, an output switch 13 is connected to a bypass circuit 11. ON the other hand, the switch 13 is connected to the inverter 18 and supplies electric power from the storage battery 17 during interruption. CPU 8 which controls to drive the UPS 10 mounts a ROM 20 which stores basic software, a RAM 21, and a flash memory 9 which can be rewritten and stores upgraded software.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of an uninterruptible power supply.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an external power supply fails,
An uninterruptible power supply (hereinafter, referred to as “UPS”) for continuously driving an external load connected to the external power supply is known. Among such UPSs, those connected to a computer are equipped with a microcomputer, a ROM, and the like.
Software for exchanging information for controlling the PS was stored.

[0003]

However, since such software exchanges parameters depending on computer hardware and an operating system (OS), such software is specially designed for a computer using a specific OS. It was made into. For this reason, it was impossible to connect such specialized UPS to a computer using another OS. Due to such circumstances, UPSs are not compatible between different OSs, and a separate UPS must be prepared for each.

[0004] Such a problem may also occur when software for controlling the UPS is upgraded or when the OS is upgraded.
It was necessary to replace the PS itself (or the hardware itself such as a printed circuit board in the UPS). The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide an uninterruptible power supply that can be used without replacing a UPS or hardware even when software is changed for various reasons. A power supply device is provided.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an uninterruptible power supply device that includes a charging circuit connected to an external AC power supply, a storage battery charged by the charging circuit, and a power supply from the storage battery. An inverter for outputting an AC voltage, a central processing unit for controlling at least an operation state of the inverter, and an external load connected to the AC voltage and a connection between the central processing unit for passing signals to each other. And an information transmitting and receiving unit for performing
The central processing unit is provided with rewritable storage means capable of writing software for transferring information to and / or from the external load and / or software for controlling the drive a plurality of times. It is characterized by having.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the central processing unit is provided with the rewritable storage means, it is necessary to change the software according to various circumstances. Even in this case, only the software needs to be rewritten without changing the UPS or hardware.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, an input terminal 2 connectable to an external AC power supply 1 is provided on the back of an uninterruptible power supply 10 (hereinafter, may be referred to as “UPS 10”) of the present embodiment. An RS232C port 5 (corresponding to an “information transmitting / receiving section” in the present invention) that exchanges signals between an output terminal 3 that outputs an AC voltage and an external computer 4 (corresponding to an “external load” in the present invention). Is provided).

[0008] A connection wire L1 is provided between the external AC power supply 1 and the input terminal 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the power line 6 connected to the connection wire L1 is branched on the input side into a bypass circuit 11 and an AC generation circuit 12,
The bypass circuit 11 outputs the AC power as it is. Further, the AC generating circuit 12 is provided with a transformer coil (not shown).
The voltage is reduced to 0V and applied to the circuit 12.

On the other hand, the AC generation circuit 12 includes a charging circuit 1
6 and a storage battery 17 that can be charged by the charging circuit 16
And an inverter 18 having a boosting function. The inverter 18 is connected to the charging circuit 16 or the storage battery 17.
And receives DC power from at least one of them, converts it into AC power, and outputs it.

The UPS 10 is provided with a central processing unit 8 (hereinafter referred to as "CPU 8") for controlling the drive of the inverter 18 and the switches 7, 13. , Described in more detail below). UP
On the output side of the power line 6 in S10, the inverter 1
An output switch 13 for selectively connecting the output of the UPS 8 and the output of the bypass circuit 11 to the output terminal 3 of the UPS 10 is provided, and is controlled by the CPU 8 as described above. This output changeover switch 13 is connected to the external AC power supply 1.
When power is supplied from the
Is connected to the output terminal 3, and when the power from the external AC power supply 1 is cut off (when the power is
8 and the output terminal 3 are connected. A second switch 7 is provided on the output side of the output switch 13 and is controlled by the CPU 8 in the same manner. Note that the second changeover switch 7 is always in the ON state, but in a power saving state described later, the second changeover switch 7 is turned off, and the external computer 4 is completely turned off.

The CPU 8 is connected to an RS232C port 5, to which an external computer 4 is connected via an information line L2. This information line L2
, The CPU 8 and the external computer 4 can exchange signals with each other. Further, the CPU 8 is provided with a ROM 20, a flash memory 9 which can be written a plurality of times (corresponding to “rewritable storage means” in the present invention), and a RAM 21. The ROM 20 contains boot software and UPS1
Basic software for controlling the drive of “0” is recorded. The basic software is an OS that is considered to be the most frequently used when the UPS 10 is purchased.
(For example, Windows NT (trade name of Microsoft Corporation) includes software for controlling the operation of the uninterruptible power supply according to standard specifications.)
A device that can perform information communication with the PS 10 is provided.

The basic software includes, for example, a “scheduler” for managing the driving state of the UPS 10 from the external computer 4 with time, and transmitting the information to the external computer 4 when the external AC power supply 1 is cut off. A function called “shutdown” for retaining data in the external computer 4 and terminating the application being executed can be provided. In the above “scheduler”, when a predetermined start time (for example, 9:00 in the morning) comes, the power supply to the external computer 4 is started by turning on the second changeover switch 7 and the predetermined end time is set. When (for example, 8:00 p.m.) comes, the second switch 7 is turned off, thereby stopping the power supply to the external computer 4 and setting the power saving state.

In the above-mentioned Windows NT, the version of the UPS control software may be changed, and the types and meanings of parameters transferred by the control software may differ from the specifications of the basic software. obtain. For such a case, the UPS 10 is provided with a flash memory 9, and the flash memory 9 has a new U
Sub software for driving the UPS 10 can be stored by the PS control software. In the UPS 10 of the present embodiment, such sub-software is transmitted to a storage medium such as a floppy disk or a CD, or to an external computer 4 by distribution via the Internet.
Of users. The user can drive the external computer 4 to store the sub software in the flash memory 9 via the RS232C port 5.

The basic software and sub software for driving the USP 10 as described above are C
It is driven alternatively by the PU 8 (only one of the software is executed). For this reason, RO
In the M20 and the flash memory 9, areas for storing boot software are secured, respectively, and it is specified which of the above software is to be executed. 9 does not store any software.
The basic software in the OM 20 is executed. However, at the stage where the sub software is stored in the flash memory 9, the boot software is stored at the same time, and thereafter, the basic software or the sub software specified by the boot software stored in the flash memory 9 is executed. Will be done. ). A plurality of sub-softwares can be stored in the flash memory 9 as long as the memory space permits. For example, FIG. 4 shows a state in which two types of sub-software are stored. .

Next, the operation and effect of the embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, when the basic software is set to be executed, by turning on the switch 22, the CPU 8 causes the basic software in the ROM 20 to be specified by the boot software and the external computer to use the basic software. The parameter data and the data table, which are used to transmit and receive data to and from the RAM 4, are read into the RAM 21. In this way, R is established between the external computer 4 and the USP 10.
Data is transmitted and received via the S232C port 5 and the information line L2, and the UPS 10 backs up the external computer 4 in an uninterrupted state.

When the sub-software is installed, the external computer 4 executes the software for introducing the sub-software, and the flash memory of the CPU 8 is transmitted through the information line L2 and the RS232C port 5. 9 stores a boot software sub-software parameter data data table. Then, the next time the UPS 10 is booted, the CP
The U8 reads the sub software instead of the basic software into the RAM 21 and executes it.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when the software for driving the UPS 10 needs to be changed due to the change of the OS of the external computer 4 or the like, the CPU 8 has the flash memory. Since the memory 9 is provided, only the software needs to be rewritten without changing the UPS or hardware. In addition, since the user of the external computer 4 does not need to change expensive hardware, the cost can be reduced.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition to the following, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Furthermore, the scope of rights of the present invention extends to equivalent ranges.

(1) According to the present embodiment, the RS232C port 5 is used as the information transmitting / receiving unit. However, according to the present invention, other serial ports such as RS422 / RS485 and optical ports such as USB / ir-DA are used. Eth using the PCMCIA interface
Wireless or wired LA using erIEEE8023
An interface for N systems can be used. (2) According to the present embodiment, the flash memory 9 is used as the rewritable storage means.
The invention is not limited to this, and any nonvolatile and rewritable device such as an EEPROM may be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a rear view of an uninterruptible power supply according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the uninterruptible power supply.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in a memory space of a ROM and a RAM of the central processing unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in a memory space of a flash memory.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 external AC power supply 4 external computer (external load) 5 RS232C port (information transmission / reception unit) 8 CPU (central processing unit) 9 flash memory (rewritable storage unit) 10 UPS (uninterruptible power supply) 16: charging circuit 17: storage battery 18: inverter

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shunji Uehara No. 1 Kishyoin Nishinosho Ino Babacho, Minami-ku, Kyoto F-term in Nippon Battery Co., Ltd. 5B011 DA03 DA13 DC13 DC01 DC06 HH02 5G015 GA06 GA07 HA04 HA15 JA01 JA10 JA21 JA32 JA45 JA53 JA55 KA04

Claims (1)

[Claims] A charging circuit connected to an external AC power supply;
A storage battery charged by the charging circuit, an inverter receiving power from the storage battery and outputting an AC voltage,
A central processing unit that controls at least the operation state of the inverter; and an information transmitting and receiving unit that connects between an external load connected to the AC voltage and the central processing unit and exchanges signals with each other. An uninterruptible power supply device, wherein the central processing unit is capable of writing software for transferring information to / from the external load and / or software for controlling driving a plurality of times. An uninterruptible power supply device comprising rewritable storage means.