JP3168525B2 - Power monitoring device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a commercial power supply (AC power supply).
The present invention relates to a power supply monitoring device that detects when an abnormality occurs in a power supply.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional power supply monitoring device, AC / D
For example, DC on the DC side (secondary side) of the C converter
It is common to monitor an abnormality of a DC power supply voltage of 5V. Such power supply monitoring devices are commercially available in which a time constant circuit and a voltage comparator are integrated.
It is equipped on many personal computers and workstations.

However, when monitoring only the voltage on the secondary side, when a power failure or a voltage abnormality for a relatively long time occurs, the abnormality can be detected.
It is difficult to detect the AC side (primary side) of the converter, that is, a relatively short-time voltage abnormality of the commercial power supply. For example, if a voltage abnormality of several tens of milliseconds occurs on the primary side, such as a momentary voltage interruption or spike, this will not be detected by the conventional power supply monitoring device that monitors only the secondary side voltage. May cause problems such as destroying the contents of the storage device.

In general, a momentary interruption or spike of a commercial power supply recovers to its original state in a very short time. Therefore, for example, even if a power failure occurs on the primary side when the workstation automatically performs long-term processing and the workstation malfunctions due to damage to stored data, the primary The power supply voltage on the primary side immediately returns to the original state, so even if the operator later discovers an abnormal operation of the workstation, the power supply voltage on the primary side has already returned to normal, and the secondary power supply monitoring device has No abnormality is detected, and it is expected that the cause of the operation abnormality of the workstation cannot be specified after all. In such a case, identify whether this workstation malfunction was due to a problem in the workstation itself, a malfunction in the secondary power circuit, or a malfunction in the primary commercial power supply. If not, then no appropriate action can be taken.

[0005]

By the way, a dedicated power supply monitoring device for detecting a power supply abnormality on the primary side is conventionally known. Such a power supply monitoring device is usually an AC power supply for connecting a workstation, a personal computer, or the like.
In addition to the power supply line, a cable for detecting an abnormality is separately required. In addition, since the power supply monitoring device itself must be operated while being connected to the power supply, a monitor work to monitor the data (hereinafter referred to as “error data”) relating to the abnormality stored in the memory of the power supply monitoring device is required. Since the station or the personal computer must be carried to the place where the power monitoring device is located, and connected to the power monitoring device, it is inconvenient to use.

Further, such a power supply monitoring device is very expensive and large, so that it is not easy to install. In particular, the power supply monitoring device requires a large storage capacity to store all the abnormalities that have occurred in the AC power supply line, which also increases the price of the device and hinders miniaturization. Furthermore, there are many inconveniences, such as the need for a specialized operator to analyze an abnormality detected by such a device, and the power supply voltage cannot be easily monitored anywhere.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and provides a power supply monitoring device capable of easily detecting a short-time voltage abnormality such as an instantaneous interruption or spike in a commercial power supply with a simple device. It is intended for.

[0008]

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems,
For this purpose, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a power supply taking-in means for taking in an AC waveform from an AC power supply, and an A-type converting means for converting the AC waveform taken in by the power supply means into a digital signal.
/ D conversion means, abnormality detection means for detecting an abnormality of the AC power supply from the digital signal and outputting data relating to the abnormality, and detecting the abnormality for a predetermined period when the abnormality detection means detects a predetermined abnormality. Temporary storage means for temporarily storing data relating to the abnormality from the means and outputting data satisfying a predetermined condition among them; and storing data relating to the abnormality from the abnormality detection means and data relating to the abnormality from the temporary storage means. And storage means for performing the operation.

A second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect of the present invention, when a predetermined abnormality is detected by the abnormality detecting means, a notifying means for notifying the fact is provided. It is.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the power take-in means includes a plug inserted into an AC power supply outlet provided integrally with the apparatus main body. DC power supply means for supplying power to the entire apparatus when disconnected from the outlet is provided.

The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claim 1, 2, or
3. The invention according to claim 3 , wherein the predetermined abnormality is an instantaneous interruption.

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claims 1, 2, 3
Alternatively, in the invention described in Item 4, there is provided a connection means for extracting data relating to the abnormality stored in the storage means to the outside.

[0014]

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the temporary storage means stores the abnormality detection data continuously during the period when the abnormality detection means performs the abnormality detection operation. Then, from the data relating to the abnormality for a certain period stored in the temporary storage means, for example, only the data of the abnormality having the highest voltage value or the data of the instantaneous interruption occurring at the phase closest to the peak is stored in the storage means. I do. Thus, when a large number of abnormalities caused by the same event occur in a short period of time, only the data relating to one of the abnormalities is stored in the storage unit, and the data relating to the other abnormalities is not stored. Even if only one abnormality is stored in this way, if consecutive abnormalities are related to each other and are caused by the same event, information necessary for normal abnormality analysis using only the data on this one abnormality Is sufficiently obtained. Further, since the storage capacity is small, the size of the device can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention,
The notification means allows the operator to know that an abnormality has occurred in the AC power supply line. The notification unit may be, for example, an LED that lights up when an abnormality occurs, or a sound generation unit that emits an alarm sound when an abnormality occurs.

According to the third aspect of the present invention,
Simply by plugging the plug integrated with the miniaturized device into the outlet, the abnormality of the AC power line can be detected. When the detected and stored data is read out, the plug can be removed from the outlet, and the entire device can be carried to a place where a monitoring device such as a workstation is located to monitor the stored data. Furthermore, even if abnormalities such as instantaneous interruption occur frequently in a short time when the plug is pulled out from the outlet,
Only data relating to one of the abnormalities is stored.
As a result, all of this frequently occurring data is stored and uses up the memory capacity, the key data that was stored so far is erased, and if you monitor it, it is only the data when you pull out the plug Can be avoided.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention,
A predetermined abnormality in which the abnormality detection operation is stopped by the timer and a predetermined abnormality in which data relating to the abnormality is stored in the temporary storage means are defined as instantaneous interruptions. The abnormality detected when the plug is removed from the outlet is usually an instantaneous interruption, and an abnormality such as an abnormal voltage level or an increase in voltage such as a spike does not usually occur. For this reason, by making the predetermined abnormality an instantaneous interruption, when other abnormality occurs, abnormal data is stored in the storage means as usual, but when the plug is pulled out from the outlet, the instantaneous interruption that occurs at that time is performed. The storage capacity of the storage means can be saved without storing all the data relating to the storage means.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided:
By providing the connection means for taking out the data relating to the abnormality to the outside, the data can be transmitted to the workstation or the personal computer through the connection means, and the abnormality generated in the commercial power supply in the workstation or the personal computer can be detected. The content can be analyzed.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view, a plan view, a right side view, and a left side view of a power supply monitoring device according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the power supply monitoring device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an arithmetic processing unit, and FIG. 4 is a time chart showing a lapse of time of the apparatus of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the main body of the power supply monitoring device 10 is very small (80 mm × 60 mm ×) so that the size can be understood from the plug 12 for inserting into the outlet of the AC power supply. 40mm). Each circuit block to be described later is housed inside the apparatus main body. L
The EDs 14 and 16 have a role of notifying an operator that an abnormality has occurred in the AC power supply, and also display the contents of the abnormality together by a combination of the two.

A connector 18 provided on the side surface of the main body 10 is a connector for connecting a cable for connecting to a personal computer or a workstation (not shown). Is transmitted to a personal computer or the like, and the contents of the abnormal data are analyzed.
A button 20 labeled "communication" provided on the upper surface of the main body 10 is a switch for controlling this transmission. The button 22 next to the button is a reset switch for resetting the contents of an internal memory 40 described later.

The circuit shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2 is an example of a circuit housed in the power supply monitoring device main body 10 of FIG.
In the figure, the front end 30 and the plug 12 serve as power take-in means. By plugging the plug 12 into a commercial power outlet,
Takes an alternating current from an AC power supply line, and performs full-wave rectification on the alternating current. Normally, the power supply 32 converts AC 100 V from the AC power supply line into DC 5 V (Vbb) and supplies this to each unit. During this time, the battery E is charged by the charging circuit 34. When the plug 12 is pulled out from the outlet, the battery E becomes a DC power supply for discharging and supplying the voltage Vbb to each part.

The signal that has been full-wave rectified in the front end 30 is sent to an A / D converter 36, where it is converted into a digital signal of, for example, 64 bits per cycle and 8 bits per sample. By converting into a digital signal in this way, various processes can be easily performed in the arithmetic processing unit 38 as the abnormality detecting means.

In the block diagram of the arithmetic processing section 38 shown in FIG. 3, a digital signal from the A / D conversion section 36 is sent to a signal processing section 50. Here, it is digitally compared with a later-described reference waveform to obtain a difference value. Here, it is determined whether or not the difference value exceeds a predetermined value for, for example, 10 consecutive samples, and the difference value is set in advance by a short-time abnormality such as an instantaneous interruption or a spike. When the value exceeds the specified value, the comparison / determination unit 5
In step 2, the ratio of the effective value of the voltage waveform including the data to the effective value of the reference waveform is determined.

The reason why the calculation of the effective value as well as the difference value is performed together is that, for example, even if the difference value becomes a somewhat large value, the effective value is calculated, for example, as an instantaneous interruption near the zero point. If the voltage does not fluctuate so much, there is almost no effect on the equipment.Therefore, simply calculating the difference value will cause frequent alarms even if the voltage fluctuates to the extent that there is no problem with the operation of the equipment. This is because there is no point in performing abnormality detection. The arithmetic processing unit 38 also determines whether the abnormality is one of instantaneous interruption, spike, voltage level abnormality, and power failure. Then, data relating to the detected abnormality is stored in the memory 40 in FIG. 2 together with necessary data such as the size and the time of occurrence (these are collectively referred to as abnormal data).
The memory 40 is configured as a FIFO, for example, and stores new data by erasing old data when the capacity is full. Alternatively, it is also possible to compare the magnitude of the abnormal voltage from the contents stored in the memory and to erase the abnormal data with the smallest voltage abnormality.

The above-mentioned reference waveform is taken in by the sampling section 58. The sampling unit 58 fetches data from the signal processing unit 50 at predetermined intervals, and stores the fetched data in the memory 60 as reference data. However, since anomalies in the voltage waveform cannot be detected unless the reference data is accurate, the ideal waveform and its effective value are stored in the ideal waveform generator 62 in order to compare this data with the ideal waveform. If the sampled data deviates from the ideal waveform of the ideal waveform generator 62, another data is newly sampled. The determination in this case is taken in consideration of voltage fluctuations over time, except for the case where there is a significant deviation.

When an abnormality is detected by the comparing and judging section 52 of FIG. 3, a signal to that effect is output from the terminal 54, and this signal is sent to the display section 42 of FIG. Display unit 4
In the second, based on the signal sent from the comparison / determination unit, the presence of the abnormality and the content of the abnormality are indicated by the LED.
Notify by 14 and 16. If the abnormality is other than instantaneous interruption, the abnormality data is immediately stored in FIG.
Is stored in the memory 40. When it is necessary to perform an abnormality analysis or the like, the communication unit 46 sends the data to a workstation or a personal computer via the connector 18 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, since the power supply monitoring device 10 of this embodiment is very small, when monitoring abnormal data, the plug is removed from the outlet and the entire device is placed in a place such as a personal computer. Use it to bring it. In this case, in order to simplify the operation, a switch for stopping or restarting the abnormality detection operation is not provided, so that the operator disconnects the plug 12 from the outlet and cuts off the power supply from the AC power line. The device issues a signal indicating that a power failure has been detected at that time.

By the way, in a very short time from the time when the operation of removing the plug 12 from the outlet is started to the time when the plug 12 is completely removed, instantaneous interruption frequently occurs due to friction between the contacts of the plug and the outlet. It is known. Therefore, many instantaneous interruptions occur continuously when the plug is unplugged, and the abnormal data is stored in the memory 4.
If it is stored in 0, the previously stored abnormal data is replaced with the abnormal data when the plug is removed, and there is a danger that the originally necessary abnormal data will disappear. In this case, from the viewpoint of providing a small-sized device at a low price, there is a limitation in increasing the capacity of the memory 40.

Therefore, the present embodiment has the following configuration. That is, when the arithmetic processing unit 38 detects an instantaneous interruption, the arithmetic processing unit 38 stops the abnormality detection operation and supplies a signal to that effect to the timer 44. Timer 44
Receives this signal, starts a counting operation, and sends a signal to that effect to the arithmetic processing section 38 after a lapse of a predetermined time, for example, one second. When receiving a signal indicating that one second has elapsed from the timer, the arithmetic processing unit 38 writes the above-described abnormal data into the memory 40 and restarts the abnormality detecting operation.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the operation of the circuit of FIG. When the arithmetic processing unit 38 detects an abnormality at the time ts, the processing te from the time ts to the time te
The abnormality detection operation is not performed for one second up to. Therefore,
Even during this time, for example, at times t ₁ , t ₂ , t ₃ ,..., Even if abnormalities such as instantaneous interruption occur, these abnormalities are not detected and the data is not written to the memory 40. At time te, when the arithmetic processing unit 38 receives a signal indicating that one second has elapsed from the timer 44, the arithmetic processing unit 38
Stores the abnormal data detected so far in the memory 40, and at the same time, restarts the abnormality detecting operation. By the above operation, even if many instantaneous interruptions occur frequently when removing the plug,
Only the first abnormal data generated at the time ts is stored in the memory 40, and the abnormal data relating to a large number of abnormalities that have occurred for one second thereafter is stored in the memory 40.
Is prevented from being wasted. If the abnormality occurring at the time ts is an abnormality other than the instantaneous interruption, for example, a spike, the arithmetic processing unit 38 immediately writes the data to the memory 40 without stopping the abnormality detection operation.

By the way, with the above configuration, the abnormality detection operation is stopped for one second not only when the outlet is unplugged but also when an instantaneous interruption occurs while the outlet is still inserted. However, even if, for example, the hard disk of the workstation fails due to the instantaneous interruption during that time, the error between the time when the failure occurs and the time when the instantaneous interruption occurs falls within one second. For this reason, it is possible to identify that the cause of the failure of the hard disk is caused by a momentary interruption up to one second before the time at which the failure occurred, so that there is no particular problem in identifying the cause of the failure. In the present embodiment, the abnormality detection operation is stopped for one second after the instantaneous interruption is detected. However, for example, when a certain abnormality is detected, and then a larger abnormality is detected, the abnormality detection operation is stopped. A configuration in which the abnormality detection operation is stopped for one second from the time point is also possible.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a power supply monitoring apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a time chart showing a lapse of time of the apparatus of the present embodiment. The second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 5 is the same as the first embodiment except that a temporary storage memory 48 is newly provided. Detailed description is omitted.
In the configuration of FIG. 5, when the arithmetic processing unit 38 detects an instantaneous interruption,
The data is first temporarily stored in the temporary storage memory 48, and a signal to that effect is supplied to the timer 44.
The timer 44 counts one second from that point, and sends a signal to that effect to the arithmetic processing unit 38 when the one second period has elapsed. If another abnormality occurs during this one second, the arithmetic processing unit 38 stores the data in the memory 48 for temporary storage. When a signal indicating that one second has elapsed is received from the timer 44, the largest abnormality among the data stored in the temporary storage memory 48, for example, the data of the abnormality with the highest voltage value, or the longest time, and the missing width is High data is selected and stored in the memory 40. It should be noted that abnormalities other than instantaneous interruption, for example, spike abnormal data are immediately stored in the memory 40.
Is written in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a time chart showing the operation of the circuit of FIG. When the arithmetic processing unit 38 detects an abnormality at time ts, the timer 44 starts counting time from that point. Then, for example, at time t
_1, t _2, t _3, when the abnormality of instantaneous interruption or the like occurs in., The abnormal data on them will temporary storage memory 4
8 is stored for the time being. When the arithmetic processing unit 38 receives a signal indicating that one second has elapsed from the timer 44 at a time te when one second has elapsed from ts, the arithmetic processing unit 38 determines that the largest abnormality has occurred in the temporary storage memory 48,
For example, an abnormality that occurred at time t ₂ is selected, and only abnormality data relating to the abnormality is stored in the memory 40. By the above operation, even if a large number of instantaneous interruptions occur when the plug is removed, the memory 40 stores only the largest abnormality data among the abnormalities that have occurred from the time ts to the time te. This prevents the capacity of the memory 40 from being wasted due to abnormal data relating to the instantaneous interruption occurring during this time. Also, the point that the error of the instant of occurrence of the instantaneous interruption falls within a maximum of one second is the same as in the first embodiment.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various changes can be made within the scope of the gist. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the time counted by the timer 44 is set to one second. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be longer than the time required to remove the plug. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Further, in the above-described embodiment, an LED is used as the notification means, but a device that emits a warning sound such as a buzzer may be used instead.

[0037]

[0038]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when an abnormality occurs in an AC power supply of a commercial power supply, the abnormality is usually digitized and compared with a reference waveform or the like, so that the AC power supply is usually used. A timer that counts a predetermined time when a predetermined abnormality occurs, as well as detects an abnormality on the primary side of the power supply circuit, which was difficult to detect because an abnormality occurred immediately and returned to its original state. By providing temporary storage means for storing abnormal data of abnormalities occurring within this fixed time, even if a large number of abnormalities occur within this fixed time, for example, only the largest abnormal data among them Power supply monitoring that can reduce the capacity of a memory or the like for storing abnormal data, and can reduce the size of the device and facilitate operation and installation. It is possible to provide a location.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by providing the notifying means, it is possible to provide a power supply monitoring device that enables an operator to immediately know the occurrence of an abnormality when the abnormality occurs.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when the plug is inserted into the outlet, the abnormality detection operation is performed,
The power supply can be configured to stop such operation when the plug is pulled out from the outlet, and it is not particularly necessary to provide a switch for starting or stopping the operation, thereby simplifying the configuration of the device and facilitating the operation. A monitoring device can be provided.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is known that a large number of abnormalities occurring when the plug is pulled out from the outlet are instantaneous interruptions. Stop or temporarily store the abnormal data in the temporary storage means, when the device is unplugged from the outlet for abnormal analysis, etc., the memory capacity is consumed by the abnormal data related to instantaneous interruption that occurs at that time. Therefore, a large number of abnormalities can be stored with a small capacity, so that a power supply monitoring device that contributes to downsizing of the device can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view, a plan view, a right side view, and a left side view of a power supply monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a power supply monitoring device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a power supply monitoring device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an arithmetic processing unit.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing a lapse of time of the power supply monitoring device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state of operation of the circuit of FIG. 5 as a time chart.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 power supply monitoring device 12 plug 14, 16 light emitting diode (LED) 18 connector 20, 22 switch 30 front end 32 power supply 34 charging circuit 36 A / D conversion unit 38 arithmetic processing unit 40 memory 42 display unit 44 timer 46 communication unit 48 temporary Storage memory 50 signal processing unit 52 comparison and judgment unit 58 sampling unit 60 memory 62 ideal waveform generation unit

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. An AC power supply means for taking in an AC waveform from an AC power supply, an A / D converter for converting an AC waveform taken in by the power supply means into a digital signal, and an abnormality of the AC power supply from the digital signal. Abnormality detecting means for detecting and outputting data relating to the abnormality, and temporarily storing data relating to the abnormality from the abnormality detecting means for a predetermined period when the predetermined abnormality is detected by the abnormality detecting means, A power supply monitoring device comprising: a temporary storage unit that outputs data satisfying the following condition; and a storage unit that stores data on the abnormality from the abnormality detection unit and data on the abnormality from the temporary storage unit. . Wherein said abnormality detecting means by the power monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that a notifying means for notifying to that effect when a predetermined abnormality is detected. 3. The power supply taking-in means includes a plug inserted into an AC power supply outlet provided integrally with the apparatus main body, and further comprising a DC power supply for supplying power to the entire apparatus when the plug is removed from the outlet. power monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein it comprises means. Wherein said predetermined abnormality, the power monitoring apparatus of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein it is a short break. 5. A power supply monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein in that it comprises a connection means for retrieving data relating to said anomaly stored in the storage unit to the outside.