CN114123161A

CN114123161A - Power management method, corresponding control device and electrical equipment

Info

Publication number: CN114123161A
Application number: CN202010897904.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 石莹; 吴蔚; 裘健
Original assignee: Schneider Electric Industries SAS
Current assignee: Schneider Electric Industries SAS
Priority date: 2020-08-31
Filing date: 2020-08-31
Publication date: 2022-03-01

Abstract

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a power management method, including: receiving first information associated with a set of slave modules coupled to a master module of a device, the first information indicating at least operating power of each of the set of slave modules in a normal operating mode; receiving second information associated with a power supply configured to supply power to the master module and the set of slave modules; calculating a sum of operating powers of a set of slave modules based on the first information; determining a power limit value based on the second information; and if the sum of the working power of the slave modules is not larger than the power limit value, sending an instruction for changing the working mode to the slave modules so as to enable the slave modules to change from the low-power-consumption working mode to the normal working mode. A corresponding control device and an electrical apparatus are also provided. The scheme disclosed by the invention can effectively improve the module management and the power management of the modularized electrical equipment, and the performance of the electrical equipment is improved.

Description

Power management method, corresponding control device and electrical equipment

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to power management, and more particularly, to modular controllers and power management thereof.

Background

In electrical systems, some controllers are widely used for implementing specific control functions. For example, a power conversion controller used in a scene such as a building residence, a factory, and an automation line may determine whether or not a power supply is valid based on measurement results of electrical parameters such as voltage, frequency, unbalance, and the like of a main power supply and a backup power supply, and, for example, if a failure of the main power supply is found, the dual power conversion controller may drive a relevant device to convert a power supply in the scene from the main power supply to the backup power supply.

In recent years, as user demands have been increased, auxiliary functions of controllers in electrical systems have been diversified. Taking the power conversion controller as an example, the power conversion controller can provide diversified control functions, such as requiring forced non-power conversion under fire conditions for fire fighting applications, and selecting a low-rate power supply manually by a user or through a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), for multi-rate applications, for example; the power conversion controller can provide diversified human-machine interface (HMI) functions, for example, some users need simple knob setting and lamps, some users need powerful liquid crystal screens, and other users need plug-in display screens; in addition, the power conversion controller may provide a variety of communication functions, such as some users selecting fieldbus communication (such as Modbus), some users selecting wireless communication (such as Zigbee), and some users selecting powerful Ethernet (Ethernet) communication.

Based on these demands, modularization of the controller is becoming a trend. However, there are still some problems with modular controllers. For example, the master module of the controller generally does not mechanically limit the type of slave modules coupled for reasons of module versatility, and thus, in theory, a user may access any combination of slave modules. However, the power that can be provided by the main modules of the controller is typically limited, which may result in some module combinations not being able to obtain sufficient power support. Therefore, there is a need for a modular controller that addresses module management issues including power management.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on the above problems, according to example embodiments of the present disclosure, a power management method, and a corresponding control device and electrical apparatus are provided.

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a power management method is provided, the method comprising: receiving first information associated with a set of slave modules coupled to a master module of a device, the first information indicating at least operating power of each of the set of slave modules in a normal operating mode; receiving second information associated with a power supply configured to supply power to the master module and the set of slave modules; calculating a sum of operating powers of a set of slave modules based on the first information; determining a power limit value based on the second information; and if the sum of the working power of the slave modules is not larger than the power limit value, sending an instruction for changing the working mode to the slave modules so as to enable the slave modules to change from the low-power-consumption working mode to the normal working mode.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, by identifying the current power supply and determining the maximum power that can be provided to the slave modules, the number and type of the slave modules coupled to the master module can be adjusted according to the maximum power, so as to avoid that the slave modules cannot normally operate due to the limitation of the power supply power, thereby effectively improving the module management and the power management of the modular electrical device and improving the performance of the electrical device.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further comprises: determining a partial slave module in the set of slave modules if the sum of the operating powers of the set of slave modules is greater than the power limit, wherein the sum of the operating powers of the partial slave modules is not greater than the power limit; and sending an instruction for changing the working mode to the determined partial slave module so as to enable the partial slave module to be changed into the normal working mode from the low-power-consumption working mode. By the embodiment, when the total power of the slave modules is excessive, part of the slave modules can enter a normal operation mode to ensure that part of auxiliary functions of the equipment can normally operate, so that the influence of power limitation on the operation of the equipment is reduced to the maximum extent.

In some embodiments of the disclosure, the first information further indicates at least respective priorities of a set of slave modules, and determining the partial slave modules among the set of slave modules comprises: the partial slave modules are determined based on respective priorities of a set of slave modules, wherein the partial slave modules include slave modules with a higher priority. By means of the embodiment, when the total power of the slave modules is excessive, the slave modules with higher priority can be selected to normally operate, so that the realization of important auxiliary functions of the equipment is ensured.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second information is indicative of at least a voltage of a bus, the bus being coupled at least between the power supply and the set of slave modules. By means of this embodiment, the currently used power supply can be identified simply and reliably by means of detecting the bus voltage.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, determining the power limit value based on the second information comprises: the maximum power that the first power circuit in the master module can provide to a set of slave modules is determined as a power limit value if the voltage of the bus corresponds to the output voltage of the first power circuit in the master module. By this embodiment, it is possible to identify the power supply of the device itself as the currently used power supply and to prevent a normally operating slave module from exceeding the power that the power supply of the device itself can provide.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, determining the power limit value based on the second information comprises: a maximum power that the second power circuit of the power expansion module is capable of providing to a set of slave modules is determined to be a power limit value if the voltage of the bus corresponds to an output voltage of the second power circuit in the power expansion module to which the master module is coupled. By means of the embodiment, the additional power supply of the device can be identified as the currently used power supply, and the normally operating slave module is prevented from exceeding the power which can be provided by the additional power supply, so that the power limit of the device can be effectively improved.

In some embodiments of the disclosure, the bus is coupled to the tank circuit and to respective control means of a set of slave modules via a power switch, the power management method further comprising: in response to the voltage of the bus being below a power supply threshold indicating the occurrence of a power outage, the power switch is turned off to prevent the pre-stored power of the tank circuit from being provided to the respective control means of a group of the slave modules, and the operation of storing data in the master module is performed using the pre-stored power in the tank circuit. By means of this embodiment, it is ensured that the pre-stored power of the tank circuit is sufficient for the control means of the master module to perform the data storage operation when the device is powered down.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a power management method, the method comprising: transmitting, in a low power consumption operating mode of a slave module of a device, first information to a master module to which the slave module is coupled, the first information indicating at least an operating power of the slave module in a normal operating mode, the master module being configured to determine whether to transmit an instruction for changing the operating mode to the slave module based on at least the first information; and in response to the slave module receiving an instruction to change the operating mode from the master module, transitioning the operating mode of the slave module from the low power consumption operating mode to the normal operating mode.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein the first information further indicates at least a priority of the slave module.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control device of a main module, the control device including: a processor; and a memory coupled with the processor, the memory having instructions stored therein that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising: receiving first information associated with a set of slave modules coupled to a master module of a device, the first information indicating at least operating power of each of the set of slave modules in a normal operating mode; receiving second information associated with a power supply configured to supply power to the master module and the set of slave modules; calculating a sum of operating powers of a set of slave modules based on the first information; determining a power limit value based on the second information; and if the sum of the working power of the slave modules is not larger than the power limit value, sending an instruction for changing the working mode to the slave modules so as to enable the slave modules to change from the low-power-consumption working mode to the normal working mode.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control apparatus of a slave module, the control apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled with the processor, the memory having instructions stored therein that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising: transmitting, in a low power consumption operating mode of a slave module of a device, first information to a master module to which the slave module is coupled, the first information indicating at least an operating power of the slave module in a normal operating mode, the master module being configured to determine whether to transmit an instruction for changing the operating mode to the slave module based on at least the first information; and in response to the slave module receiving an instruction from the master module to change the operating mode, changing the operating mode of the slave module from the low power consumption operating mode to the normal operating mode.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electrical apparatus comprising: a main module comprising the control device according to the third aspect; and at least one slave module, each slave module being removably coupled to the master module, each slave module comprising a control device according to the fourth aspect.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the main module further comprises a first power circuit coupled to a first external power source, the electrical device further comprising: a power expansion module removably coupled to the main module and including a second power circuit coupled to a second external power source; and a bus coupled to the first power circuit when the power expansion module is not coupled to the master module and to the second power circuit when the power expansion module is coupled to the master module.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the bus is coupled to the first power circuit via a first anti-bounce circuit, and the bus is further coupled to the second power circuit via a second anti-bounce circuit when the power expansion module is coupled to the master module, the first and second anti-bounce circuits being configured to only allow power to flow from the first and second power circuits, respectively, to the bus.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the voltage provided by the first power supply circuit is lower than the voltage provided by the second power supply circuit.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the electrical device is used for power transfer control, and the main module further includes a drive circuit configured to drive the switch for power transfer, the drive circuit being coupled to the first power circuit such that the drive circuit is powered by the first power circuit.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the master module further comprises a power switch and a tank circuit, the bus being coupled to the tank circuit and via the power switch to the respective control means of the at least one slave module, wherein the control means of the master module is configured to control the switching on and off of the power switch.

It should be understood that what is described in this summary section is not intended to limit key or critical features of the embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

The above and other features, advantages and aspects of various embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent by referring to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like or similar reference characters designate like or similar elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1A illustrates a schematic block diagram of an electrical device in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 1B illustrates an exemplary circuit diagram of an electrical device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of a power management method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of a power management method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of an example device that may be used to implement embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While certain embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein, but rather are provided for a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In describing embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms "include" and its derivatives should be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., "including but not limited to. The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on". The term "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment". The terms "first," "second," and the like may refer to different or the same object. Other explicit and implicit definitions are also possible below.

Fig. 1A shows a schematic diagram of an electrical device 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The electric device 100 may include a main module 110. As an example, the electrical device 100 may be used in some scenarios (such as building residences, factories, and automation lines) to control the conversion of a power supply source that provides power to the electrical devices in the scenario. When the electrical apparatus 100 is used as a power conversion controller, the main module 110 of the electrical apparatus 100 may include a driving circuit 112, and the driving circuit 112 is used to drive a power conversion switch (not shown) to switch between the main power source 160 and the backup power source 170, so that power of the main power source 160 or the backup power source 170 may be supplied to an electrical apparatus (not shown) in a scene. The main module 110 of the electrical device 100 may include a control device 114 that may obtain various electrical parameters (such as voltage, frequency, etc.) of the primary power source 160 and the backup power source 170 to determine whether the primary power source 160 and the backup power source 170 are available, such that, for example, power for a powered device in a scene may be switched to the backup power source 170 when the primary power source 160 fails. Furthermore, the control device 114 may also be used to control other related circuits within the electrical apparatus 100. It is understood that the electrical device 100 may also be a controller in an electrical system for implementing other control functions, rather than a power conversion controller. Accordingly, when electrical device 100 is used to implement other control functions, electrical device 100 may include corresponding circuitry to implement the other control functions in place of drive circuitry 112.

In some embodiments, main module 110 may include power supply circuitry 111, and power supply circuitry 111 may generally be coupled to an external power source. As an example, when the electric device 100 functions as a power conversion controller, the power circuit 111 of the main module 110 of the electric device 100 may be connected to the main power source 160 or the backup power source 170 to draw power. That is, electrical device 100 may itself draw power from primary power source 160 or backup power source 170 to maintain operation. The power supply circuit 111 may provide the harvested power to various circuits in the master module 110 (e.g., the driver circuit 112 and the control device 114, as well as other circuits) and to the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N coupled to the master module 110.

In some embodiments, master module 110 may include a bus 140, and bus 140 may feed power provided by power supply circuit 111 to various circuits or devices in electrical device 100. In some embodiments, main module 110 may further include power supply circuit 115, and power supply circuit 115 may be coupled to bus 140 and convert the output voltage of power supply circuit 111 (or the voltage of bus 140) to a voltage suitable for control device 114 to provide power to control device 114. In some cases, the master module 110 may also include detection circuitry 118 and tank circuitry 116, and the detection circuitry 118 and tank circuitry 116 may be coupled to the bus 140.

The electrical device 100 may include slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N. By providing the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, a variety of ancillary functions may be provided to the user. As an example, the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N may be Ethernet modules, DI/DO modules, and the like. It will be appreciated that the slave module may be any module that implements an auxiliary function, depending on the needs of the user and the inherent function of the electrical device, such as a function for power conversion. The slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N may include control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N, respectively, to assist in implementing the auxiliary functions of the respective slave modules. The slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N may be removably coupled to the master module 110, and the power supply circuit 111 in the master module 110 may provide power to the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N when the slave modules 120-1, 120-2, 120-N are coupled to the master module 110, and the powered-up controls 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N may communicate with the controls 114 of the master module 110 in a wired or wireless manner.

In some embodiments, when the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N are coupled to the master module 110, the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N may be coupled to the bus 140 such that the power circuit 111 may provide power to the slave modules via the bus 140. In some embodiments, the bus 140 may be coupled to the control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, respectively, via the power supply circuit 115 described above to provide power to the control devices of the slave modules. Further, in some cases, a power switch 117 may be provided between the power circuit 115 and the control device of the slave module.

To further increase the power supply capability of the electrical device 100, the electrical device 100 may further include a power expansion module 130. The power expansion module 130 is removably coupled to the main module 110 and includes a power circuit 131 coupled to an external power source, which may be an auxiliary power source 180. The power supply circuit 131 of the power expansion module 130 may provide power to circuits or devices in the master and slave modules in place of the power supply circuit 111. In some embodiments, power circuitry 131 may be coupled to bus 140 when power expansion module 130 is coupled to main module 110. In addition, the main module 110 and the power expansion module 130 further include

anti-reverse circuits

113 and 132, respectively, and the

power supply circuits

111 and 131 are coupled to the bus 140 via the

anti-reverse circuits

113 and 132, respectively. In some cases, electrical device 100 may also include a docking module 150 having a control 151, and docking module 150 may be coupled to bus 140 via power expansion module 130 or protection circuit 133 of power expansion module 130 to draw power from bus 140. That is, in addition to being coupled to the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N using an inherent interface, the master module 110 may be coupled to the expansion module 150 by additional cables, and it will be appreciated that the electrical device 100 may be provided with one or more expansion modules.

Fig. 1B shows an exemplary circuit diagram of the electrical device 100. In fig. 1A and 1B, like parts are identified with like reference numerals. However, it will be appreciated that the circuit implementation in FIG. 1B is merely exemplary, and that the various units or modules illustrated as blocks in FIG. 1A may be implemented in any suitable manner. As shown, primary power supply 160 may provide 266V ac voltage to power supply circuit 111, and backup power supply 170 may provide 480V ac voltage to power supply circuit 111. The transformer and rectifier in the power circuit 111 may transform and rectify the received ac voltage. Then, the DC-DC converter in the power supply circuit 111 may convert the transformed and rectified direct-current voltage of 14.7V to 40.7V into a direct-current voltage of 13.5V and supply it to the drive circuit 112 and the bus 140 via the anti-reverse circuit 113. The power supply circuit 115 as a DC-DC converter can convert the voltage of the bus 140 into a direct voltage of 3.3V and supply it to the control device 114 as an MCU and the control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N. The DC-DC converter 131 in the power expansion module 130 may convert the 24V DC voltage from the auxiliary power supply 180 into a 14.5V DC voltage and provide to the bus 140 via the debounce circuit 132.

The power that the power supply of the electrical device 100 can provide to the slave module is generally limited and needs to ensure the power supply of the control means 114 and the functional circuits such as the driver circuit 112. Furthermore, the power required by different slave modules is not the same, e.g. the DI/DO module requires less power and the ethernet module needs to consume more power. Thus, when more high power consuming slave modules (such as multiple ethernet modules) are coupled to the master module, the power provided by the power supply may be difficult to support the required power for these slave modules, resulting in the slave modules coupled to the master module not functioning properly. In addition, the provision of the additional power supply (i.e., the power expansion module 130) alleviates the shortage of the power supply to some extent, but how to achieve effective management of power supply in the electrical device in the presence of two or more power supply sources is also a problem to be solved urgently.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, an improved power management scheme is provided. In the solution of the present disclosure, it may be determined in the electrical device 100 which power supply is supplying power to the slave module and whether the current power supply can support the normal operation of the slave module combination, so that the slave module that can enter the normal operation mode may be actively adjusted based on the determination result to ensure that the electrical device obtains the optimal operation performance.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 2 shows a flow diagram of a power management method 200 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The method 200 may be implemented in the electrical device 100 in fig. 1A and executed by a processor of the control apparatus 114 of the main module 110. For ease of discussion, the method 200 will be described with reference to fig. 1A and 1B.

At block 201, the control apparatus 114 may receive first information associated with a set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N to which a master module 110 of the device 100 is coupled. The first information indicates at least an operating power of each of the set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N in the normal operating mode.

Specifically, after the electric device 100 is powered on, power from the main power supply 160 or the backup power supply 170, or power from the auxiliary power supply 180 may be supplied to the respective circuits of the master module 110 and the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N via the

power supply circuits

113, 115, and 131 and the power switch 117 (initially in a closed state). Thereby, the control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of the control device 114 of the master module 110 and the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, respectively, start to operate. The control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, respectively, may be in a low power mode of operation after power up and wait for configuration instructions to determine whether a normal mode of operation needs to be entered, with only very low power consumption by the control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N in the low power mode of operation. The control device 114 of the master module 110 may receive, in a wireless or wired manner, first information from the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N indicating the power required by each slave module in the normal operating mode. In some cases, the first information may also include an ID of the slave module or other information that helps identify the slave module.

At block 202, the control device 114 may receive second information associated with a power supply configured to provide power to the master module 110 and the set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N.

In particular, since it may be that one of the plurality of power supply circuits is supplying power to the master module and the slave module, the second information may be information capable of identifying the power supply circuit that is supplying power. For example, the power supply source may be the power supply source of the electric device 100 itself or an additional power supply source. For example, as shown in fig. 1A, the power supply source of the electric device 100 itself may be the power supply circuit 111 in the main module 110, and the power supply circuit 111 may be coupled to a first external power source such as the main power source 160 or the backup power source 170. As shown in fig. 1B, the power circuit 111 may include a transformer, a rectifier, and a DC-DC converter so that an alternating voltage (e.g., 266V or 480V) from an external power source may be converted into a direct voltage (e.g., 13.5V) to be provided to the master module 110 and the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N. Further, the additional power supply may be, for example, a power supply circuit 131 in the power expansion module 130, and the power supply circuit 131 may be coupled to a second external power supply such as the auxiliary power supply 180. The power expansion module 130 may be removably coupled to the main module 110. As shown in fig. 1B, the power circuit 131 may be a DC-DC converter to convert a direct current voltage (e.g., 24V) of the external power source into a direct current voltage (e.g., 14.5V) suitable for the electrical apparatus 100 to be provided to the master module 110 and the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N.

For example, the second information may include electrical parameters (such as voltage, current, power, and the like) related to the current power supply. For example, based on these electrical parameters, the control device 114 may identify the current power supply as the power circuit 111 in the main module 110 or the power circuit 131 in the power expansion module 130, thereby determining the maximum power that the current power supply can provide. It will be appreciated that the second information may also include other information associated with the power supply source as long as it can assist the control device 114 in determining the maximum power that the current power supply source can provide, for example, the second information may also directly indicate the maximum power that the current power supply source can provide.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second information may indicate a voltage of a bus 140, the bus 140 being coupled at least between the power supply and a set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, bus 140 may be coupled to power circuitry 111 of main module 110, and when power expansion module 130 is coupled to main module 110, bus 140 may be coupled to power circuitry 131 of power expansion module 130. The bus 140 may also be coupled to a set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N. The bus 140 may be directly coupled to functional units (not shown) such as input units and output units of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N; further, the bus 140 may be coupled to the control devices (e.g., MCUs in FIG. 1B) 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N via the power circuit 115. It will be appreciated that fig. 1A and 1B are merely exemplary, and that bus 140 may be coupled between the power supply and the slave in any suitable manner.

The detection circuit 118 of the master module 110 may detect the voltage of the bus 140 and provide the detected voltage to the control device 114. Since the power supply provides power to the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N via the bus 140, the voltage of the bus 140 may serve as identification information for the power supply.

For example, the voltages output to the bus 140 by the power supply circuit 111 of the main module 110 and the power supply circuit 131 of the power expansion module 130 may be different. For example only, as shown in fig. 1B, the output voltage of the power supply circuit 111 is 13.5V, and the output voltage in the power supply circuit 131 is 14.5V. Further,

anti-reverse circuits

113 and 132 are provided between the power supply circuit 111 and the bus 140 and between the power supply circuit 131 and the bus 140, respectively, wherein the anti-reverse circuit 113 is provided in the main module 110, and the anti-reverse circuit 132 is provided in the power expansion module 130. The

anti-reverse circuits

113 and 132 allow power (or current) to flow only from the

power circuits

111 and 131 to the bus 140, but not in the reverse direction. As an example, as shown in fig. 1B, the

anti-reverse circuits

113 and 132 may be diodes, and the diodes are provided with anodes connected to the

power supply circuits

111 and 131 and cathodes connected to the bus 140. However, any suitable circuit or device may be provided to achieve unidirectional flow of power or current. In accordance with circuit principles, as long as there is an output current in one of the

power circuits

111 and 131, there is a current on bus 140, and the value of the voltage on bus 140 is dependent on the higher of the output voltages of

power circuits

111 and 131, and the load is powered by the power circuit with the higher output voltage.

In some embodiments, the output voltage of the power supply circuit 111 may be lower than the output voltage of the power supply circuit 131. Thus, when power expansion module 130 is not coupled to main module 110, power is provided to bus 140 by power circuit 111, which has a lower output voltage; when the power expansion module 130 is coupled to the main module 110, power is supplied to the bus 140 only by the power circuit 131 whose output voltage is higher (at this time, there is no power exchange between the power circuit 111 and the bus 140 due to the presence of the kickback prevention circuit 113 and the voltage of the bus 140 is higher than that of the power circuit 111). It will be appreciated that instead of the anti-kickback circuit, other types of circuits may be provided, for example a controllable switching circuit may be provided, by which the connection between the power circuit 111 of the master module 110 and the bus 140 may be disconnected, for example when additional power supplies are coupled to the master module 110. Thus, in this case, when power circuit 111 is supplying power to bus 140, the voltage of bus 140 will be close to the output voltage of power circuit 111 (e.g., 13.5V), and when power circuit 131 is supplying power to bus 140, the voltage of bus 140 will be close to the output voltage of power circuit 131 (e.g., 14.5V). Thus, the voltage of the bus 140 may be used to indicate whether the power of the bus 140 is from the power circuit 111 of the main module 110 or the power circuit 131 of the power expansion module 130. The method for judging the power supply by detecting the bus voltage has the advantages of simplicity and reliability.

At block 203, the control device 114 may calculate a sum of the operating powers of a set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N based on the first information.

Specifically, the first information includes the power required for the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N to be in the normal operating mode. Accordingly, the control device 114 may calculate the total power required for the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N to enter the normal operating mode based on the first information.

At block 204, the control device 114 may determine a power limit value based on the second information. In particular, the maximum power that the current power supply can provide to the slave module may be determined based on the second information, from which the power limit value may be determined. For example, the second information may include identification information based on which it may be determined whether the power circuit 111 of the main module or the power circuit 131 of the power expansion module 130 is currently supplying power. Furthermore, the control device 114 may store in advance information relating to the power supply sources of the electrical apparatuses 100, such as the maximum power that can be supplied to the slave modules by the respective power supply sources of the electrical apparatuses 100. Thereby, the control device 114 may determine the maximum power that can be provided to the slave module and determine the maximum power as the power limit value.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the control device 114 may determine the maximum power that the power circuit 111 in the master module 110 can provide to a set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N as the power limit value if the voltage of the bus 140 corresponds to the output voltage of the power circuit 111 in the master module 110. Further, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, if the voltage of the bus 140 corresponds to the output voltage of the power circuit 131 in the power expansion module 130 to which the master module 110 is coupled, the control device 114 may determine as the power limit value the maximum power that the power circuit 131 of the power expansion module 130 is able to provide to the set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N.

As an example, the control device 114 may set a threshold voltage having a magnitude set between the output voltage of the power supply circuit 111 and the output voltage of the power supply circuit 131. For example, the output voltage of the power supply circuit 111 is 13.5V and the output voltage of the power supply circuit 131 is 14.5V, the threshold voltage may be set to 14V. Then, the voltage of the bus 140 may be compared with the threshold voltage, and if the voltage of the bus 140 is less than or equal to the threshold voltage, it is determined that the voltage of the bus 140 corresponds to the output voltage of the power supply circuit 111 whose output voltage is lower, and if the voltage of the bus 140 is greater than the threshold voltage, it is determined that the voltage of the bus 140 corresponds to the output voltage of the power supply circuit 131 whose output voltage is higher. It will be appreciated that other ways of determining which power supply circuit's output voltage corresponds to the voltage of bus 140 may be used, for example, the voltage of bus 140 may be directly compared to the output voltage of the corresponding power supply circuit to determine which power supply circuit's output voltage the voltage of bus 140 is closer to.

The maximum power that can be supplied to the slave module by the respective power supply can be predetermined and stored in the control device 114. When the maximum power that each power supply can supply to the slave module is predetermined, it is necessary to determine the power of the circuits other than the slave module that the power supply supplies. For example, the driver circuit 112 is coupled to the power supply circuit 111 such that the driver circuit 112 is powered by the power supply circuit 111; and the

power supply circuits

111 and 131 also need to supply power to the control device 114 of the main module 110. Therefore, when the maximum power that the power supply circuit 111 can supply to the slave module is determined in advance, the power supplied to the drive circuit 112 and the control device 114 needs to be subtracted from the maximum power that the power supply circuit 111 can supply; when the maximum power that the power supply circuit 131 can supply to the slave module is determined in advance, the power supplied to the control device 114 needs to be subtracted from the maximum power that the power supply circuit 131 can supply.

The power that the power supply source of the electric device 100 itself (e.g., the power circuit 111 of the main module 110) can supply to the slave module is significantly different from the power that the additional power source of the electric device 100 (e.g., the power circuit 131 of the power expansion module 130) can supply to the slave module. The power that can be supplied by the power supply source of the electric device 100 itself is limited and it is necessary to ensure first the power supply of the circuits (for example, the drive circuit 112) related to its inherent functions. For example, the power supply circuit 111 of the master module can provide 6W of power in total, whereas the power that can be provided to the slave modules is only 2.5W, which limits the number and types of slave modules coupled by the master module. The additional power supply, such as the power extension module 130, may only supply power to the master module's control devices and slave modules, and not necessarily to the driver circuitry 112 (the driver circuitry 112 is still powered by the master module's power circuitry 111). For example, in the case where the power supply circuit 111 of the master module can only provide 2.5W of power to the slave modules, the power expansion module 130 coupled to the auxiliary power supply 180 may provide 6W of power to the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N. Thus, providing an additional power supply in electrical device 100 actually further enhances the power supply capability of electrical device 100, such that electrical device 100 can carry a high power consumption combination of slave modules. It is noted that if the power extension module 130 and the secondary power source 180 are coupled to the master module, but the power circuit 111 is not coupled to the primary power source 160 or the backup power source 170, or the primary power source 160 or the backup power source 170 is not powered, the electrical device 100 cannot perform the functions of electromagnet driving and power switching, but may perform some other function, such as reading data of the electrical device 100 through the master module and the slave module.

It can be seen that the control device 114 may determine whether the power expansion module 130 is coupled to the main module 110 according to the voltage of the bus 140 and thus determine the power limit value of the current power supply.

At block 205, the control device 114 determines whether the sum of the operating powers of a set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N is not greater than a power limit. Specifically, the control device 114 may compare the calculated total power required by the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N in the normal operating mode to the determined power limit value.

At block 206, if the sum of the operating powers of the set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N is not greater than the power limit, the control apparatus 114 sends an instruction to the set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N to change the operating mode to transition the set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N from the low power mode of operation to the normal mode of operation.

In particular, if the sum of the operating powers of a set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N is not greater than the power limit, it may be determined that the current power supply is capable of supporting the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N entering a normal operating state. Accordingly, the control device 114 may send a command signal to the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N in a wireless or wired manner to cause the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N to change from the initial low power consumption operating mode after power-up to the normal operating mode.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, power management method 200 also includes

blocks

207 and 208.

At block 207, if the sum of the operating powers of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N is greater than the power limit, a partial slave module is determined in the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, wherein the sum of the operating powers of the partial slave modules is not greater than the power limit. Specifically, when the total power required for the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N to enter the normal operating mode exceeds the maximum power that can be provided by the power supply, the control device 140 may select a portion of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N that can be supported by the power supply.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the first information further indicates at least a priority of each of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, and determining the partial slave modules in the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N includes: the partial slave modules are determined based on the priorities of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, respectively, wherein the partial slave modules include slave modules with a higher priority. Specifically, in the case that the power supply cannot support normal operation of all slave modules, the control device 114 may select a slave module with a higher priority from the slave modules 120-1 and 120-2 … … 120-N to enter a normal operation mode, so as to ensure that the electrical apparatus 100 can preferentially provide important auxiliary functions, thereby improving user experience.

At block 208, an instruction to change the operating mode is sent to the determined portion of the slave module to cause the portion of the slave module to transition from the low power consumption operating mode to the normal operating mode. Specifically, the control device 114 may send a command signal to the determined partial slave module in a wireless or wired manner to cause the partial slave module to enter the normal operation mode. The remaining slaves may be kept in a low power mode of operation or decoupled from master module 110.

It is understood that, in the case that the sum of the operating powers of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N is greater than the power limit value, the user may also perform a full replacement or a partial replacement of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N to obtain the replaced slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N. Control device 114 may then re-execute blocks 201 through 206 until the sum of the operating powers of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N is not greater than the power limit.

Furthermore, in some cases, the electrical device 100 is also provided with an expansion module 150. For example, the expansion module 150 may be a module for implementing human-interface (HMI) functionality. It will be appreciated that when the expansion module 150 is coupled to the bus 140 or to the bus 140 via the power expansion module 130, the power to the expansion module 150 may be managed in the same manner as the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N. For example, the control device 114 of the master module 110 may also receive information from the extension module 150 indicating the operating power of the extension module 150 at a normal operating module and determine whether the total operating power of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N and the extension module 150 is within the power limit value, and then the control device 114 of the master module 110 may determine whether the extension module 150 enters a normal operating module according to the determination result. That is, the expansion module 150 may be considered one of the slave modules to manage, and the description above for the slave module applies equally to the expansion module 150.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the bus 140 is coupled to the tank circuit 116 and to the control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of a respective set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N via the power switch 117, and the power management method 200 further comprises: in response to the voltage on the bus 140 falling below the power supply threshold indicating the occurrence of a power outage, the control device 114 turns off the power switch 117 to prevent the pre-stored power of the tank circuit 116 from being provided to the control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of the respective set of slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, and the control device 114 utilizes the pre-stored power in the tank circuit 116 to perform the operation of storing data in the master module 110.

As shown in fig. 1A, the tank circuit 116 may be coupled to the bus 140 and the control device 114 of the master module 110 to obtain pre-stored power from the bus 140 during normal power supply and to provide the pre-stored power to the control device 114 for data storage operations during power interruption. As shown in fig. 1B, the energy storage circuit 116 may be, for example, an energy storage capacitor. In addition, a power switch 117 may be coupled between the bus 140 and the control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, respectively. In some embodiments, the bus 140 may provide power to the master and slave's control devices via the power circuit 115, wherein the power circuit 115 may convert the bus 140 voltage to a voltage suitable for the control devices (as shown in FIG. 1B, the power circuit 115 may be a DC-DC converter to convert the bus voltage to a 3.3V voltage). Thus, the power switch 117 may be coupled between the power circuit 115 and the control device 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of the slave module. The power switch 117 may be controlled by the control device 114 of the main module 110 to be turned on and off.

In the event of a power outage, the control means 114 may open the power switch 117 to prevent the pre-stored power in the tank circuit 116 from flowing into the control means 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of the slave module. Thereby, it is ensured that the control means 114 of the main module 110 obtains sufficient pre-stored power to perform the operation of storing important data.

Fig. 3 shows a flow diagram of a power management method 300 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The method 300 may be implemented in the electrical device 100 in fig. 1A and 1B and is performed by a processor of any of the control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of the slave module. It will be appreciated that in case the electrical device 100 is further provided with a docking module 150, the power supply of the docking module 150 may be managed in the same way as the slave modules 120-1, 120-2 … … 120-N, and thus the method 300 may also be performed by a processor in the control means 151 of the docking module 150. For ease of discussion, the method 300 will be described below with reference to the slave module 120-1 as an example, and the method 300 will be described with reference to fig. 1A and 1B. .

In block 301, the control device 121-1 sends, in a low power consumption operation mode of the slave module 120-1 of the electrical apparatus 100, first information to the master module 110 to which the slave module 120-1 is coupled, the first information indicating at least an operation power of the slave module 120-1 in a normal operation mode, and the master module 110 is configured to determine whether to send an instruction for changing the operation mode to the slave module 120-1 based on at least the first information.

At block 302, it is determined whether the slave module 120-1 received an instruction from the master module 110 to change the operating mode.

In block 303, the operating mode of the slave module 120-1 is transitioned from the low power operating mode to the normal operating mode in response to the slave module 120-1 receiving an instruction from the master module 110 to change operating modes. In the embodiment of the disclosure, the current power supply may be identified, and the maximum power that can be provided to the slave module is determined, so that the number and type of the slave modules coupled to the master module may be adjusted according to the maximum power to avoid the limitation of the power supply power on the operation of the device, thereby effectively improving the module management and power management of the modular electrical device and improving the operation performance of the electrical device.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of an example device 400 that may be used to implement embodiments of the present disclosure. The apparatus 400 may be implemented as the control device 114 or the control devices 121-1, 121-2 … … 121-N of FIG. 1A. Device 400 may be used to implement method 200 of fig. 2 and method 300 of fig. 3.

As shown, device 400 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU)401 that may perform various appropriate actions and processes in accordance with computer program instructions stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM)402 or loaded from a storage unit 408 into a Random Access Memory (RAM) 403. In the RAM 403, various programs and data required for the operation of the device 400 can also be stored, for example, the above-mentioned measurement data can be stored. The CPU 401, ROM 402, and RAM 403 are connected to each other via a bus 404. An input/output (I/O) interface 405 is also connected to bus 404.

A number of components in device 400 are connected to I/O interface 405, including: an input unit 406 such as a keyboard, a mouse, or the like; an output unit 407 such as various types of displays, speakers, and the like; a storage unit 408 such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or the like; and a communication unit 409 such as a network card, modem, wireless communication transceiver, etc. The communication unit 409 allows the device 400 to exchange information/data with other devices via a computer network, such as the internet, and/or various telecommunication networks.

The processing unit 401 performs the method 200 or the method 300 described above. For example, in some embodiments, the

methods

200 and 300 may be implemented as a computer software program or computer program product that is tangibly embodied in a machine-readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as the storage unit 408. In some embodiments, part or all of the computer program may be loaded and/or installed onto the device 400 via the ROM 402 and/or the communication unit 409. When the computer program is loaded into RAM 403 and executed by CPU 401, one or more steps of

method

200 or 300 described above may be performed. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the CPU 401 may be configured to perform the

methods

200 or 300 in any other suitable manner (e.g., by way of firmware).

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the steps of the method of the present disclosure described above may be implemented by a general purpose computing device, centralized on a single computing device or distributed over a network of computing devices, or alternatively, may be implemented by program code executable by a computing device, such that the program code may be stored in a memory device and executed by a computing device, or may be implemented by individual or multiple modules or steps of the program code as a single integrated circuit module. As such, the present disclosure is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

It should be understood that although several means or sub-means of the apparatus have been referred to in the detailed description above, such division is exemplary only and not mandatory. Indeed, the features and functions of two or more of the devices described above may be embodied in one device in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Conversely, the features and functions of one apparatus described above may be further divided into embodiments by a plurality of apparatuses.

The above description is intended only as an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, which may be modified and varied by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method of power management, comprising:

receiving first information associated with a set of slave modules coupled to a master module of a device, the first information indicating at least operating power of each of the set of slave modules in a normal operating mode;

receiving second information associated with a power supply configured to supply power to the master module and the set of slave modules;

calculating a sum of the operating powers of the set of slave modules based on the first information;

determining a power limit value based on the second information; and

if the sum of the operating powers of the set of slave modules is not greater than the power limit value, sending an instruction to the set of slave modules to change the operating mode to cause the set of slave modules to transition from a low power consumption operating mode to a normal operating mode.

2. The power management method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a partial slave module in the set of slave modules if the sum of the operating powers of the set of slave modules is greater than the power limit value, wherein the sum of the operating powers of the partial slave modules is not greater than the power limit value; and

sending an instruction for changing the operation mode to the determined partial slave module to make the partial slave module change from the low-power-consumption operation mode to the normal operation mode.

3. The power management method of claim 2, wherein the first information further indicates at least respective priorities of the set of slave modules, and determining the partial slave modules among the set of slave modules comprises:

determining the partial slave modules based on the respective priorities of the set of slave modules, wherein the partial slave modules include slave modules with a higher priority.

4. The power management method of claim 1, wherein the second information is indicative of at least a voltage of a bus coupled between at least the power supply and the set of slave modules.

5. The power management method of claim 4, wherein determining the power limit value based on the second information comprises:

determining a maximum power that the first power circuit in the master module can provide to the set of slave modules as the power limit value if the voltage of the bus corresponds to an output voltage of the first power circuit in the master module.

6. The power management method of claim 4, wherein determining the power limit value based on the second information comprises:

determining a maximum power that the second power circuit of the power expansion module is capable of providing to the set of slave modules as the power limit value if the voltage of the bus corresponds to an output voltage of the second power circuit in the power expansion module to which the master module is coupled.

7. The power management method of claim 4, wherein the bus is coupled to a tank circuit and to respective control devices of the set of slave modules via a power switch, the power management method further comprising:

in response to the voltage of the bus being below a power supply threshold indicative of the occurrence of a power outage, turning off the power switch to avoid pre-stored power of the tank circuit being provided to the control means of each of the set of slave modules, and using the pre-stored power in the tank circuit to perform the operation of storing data in the master module.

8. A method of power management, comprising:

transmitting, in a low power consumption operating mode of a slave module of a device, first information to a master module to which the slave module is coupled, the first information indicating at least an operating power of the slave module in a normal operating mode, the master module being configured to determine whether to transmit an instruction for changing the operating mode to the slave module based at least on the first information; and

and responding to the slave module receiving an instruction for changing the working mode from the master module, and changing the working mode of the slave module from the low-power-consumption working mode to the normal working mode.

9. The power management method of claim 8, wherein the first information further indicates at least a priority of the slave module.

10. A control device of a main module, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory having instructions stored therein that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

determining a power limit value based on the second information; and

11. The control device of claim 10, the acts further comprising:

12. The control device of claim 11, wherein the first information further indicates at least respective priorities of the set of slave modules, and determining the partial slave modules among the set of slave modules comprises:

13. The control device of claim 10, wherein the second information is indicative of at least a voltage of a bus coupled between at least the power supply and the set of slave modules.

14. The control device of claim 13, wherein determining the power limit value based on the second information comprises:

15. The control device of claim 13, wherein determining the power limit value based on the second information comprises:

16. The control device of claim 13, wherein the bus is coupled to a tank circuit and to respective control devices of the set of slave modules via a power switch, the acts further comprising:

17. A control device of a slave module, comprising:

a processor; and

18. The control device of claim 17, wherein the first information further indicates at least a priority of the slave module.

19. An electrical device, comprising:

a main module comprising a control device according to any one of claims 10 to 16; and

at least one slave module, each slave module being removably coupled to the master module, each slave module comprising a control device according to claim 17 or 18.

20. The electrical device of claim 19, wherein the main module further comprises a first power circuit coupled to a first external power source,

the electrical apparatus further comprises:

a power expansion module removably coupled to the main module and including a second power circuit coupled to a second external power source; and

a bus coupled to the first power circuit when the power expansion module is not coupled to the master module and coupled to the second power circuit when the power expansion module is coupled to the master module.

21. The electrical device of claim 20, wherein the bus is coupled to the first power circuit via a first anti-backup circuit, and the bus is further coupled to the second power circuit via a second anti-backup circuit when the power extension module is coupled to the main module, the first and second anti-backup circuits being configured to only allow power to flow from the first and second power circuits, respectively, to the bus.

22. The electrical device of claim 21, wherein the voltage provided by the first power supply circuit is lower than the voltage provided by the second power supply circuit.

23. The electrical device of claim 21, wherein the electrical device is for power conversion control, and the main module further comprises a drive circuit configured to drive a switch for power conversion, the drive circuit being coupled to the first power circuit such that the drive circuit is powered by the first power circuit.

24. The electrical device of claim 20, wherein the master module further comprises a power switch and a tank circuit, the bus being coupled to the tank circuit and via the power switch to the respective control means of the at least one slave module, wherein the control means of the master module is configured to control the power switch to be turned on and off.