RU2367083C1 - Power delivery system control and diagnoctics - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: electrical engineering.

SUBSTANCE: proposed method receives gating signal package from power supplier or other component of supply power delivery signal. Received package comprises bits corresponding to status of one or more devices of the component. Aforesaid package contains also one or more bits that comprise subset of memorised data retrieved from the component memory. As a version, the method can comprises repeating reception unless multiple gating signals packages are received that contain memorised data to allow subsets of points data can be packed into memorised data. As a version, one or more bits containing memorised data subsets can be bits of gating signal package mode.

EFFECT: expanded performances.

29 cl, 6 dwg

Description

Links to related applications

This application claims the priority of U.S. Pending Application No. 60/713198, entitled “A system and method for enhanced control and diagnostics of power cells provided within a multi-level drive” (System and Method for Advanced Management and Diagnostics of Multi-Level Batteries drive), filed September 2, 2005, and includes it by reference in its entirety.

Government Supported Research Statement

Not applicable.

Statement of Parties to the Joint Study Agreement

Not applicable.

Inclusion by reference of materials on the disk

Not applicable.

Background

A power source for controlling the flow of energy between the first AC system (AC) and the second AC system is required in many commercial and industrial applications, such as controlling the operation of an AC motor. Some such power supplies convert energy from a first frequency and voltage to a second frequency and voltage. One way to implement such a system is to use one or more batteries, which include two solid state converters with an intermediate direct current (DC) line. A battery is an electrical device that has a three-phase AC input and a single-phase AC output. One such system is described in US Pat. No. 5,625,545 to Hammond, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Referring to FIG. 1, this patent discloses a power element 110 that includes an AC to DC converter (AC-DC) 112, here a three-phase rectifier on a diode bridge circuit, one or more DC capacitors, and a DC-AC converter 116 , here is an H-bridge inverter. Rectifier 112 converts the input AC voltage 118 to an essentially constant DC voltage, which is supported by capacitors 114 connected in parallel with the output of rectifier 112. The output stage of inverter 110 includes an H-bridge inverter 116, which includes two poles, a left pole and a right pole each with two devices. An inverter 110 converts the DC voltage across the DC capacitors 114 to an AC output 120 using pulse-width modulation (PWM) semiconductor devices in an H-bridge inverter 116. In some embodiments, the rectifier 112 may include three pairs of current-controlled devices, such as Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs), diodes, switches, or other devices. In some embodiments, inverter 116 may comprise two pairs of such devices.

A circuit including batteries, such as 110 in FIG. 1, when connected to a load, such as an engine, can supply power from an input source to the engine when operating in engine mode. Such a battery may sometimes be called a unidirectional two-quadrant (2Q) cell. However, if the motor speed must be reduced, then the motor power must be absorbed by the inverter. This mode of operation, when the power must be absorbed by the inverter, is called the regeneration mode. In such situations, some or all of the batteries are typically regenerative or four-quadrant (4Q) cells.

In the prior art, the ability to diagnose and predict failure of one or more batteries has been limited. The present disclosure describes attempts to solve this problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an embodiment, the method of monitoring a power supply delivery system includes receiving a gate signal packet from a component of the power supply system. A received packet contains bits that correspond to the status of one or more devices in the component. A packet also includes one or more bits that contain a subset of the stored data that has been extracted from the component memory. Optionally, the method may also include repeating reception until a plurality of gate signal packets have been received. A plurality of gating signal packets collectively contain stored data so that subsets of the data point can be combined into stored data. Optionally, one or more bits that contain a subset of the stored data may be gating burst mode bits.

The method may also include first delivering a gate signal packet to the component, before receiving. A delivered packet includes many bits that control the operation of one or more devices in a component. A packet includes one or more bits that contain a subset of instructions for querying a data point.

The method may include repeating delivery until a plurality of gating signal packets are delivered, where the plurality of gating signal packets together comprise a command, so that subsets of the command may be assembled into a command. The method may include using the stored stored data to determine component diagnostics. The packets may also include bits corresponding to data that are predictive of component failure, and the method may also include delivering a control command to the battery based on the predicted data.

The stored data may include trouble data, such as a trouble code, time code, or device identifier. The stored data may include waveform information such as current data, voltage data, temperature data, or phase data.

In an alternative embodiment, the method of controlling a battery includes receiving a gate signal packet from the battery. A received packet includes bits that correspond to the status of one or more devices in a battery, and a packet also includes one or more bits that contain a subset of stored data that has been extracted from the battery. Additional packets are received until a plurality of gate signal packets are received, which together contain the stored data. The method also includes assembling subsets of the data point into stored data. Before receiving, the method may include delivering a gate signal packet to the battery. The delivered packet may include bits that control the operation of one or more devices in the battery, the packet may include one or more bits that contain a subset of the command to query the data point. Delivery may be repeated until a plurality of gate signal packets that together contain a command are delivered. The method may also comprise linking the subsets of the command to the command.

In an alternative embodiment, the method of controlling the battery includes delivering a gate signal packet to the battery. The delivered packet includes many bits that control the operation of one or more devices in the battery. A packet also includes one or more bits that contain a subset of instructions for querying a data point. Delivery is repeated until a plurality of gating signal packets are delivered, where the plurality of gating signal packets together comprise a command. The method may then include arranging the subsets of the team into a team. The method may then include receiving a gate signal packet from the battery in response to a command, the received packet containing a plurality of bits that correspond to the status of one or more devices in the component. A packet may also include one or more bits that contain a subset of stored data that has been extracted from the battery. The reception may be repeated until a plurality of gating signal packets have been received, the plurality of received gating signal packets together containing the stored data. The method may then include composing the subsets of the stored data points in the stored data.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing exemplary characteristics of a battery according to the prior art.

2 is a diagram containing a plurality of batteries connected to a load.

3A and 3B illustrate data bits that may be included in exemplary gating signal packets delivered to and from a battery, respectively.

Figure 4 is an example of fault data points and waveforms that can be stored in the battery.

5 is an exemplary process for requesting and receiving fault data and / or waveform from a battery.

Detailed description

Before the proposed methods, systems and materials are described, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the specific methodologies, systems and materials described, as they may vary. It should also be understood that the terminology used in the description is intended only for the purpose of describing specific versions or options, but is not intended to limit the scope. For example, as used herein and in the appended claims, singular forms include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, the word “contains” means “includes, but is not limited to, indicated.” Unless otherwise specified, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as is commonly understood by one skilled in the art.

In various embodiments, the implementation of the multi-level circuit contains many batteries to excite the load. Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a circuit having multiple batteries. 2, a transformer 210 supplies three-phase medium voltage power to a load 230, such as a three-phase asynchronous motor, through a set of single-phase inverters (also called batteries). Transformer 210 includes a primary winding 212 that drives a series of secondary windings 214-225. Although the primary winding 212 is shown as having a star connection configuration, a mesh configuration is also possible. In addition, although the secondary windings 214-225 are shown as having a cellular configuration, secondary windings configured by a star connection are also possible, or a configuration of windings connected by a star or cells may be used. In addition, the number of secondary windings shown in FIG. 2 is merely illustrative, and other amounts of secondary windings are possible. This circuit may be used for medium voltage applications or, in some embodiments, for other applications. As used here, average voltage means a rated voltage greater than 690 V and less than 69 kV. In some embodiments, the average voltage may include voltages between about 1000 V and about 69 kV.

Any number of three-phase sets of batteries can be connected between the transformer 210 and the load 230. Referring to FIG. 2, the system may include a first set of batteries 251-253, a second set of batteries 261-263, a third set of batteries 271-273 and a fourth set of batteries 281-283. More than four sets and less than four sets are possible. The central control system 295 sends command signals to a local controller 292 and / or means for controlling the level of a battery element via a fiber optic or other wired or wireless communication medium 290.

The modulation of each battery in the system can be controlled using gate signals that are transmitted to each element from the controller 295. The gate signal can be a bipolar signal that serves as an “on / off” signal or an “enable / disable” command for one or more appliances in the battery. The signals emanate from the controller 295 in order to reduce the harmonic content of the load through these signals. In addition, the batteries can return a strobe signal that acknowledges the failure status of a part of the battery.

The size or number of bits in the strobe signal, as well as the transmission rate of the strobe signal, can be limited by the bandwidth of the fiber, wire, or wireless media that delivers the signals to and from the battery. 3A, an 8-bit packet of a strobe command signal delivered to a battery may include a right pole start (enable / disable) bit 311 and a left pole start (enable / disable) bit 312. A signal can be used on each pair of IGBTs or other switches in a battery, and these bits can control the on / off status of each IGBT. The signal may also turn on the temperature synchronization bit 313, the element bypass enable bit 314, two mode bits 315 and 316, the output enable bit 317 and the parity bit 318. In the prior art, the mode bits were set to zero, and the mode bits were randomly used to request information from the element when power was removed from the element.

3B, an 8-bit reverse signal packet 350 received by the central controller from the battery may include a power source status bit 351 or a correct bit, enabled battery bypass bit 352, battery temperature feedback bit 353, bit 354 loss of battery phase, a fault bit 355 that indicates whether or not a fault exists, two mode bits 356 and 357, which are usually zero, and a parity bit 358. In the prior art, the fault data provided by the feedback signal consisted of a yes / no indicator of whether or not a fault exists.

4, in the described embodiments, some or all of the power supply elements 400 may include a memory section, such as a non-volatile memory that stores fault information, to create a log 410 for the system. The fault information may include a fault code 411 and optionally a time stamp 412 and an indicator 413 of which device in the battery is faulty. The fault code can be a multi-character code, such as a binary, numeric, or alphanumeric code, that matches the type of fault. Examples of DTCs may include the following options: 0000100 - DC Overvoltage Fault (DC); 0010110 - an arc was detected in the element; 0001101 - loss of thermal sensor at the right pole. The optional time stamp may refer to the actual time or may relate to the counter, so that the time is referred to the counter zero. A memory storing a fault log can receive data from memory elements in the device as soon as a malfunction occurs. The fault log may include data that helps diagnose the cause and / or consequences of the malfunction. Fault log data may include, for example, current measurements at various points in the battery; voltage measurements at various points in the battery; frequency imbalance of current and voltage; DC fluctuations and other data. Although not required, it is preferable that the fault data is stored in non-volatile memory to create a permanent or semi-permanent record of the fault data.

The batteries may also include a memory section, such as a volatile memory section, which stores element waveform data 420, such as current amplitude 421, voltage 422 and phase 423. This data can be collected on a real-time basis and stored in volatile memory so that the older data is deleted after a certain amount of newer waveform data has been received. The amount of waveform data stored in memory may be limited by the size of the memory, the size of the buffer or cache, a predefined setting, or any other factor.

In the environments provided herein, gate signals can be used to collect fault data from a fault log, such as a request for one or more data points from a fault log. In some embodiments, referring to FIG. 5, this can be done by the central controller by selecting command 501 to provide some fault information. The instruction may be a multi-bit instruction, so the method may include splitting the instruction 503 into a subset of bits and placing 505 each subset in a corresponding gate command packet, for example, as two mode bits. If this room did not lead to the placement of all bits of the command in the command signals, the process selects the next gate packet 507 and repeats the process until the entire command is completely placed in the packet group of the gate signal. When the command is split and packets are delivered, the command is compiled 509 in the battery or in the local control. Thus, although two bits of the single packet mode may not be sufficient to provide the entire command, the command may be split between a plurality of consecutive or multiplexed gating signal packets, so that when a set of packets is received by the battery, the battery can extract and assemble the command from the plurality of gating packets signal. For example, a 16-bit instruction can be split between 8 packets of the gate signal, and the command is composed when all of 8 packets of the gate signal are received in the battery or in the local control means. As another example, a 16-bit instruction may be split between 16 packets of a gate signal, with one mode bit of each gate signal including a command bit. In such situations, it may also be desirable to provide each command with a 17th packet for synchronization. In addition, a plurality of commands can be arranged into a packet of information.

The system can then return the requested data to the central controller through a similar process, which includes dividing the data 511 into subsets, distributing 513 data into two mode bits or another relevant part of the plurality of strobe signals, repeating the process 515 until the data is completely delivered, and arranging data 517 in a central controller or other suitable device. For example, a 16-bit data point can be divided into 17 packets of the gate signal (16 packets have one mode bit plus one packet for synchronization) or 8 (two mode bits each) packets of the gate signal, and the data point can be combined with all of 17 or 8 strobe signal packets received by the central control unit. In some embodiments, some or all of these fault points or waveforms can be automatically delivered to the central controller at a predetermined time, countdown, or at other intervals. Alternatively, some or all of the fault data points or waveforms can be delivered appropriately, for example, as multiplexed or simply cyclic, so that when one set of packets that together contains the data point is delivered, the next data point can be delivered later set of packages. Requests can be transmitted, and data points can be returned while the battery is running, so turning off the battery is not required for data collection purposes.

Thus, in a process such as described above, the central controller can receive more information about the malfunction than just an indication that the malfunction has occurred. For example, the information may include a fault time (time stamp), a pointer to a device that is faulty, and a fault code. In addition, other information included in the gate signal, such as battery temperature and input voltage, as shown in FIG. 3B, can provide data that predicts a malfunction. Predictive data can be used to automatically turn off a battery, bypass a battery, or perform other appropriate actions to prevent a malfunction.

The process of FIG. 5 and the foregoing can also be used to obtain waveform data from a memory section of a memory element that stores waveform data. This data, such as current, voltage, or phase data, can also be used to predict the occurrence of a potential fault. The system or operator can perform an action, such as turning off the battery, bypassing the battery or changing operating conditions, or referring technical personnel to prevent or reduce the likelihood of a battery failure.

By including these faults or waveforms in a plurality of strobe signal packets, the system can request and collect data from the batteries without interrupting the normal flow of command signals from and to the batteries. Thus, a variety of data arrays can be collected in various embodiments, while maintaining a normal level of battery management.

Other embodiments may also be apparent to those skilled in the art from studying the foregoing description and drawings of some exemplary embodiments. It should be borne in mind that numerous variations, modifications and additional embodiments are possible and, accordingly, all such variations, modifications and additional embodiments should be considered as being included in the essence and scope of the present application.

Claims (19)

1. A method for monitoring a power supply system, comprising: receiving a gate signal packet from a component of a power supply system, the received packet comprising a plurality of bits that correspond to the status of one or more devices in the component, the packet also including one or more bits, which contain a subset of the stored data that was extracted from the component’s memory, repeating the reception until a lot of packets of the gating signal are received, and a lot of gating packets its signal containing the stored data and the layout data subsets point in the stored data. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, before receiving, delivering a packet of a gating signal to a component, the delivered packet including a plurality of bits that control the operation of one or more devices in the component, the packet including one or more bits that comprise a subset of commands for querying a data point. 3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising
repeating delivery until a plurality of gating signal packets have been delivered, the plurality of gating signal packets together comprising a command, and arranging subsets of the command into a command. 4. The method according to claim 1, in which the stored data contains fault data. 5. The method according to claim 4, in which the fault data contains a fault code. 6. The method according to claim 5, in which the fault data further comprises a time code or device identifier. 7. The method according to claim 4, in which the stored data contains waveform information. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the waveform information comprises current data, temperature data, voltage data, or phase data. 9. The method according to claim 1, in which one or more bits that contain a subset of the stored data are bits of the packet mode of the gate signal. 10. The method according to claim 1, additionally containing the use of the stored stored data to determine the diagnosis of component failure. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the packets also include a plurality of bits corresponding to data that are predictive of component failure, the method also comprising delivering a control command to a battery based on predictive data. 12. A method for controlling a battery, comprising receiving a gate signal packet from the battery, the received packet including a plurality of bits that correspond to the status of one or more devices in the battery, and the packet also including one or more bits that contain a subset stored data that was extracted from the battery; repeating reception until a plurality of gating signal packets have been received, the plurality of received gating signal packets together containing stored data; and compiling subsets of the data point into stored data. 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising prior to administration
delivering a gate signal packet to the battery, the packet delivered including a plurality of bits that control the operation of one or more devices in the battery, the packet including one or more bits that contain a subset of the command to query the data point; repeating delivery until a plurality of gating signal packets have been delivered, the plurality of gating signal packets together comprising a command; and linking team subsets to team. 14. The method according to item 12, in which the stored data contains a fault code and one or both of a time code or device identifier. 15. The method of claim 12, wherein the stored data comprises current data, temperature data, voltage data, or phase data. 16. The method according to item 12, further comprising using the stored stored data to determine a diagnosis of a battery failure. 17. A method for controlling a battery, comprising delivering a gate signal packet to the battery, the packet delivered including a plurality of bits that control the operation of one or more devices in the battery, and the packet including one or more bits that comprise a subset Commands for querying a data point repeating delivery until a plurality of gating signal packets are delivered, the plurality of gating signal packets together comprising a command; building subsets of a team into a team; receiving a gate signal packet from the battery in response to a command, the received packet containing a plurality of bits that correspond to the status of one or more devices in the battery, the packet may also include one or more bits that contain a subset of the stored data that were removed from the battery; repeating reception until a plurality of gating signal packets have been received, the plurality of received gating signal packets together containing stored data; and compiling the subsets of the stored data into the stored data. 18. The method according to 17, in which the stored stored data contains a fault code or waveform data. 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising using the stored stored data to determine a diagnosis of a battery failure.

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