TWI696069B - Wide-range power measurement device for PCIe equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a large-scale power measurement device for PCIe equipment. The device includes a micro control unit, a measurement current unit, a switcher unit and two sets of PCIe bus connection ports as a source end and an output end. The device can be connected to a test host and a device under test by using the PCIe bus ports on the source end and the output end respectively, so as to measure the power of the PCIe device under test in different power states, especially in the power saving mode Measure the large range of ultra-low current and high current in performance mode to ensure the correctness of the PCIe device.

Description

Wide-range power measurement device for PCIe equipment

The present invention belongs to a technical field of power measurement, and specifically refers to a large-scale power measurement device for PCIe devices, whereby ultra-small current in power saving mode and large range of large current in performance mode can be used Take measurements within.

Electronic products consume power. The lower the power consumption, the longer it will be used. Therefore, many power-saving specifications have been successively produced, such as active-state power management (ASPM) for peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe). If you don't send data, enter the power saving mode to save power to increase the use time. For example, a non-volatile memory express (NVMe) is an optimized and efficient scalable host controller interface. The concept of NVMe is to provide a transmission circuit directly connected to the processor through the PCIe bus. Its biggest advantage is to provide ultra-low latency and high-frequency access. NVMe also has automatic power management state switching and dynamic energy management functions. For example, the device switches from PowerState 0 to PowerState 1 after being idle for 50 ms. Continue to idle, after 500ms, enter PowerState 2 (lower power consumption). There will be a short delay when switching. Therefore, NVMe has a greater advantage in power management, which is especially important for mobile devices, which can significantly increase battery life.

All electronic products have input voltage specifications, and the correct operation can only be guaranteed within the specified input voltage range. So take PCIe's NVMe device as an example, The power supply specification for this device is +3.3V with a voltage range of ±9%. Therefore, the highest voltage cannot exceed 3.597V, and the lowest voltage cannot be lower than 3.003V. If it exceeds this range, there may be abnormal phenomena. At the same time, the PCIe power specification defines a maximum operating current of 3A, and the lowest power saving mode of PCIe NVMe devices can reach several uW, corresponding to uA. Therefore, it is necessary to effectively measure the power consumption of PCIe NVMe devices in different state specifications, especially in a large range (super small current in power saving mode and large current in operating mode), so that it can be accurately verified in the design PCIe NVMe devices consume power in high-performance power states or power-saving modes to ensure the correctness of their work.

There are two common measurement techniques. One is the measurement method of series voltage drop. The current will cause a voltage drop across all resistors in the entire circuit. Then, the voltage value of the resistor of the device under test (DUT) is measured. Then, an analog to digital converter (ADC) is used to convert the analog voltage value into a digital signal, which is transmitted to the host interface and presented. The disadvantage is that the measurement range and accuracy cannot be balanced, because a micro-resistor is connected in series on the line during measurement. If the resistance is too large or the current is too large, the resulting voltage drop will be greater, making the voltage of the resistor of the object under test too low Exceeding the specifications leads to abnormal operation of the DUT. For example, with a resistor of 1Ω and a current range of about 1A, the voltage source DUT will be reduced by at most 1V during measurement. If the voltage of the power supply is 3.3V, the voltage entering the DUT due to measurement will become 3.3V-1V=2.3V, which is less than 3.003V in terms of PCIe power standards. That is, the voltage of the test object is less than the specified operating voltage. For example, with a resistor of 0.1 Ω and a current range of about 10 mA, the measurement voltage falls to 1 mV. A small measurement voltage will make the ADC unable to measure changes due to the range of the ADC scale during sampling.

The second is the linear current sensor using Hall effect. When the current passes through the carrier, a corresponding magnetic field is generated. The change of the magnetic field is reversed back to a tiny voltage to show the magnitude of the passing current, and converted into a quantifiable linear value, such as table. But the general current specifications are very large and the resolution is low, which belongs to the measurement of large current. The magnetic field can only be measured after a large change, so the common specifications fall between 180 and 50mV/A, which means that about 1A of current will produce about 50 to 180mV. If the 1mA level must be measured, the measurement voltage must be 0.05 to 0.18mV. The change of the scale is very small, so the general Hall sensor products are used for the measurement of large current and low resolution. It is very difficult to measure the mA level.

In other words, the existing technology cannot perform a wide range (including ultra-small current in power-saving mode and large current in high-efficiency mode), especially measuring power consumption of PCIe NVMe devices in different state specifications. How to solve the aforementioned problems is an important issue in the industry and is also discussed by the present invention.

In view of this, the present invention is based on the above needs and problems, and through the inventors’ years of experience in relevant development, they actively seek solutions. After continuous research and development, a large-scale power measurement device for PCIe devices has been successfully developed, which can effectively solve the inconvenience and trouble caused by the current inability to measure a large range of current.

Therefore, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a wide-range power measurement device for PCIe devices, which can measure a large range of currents and measure small currents to meet the requirements of the design. State or power consumption in power saving mode.

In addition, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a wide-range power measurement device for PCIe devices, in particular, a large range of ultra-small current in power saving mode and large current in performance mode can be measured to ensure The correctness of the work of the PCIe device.

To this end, the present invention is mainly achieved through the following technical means To achieve the above items and performance, the device is used by a test host to measure the power of a PCIe device under test in different power states, which includes; as two sets of PCIe bus ports at the source and output; A micro-control unit, which forms an electrical and signal connection with the PCIe bus port as the source end, for selective connection to the test host, for receiving and replying to commands sent by the test host; a current measuring unit, which is used as The PCIe bus connection port at the output end forms an electrical and signal connection for the test equipment to be selectively connected, and the measurement current unit can be connected to the micro control unit, and one of the measurement current units is connected to the micro control unit. Current measurement loop and a small current measurement loop, so that the current measurement unit can be measured by different circuits according to the instructions of the microcontroller; and a switch unit, which is connected to the PCIe of the source end of the test host The bus connection port is connected. The switch unit has a first switching element corresponding to a large current measurement circuit and a second switching element corresponding to a small current measurement circuit. The two switching elements can switch between short circuit and open circuit for powering off or powering on the device under test.

Therefore, through the specific implementation of the foregoing technical means, the present invention can be connected to the test host and the device under test through the PCIe bus ports of the source end and the output end, respectively, for the micro control unit to execute instructions, and because the current measurement unit has Large and small current measurement loops, so that the device can import corresponding sampling large and small currents, and accept the host command of the test host, to switch different circuits according to the expected measured current size, and accept the command to the The device under test is powered on and off to measure the power of the PCIe device under test in different power states, especially in the large range of ultra-small current in power saving mode and large current in performance mode to Ensure the correctness of the work of the PCIe device, but can increase its Added value, and can improve its economic efficiency.

In order to enable your review committee to further understand the structure, features and other purposes of the present invention, the following are some preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the detailed description in conjunction with the drawings as follows, for those familiar with the technical field to be able to implement .

10‧‧‧ installation

11‧‧‧Micro Control Unit

12‧‧‧Timer

121‧‧‧ Analog digital conversion element

122‧‧‧Memory element

13‧‧‧Power Module

14‧‧‧ Indicator group

15‧‧‧Measure current unit

151‧‧‧High current measurement circuit

152‧‧‧Small current measurement circuit

16‧‧‧Switch unit

161‧‧‧ First switching element

162‧‧‧Second switching element

18‧‧‧PCIe bus port

19‧‧‧PCIe bus port

20‧‧‧Test host

21‧‧‧System management bus

50‧‧‧ Equipment to be tested

The first figure is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a large-scale power measurement device for PCIe devices of the present invention, to illustrate its main configuration state.

The second figure is the reference table of the link state and power specifications of the present invention for different power states of NVMe devices.

The third figure is a diagram showing the acceptable current range of two or more loops used in an NVMe device according to the present invention.

The fourth figure is a schematic diagram of the operation of the large-scale power measurement device for PCIe devices of the present invention during actual operation, for explaining the state of measuring a large current.

Fig. 5 is another schematic diagram of the operation of the large-scale power measurement device for PCIe devices of the present invention during actual operation, for illustrating the state of measuring a small current.

Referring to the first figure, a wide-range power measurement device 10 for PCIe devices of the present invention includes a micro controller unit (MCU) 11, a power measurement unit (PMU) 15, and a switch Switch unit 16 and two sets of PCIe bus ports 18 and 19 as source and output. Device 10 can use PCIe bus at source and output Ports 18 and 19 are respectively connected to a test host 20 and a device under test 50 for measuring the power of the PCIe device under test 50 in different power states (Powe State), for example, a PCIe NVMe device can be measured in a wide range (Including ultra-small current in power saving mode and large current in performance mode) to make measurements to ensure the correct operation of the PCIe NVMe device.

The micro control unit 11 forms an electrical and signal connection with the test host 20 through the PCIe bus port 18 as the source end, and is used to receive and reply to the commands sent by the test host 20 to complete the execution of various commands, including but not limited to switching different Measuring current loop, power consumption measurement and calculation. The micro control unit 11 can further record the initial value and average it as compensation when the device 10 is not connected to the device under test 50, and perform level correction of the initial analog digital conversion. According to some embodiments, the micro control unit 11 has a watch dog timer (WDT) 12, an analog to digital converter (ACD) 121, and a memory device (MCU-flash) 122 for the use of the timer device 12 Continuously calculate and average the value of the current analog digital conversion element 121, and store the initial value as compensation in the memory device (MCU-flash) 122 without waiting for the measurement time of analog digital conversion. According to other embodiments, the micro control unit 11 has a power module 13 to provide power required by the micro control unit 11. According to other embodiments, the micro control unit 11 is electrically connected to an indicator light group 14 for displaying the power-on and power-off status indications of the power supply of the device under test 50 in different measurement modes.

The measuring current unit 15 can be connected to the micro control unit 11 for executing the instructions of the micro control unit 11. The current measuring unit 15 is connected to the PCIe bus port 19 as the output terminal in the device 10 for the device under test 50 to be selectively connected to perform current power consumption sampling and measurement. The measurement current unit 15 has a large current measurement loop (LCP) 151 and a small current measurement loop (SCP) 152 connected to the micro control unit 11. Measuring current unit 15 The large and small current measurement circuits 151 and 152 are connected to the PCIe bus port 18 connected to the source end of the test host 20 through a switch unit 16. The switch unit 16 has a first switching element 161 corresponding to the large current measuring circuit 151 and a second switching element 162 corresponding to the small current measuring circuit 152, respectively for introducing corresponding sampling high and small currents for receiving the test host The host command of 20 switches different circuits in accordance with the expected current measurement. The first and second switching elements 161 and 162 receive commands and switch between closed and open circuits to power off and power on the device under test 50.

In this way, the device 10 can use the PCIe bus ports 18 and 19 of the source end and the output end to connect the test host 20 and the device under test 50 respectively to measure the power of the PCIe device under test 50 in different power states A large-scale power measurement device for PCIe equipment.

Regarding the actual operation of the present invention, please still refer to the first figure. The device 10 can be used to measure a device under test 50 such as a PCIe NVMe device. The second figure shows the reference table of the link status and power specifications of the NVMe device in different power states. According to paragraph [0003], the current range of the PCIe and NVMe devices can be from 3A to several uA. As shown in the second and third figures, the measurement sampling current of the large current measurement circuit 151 in the measurement current unit 15 of the device 10 is set to 3A to 10mA by default, and the measurement of the small current measurement circuit 152 The sampling current is set from 100mA to 10uA.

In this way, in actual measurement, the NVMe device as the PCIe of the device under test 50 is connected to the PCIe bus port 18 at the output end of the device 10. The source PCIe bus port 19 in the device 10 is connected to the test host 20 for the test host 20 to provide power and PCIe communication signals to the device 10. The test host 20 has a micro control unit 11 connectable to the device 10 to provide corresponding commands to the system management bus 21 (SM bus).

Afterwards, the test host 20 provides power to the device under test 50 via the device 10 according to different operating modes of the NVMe device as the PCIe of the device under test 50, such as a power saving mode, an operating mode, an idle mode or a high performance mode. The first and second switching elements 161 and 162 of the switch unit 16 of the measuring current unit 15 are controlled by the micro control unit 11 of the current passing device 10 according to the expected current to switch the short circuit or the open circuit according to the received command. In this way, the device under test 50 is powered on according to different operation modes, and the micro-control unit 11 measures the large current measurement circuit 151 or the small current measurement circuit 152 in the current measurement unit 15 according to the expected measurement instruction Perform the expected switching, and perform the current power consumption sampling measurement corresponding to the large and small current measurement loops 151, 152, and after the power control measurement and calculation of the micro control unit 11, transmit the obtained measurement value to the test host 20 .

Therefore, as shown in the second and third figures, according to the PCIe NVMe device specification, the current range can be from 3A to several uA. After calculation, the measurement current unit 15 of the device 10 selects the realized resistances as 0.05Ω and 3Ω.

When the resistance is 0.05Ω, the maximum current is 3A, and the current loop has a loss of 0.15V at 0.05Ω. Taking the 3.3V specification as an example, after deducting the voltage drop, it will reach 3.15V, which still meets the specification (3.003V). If an amplifier of x20 times is used, the measuring range of the large current measuring circuit 151 of the measuring current unit 15 is 3A to 10mA.

When the resistance is 3Ω, the minimum current is 30uA, and about 90uV can be generated in the current loop of 3Ω. With an x20-fold amplifier, the measurement range is 100mA to 10uA.

As described above, the device 10 of the present invention is connected to the test host 20 and the device under test 50 through the PCIe bus ports 18 and 19 of the source end and the output end, respectively, and uses the micro control unit 11 to execute commands. The measuring current unit 15 has a large current measuring circuit 151 and a small current measuring circuit 152, so that the device 10 can respectively import corresponding large and small current samples and accept host commands from the test host 20 to follow the expectations The magnitude of the measured current is switched to different circuits, and an instruction is received to power on the device to be tested 50 for measuring the power of the device to be tested 50 in different power states. The present invention is characterized by breaking through a wide range of current measurement, in particular, it can use more than two current measurement loops for power sampling to increase the measurable range, even in ultra-small current and performance modes in power saving mode The large current is measured in a large range to ensure the correct operation of the PCIe device.

The design that the switch unit 16 can receive commands from the micro control unit 11 can be used to programmatically power off and power on the power of the PCIe device under test 50.

Using the micro-control unit 11 to quickly sample analog digital conversion to average, improve the accuracy of current measurement, and can perform initial correction, and store the correction value in the memory element 122 of the micro-control unit 11, can reduce the error of the current measurement calculation.

The micro control unit 11 of the device 10 uses the timing element 12 and the analog-to-digital conversion element 121 to continuously calculate the analog-to-digital conversion value, so that the test host 20 can read the current value at any time and increase the current measurement speed, so it can greatly improve its practicality.

In summary, it can be understood that the present invention has excellent creativity, in addition to effectively solving the problems of the learners, greatly improving the efficiency, and in the same technical field, there is no same or similar product creation or public use, so this The invention has met the requirements for "novelty" and "progressiveness" of the invention patent, and an application for an invention patent is filed according to law.

10‧‧‧ installation

11‧‧‧Micro Control Unit

12‧‧‧Timer

121‧‧‧ Analog digital conversion element

122‧‧‧Memory element

13‧‧‧Power Module

14‧‧‧ Indicator group

15‧‧‧Measure current unit

151‧‧‧High current measurement circuit

152‧‧‧Small current measurement circuit

16‧‧‧Switch unit

161‧‧‧ First switching element

162‧‧‧Second switching element

18‧‧‧PCIe bus port

19‧‧‧PCIe bus port

20‧‧‧Test host

21‧‧‧System management bus

50‧‧‧ Equipment to be tested

Claims (5)

A large-scale power measurement device for PCIe equipment, connected to a test host, which can measure the power of a PCIe device under test in different power states, and includes; two sets of PCIe bus connection ports, which are used as a source end and an output end, respectively; A micro control unit, which is connected to the PCIe bus port as the source to form an electrical and signal connection for selectively connecting the test host, for receiving and replying to commands sent by the test host; a current measuring unit, and as an output The PCIe bus connection port at the end forms an electrical and signal connection for the test equipment to be selectively connected, and the measurement current unit can be connected to the micro control unit, and the measurement current unit has a large current connected to the micro control unit Measurement circuit and a small current measurement circuit, so that the measurement current unit can be used for current sampling measurement from different circuits according to the microcontroller instructions; and a switch unit, which is connected to the PCIe source connected to the source end of the test host The port is connected. The switch unit has a first switching element corresponding to a large current measurement loop and a second switching element corresponding to a small current measurement loop. It is used to accept the test host command to make the first and second of the switch unit The switching element can switch between short circuit and open circuit for powering off or powering on the device under test. As described in item 1 of the patent application scope, a large-scale power measurement device for a PCIe device, wherein the PCIe device may be an NVMe device. A large-scale power measurement device for PCIe devices as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, in which the micro control unit of the device has a timing element and an analog The bit conversion element and a memory element are used by the timing element to continuously calculate and average the value of the current analog digit conversion element, and store it in the address of the fixed memory element, and the current value can be read at any time. A large-scale power measurement device for PCIe devices as described in item 1 of the patent scope, wherein the micro-control unit of the device has a power module to provide power required by the micro-control unit. A large-scale power measurement device for PCIe devices as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the micro-control unit of the device is electrically connected to an indicator light group for displaying the power of the device under test in different measurement modes 3. Power-off status.

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