Systems, apparatuses, and methods for voltage safety detection and voltage overshoot management
A high voltage pulse power delivery system is provided that includes dedicated safety features including fault detection and fault management. Alongside normal communications cabling, the pulse power delivery system provides remote power over standard multi-conductor cabling without dedicated conduit or separation. This simplifies installation of equipment, increases overall speed of deployment, and significantly reduces cost for deployment. The pulse power delivery system is further configured to transport power through a pulse current waveform.
1 . A pulser device included in a fault managed power delivery system, the pulser device comprising:
a discharger circuit configured to:
generate a pulse power signal by pulsing a high voltage DC power according to a periodic scheme that includes an ON-TIME and an OFF-TIME; and
transmit the pulse power signal on a transmission line coupled to a voltage converter device; and
a redundant switch circuit including a first switch and a second switch, the redundant switch circuit configured to:
monitor a voltage on the transmission line, and cut off the pulse power signal transmitting over the transmission line when a fault condition is detected based on the monitored voltage, wherein the monitored voltage is a known voltage of the transmission line during the OFF-TIME when no fault conditions are present.
2 . The pulser device of claim 1 , wherein the discharger circuit includes a discrete power switch, a current limiting impedance, and a reference voltage circuit configured to determine a voltage threshold.
3 . The pulser device of claim 2 , wherein the reference voltage circuit is a Zener diode or a voltage window comparator.
4 . The pulser device of claim 1 , wherein the detected fault condition corresponds to a Touch or Cable Short fault condition when the monitored voltage drops below a predetermined voltage threshold during an OFF-TIME.
5 . The pulser device of claim 1 , wherein the detected fault condition corresponds to a Load Disconnection fault condition when the monitored voltage rises above a predetermined voltage threshold during an OFF-TIME.
6 . The pulser device of claim 1 , wherein the detected fault condition corresponds to a ON-Sense fault condition when the monitored voltage detects a voltage not caused by the fault managed power delivery system being active during an ON status during an OFF-TIME.
7 . The pulser device of claim 1 , wherein the detected fault condition corresponds to an Undervoltage fault condition when the monitored voltage drops below a predetermined voltage threshold during an ON-TIME.
8 . The pulser device of claim 1 , wherein the detected fault condition corresponds to an Overvoltage fault condition when the monitored voltage rises above a predetermined voltage threshold during an ON-TIME.
9 . The pulser device of claim 1 , wherein the discharger circuit is configured to discharge the pulse power signal during the ON-TIME for a short period of time lasting approximately 2 ms.
10 . The pulser device of claim 1 , wherein the discharger circuit is configured to discharge the pulse power signal during the ON-TIME for a short period of time determined by an attribute of the transmission line.
11 . The pulser device of claim 1 , wherein the discharger circuit is further configured to:
insert a first smoothing portion to a rising edge of a pulse included in the pulse power signal.
12 . The pulser device of claim 11 , wherein the discharger circuit is further configured to:
insert a second smoothing portion to a falling edge of the pulse included in the pulse power signal.
13 . The pulser device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a redundant clock skew detection circuit configured to:
monitor a timing length of pulses in the pulse power signal on the transmission line; and
determine a Timing Skew fault condition when the measured ON-TIME period is longer than a predetermined ON-TIME threshold value, or when the measured period combining the sequential ON-TIME and the OFF-TIME is longer than a predetermined reference period threshold.
14 . A power converter device included in a fault managed power delivery system, the power converter device comprising:
a load detection circuit comprising:
a transmission line interface coupled to a transmission line configured to transmit a pulse power signal including pulses defined by an ON-TIME period and an OFF-TIME period, the transmission line interface configured to receive a low power signal provided by a pulser device via a transmission line during the OFF-TIME period;
a current sink configured to draw a limited current from the low power signal transmitted via the transmission line during the OFF-TIME period; and
a voltage window comparator configured to control the current sink into an enabled or disabled state based on a load detection result to maintain a safe extra low voltage (SELV).
15 . The power converter of claim 14 , wherein the load detection circuit is configured to:
detect a line voltage on the transmission line; and
control the voltage window comparator to enable the current sink to maintain the SELV when the line voltage is detected to be above a High threshold volage amount.
16 . The power converter of claim 15 , wherein the High threshold volage amount is set to keep the current sink disabled during the ON-TIME period.
17 . The power converter of claim 14 , wherein the load detection circuit is configured to:
detect a line voltage on the transmission line; and
control the voltage window comparator to disable the current sink to maintain the SELV when the line voltage is detected to be below a Low threshold volage amount.
18 . The power converter of claim 14 , wherein the load detection circuit is configured to:
detect a line voltage on the transmission line; and
determine a Load Disconnection fault condition when the line voltage is detected to rise above a threshold reference voltage during the OFF-TIME period or during an initialization period of the fault managed power delivery system.
19 . The power converter of claim 14 , further comprising:
a reverse current blocking component configured to block a reverse voltage feed from a discharging capacitor during the OFF-TIME period.