Power supplying apparatus and power supplying method
View Patent ↗A power supply operable from a plurality of alternating current inputs had having protection from abnormal operation. The power supply includes a switchable rectifier and a voltage to voltage converter. Protection circuits switch off at least one of the rectifier and the converter if the rectified voltage exceeds a predetermined voltage value and/or a current through the converter exceeds a predetermined current value. The protection circuits include latch circuits to prevent cyclic operation.
1. A power supplying apparatus comprising:
a rectifying part rectifying an input alternating current to output a direct current;
a smoothing part connectable with the rectifying part in a plurality of current paths for smoothing a voltage of the direct current input from the rectifying part through each of the current paths;
a voltage selecting part selecting a magnitude of the smoothed voltage by controlling at least one of the plurality of current paths; and
a smoothing protection part estimating the magnitude of the smoothed voltage and suspending the direct current output from the rectifying part if the estimated magnitude of the smoothed voltage is more than a predetermined voltage value.
2. The power supplying apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the smoothing protection part comprises a first operation maintaining part which maintains an operation of suspending the output direct current.
3. The power supplying apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a transforming part converting the magnitude of the smoothed voltage to output another voltage;
a switching part determining the magnitude of the another voltage by controlling a flow of a current input to the transforming part; and
a switching protection part estimating a magnitude of the current flowing in the switching part and suspending an operation of the switching part if the estimated magnitude of the current flowing through the switching part is more than a predetermined current value.
4. The power supplying apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the switching protection part comprises an operation maintaining part maintaining the suspending of the switching part.
5. The power supplying apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the switching protection part suspends the direct current output from the rectifying part if the estimated magnitude of the current flowing through the switching part is more than the predetermined current value.
6. The power supplying apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the smoothing protection part suspends the operation of the switching part if the estimated magnitude of the smoothed voltage more than the predetermined voltage value.
7. A power supplying apparatus, comprising:
a rectifying part rectifying an input alternating current to output a direct current;
a smoothing part connectable with the rectifying part in a plurality of current paths and smoothing a voltage of the direct current;
a voltage selecting part selecting a magnitude of the smoothed voltage by controlling at least one of the plurality of current paths;
a transforming part converting the magnitude of the smoothed voltage to output another voltage;
a switching part determining the magnitude of the another voltage by controlling a flow of a current input to the transforming part; and
a switching protection part estimating a magnitude of the current flowing in the switching part and suspending an operation of the switching part if the estimated magnitude of the current is more than a predetermined value.
8. The power supplying apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the switching protection part comprises an operation maintaining part which maintains the suspending of the switching part.
9. A method of operating a power supplying apparatus comprising a rectifying part rectifying an input alternating current to output a direct current; a smoothing part connectable with the rectifying part in a plurality of current paths smoothing a voltage of the direct current inputted from the rectifying part; and a voltage selecting part selecting a magnitude of the smoothed voltage by controlling at least one of the plurality of current paths, the method comprising:
estimating the magnitude of the smoothed voltage; and
suspending the direct current output from the rectifying part if the estimated magnitude of the smoothed voltage is more than a predetermined voltage value.
10. The power supplying method of claim 9 , wherein the suspending of the output direct current comprises maintaining the suspending the output direct current.
11. The power supplying method of claim 9 , wherein the power supplying apparatus further comprises a transforming part converting the magnitude of the smoothed voltage to another voltage; a switching part determining the magnitude of the another voltage by controlling a flow of a current input to the transforming part, the power supplying method further comprising:
estimating a magnitude of the current flowing in the switching part; and
suspending an operation of the switching part if the estimated magnitude is more than a predetermined current value.
12. The power supplying method of claim 11 , wherein the suspending of the operation of the switching part comprises maintaining the suspending of the operation of the switching part.
13. The power supplying method of claim 11 , further comprising suspending the direct current output from the rectifying part if the magnitude of the current flowing in the switching part is more than the predetermined current value.
14. The power supplying method of claim 11 , further comprising suspending the operation of the switching part if the magnitude of the smoothed voltage is more than the predetermined voltage value.
15. A method of operating a power supplying apparatus including a rectifying part rectifying an input alternating current to output a direct current; a smoothing part connectable with the rectifying part in a plurality of current paths smoothing a voltage of the direct current; a voltage selecting part selecting a magnitude of the smoothed voltage by controlling at least one of the plurality of current paths; a transforming part converting the magnitude of the smoothed voltage to output another voltage; and a switching part determining a magnitude of the another voltage by controlling a flow of current input to the transforming part, the method comprising:
estimating a magnitude of the current flowing in the switching part; and
suspending an operation of the switching part if the estimated magnitude of the current flowing through the switching part is more than a predetermined value.
16. The power supplying method of claim 15 , wherein the suspending of the operation of the switching part comprises maintaining the suspending the switching part.
17. A power supply apparatus, comprising:
a first voltage converter selectively operable from a plurality of input alternating current voltages and outputting a first direct current voltage;
a second voltage converter converting the first direct current voltage to a second direct current voltage; and
a protection circuit switching off the first voltage converter, if a current through the second voltage converter exceeds a predetermined current, and switching off the second voltage converter, if the first direct current voltage exceeds a predetermined voltage.
18. The power supply apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the protection circuit includes a latch maintaining the first voltage converter switched off.
19. The power supply apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the protection circuit includes a latch maintaining the second voltage converter switched off.
20. The power supply apparatus of claim 17 , wherein:
the first voltage converter comprises a plurality of SCRs which rectify the input alternating current voltage; and
the protection circuit outputs a control signal to turn off the SCRs if the first direct current voltage exceeds the predetermined voltage value and/or the current through the second voltage converter exceeds the predetermined current value.
21. The power supply apparatus of claim 17 , wherein:
the second voltage converter comprises a switch to switch the current through the second voltage converter to output the second direct current voltage; and
the protection circuit outputs a control signal to disable the switching of the switch if the first direct current voltage exceeds the predetermined voltage value and/or the current through the second voltage converter exceeds the predetermined current value.
22. The power supply apparatus of claim 17 , wherein:
the first voltage converter comprises a plurality of SCRs which rectify the input alternating current voltage;
the second voltage converter comprises a switch to switch the current through the second voltage converter to output the second direct current voltage; and
the protection circuit outputs a first control signal to turn off the SCRs if the first direct current voltage exceeds the predetermined voltage value and/or the current through the second voltage converter exceeds the predetermined current value and outputs a second control signal to disable the switching of the switch if the first direct current voltage exceeds the predetermined voltage value and/or the current through the second voltage converter exceeds the predetermined current value.