Intelligent arbitration of power line based coordinating signals between multiple UPS buses without any auxiliary signals

1. A multiple uninterruptible power supply (“UPS”) system, comprising:

a. a plurality of UPS subsystems with a separate UPS data communications bus coupling a controller of each UPS subsystem to an associated controller of an associated tie cabinet;

b. a data communications tie bus that couples the controllers of the tie cabinets to each other;

c. wherein the controller of each tie cabinet monitors the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the data communications tie bus for qualified power line based coordinating signals and passes through a qualified power line based coordinating signal it first receives from either the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled or the data communications tie bus to the other of the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled or the data communications tie bus and does not pass a power line based coordinating signal from the other bus to the bus from which that controller first received the qualified power line based coordinating signal as long as that controller continues to receive qualified power line based coordinating signals from the bus from which that controller first received the qualified power line based coordinating signal; wherein when the controller of any tie cabinet that has been receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled detects that it is no longer receiving qualified power line coordinating signals from that UPS data communications bus, the controller of that tie cabinet ceases passing through the power line based coordinating signals from that UPS data communications bus to the data communications tie bus and starts monitoring that UPS data communications bus and the data communications tie bus for qualified power line based coordinating signals; and

each UPS data communications bus including a primary channel and a redundant channel and the data communications tie bus including a primary channel and a redundant channel wherein the controller for each tie cabinet monitors for faults the primary and redundant channels of the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the primary and redundant channels of the data communications tie bus and that controller determining that there is a fault on the primary channel of one of the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the data communications tie bus when that controller is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the primary channel of that bus and is receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the redundant channel of that bus, and that controller is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from either the primary channel or the redundant channel of the other bus and that controller determining that there is a fault on the redundant channel of one of the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the data communications tie bus when that controller is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the redundant channel of that bus and is receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the primary channel of that bus, and that controller is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from either the primary channel or the redundant channel of the other bus.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller of each tie cabinet is receiving power line based coordinating signals from either the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled or the data communications tie bus to be routed to the other bus; and

when the controller of any of the tie cabinets detects that there is no fault on either the primary or redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving power line based coordinating signals to be routed to the other bus, routing the power line based coordinating signals received on the primary channel of that bus to the primary channel of the other bus and routing the power line based coordinating signals received on the redundant channel of that bus to the redundant channel of the other bus;

when the controller of any of the tie cabinets bus detects a fault on the primary channel and not on the redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving power line based coordinating signals to be routed to the other bus, rerouting the received power line based coordinating signals by routing the power line based coordinating signals received on the redundant channel of that bus to both the primary channel and the redundant channel of the other bus; and

when the controller of any of the tie cabinets detects a fault on the redundant channel and not on the primary channel of the bus from which it is receiving power line based coordinating signals to be routed to the other bus, rerouting the power line based coordinating signals by routing the power line based coordinating signals received on the primary channel of that bus to both the primary channel and the redundant channel of the other bus.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein each UPS subsystem is a multi-module UPS subsystem having a plurality of UPS modules.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein when the controller of any of the tie cabinets detects a fault on either the primary channel or redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving power line based coordinating signals to be routed to the other bus, sets a fault detected bit for that channel after a delay and begins rerouting the received power line based coordinating signals after the fault detected bit is set.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the controller of any of the tie cabinets that has set a fault detected bit for either the primary or redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals, clears the fault detected bit when it starts receiving again qualified power line based coordinating signals on that channel and ceases rerouting the received qualified power line based coordinating signals.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the controller of any of the tie cabinets that has set a fault detected bit for either the primary or redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals, clears the fault detected bit if it is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals on the primary and redundant channels of both the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the primary and redundant channels of the data communications tie bus and monitoring the primary and redundant channels of both the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the primary and redundant channels of the data communications tie bus for qualified power line based coordinating signals.

7. In a multiple uninterruptible power supply (“UPS”) system having a plurality of UPS subsystems with a separate UPS data communications bus coupling a controller of each UPS subsystem to an associated controller of an associated tie cabinet and a data communications tie bus that couples the controllers of the tie cabinets to each other, a method of arbitrating power line based coordinating signals between the UPS data communications buses comprising monitoring with the controller of each tie cabinet the UPS data communications bus to which that controller is coupled and the data communications tie bus for qualified power line based coordinating signals and passing through with that controller a qualified power line based coordinating signal it first receives from either the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled or the data communications tie bus to the other of the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled or the data communications tie bus and not passing through with that controller a power line based coordinating signal from the other bus to the bus from which that controller first received the qualified power line based coordinating signal as long as that controller continues to receive qualified power line based coordinating signals from the bus from which that controller first received the qualified power line based coordinating signal;

when the controller of any tie cabinet that has been receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled detects that it is no longer receiving qualified power line coordinating signals from that UPS data communications bus, ceasing passing through with the controller of that tie cabinet the power line based coordinating signals from that UPS data communications bus to the data communications tie bus and starting monitoring with that controller that UPS data communications bus and the data communications tie bus for qualified power line based coordinating signals; and

each UPS data communications bus including a primary channel and a redundant channel and the data communications tie bus including a primary channel and a redundant channel, the method further including monitoring with the controller of each tie cabinet the primary and redundant channels of the UPS data communications bus to which the controller is coupled and the data communications tie bus for faults, determining with the controller of each tie cabinet that there is a fault on the primary channel of one of the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the data communications tie bus when that controller is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the primary channel of that bus and is receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the redundant channel of that bus, and that controller is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from either the primary channel or the redundant channel of the other bus, and determining with the controller of each tie cabinet that there is a fault on the redundant channel of one of the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the data communications tie bus when that controller is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the redundant channel of that bus and is receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from the primary channel of that bus, and that controller is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals from either the primary channel or the redundant channel of the other bus.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the controller of each tie cabinet is receiving power line based coordinating signals from either the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled or the data communications tie bus to be routed to the other bus; and

when the method including when the controller of any of the tie cabinets detects that there is no fault on either the primary or redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving power line based coordinating signals to be routed to the other bus, routing the power line based coordinating signals received on the primary channel of that bus to the primary channel of the other bus and routing the power line based coordinating signals received on the redundant channel of that bus to the redundant channel of the other bus;

when the controller of any of the tie cabinets bus detects a fault on the primary channel and not on the redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving power line based coordinating signals to be routed to the other bus, rerouting the received power line based coordinating signals by routing the power line based coordinating signals received on the redundant channel of that bus to both the primary channel and the redundant channel of the other bus; and

when the controller of any of the tie cabinets detects a fault on the redundant channel and not on the primary channel of the bus from which it is receiving power line based coordinating signals to be routed to the other bus, rerouting the power line based coordinating signals by routing the power line based coordinating signals received on the primary channel of that bus to both the primary channel and the redundant channel of the other bus.

9. The method of claim 8 including when the controller of any of the tie cabinets detects a fault on either the primary channel or redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving power line based coordinating signals to be routed to the other bus, setting with that controller a fault detected bit for that channel after a delay and then rerouting the received power line based coordinating signals after the fault detected bit is set.

10. The method of claim 9 including when the controller of any of the tie cabinets that has set a fault detected bit for either the primary or redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals starts receiving again qualified power line based coordinating signals on that channel, clearing the fault detected bit that was set and ceasing rerouting the received qualified power line based coordinating signals.

11. The method of claim 10 including when the controller of any of the tie cabinets that has set a fault detected bit for either the primary or redundant channel of the bus from which it is receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals is not receiving qualified power line based coordinating signals on the primary and redundant channels of both the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the primary and redundant channels of the data communications tie bus, clearing the fault detected bit that was set and monitoring with that controller the primary and redundant channels of both the UPS data communications bus to which it is coupled and the primary and redundant channels of the data communications tie bus for qualified power line based coordinating signals.