Power controller for aircraft receptacles
A system for allocating power includes a plurality of receptacles and a power delivery controller communicatively coupled to the plurality of receptacles. The power delivery controller is to: detect a new connection to a first receptacle of the plurality of receptacles; receive a request from the first receptacle which would exceed an amount of uncommitted available power; request a device attached to a second receptacle of the plurality of receptacles reduce an amount of power being received from the second receptacle; and in response to detecting a reduction of power to the second receptacle, provide power to the first receptacle as indicated in the request.
1. A system for allocating power, the system comprising:
a plurality of receptacles in a power control zone; and
a power delivery controller in communication with each of the plurality of receptacles, wherein the power delivery controller, in response to detecting a connection to a first receptacle in the plurality of receptacles:
determines which power profiles may be provided to the first receptacle provides power profiles to the first receptacle;
receives an election of a power profile from the first receptacle which would exceed an amount of uncommitted available power;
reduces a power profile of a second receptacle of the plurality of receptacles from a charging power profile wherein device charging is provided to a non-charging power profile wherein charging of a device is stopped;
prevent a subset of the plurality of receptacles from receiving a load shed request, wherein the subset of the plurality of receptacles are those receptacles in a non-charging power profile; and
provides power to the first receptacle according to an elected power profile.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the signaled power profiles are further limited by a type of device connected to the first receptacle and identified by the controller.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first receptacle is a Universal Serial Bus-Type C (USB-C) receptacle with only four electrical connections consisting of: power, ground, and two communications lines.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the power control zone covers receptacles on a row of seats on an airplane.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller identifies a third receptacle having a longest session among the plurality of receptacles and provides the load shed request to the third receptacle.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the load shed reduces the power profile to the third receptacle to a non-zero power profile.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the power profiles provided to the first receptacle are determined based on a power control zone of the first receptacle.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the power delivery controller is further to provide a new set of profiles after a load is removed from the first receptacle.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein providing the power profiles comprises parsing a list of power profiles based on a maximum amount of power provided by each power profile.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the power delivery controller is further to:
detect a new connection to the first receptacle of the plurality of receptacles; and
request a device attached to the second receptacle of the plurality of receptacles reduce an amount of power being received from the second receptacle.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of receptacles are connected to a plurality of devices and the power delivery controller is to further negotiate additional power.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein when the power delivery controller receives a request from a third receptacle of the plurality of receptacles which does not exceed the uncommitted available power, the controller provides the requested amount of power to the third receptacle without modifying the power provided to any other receptacle of the plurality of the receptacles.
13. The system of claim 10 , wherein a request from the first receptacle comprises configuration data about a device connected to the first receptacle.
14. The system of claim 1 for allocating power in the power control zone on an airplane, wherein the power delivery controller is to:
receive a signal from the first receptacle indicating a new connection has been made to the first receptacle;
provide a list of available power profiles to the connection;
determine an available power to the power control zone, wherein the power control zone comprises the plurality of receptacles including the first receptacle;
provide a load shed request to a third receptacle of the plurality of receptacles;
reduce a power profile provided to the third receptacle and commence a timer; and
upon expiration of the timer, connect the third receptacle at its previous, higher power profile.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the third receptacle is a receptacle with a greatest load among the plurality of receptacles.
16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the power delivery controller rotates which receptacle among the plurality of receptacles is provided with less than an originally requested amount of power at regular intervals.
17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first receptacle accepts a Universal Serial Bus Type-C (USB-C) plug.
18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first receptacle accepts a Universal Serial Bus Type-C (USB-C) plug and has electrical connections consisting of:
a power supply line;
a ground line; and
two communication lines.