Granted Patent B2

US 12,638,818 · App. 18/220,112 · Granted May 26, 2026

Inventors: Stephen E. Denning (Silver Lake, OH); Christopher R. Dorr (University Heights, OH); Arun Kumar Shivaraman (Singapore, SG); Daniel E. Killian (Eastlake, OH)

Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.

G05B19/0423G05B13/025G05B19/4186

Abstract

Claims (52)

1 . A system, comprising:

a first power conditioner module (PCM) configured to provide a first power output, wherein the first PCM comprises:

a first plurality of input/output (IO) points configured to electrically couple to a plurality of terminals; and

a first communication component configured to receive a first set of data from the first plurality of IO points; and

a second power conditioner module (PCM) configured to provide a second power output, wherein the second PCM comprises:

a second plurality of input/output (IO) points configured to electrically couple to the plurality of terminals;

a second communication component configured to receive the first set of data from the first communication component using multipoint low voltage differential signaling (MLVDS); and

a control system configured to:

compare the first set of data received from the first communication component to a second set of data received from the second plurality of IO points of the second PCM;

send the second set of data to the first communication component of the first PCM via the second communication component, wherein the first PCM is configured to compare the first set of data to the second set of data; and

send an annunciation signal to a computing device, to the first communication component of the first PCM, or both in response to detecting a discrepancy between the first set of data and the second set of data, wherein the annunciation signal is configured to:

cause the computing device to present a notification indicative of an error at an IO point of the first plurality of IO points or the second plurality of IO points; and

adjust an electric switch to isolate a component corresponding to the IO point of the first plurality of IO points or the second plurality of IO points, wherein the component corresponds to the error.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein an additional control system of the first PCM is configured to compare the first set of data to the second set of data to detect whether the discrepancy exists between the first set of data and the second set of data.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the discrepancy corresponds to a mismatch in the first set of data and the second set of data.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the control system is configured to receive an additional notification of the discrepancy from the additional control system.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the each of the first plurality of IO points and the second plurality of IO points comprise general purpose input/output (GPIO) points.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first plurality of IO points and the second plurality of IO points comprises sixteen IO points.

7 . A method, comprising:

receiving, via a control system of a power conditioner module, input channel data, wherein the control system receives the input channel data via a communication component that receives the input channel data from a first plurality of input/output (IO) points of the power conditioner module;

sending, via the control system, the input channel data to an additional control system of a redundant power conditioner module, wherein the power conditioner module sends the input channel data to the additional control system via the communication component using multipoint low voltage differential signaling (MLVDS), and wherein the power conditioner module and the redundant power conditioner module are configured to provide power to one or more load devices;

receiving, via the control system, a discrepancy notification from the additional control system in response to the additional control system detecting a discrepancy in the input channel data based on additional input channel data received by the additional control system; and

sending, via the control system, an annunciation signal to a computing device, to the additional control system, or both in response to receiving the discrepancy notification, wherein the annunciation signal is configured to:

cause the computing device to present a notification indicative of an error at an IO point of the first plurality of IO points; and

adjust an electric switch to isolate a component corresponding to the IO point of the first plurality of IO points, wherein, wherein the component corresponds to the error.

8 . The method of claim 7 , comprising:

receiving, via the control system, the additional input channel data;

comparing, via the control system, the input channel data to the additional input channel data;

detecting, via the control system, an additional discrepancy between the input channel data and the additional input channel data; and

sending, via the control system, the annunciation signal to the computing device based on detecting the additional discrepancy.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the additional channel input data by the additional control system is received within a threshold amount of time as the input channel data is received by the control system.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the notification comprises an audio or a visual notification.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the annunciation signal comprises a wireless signal sent to an application executing on the computing device.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the discrepancy notification comprises a bit indicating the discrepancy.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system, is configured to cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving input channel data via a communication component corresponding to a plurality of input/output (IO) data points;

sending the input channel data via the communication component using low voltage differential signaling (MLVDS) to an additional processing system of a power conditioner module, wherein the power conditioner module is configured to provide power to one or more load devices;

receiving a discrepancy notification from the additional processing system in response to the additional processing system detecting a discrepancy in the input channel data based on additional input channel data received by the additional processing system, wherein the additional input channel data corresponds to the plurality of IO data points; and

sending an annunciation signal to a computing device, to the additional processing system, or both in response to receiving the discrepancy notification, wherein the annunciation signal is configured to:

cause the computing device to present a notification indicative of an error at an IO data point of the plurality of IO data points; and

adjust an electric switch to isolate a component corresponding to the IO data point of the plurality of IO data points, wherein the component corresponds to the error.

14 . The computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing system, is configured to cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving the additional input channel data;

comparing the input channel data to the additional input channel data;

detecting an additional discrepancy between the input channel data and the additional input channel data; and

sending the annunciation signal to the computing device based on detecting the additional discrepancy.

15 . The computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing system, is configured to cause the processing system to perform operations comprising receiving the additional input channel data by the additional processing system within a threshold amount of time as the input channel data is received by the processing system.

16 . The computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the discrepancy corresponds to a mismatch in the input channel data and the additional input channel data.

17 . The computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the annunciation signal is configured to cause the computing device to present an audio or visual notification.

18 . The computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of IO data points comprise sixteen IO data points.

19 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first set of data comprises a first set of states respectively corresponding to each of the first plurality of IO points, and the second set of data comprises a second set of states respectively corresponding to each of the second plurality of IO points.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein an additional control system of the first PCM is configured to determine whether the discrepancy exists between the first set of states and the second set of states based on whether there is a mismatch between a state of the first set of states and a state of the second set of states.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (13)