Power supply circuit in addition to communications equipment comprising a power supply circuit
View Patent ↗The invention relates to a power supply circuit comprises several power supply modules for supplying power to various sub-assemblies and/or interfaces of electrical equipment, e.g. a communications equipment or a personal computer, in addition to a regulating circuit that regulates a first power supply module. The regulating circuit is connected to the power supply outputs of those power supply modules, between which a maximum voltage differential deviates from a reference value, the first power supply module is corrected in such a way that the deviation is minimized.
1. A communication system, comprising:
a plurality of communications circuit modules each operable at one or more of a plurality of voltages, at least one of the modules being compliant with a maximum permissible voltage level defined for normal operation of the module;
a plurality of power supply components for simultaneously supplying the circuit modules with multiple voltage levels; and
a regulating circuit connected to control output of at least a first of the power supply components with respect to the maximum permissible voltage level during operation of the communication system, wherein the regulating circuit is adapted so that when a deviation beyond the maximum permissible voltage level, from a reference voltage value, occurs, voltage output from the first power supply component is adjusted to reduce the deviation.
2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the modules include one or more interfaces taken from the group consisting of USB, V.24 and Ethernet interfaces.
3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the maximum permissible voltage level is a specified maximum voltage value.
4. The power supply circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the first power supply component provides a power supply output having a maximum output voltage among all of the power supply components.
5. The power supply circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the regulating circuit regulates at least one further of the power supply components and the regulating circuit is adapted that in case of deviation beyond the maximum permissible voltage differential output of the one further power supply component will be adjusted.
6. A communication system, comprising:
a plurality of communications circuit modules each operable at one or more of a plurality of voltages, at least one of the modules being compliant with a maximum permissible voltage differential according to the Safety Extra Low Voltage (SELV) standard as defined in the IEC 60950 standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission; and
a power supply circuit having a plurality of power supply components for supplying the modules with a plurality of differing voltage levels; and
a regulating circuit for regulating voltage output from a first of the power supply components relative to the SELV standard, wherein
the regulating circuit is connected between outputs of power supply components between which the maximum voltage differential occurs during normal operation of the system, and wherein
the regulating circuit is adapted so that, in case of deviation beyond the maximum permissible voltage differential from a reference voltage value, output from the first power supply component will be adjusted to reduce the deviation.
7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the circuit modules include communications interfaces.
8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein one of the interfaces is an analog subscriber line.
9. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the power supply circuit includes a plurality of dc to dc converters.
10. The system according to claim 7 , wherein one of the modules provides a USB interface and the SELV standard compliant module receives multiple voltage levels from the power supply module.
11. The system according to claim 7 , wherein one of the modules is a subscriber module.
12. The system according to claim 7 , wherein one of the modules is a system module.
13. A method for operating a power supply circuit in a communication system, wherein the power supply circuit comprises:
a plurality of power supply components for simultaneously supplying circuit modules of the communication system with multiple DC voltage levels; and
a regulating circuit for regulating a first of the power supply components, the regulating circuit connected to outputs of at least the first power supply component and one of the other power supply components between which a maximum voltage differential occurs during normal operation of the communication system, the regulating circuit adapted to reduce or eliminate deviation of the maximum voltage differential beyond a reference voltage value, the method comprising:
comparing the maximum voltage differential with the reference voltage value and
adjusting voltage output from one of the power supply components when the maximum voltage differential exceeds the reference voltage value such that the deviation will be reduced.