EP-4741998-A1 - POWER SUPPLY CONTROL APPARATUS AND POWER SUPPLY CONTROL METHOD

EP4741998A1EP 4741998 A1EP4741998 A1EP 4741998A1EP-4741998-A1

Abstract

Provided are a power supply control apparatus and a power supply control method. The power supply control apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a monitoring unit to monitor first to n-th operation times of first to n-th power modules connected in parallel to supply direct current power to an electrical load device, and a main control unit to control each of the first to n-th power modules into an operating state or a non-operating state based on the first to n-th operation times.

Inventors

KIM, MYUNG-HWAN
KIM, Seung-Choo
RYU, Je-Chang

Assignees

LG Energy Solution, Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20241113

Claims (14)

A power supply control apparatus for first to n-th power modules connected in parallel to supply direct current power to an electrical load device, the power supply control apparatus comprising: a monitoring unit configured to monitor first to n-th operation times of the first to n-th power modules; and a main control unit configured to control each of the first to n-th power modules into an operating state or a non-operating state based on the first to n-th operation times, wherein n is a natural number of 2 or greater.
The power supply control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main control unit is configured to: calculate first to n-th time deviations by statistical processing for the first to n-th operation times, select any one power module in the non-operating state from among the first to n-th power modules when the time deviation of any one power module in the operating state among the first to n-th power modules is equal to or more than a reference deviation, and change the selected power module from the non-operating state to the operating state.
The power supply control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the main control unit is configured to: output a first command signal for changing the selected power module from the non-operating state to the operating state, output a second command signal for changing the power module having the time deviation equal to or more than the reference deviation from the operating state to the non-operating state when a dead band time has passed from an output time of the first command signal.
The power supply control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the main control unit is configured to: update the first to n-th time deviations periodically or aperiodically.
The power supply control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the main control unit is configured to: when two or more of the first to n-th power modules are in the non-operating state, select any one of the two or more power modules in the non-operating state based on the operation time, an idle time or an identification number of each of the two or more power modules in the non-operating state.
The power supply control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main control unit is configured to: when a load factor of each power module in the operating state among the first to n-th power modules exceeds an upper limit of an allowable load factor, select any one power module in the non-operating state from among the first to n-th power modules, and change the selected power module from the non-operating state to the operating state.
The power supply control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an information sharing unit configured to generate danger alarm information when all the first to n-th power modules are in the operating state and a load factor of each of the first to n-th power modules exceeds an upper limit of an allowable load factor.
The power supply control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main control unit is configured to: when a load factor of two or more power modules in the operating state among the first to n-th power modules is below a lower limit of an allowable load factor, change any one of the two or more power modules in the operating state from the operating state to the non-operating state.
A direct current power supply system comprising the power supply control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
A power supply control method for first to n-th power modules connected in parallel to supply direct current power to an electrical load device, the power supply control method comprising: monitoring first to n-th operation times of the first to n-th power modules; and controlling each of the first to n-th power modules into an operating state or a non-operating state based on the first to n-th operation times, wherein n is a natural number of 2 or greater.
The power supply control method according to claim 10, wherein controlling each of the first to n-th power modules into the operating state or the non-operating state comprises: calculating first to n-th time deviations by statistical processing of the first to n-th operation times; selecting any one power module in the non-operating state from among the first to n-th power modules when the time deviation of any one power module in the operating state among the first to n-th power modules power modules is equal to or more than a reference deviation; and changing the selected power module from the non-operating state to the operating state.
The power supply control method according to claim 11, wherein the step of selecting any one power module in the non-operating state from among the first to n-th power modules comprises: when two or more power modules are in the non-operating state among the first to n-th power modules, selecting any one of the two or more power modules in the non-operating state based on the operation time, an idle time or an identification number of each of the two or more power modules in the non-operating state.
The power supply control method according to claim 10, further comprising: when a load factor of each power module in the operating state among the first to n-th power modules exceeds an upper limit of an allowable load factor, selecting any one power module in the non-operating state from among the first to n-th power modules; and changing the selected power module from the non-operating state to the operating state.
The power supply control method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of: when a load factor of two or more power modules in the operating state among the first to n-th power modules is below a lower limit of an allowable load factor, changing any one of the two or more power modules in the operating state from the operating state to the non-operating state.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to control technology for suppressing the life deviation between a plurality of power modules. This application is based on and claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0162565 filed on November 21, 2023 and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0160296 filed on November 12, 2024, with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. BACKGROUND A power supply that supplies power to an electrical load (for example, at least one battery charger/discharger) may include an assembly of power modules connected in parallel, in order to solve problems with heat generation and failed systematic response to fault diagnosis as well as achieve more stable power supply to the electrical load. Electric vehicles, ships and large-capacity energy storage systems (ESS) are more likely to raise safety accident prevention and stable power supply issues, and thus they usually include such power modules. The power supply including the plurality of power modules may have various advantages of high scalability in keeping up with increasing load, higher space utilization than a single large-capacity power module, robustness against failures and errors and no need to shut off the power supply to the electrical load during replacement of the individual power module. Typically, the power modules that make up the power supply are electrically connected in parallel to the electrical load and configured to supply the power to the electrical load through relay control. This type of power supply is generally managed in a manner that adjusts the number of individual power modules that will operate according to the scale or magnitude of power to be supplied, i.e., by a control method that sequentially increases the number of power modules that will supply the power with increasing load. That is, the conventional power supply is not managed by accurately monitoring the operation time (driving time) of the individual power modules, and precisely controlling to prevent deviations of operation time between the power modules based on the monitoring results. Accordingly, the conventional power supply using this method may not have a grave problem while in use for a short time, but as the power supply is used for a longer time, the deviation of operation time (driving time) between power modules that do more work and power modules that do less work may gradually increase. When the deviation increases so much, it may have a great influence on the operation performance or life of the individual power modules, and the characteristics and performance of the power modules connected in parallel may greatly differ, causing performance degradation of the power supply itself, such as declines in available output. DISCLOSURE Technical Problem The present disclosure is designed to solve the above-described problems under these circumstances, and therefore the present disclosure is directed to providing a power supply control apparatus and method in which continuous and cyclic monitoring results of the operation time of each of power modules that make up a power supply are incorporated into operation control, thereby minimizing operation time deviations between the power modules, improving the operation performance of the power supply and contributing to the long life. The technical problems to be solved by the present disclosure are not limited to the aforementioned problems, and these and other problems will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description. Technical Solution A power supply control apparatus according to an aspect of the present disclosure is for first to n-th power modules connected in parallel to supply direct current power to an electrical load device. n is a natural number of 2 or greater. The power supply control apparatus includes a monitoring unit to monitor first to n-th operation times of the first to n-th power modules; and a main control unit to control each of the first to n-th power modules into an operating state or a non-operating state based on the first to n-th operation times. The main control unit may be configured to calculate first to n-th time deviations by statistical processing for the first to n-th operation times. The main control unit may be configured to select any one power module in the non-operating state from among the first to n-th power modules when the time deviation of any one power module in the operating state among the first to n-th power modules is equal to or more than a reference deviation. The main control unit may be configured to change the selected power module from the non-operating state to the operating state. The main control unit may be configured to output a first command signal for changing the selected power module from the non-operating state to the operating state. The main control unit may be configured to output a secon