Importance

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Abstract

A power supply system (10) comprises a multi-phase AC supply (12) which is provided to an AC-DC convertor 14. The DC output from the convertor (14) sources power to a DC bus (16), which then provides power to a secondary supply bus (42) and electrical loads (38, 40). The convertor (14) is connected to the DC bus (16) by a master controller (22), which is controllable by master control processor (30) to disconnect the two. In a similar way, the secondary supply bus (44), load (38) and load (40) are connected to the DC bus (16) by slave controllers (46), which are each controllable to effect disconnection through action of the respective slave control processors (48). When any of the secondary supply bus (44) or loads (38, 40) demand power from convertor (14), a demand request is passed by the respective slave control processor (48) to the master control processor (30) via data bus ( 32). The master control processor (30) then determines whether the demand request is legal based on a maximum permissible power request and will also consider the instant cumulative sum of power required to be provided. If the request is legal, a demand authorization is returned to the slave control processor (48), and the power can be drawn. If the request is not legal, the master control processor (30) can require one or all slave control processors (48) to power down the electrical load through operation of contactors (24) in the respective slave controllers (46). Alternatively, the slave control processor (48) making the demand request can be caused to effect the regeneration of power. In the instance of serious faults, the master control processor (30) can cause the DC bus (16) to be powered down by effecting operation of contactors (24) within the master controller (22).

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First Claim