Continuous Capacitor Health Monitoring and Power Supply System

摘要

An electronic device includes a subsystem, a plurality of energy storage elements coupled to the subsystem through one or more switches, and a charging and monitoring apparatus for concurrently charging the plurality of energy storage elements and monitoring operability of the energy storage elements. A first subset of the energy storage elements is coupled to a first node and a second subset of the energy storage elements is coupled to a second node of a bridge circuit. A power supply provides a DC charging voltage and an AC test voltage to both the first and second subsets of the energy storage elements. A monitoring circuit produces a predefined fault signal if a predefined electrical characteristic of the first subset of the energy storage elements differs from a same predefined electrical characteristic of the second subset of the energy storage elements by more than a predefined amount.

主权项

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a subsystem; a plurality of energy storage elements coupled to the subsystem through one or more switches; a charging and monitoring apparatus for concurrently charging the plurality of energy storage elements and monitoring operability of the plurality of energy storage elements, the charging and monitoring apparatus comprising:
a bridge circuit comprising a plurality of resistive elements, the plurality of resistive elements including a measurement resistor coupled between a first node and a second node of the bridge circuit, wherein a first subset of the plurality of energy storage elements is coupled to the first node and a second subset of the plurality of energy storage elements, distinct from the first subset, is coupled to the second node;a power supply, coupled to the first node and the second node through the bridge circuit, for providing a direct current (DC) charging voltage and an alternating current (AC) test voltage to both the first subset of the plurality of energy storage elements and the second subset of the plurality of energy storage elements;a monitoring circuit coupled to the first node and second node and configured to produce a fault indicator output signal, the fault indicator output signal comprising a predefined fault signal if a predefined electrical characteristic of the first subset of the plurality of energy storage elements differs from a same predefined electrical characteristic of the second subset of the plurality of energy storage elements by more than a predefined amount.