Reconfigurable Power Converter for Constant Current Underwater Observatory

Abstract

A constant current (CC) underwater observatory employing the shunt method to provide constant voltage (CV) power for external loads is favored in occasions where shunt-fault tolerance is required. However, low efficiency of CC to CV conversion with the shunt method limits its application, especially in scenarios of varying loads. In this paper, a highly reliable and stable CC/CV converter with better efficiency is introduced based on the proposed novel active soft bypass (ASB) technology and the proposed novel priority-based power management strategy (PPMS). The ASB technology is a method that employs switches and a special control sequence which greatly depresses the large voltage transient presenting on the input side when trying hard bypass redundant modules, and the PPMS makes the system easy to monitor and ensures the absolute reliability of ASB technology. The theoretical study of this novel reconfigurable CC/CV converter and validation experiments on a prototype are carried out, with results showing great improvement in the performance. In addition, the proposed reconfigurable power converter is applied to a coastal observatory in the East China Sea.

Design and Analysis of an Equivalent Load Power-Stability Control Circuit for Cabled Underwater Information Networks

“…By sampling the external load voltage, the controller adjusted the resistance of the BL to keep the total power consumed on the BL and external load at a constant level. Chen et al [31] conceived a multi-module-stack CC/CV converter architecture with active soft bypass (ASB) technology and a priority-based power management strategy (PPMS). The goal was to solve the incompatibility of high stability, reliability, and relatively high efficiency presented by the previous CC/CV converter.…”

“…A review of the current literature shows that the realization of load-side power stabilization controllers suitable for underwater constant current remote power supply system usually requires linear regulators [23][24][25]32] or controllers [29][30][31] to drive power compensation circuits. As output power changes at nodes in a power network, due to load change, power compensation circuits can make the circuit and load jointly equivalent to a stable load resistance.…”