CN102955550B - A rack server system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a rack-mounted server system, comprising a power supply and a plurality of servers, and a soft start circuit coupled between the power supply and the servers, wherein the soft start circuit comprises: an input terminal coupled to a first DC voltage from the power supply; a constant current source circuit coupled to the input terminal for providing a constant current; the bias circuit is coupled with the constant current source circuit and provides a bias voltage which rises slowly and has a preset upper limit value; a first switch element having a first electrode, a second electrode and a first control electrode, the first electrode being coupled to the input terminal, the first control electrode being coupled to the bias circuit, the first switch element being driven by the bias voltage so as to transition the first switch element from an off state to a saturated on state; and an output end coupled to the second electrode of the first switch element, for outputting a second DC voltage when the first switch element is in saturation conduction.

Description

A rack server system

technical field

The invention relates to a server system, in particular to a rack server system with a soft start circuit.

Background technique

The existing rack server (Rack Server), there may be dozens of servers on a rack, adopts a centralized power supply method similar to the blade server (Blade Server), and the rack uniformly supplies reduced DC power, such as +12V DC voltage, and these servers do not need to have their own power supply separately.

For existing rack servers, switching power supply is generally used for power supply, but for switching power supply (especially high-power switching power supply), there is an inherent disadvantage: at the moment of power-on, switching power supply will generate a large surge Current, this surge current may reach 10 to 100 times the static operating current of the power supply. Since the switching power supply is prone to generate surge current, for example, turning on all the servers at the same time will cause the switching power supply to generate a strong surge current, which will cause pressure or even damage to the power supply and the power supply of the computer room. Another common situation is that some servers are running, while another part of the servers is turned on suddenly, the surge current generated at this time may cause the voltage provided by the power supply to drop, and in severe cases, it will cause other normal working states using the same input power supply The server powers down instantaneously.

In view of this, how to design a rack-mounted server system so that when one or more servers in the system start up normally, eliminate the surge current generated and keep the power supply voltage of the switching power supply stable, is an urgent need for relevant technical personnel in the industry. A problem solved.

Contents of the invention

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention proposes a rack server system, including a power supply and a plurality of servers, the power supply is used to provide a plurality of servers with working voltage required for normal operation, the server system also includes a The soft start circuit is coupled between the power supply and multiple servers. The soft start circuit has: an input terminal coupled to a first DC voltage from the power supply; a constant current source circuit coupled to The input terminal provides a constant current; a bias circuit, coupled to the constant current source circuit, provides a bias voltage that rises slowly and has a preset upper limit; a first switch element has a first electrode, A second electrode and a first control electrode, the first electrode is coupled to the input terminal, the first control electrode is coupled to the bias circuit, and the first switching element is driven by the bias voltage so that the first switching element is turned off from The state transitions to a saturated conduction state; and an output terminal, coupled to the second electrode of the first switch element, outputs a second DC voltage when the first switch element is saturated and conduction.

Preferably, the above-mentioned first switching element is a P-channel field effect transistor.

Preferably, the constant current source circuit includes: a first diode, the anode of which is coupled to the input terminal; a second diode, whose anode is coupled to the cathode of the first diode; a second switch The element has a third electrode, a fourth electrode and a second control electrode, the third electrode is coupled to the cathode of the second diode, and the fourth electrode is coupled to a ground terminal through a first resistor; and A third switch element has a fifth electrode, a sixth electrode and a third control electrode, the third control electrode is coupled to the second control electrode, and the fifth electrode is coupled to the input terminal through a second resistor.

Preferably, the above-mentioned second switching element and the above-mentioned third switching element are transistors.

Preferably, the above-mentioned bias circuit includes: a first capacitor, one end of which is coupled to the above-mentioned sixth electrode, and the other end is coupled to the above-mentioned ground terminal, and is charged by the above-mentioned constant current provided by the above-mentioned constant current source circuit, so as to providing the above-mentioned bias voltage; and a Zener diode, the anode of which is coupled to the above-mentioned ground terminal, and the cathode of which is coupled to the above-mentioned sixth electrode, when the bias voltage applied to both ends of the above-mentioned first capacitor reaches the above-mentioned preset upper limit , the Zener diode is turned on, so that the first capacitor stops charging.

Preferably, the above-mentioned bias circuit further includes: a fourth switch element having a seventh electrode, an eighth electrode and a fourth control electrode, the fourth control electrode is connected to one end of the above-mentioned first capacitor, one end of the above-mentioned Zener diode The negative electrode is coupled to the sixth electrode, the seventh electrode is coupled to the ground terminal through a third resistor, the eighth electrode is coupled to the first control electrode and coupled to the input terminal through a fourth resistor .

Preferably, the above-mentioned soft-start circuit further includes: a second capacitor, one end of which is coupled to the above-mentioned second electrode, and the other end is coupled to the above-mentioned ground terminal.

Preferably, the above-mentioned soft start circuit further includes: a relay having a contact part and a coil part, the contact part is connected in parallel between the first electrode and the second electrode of the first switching element, and the coil part is connected to the above-mentioned The anodes of the zener diodes are coupled to each other. When the zener diodes are turned on, the relay is closed so that the input terminals supply power to the output terminals through the relays.

Preferably, the contact part has a first static contact, a second static contact, a first movable contact and a second movable contact, and the first static contact and the second static contact are respectively coupled On the first electrode and the second electrode of the first switching element, wherein the first movable contact corresponds to the first static contact, and the second movable contact corresponds to the second static contact, when the Zener diode is turned on , the first movable contact is attracted to the first static contact, and the second movable contact is attracted to the second static contact, so that the input terminal supplies power to the output terminal through the relay.

With the rack server system of the present invention, a soft start circuit is set between the power supply and multiple servers to control the time for the voltage on the server side to rise slowly, thereby reducing the impact of the surge current on the output of the power supply. The impact of the DC voltage, thereby ensuring the reliability of the system operation and reducing maintenance costs.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 shows a structural block diagram of a rack server system according to one aspect of the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows the circuit diagram of a preferred embodiment of the soft start circuit of the rack server system in Fig. 1; And

FIG. 3 shows a schematic circuit diagram of another preferred embodiment of the soft start circuit of the rack server system in FIG. 1 .

Detailed ways

The embodiments of the present invention will be clearly explained below with the accompanying drawings and detailed description. For the sake of simplifying the accompanying drawings, some known and commonly used structures and components will be shown in a simple and schematic manner in the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a structural block diagram of a rack server system according to one aspect of the present invention. 1, the rack server system includes a power supply 200, a plurality of servers (such as server 1, server 2, server 3 and server 4, but not limited thereto) and the power supply 200 and multiple Soft start circuit 100 between servers.

As mentioned above, in the existing server system, the power supply 200 is directly connected to multiple servers to provide the working voltage for these servers to operate normally. However, when some servers are running and other servers are turned on suddenly, a large surge current will be generated in the system. Since there is no isolation between the power supply 200 and these servers, the large surge current will be It affects the DC voltage output by the power supply 200 . For example, the voltage of the server during normal operation is 12V, but the influence of the inrush current may reduce the current input voltage to the server to 10V or lower. In view of this, the present invention designs a soft start circuit, located between the power supply and multiple servers, which can reduce or eliminate the surge current while realizing the slow rise of the voltage, so as to improve the stability of the server system.

Specifically, the soft start circuit 100 includes: an input terminal 110 , a constant current source circuit 120 , a bias circuit 130 , a first switch element 140 and an output terminal 150 . Wherein, the input terminal 110 is coupled to a first DC voltage from the power supply 200; the constant current source circuit 120 is coupled to the input terminal 110 to provide a constant current; the bias circuit 130 is coupled to the constant current The source circuit 120 is used to provide a slowly rising bias voltage with a preset upper limit; the first switch element 140 is coupled to the input terminal 110 and the bias circuit 130, and the first switch is driven by the bias voltage The element 140 makes it transition from the cut-off state to the saturated conduction state; the output terminal 130 is coupled to the first switch element 140 and outputs a second DC voltage when the first switch element 140 is saturated and turned on.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic circuit diagram of a preferred embodiment of the soft start circuit of the rack server system in FIG. 1 . As shown in Figure 2, the first switching element (Q4) 140 is a P-channel field effect transistor, in this embodiment, preferably a P-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor, and is a high-power low-power transistor. A field effect transistor with internal resistance has a first electrode (source), a second electrode (drain) and a first control electrode (gate). It should be noted that in this embodiment, the first electrode It may be a source, and the second electrode may be a drain. However, in some other embodiments, the first electrode may be a drain, and the second electrode may be a source, which is not limited thereto. The first electrode is coupled to the input end 110 , the second electrode is coupled to the output end 150 , and the first control electrode is coupled to the bias circuit 130 . The input terminal 110 is coupled to a first DC voltage V1 from the power supply 200 . The constant current source circuit 120 is composed of a first diode D1, a second diode D2, a second switch element Q1, a third switch element Q2, a resistor R1 and a resistor R2. The constant current source circuit 120 can be used for Provide a constant current. Wherein, the anode of the first diode D1 is coupled to the input terminal 110, and the anode of the second diode D2 is coupled to the cathode of the first diode D1. In this embodiment, the DC voltage V1 passes through D1 Each step-down 0.7V with D2. The second switch element Q1 has a third electrode (emitter), a fourth electrode (collector) and a second control electrode (base), the third electrode is coupled to the cathode of the second diode D2, The fourth electrode is coupled to a ground terminal through the first resistor R1; the third switching element Q2 has a fifth electrode (emitter), a sixth electrode (collector) and a third control electrode (base) , the third control electrode is coupled to the second control electrode, and the fifth electrode is coupled to the input terminal 110 through a second resistor R2. It should be noted that the second switch element Q1 and the third switch element Q2 may be transistors, and in this embodiment, preferably, they are PNP transistors, but not limited thereto. The bias circuit 130 includes: a first capacitor C1 , a Zener diode WD1 , a fourth switch element Q3 , a third resistor R3 and a fourth resistor R4 . One end of the first capacitor C1 is coupled to the sixth electrode, and the other end is coupled to the ground terminal. The first capacitor C1 can be charged by the constant current provided by the constant current source circuit 120, and then formed at both ends of the first capacitor C1. A certain voltage, that is, using the first capacitor C1 to provide the aforementioned bias voltage, this bias voltage can be used to drive the first switching element Q4; the Zener diode WD1, its positive pole is coupled to the ground terminal, and its negative pole is coupled to the sixth electrode, and When the voltage at both ends of the first capacitor C1 reaches the preset upper limit, the Zener diode WD1 is turned on, that is, reverse breakdown. At this time, since the first capacitor C1 is short-circuited by the Zener diode WD1, the constant current source circuit 120 stops charging the first capacitor C1; the fourth switching element Q3 has a seventh electrode (emitter), an eighth electrode (collector) and a fourth control electrode (base), the fourth control electrode and the first A capacitor C1 is coupled to a first node and coupled to the sixth electrode, the seventh electrode is coupled to the ground terminal through the third resistor R3, the eighth electrode and the first control electrode are coupled to a second node and transmitted through the The fourth resistor R4 is coupled to the input terminal 110. In this embodiment, the fourth switching element Q3 may be a transistor, preferably an NPN transistor, but not limited thereto. In the soft-start circuit, a second capacitor C2 may also be included, and the second capacitor C2 is used to filter out clutter signals, so that the output terminal 150 outputs a DC voltage.

Since the constant current source circuit 120 charges the first capacitor C1, a certain voltage is formed between the two ends of the first capacitor C1, and its voltage value rises slowly. When the voltage across the first capacitor C1 rises to a certain value, the fourth The switching element Q3 is turned on, and Q3 is turned on, so that a certain current is formed on the third resistor R3, so that a current is generated on the fourth resistor R4, and then the potential at the second node where the first control electrode is connected to the eighth electrode will be decrease, so that the first control electrode of the first switching element Q4 and the first electrode form a negative bias, and according to the characteristics of the first switching element, when the negative bias reaches a certain level, that is, the first control electrode and the eighth electrode When the potential at the connected second node drops to a certain value, the first switching element Q4 will be turned on, and when the voltage across the first capacitor C1 continues to rise to a certain value, the Zener diode WD1 will be turned on Since the first capacitor C1 is short-circuited by the Zener diode WD1, the constant current source circuit 120 stops charging the first capacitor C1, and at this time, the voltage between the first control electrode and the first electrode of the first switching element Q4 will make The first switch element Q4 is saturated and turned on, so that the output terminal 150 outputs a second DC voltage V2. In this embodiment, since the first capacitor C1 takes a certain amount of time from the beginning of charging to the stop of charging (the first switching element Q4 is saturated and turned on), that is, when the input terminal 110 inputs the first DC voltage V1, the output terminal 150 The second DC voltage V2 will be output after a certain period of time. Therefore, the soft-start circuit has a certain delay, thereby effectively avoiding the adverse effect of the surge current on the server system.

The solution proposed by the present invention and its superiority will be described below in conjunction with the specific parameters of each component. In this embodiment, the first DC voltage V1 is 12.5V, and the positive voltages of the first diode D1 and the second diode D2 are The direct voltage drop is 0.7V, the stable voltage of the Zener diode is 5V, the capacitance value of the first capacitor C1 is 22μF, the resistance value of the first resistor R1 is 30K, the resistance value of the second resistor R2 is 3K, and the resistance value of the third resistor R3 The resistance value of the fourth resistor R4 is 20K, the resistance value of the fourth resistor R4 is 33K, the voltage drop between the fourth control electrode (base) and the seventh electrode (emitter) is 0.7V when the fourth switch element Q3 is turned on, and the first switch Element Q4 is a P-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor, and is a field effect transistor with high power and low internal resistance. It can be seen from the above that the constant current source circuit 120 charges the first capacitor C1 so that the voltage Vc1 at both ends of the first capacitor C1 gradually increases, and the charging current I=1.4V/R2=1.4V/(3K). After charging for a certain period of time, When the voltage Vc1 across the first capacitor C1 is 0.7V, the fourth switching element Q3 starts to conduct, so that a current will form on the third resistor R3, and its magnitude is (Vc1-0.7)/R3, and the voltage drop of R4 is ( Vc1-0.7) R4/R3, so the potential at the second node is (Vin-(Vc1-0.7)R4/R3), therefore, the voltage between the first control electrode and the first electrode of the first switching element Q4 is - (Vc1−0.7)R4/R3), that is, when Vc1 is greater than 0.7V, it is a negative voltage, so that a negative bias voltage is formed between the first control electrode and the first electrode. In this embodiment, since the first switching element Q4 is a P-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor, and is a field effect transistor with high power and low internal resistance, according to its characteristics, when the negative bias voltage reaches a certain value , will make the first switching element Q4 start to conduct, when the negative bias voltage reaches another value, the first switching element Q4 will enter saturated conduction, in this embodiment, when Vc1 rises to 2V, the first switch The element Q4 starts conducting, and when Vc1 rises to 5V, the first switching element Q4 conducts in saturation, and in order to make Vc1 reach 5V, the time required for charging the first capacitor C1 is T=(5V*C1) /I, where, C1=22μF, I=1.4V/(3K), it can be seen that T is about 240 milliseconds, which is much longer than the general duration of the surge current. When the first switching element Q4 is just turned on, the output voltage V2 at the output end gradually rises, that is, the voltage provided to the server (as shown in Figure 1) will gradually rise. When the first switching element Q4 is saturated and turned on, the output voltage V2 at the output end Preferably, the DC voltage is 12V. At this time, the load terminal is connected to the power supply 200 (as shown in FIG. 1 ) through the low internal resistance of the first switching element Q4, and at this time, the power supply 200 has been safely started.

In this embodiment, due to the voltage V1 provided by the power supply 200, after a certain time delay of the soft-start circuit (the duration of the surge current is less than this delay), the power supply 200 then supplies the voltage V1 through the output terminal 150. The server (load) provides voltage, so that the influence of the power supply 200 on itself or the server (load) due to the surge current can be overcome.

It should be noted that, the parameters of each component in the above soft start circuit are only exemplary, but not limited thereto.

Referring to FIG. 3 , FIG. 3 shows a schematic circuit diagram of another preferred embodiment of the soft start circuit of the rack server system in FIG. 1 . The only difference between Fig. 3 and Fig. 2 is that the soft start circuit further includes: a relay (not marked), and other parts are the same, so no more details are given. This relay is used to protect the first switching element Q4. In detail, the power supply 200 (as shown in FIG. 1 ) may cause excessive current flowing through the first switching element Q4 in order to provide the required voltage to the server (as shown in FIG. 1 ). , which may damage the first switching element Q4, therefore, in this embodiment, a relay is added to avoid the above situation, specifically refer to the following description.

As shown in FIG. 3, the relay has a coil portion 161 and a contact portion 162, wherein the contact portion 162 is connected in parallel between the first electrode and the second electrode of the first switching element Q4, and the coil portion 161 is connected to the Zener diode WD1 The anode of the zener diode WD1 is connected, and the relay is closed so that the input terminal 110 supplies power to the output terminal 150 through the relay.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the contact part 162 has a first static contact, a second static contact, a first movable contact and a second movable contact. The first static contact and the second static contact are respectively coupled to the first electrode and the second electrode of the first switching element Q4, and the first movable contact corresponds to the first static contact, and the second movable contact Corresponding to the second static contact, when the Zener diode WD1 is turned on, the first movable contact is attracted to the first static contact and the second movable contact is attracted to the second static contact to close the relay And make the input terminal 110 supply power to the output terminal 150 through the relay, that is, provide the required voltage to the server. In addition, when the Zener diode WD1 is turned on, the first switching element Q4 is in saturated conduction, and its internal resistance is already very small, so that the output voltage V2 of the output terminal 150 is already relatively high, that is, it meets the requirements of the server. voltage, and because the delay has overcome the impact of the power supply 200 on itself or the server (load) due to the surge current, the relay is closed at this time, and the current flowing through the first switching element Q4 before All the current is redirected through the relay, so that the output terminal 150 directly outputs a relatively high DC voltage V2. Moreover, at this time, the first switching element Q4 does not consume power, so that the overall power supply efficiency is not lowered.

With the rack server system of the present invention, a soft start circuit is set between the power supply and multiple servers to control the time for the voltage on the server side to rise slowly, thereby reducing the impact of the surge current on the output of the power supply. The impact of the DC voltage, thereby ensuring the reliability of the system operation and reducing maintenance costs.

Hereinbefore, specific embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, those skilled in the art can understand that without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, various changes and substitutions can be made to the specific embodiments of the present invention. These changes and substitutions all fall within the scope defined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims (7)

1. a rack-mounted server system, comprise a power supply unit and multiple server, described power supply unit is used for providing the operating voltage needed for normally running to described multiple server, it is characterized in that, also comprise a soft starting circuit, be coupled between described power supply unit and described multiple server, have:

One input end, is coupled to one first DC voltage from described power supply unit;

One constant-current source circuit, is coupled to described input end, provides a steady current, and described constant-current source circuit comprises:

One first diode, its positive pole is coupled to described input end;

One second diode, its positive pole is coupled to the negative pole of described first diode;

One second switch element, have one the 3rd electrode, one the 4th electrode and one second control electrode, described 3rd electrode is coupled to the negative pole of described second diode, and described 4th electrode is coupled to an earth terminal through one first resistance; And

One the 3rd on-off element, have one the 5th electrode, one the 6th electrode and one the 3rd control electrode, described 3rd control electrode couples described second control electrode, and described 5th electrode is coupled to described input end through one second resistance;

One biasing circuit, is coupled to described constant-current source circuit, and provide one slowly to rise and have the bias voltage of a preset upper limit value, described biasing circuit comprises:

One first electric capacity, its one end is coupled to described 6th electrode, and the other end is coupled to described earth terminal, and the described steady current provided by described constant-current source circuit charges, to provide described bias voltage; And

One voltage stabilizing diode, its positive pole is coupled to described earth terminal, and negative pole is coupled to described 6th electrode, and when the bias voltage loading on described first electric capacity two ends reaches described preset upper limit value, described voltage stabilizing diode conducting, stops charging to make described first electric capacity;

One first on-off element, there is one first electrode, one second electrode and one first control electrode, described first electrode is coupled to described input end, described first control electrode is coupled to described biasing circuit, described first on-off element is driven, to make described first on-off element from cut-off state to saturation conduction status transition by described bias voltage; And

One output terminal, is coupled to described second electrode of described first on-off element, exports one second DC voltage when described first on-off element saturation conduction.

2. rack-mounted server system according to claim 1, is characterized in that, described first on-off element is P-channel field-effect transistor (PEFT) pipe.

3. rack-mounted server system according to claim 1, is characterized in that, described second switch element and described 3rd on-off element are transistor.

4. rack-mounted server system according to claim 1, is characterized in that, described biasing circuit also comprises:

One the 4th on-off element, there is one the 7th electrode, one the 8th electrode and one the 4th control electrode, described 4th control electrode couples mutually with one end of described first electric capacity, the negative pole of described voltage stabilizing diode and described 6th electrode, described 7th electrode is coupled to described earth terminal through one the 3rd resistance, and described 8th electrode and described first control electrode couple mutually and be coupled to described input end through one the 4th resistance.

5. rack-mounted server system according to claim 4, is characterized in that, described soft starting circuit also comprises:

One second electric capacity, its one end is coupled to described second electrode, and the other end is coupled to described earth terminal.

6. rack-mounted server system according to claim 5, is characterized in that, described soft starting circuit also comprises:

One relay, there is a contact part and a coiler part, described contact part is connected in parallel in and between the first electrode of described first on-off element and the second electrode, described coiler part couples mutually with the positive pole of described voltage stabilizing diode, when after described voltage stabilizing diode conducting, described relay closes is powered to described output terminal through described relay to make described input end.

7. rack-mounted server system according to claim 6, it is characterized in that, described contact part has one first stationary contact, one second stationary contact, one first moving contact and one second moving contact, described first stationary contact and described second stationary contact are respectively coupled to described first electrode of described first on-off element and described second electrode, wherein, described first moving contact corresponds to described first stationary contact, and described second moving contact corresponds to described second stationary contact

When after described voltage stabilizing diode conducting, described first moving contact and described first stationary contact phase adhesive, and described second moving contact and described second stationary contact phase adhesive, thus described input end is powered to described output terminal through described relay.