Patent Abstract:
A power supply apparatus includes first and second parallel-connected uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), each including an AC/DC converter circuit and a DC/AC converter circuit having an input coupled to an output of the AC/DC converter circuit by a DC link, inputs of the AC/DC converter circuits of the first and second UPSs connected in common to an AC source and outputs of the DC/AC converter circuits of the first and second UPSs connected in common to a load. The first and second UPSs are configured to support a test mode wherein the first UPS is test loaded by transferring power from the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the first UPS to the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the second UPS. The first UPS may be configured to provide power to the load concurrent with test loading by the second UPS.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/879,441, filed on Jun. 29, 2004 now abandoned, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to power supplies, and more particularly, to testing of power supplies. 
     A typical conventional large-capacity “on-line” UPS may include an AC/DC converter (e.g., a rectifier) that is configured to be coupled to an AC power source, such as a utility source, and a DC/AC converter (e.g., an inverter) that is coupled to the AC/DC converter by a DC link and which produces an AC voltage at an output (load) bus of the UPS. The UPS may further include a bypass circuit, e.g., a static switch, which can be used to couple the AC power source directly to the output bus of the UPS, such that the AC/DC converter and DC/AC converter are bypassed. The bypass circuit can be used, for example, to provide an economy mode of operation and/or to provide power to the load when either or both of the converters are damaged or inoperative. 
     Factory testing of such a UPS is often performed with a resistive, reactive load and/or a non-linear test load. Performing such tests may require extensive infrastructure, including the loads themselves and a sufficiently high-capacity utility infrastructure to supply the power for the testing. Additionally, significant energy costs may be entailed in such testing, as the energy delivered to the test load in load testing is often dissipated as heat. Such costs may be replicated when the UPS is installed at the customer&#39;s premises, where a commissioning test may be performed at installation to ensure that the UPS and associate power delivery components, e.g., lines, switches, breakers and the like, operate as intended at rated load. 
     Techniques for recycling energy in UPS bum-in testing are described in articles entitled “The Burn-in Test of Three-Phase UPS by Energy Feedback Methods,” by Chen et al., PESC 93 in Seattle Wash., U.S.A., (1993), and “Self-load bank for UPS testing by circulating current method,” by Chu et al., IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 141, No. 4 (July 1994). Each of these techniques, however, utilize specialized test equipment that can lead to extra cost, and which can make the test techniques less useful for field testing. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Some embodiments of the present invention provide methods of operating a power supply apparatus including first and second parallel-connected uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), each including an AC/DC converter circuit and a DC/AC converter circuit having an input coupled to an output of the AC/DC converter circuit by a DC link, inputs of the AC/DC converter circuits of the first and second UPSs connected in common to an AC source and outputs of the DC/AC converter circuits of the first and second UPSs connected in common to a load. In such methods, the first UPS is test loaded by transferring power from the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the first UPS to the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the second UPS. Power may be provided to the load from the first UPS concurrent with test loading the first UPS by transferring power from the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the first UPS to the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the second UPS. Power may be transferred from the input of the AC/DC converter circuit of the second UPS to the input of the AC/DC converter circuit of the first UPS concurrent with test loading the first UPS by transferring power from the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the first UPS to the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the second UPS. 
     Further embodiments of the present invention provide power supply apparatus including first and second parallel-connected uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), each including an AC/DC converter circuit and a DC/AC converter circuit having an input coupled to an output of the AC/DC converter circuit by a DC link, inputs of the AC/DC converter circuits of the first and second UPSs connected in common to an AC source and outputs of the DC/AC converter circuits of the first and second UPSs connected in common to a load. The first and second UPSs are configured to support a test mode wherein the first UPS is test loaded by transferring power from the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the first UPS to the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the second UPS. The first UPS may be configured to provide power to the load concurrent with test loading the first UPS by transferring power from the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the first UPS to the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the second UPS. The second UPS may be configured to control the AC/DC converter circuit of the second UPS to transfer power from the input of the AC/DC converter circuit of the second UPS to the input of the AC/DC converter circuit of the first UPS concurrent with test loading the first UPS by transferring power from the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the first UPS to the output of the DC/AC converter circuit of the second UPS. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIGS. 1-3  are schematic diagrams illustrating power supply apparatus according to various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary inverter control configuration according to further embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram illustrating power supply apparatus according to further embodiments of the invention. 
         FIGS. 6-10  are schematic diagrams illustrating a UPS and exemplary test operations thereof according to further embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     Specific exemplary embodiments of the invention now will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. Furthermore, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein may include wirelessly connected or coupled. As used herein the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. 
     The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,” “comprises,” “including” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
     Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. 
     As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the invention may be embodied as apparatus, methods and computer program products. Embodiments of the invention may include hardware and/or software. Furthermore, the invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium. Any suitable computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, a transmission media such as those supporting the Internet or an intranet, or magnetic storage devices. 
     Computer program code for carrying out operations of the invention may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java®, Smalltalk or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the invention may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). 
     Embodiments of the invention include circuitry configured to provide functions described herein. It will be appreciated that such circuitry may include analog circuits, digital circuits, and combinations of analog and digital circuits. 
     The invention is described below with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, apparatus and computer program products according to various embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations, can be implemented by analog and/or digital hardware, and/or computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, ASIC, and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations. In some alternate implementations, the functions/acts noted in the figures may occur out of the order noted in the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations. For example, two operations shown as occurring in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently or the operations may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a power supply apparatus  100  according to some embodiments of the invention. The apparatus  100 , which may be incorporated in, for example, an on-line UPS, includes an AC/DC converter circuit  110  (e.g., a rectifier) having an input  112  configured to be coupled to an AC source (not shown), and an output  114  coupled to a DC link  115 . The AC/DC converter circuit  110  is operative to power the DC link  115  from AC power provided at its input  112 . The apparatus  100  also includes a DC/AC converter circuit  120  (e.g., an inverter) having an input  122  coupled to the DC link  115  and an output  124  configured to be coupled to a load (not shown). The DC/AC converter circuit  120  is operative to provide AC power at its output from DC power provided via the DC link  115 . The apparatus  100  further includes a bypass circuit (e.g., a static switch)  130  that is operative to couple and decouple the input  112  of the AC/DC converter circuit  110  and the output  124  of the DC/AC converter circuit  120 . 
     The apparatus  100  also includes a test control circuit  140  that controls the AC/DC converter circuit  110  and/or the DC/AC converter circuit  120  (i.e., either or both, as shown by dashed lines), and which also controls the bypass circuit  130 . More particularly, the test control circuit  140  is operative to cause the bypass circuit  130  to couple the output  124  of the DC/AC converter circuit  120  to the input  112  of the AC/DC converter circuit  110 , and to control the AC/DC converter circuit  110  and/or the DC/AC converter circuit  120  to cause power transfer from the output  124  of the DC/AC converter circuit  120  to the input  112  of the AC/DC converter circuit  110  via the bypass circuit  130  to thereby conduct a test, e.g., a burn-in, commissioning, or other test, of the apparatus  100 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a power supply apparatus  200  according to further embodiments of the invention. The apparatus  200 , which may be, for example, an on-line UPS, includes an AC/DC converter circuit a rectifier circuit  210  having an input  212  configured to be coupled to an AC source (not shown), and an output  214  coupled to DC link  215 . The rectifier circuit  110  is operative to transfer power between the DC link  215  and an AC power source (not shown) at its input  212 . The apparatus  200  also includes an inverter circuit  220  having an input  222  coupled to the DC link  215  and an output  224  configured to be coupled to an AC load (not shown). The inverter circuit  220  is operative to transfer power between the DC link  215  and the AC load. The apparatus  200  further includes a bypass circuit (e.g., a static switch)  230  that is operative to couple and decouple the input  212  of the rectifier circuit  210  and the output  224  of the inverter circuit  220 . 
     The apparatus  200  also includes a test control circuit  240  that controls the inverter circuit  220  and the bypass circuit  230 . The test control circuit  240  includes a bypass control circuit  242  that is operative to cause the bypass circuit  230  to couple the output  224  of the inverter circuit  220  to the input  212  of the rectifier circuit  210 , and a power control circuit  244  operative to control the inverter circuit  220  to cause power transfer from the output  224  of the inverter circuit  220  to the input  212  of the AC/DC converter circuit  210  via the bypass circuit  230  to conduct a test of the apparatus  200 . In particular, the power control circuit  244  is operative to generate a command signal  243  for control circuitry (e.g., current mode PWM control loop circuitry) of the inverter circuit  220  responsive to a power command signal  241 , which may, for example, include a real and/or reactive component. For example, the power command signal  241  may command the inverter circuit  220  to transfer power so as to effect a desired loading of the inverter circuit  220 , such that components of the UPS, such as power transistors in the rectifier circuit  210  and/or the inverter circuit  220  and associated control electronics and sensors, may be tested at the desired load. 
     During such testing, the rectifier circuit  210  may operate as it would during normal operation of the UPS, e.g., the rectifier circuit  210  may operate to regulate a DC voltage on the DC link  215  in both normal and test modes. It will be appreciated that, in such an implementation, the rectifier circuit  210  may respond to current demands at the DC link  215  created by the power transfer operations of the inverter circuit  220 . Alternatively, as discussed in detail below with reference to  FIG. 5 , the rectifier circuit  210  may also be controlled by the test control circuit  240  to provide desired power transfer or other characteristics during testing. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary control configuration for an implementation of a power supply apparatus along the lines of  FIG. 2  according to further embodiments of the invention.  FIG. 3  illustrates a power supply apparatus  300  that includes a rectifier circuit  310  having an input  312  configured to be coupled to an AC power source (not shown). The rectifier circuit  310  is operative to transfer power between a DC link  315  and the AC power source. The apparatus  300  also includes an inverter circuit  320  coupled to the DC link  315  and an output  324  configured to be coupled to a load (not shown). The inverter circuit  320  is operative to transfer power between its output  324  and the DC link  315 , and includes a bridge circuit  321  (e.g., an active bridge including one or more pairs of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) arranged in a half-bridge configuration) coupled to the DC link  315  and an impedance (e.g., an inductor)  323  coupled to the output  324 . The apparatus  300  further includes a bypass circuit (e.g., a static switch)  330  that is operative to couple and decouple the input  312  of the rectifier circuit  310  and the output  324  of the inverter circuit  320 . 
     The apparatus  300  also includes test control circuitry for the inverter circuit  320  and the bypass circuit  330  implemented as functional blocks embodied in a processor  350 , such as a microprocessor, microcontroller, DSP, or combination thereof. The control circuitry includes a PWM control block  358  that provides one or more pulse-width modulation control signals  357  to the inverter circuit  320  to control operation of the bridge circuit  321 . The PWM control block  358  operates responsive to an inverter command signal  355  and one or more feedback signals  359  (e.g., signals representative of voltage and/or currents) associated with operation of the inverter circuit  320 . The inverter command signal  355  represents a reference for operation of a control loop for the inverter circuit  320  implemented by the PWM control block  358 . 
     One or more of the feedback signals  359  are also provided to a power control block  356 , also implemented in the processor  350 , which also receives a power command signal  353 , e.g., a signal representative of a real and/or reactive power to be produced by the inverter circuit  320 . Responsive to the power command signal  353  and the one or more feedback signals  359 , the power control block  356  produces the inverter command signal  355  that is supplied to the PWM control block  358 . In this manner, a voltage magnitude and phase at a node  325  of the bridge circuit  321  may be varied to effect a desired power transfer at the output  324  of the inverter circuit  320 . A test executive block  352  produces the power command signal  353 , and also provides a bypass command signal  351  to a bypass control block  354  implemented in the processor  350 . The bypass control block  354  responsively controls the bypass circuit  330  to couple and decouple the output  324  of the inverter circuit  320  and the input  312  of the rectifier circuit  312 . 
     It will be appreciated that the test executive block  352  may be configured to provide various configurations and operations of the apparatus  300  needed to conduct tests, such as loading tests, of the apparatus  300 . The test executive block  352  may be further configured to monitor status of components of the apparatus  300  during testing, such as voltages and/or current produced by the apparatus  300 , failures of components of the apparatus  300 , temperatures of various locations in the apparatus, and the like. It will also be understood that several of the component blocks implemented in processor  350  may serve functions other than the test control functions described above. For example, the power control block  356  and/or the PWM control block  358  may also be used for inverter control during “normal” operations using control blocks other than the test executive block  352 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary control loop configuration that may be implemented in the power control block  356  of  FIG. 3 . Respective real and reactive power computation blocks  415 ,  430  compute real and reactive power W inv , VAR inv  signals for the output  324  of the inverter circuit  320  responsive to phase current and voltage signals i AC , ν AC  (e.g., signals representative of current and voltage at the output  324  of the inverter circuit  320 ). These real and reactive power signals W inv , VAR inv  are subtracted from respective real and reactive power reference (command) signals W ref , VAR ref  at respective summing junction blocks  405 ,  420  to generate respective real and reactive power error signals that are applied to respective compensation blocks  410 ,  425  that provide respective transfer functions G w (z), G VAR (Z). The output of the reactive power compensation block  425  is a magnitude reference signal |Ref| that is representative of a voltage magnitude at the output  322  of the bridge circuit  321  of the inverter circuit  320  that will cause the inverter circuit  320  to approach the real power transfer indicated by the reactive power reference signal VAR ref . The output of the real power compensation block  410  is a phase offset signal θ offset  that is representative of a phase shift that will cause the inverter circuit  320  to approach the real power transfer indicated by the real power reference signal W ref . 
     The phase offset signal θ offset  is provided to another summing junction block  440 , where it is subtracted from a phase error signal θ error  produced by a phase/frequency detector block  435  responsive to a comparison of a signal ν bypass , which is representative of a voltage at the input  312  of the rectifier circuit  310  (and, due to the closed state of the bypass circuit  330 , of the output  324  of the inverter circuit  320 ), to a reference signal ν ref  provided to the inverter PWM control circuit  358 . The summing junction block  440  produces an adjusted error signal to an error controlled oscillator block  445 , which also receives a frequency error signal ω error  from the phase/frequency detector block  435 . 
     The error controlled oscillator block  445  responsively produces a frequency signal that is scaled by a gain block  450  before provision to an accumulator (integrator) including a summing junction block  455  and a zero-order hold (ZOH) block  460 . In particular, the error controlled oscillator block  445  produces a signal representative of a desired frequency for the inverter reference signal ν ref , and the gain block converts this frequency signal into an angle per step signal θ step  signal that represents the number of degrees of a sine wave that corresponds to a computational interval of the accumulator including the summing junction block  455  and the ZOH block  460 . The accumulator produces an angle reference signal θ ref , which is converted into a sinusoidal reference signal Ref sin  by a sine function block  465 , i.e., a block that computes sine values corresponding to the angle values of the angle reference signal θ ref . This sinusoidal reference signal Ref sin  is multiplied by the magnitude reference signal |Ref| in a multiplier block  470  to produce the inverter reference signal ν ref . 
     It will be appreciated that the functional blocks in  FIGS. 3 and 4  may be implemented in a number of different ways, such as software modules or objects. It will also be appreciated that the control structures of  FIGS. 3 and 4  are provided for illustrative purposes, and that a variety of different inverter control structures may be used with the invention. Such control structures generally may include digital control structures, analog control structures and combinations thereof. For example, all or some of the digital function blocks illustrated in  FIGS. 3 and 4  may be replaced with analog circuits that perform equivalent functions. 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , according to further embodiments of the invention, additional control may be provided for a rectifier of a power supply apparatus, such as the apparatus  300  of  FIG. 3 , such that real and/or reactive power transfer through the rectifier can be controlled in a manner similar to the inverter control described above. In particular,  FIG. 5  illustrates a power supply apparatus  500  that includes a rectifier circuit  510  having an input  512  configured to be coupled to an AC source (not shown) and including a bridge circuit  511  coupled to the input  512  by an impedance  513 . The rectifier circuit  510  is operative to provide power to a DC link  515  from AC power provided at its input  512 . The apparatus  500  also includes an inverter circuit  520  coupled to the DC link  515  and an output  524  configured to be coupled to a load (not shown). The inverter circuit  520  is operative to provide AC power at its output from DC power provided via the DC link  515 , and includes a bridge circuit  521  coupled to the DC link  515  and an impedance (e.g., an inductor)  523  that couples the bridge circuit  521  to the output  524 . The apparatus  500  further includes a bypass circuit (e.g., a static switch)  530  that is operative to couple and decouple the input  512  of the rectifier circuit  510  and the output  524  of the inverter circuit  520 . 
     The apparatus  500  also includes a processor  550  configured to provide control circuitry for the inverter circuit  520  and the bypass circuit  530 , including a PWM control block  553 , a power control block  552  and a bypass control block  556 , which may operate along the lines discussed above with reference to  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The processor  550  is further configured to provide control circuitry for the rectifier circuit  510 , including a PWM control block  555  and a power control block  554 , which control the bridge circuit  511  of the rectifier circuit  510  responsive to feedback signals associated with the rectifier circuit  510 . The power control block  554  and the PWM control block  555  are configured to vary a voltage magnitude and phase at a node  525  of the bridge circuit  511  responsive to a power command signal  561  to effect desired real and/or reactive power transfer at the input  512 . A test executive block  551  provides the rectifier and inverter power command signals  557 ,  561 , and also provides a bypass command signal  563  to the bypass control block  556 . 
       FIGS. 6-10  are schematic diagrams that illustrate exemplary operations according to some embodiments of the invention that may be performed by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) apparatus along the lines described above with reference to  FIGS. 1-5 . A power supply apparatus  600  includes a rectifier circuit  610  and an inverter circuit  620  coupled by a DC link  615 . The apparatus  600  further includes a bypass circuit  630 , and a battery (or other DC source) coupled to the DC link  615 . It will be appreciated that the battery  640  may be directly coupled to the DC link  615 , or may be coupled by a power converter circuit, e.g., a charger/converter circuit. 
     Still referring to  FIG. 6 , when an AC source  10  is coupled to the input of the apparatus  600 , the bypass circuit  630 , the rectifier circuit  610  and the inverter circuit  620  may be configured such that a circulating current is established therethrough. By controlling power transfer by the rectifier circuit  610  and the inverter circuit  620 , the circulating current may be used to emulate load test current for components of the apparatus  600 , including the rectifier, inverter and bypass circuits  610 ,  620 ,  630 , as well as other components associated with the circulating current path, such as current and temperature sensors. In this manner, various bum-in, commissioning and/or other tests may be conducted. This approach can allow testing without an actual load connected to the apparatus  600 , and can provide testing with minimal energy loss, as the AC source need only supply sufficient current to make up for losses in the apparatus  600 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , according to further embodiments of the invention, such testing make even take place while the apparatus  600  is supplying power to a load  20 . Such a technique may be particularly useful for performing maintenance tests in the field while still supporting critical loads. As shown in  FIG. 8 , the apparatus  600  may be tested by circulating power from the battery  640 , without connection to an external AC source  10 . As shown in  FIG. 9 , a discharge test of the battery  640  may be effected by disabling the rectifier circuit  610  and allowing current from the battery  640  flow through the inverter circuit  620  and the bypass circuit  630  into the external AC source  10 . 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a test configuration for parallel-connected UPSs  1010 ,  1020  according to further embodiments of the invention. In particular, desirable loading of components of the UPSs  1020 ,  1020  can be achieved by establishing a circulating current that passes through both of the UPSs  1010 ,  1020 . Such a circulating test current could be established by operating one UPS  1020  in a “normal” fashion, while controlling the inverter and/or rectifier of the second UPS  1020  to provide synthetic additional loading of the first UPS  1010 . 
     It will be appreciated that a variety of self-testing schemes fall within the scope of the invention. In some embodiments, if a rectifier of a UPS (or other power supply apparatus) has active components (e.g., along the lines illustrated in  FIG. 5 ), the rectifier&#39;s reactive power transfer may be controlled to match reactive power transfer from the UPS&#39;s inverter, such that reactive loading of the utility if desired. Further enhancements can be made to produce circulating currents that represent other types of loads such as harmonic or non-linear loads using inverter and/or rectifier control. For example, the inverter and rectifier could be controlled with current commands such that the inverter produces harmonic test currents (e.g., to simulate a non-linear load), and the rectifier generates harmonic currents that cancel the harmonic test currents generated by the inverter to reduce or prevent degradation of a utility source. 
     Power supply configurations according to various embodiments of the invention, such as those described above with reference to  FIGS. 6-10 , shown can be used by a manufacturing facility, customer, or service organization to perform integrity testing. Power supply apparatus components that can be tested include, but are not limited to, inverter power train and control connections, rectifier power train and control connections, bypass module, contactors, breakers, feedback signals, control circuitry, control processors located inside the UPS. Further embodiments may test breakers or other switchgear. In some embodiments, thermal controls, such as fans, heat sinks, and temperature sensors may be tested. Embodiments of the invention may verify system performance requirements, such as efficiency. 
     According to additional embodiments, a manufacturing facility, customer, or service organization may perform load testing while using reduced or minimal power to enable energy savings. A manufacturing facility that is load testing one of more UPS&#39; would not be required to install a large utility feed that would normally have to supply enough energy for all the UPSs that are tested, as the utility feed would only need to be large enough to cover the losses in the UPS. Testing may be controlled remotely via modem, network, internet, wireless or other communications device. 
     According to further aspects of the invention, UPS calibration could be automated. For example, if a bypass circuit is used to measure voltage and current and was known to be accurate, this information could be used to calibrate voltage and current measurements in other portions of the UPS. For example, the inverter and rectifier could be turned off but connected via a bypass. In this case no current would be circulating and one could adjust voltage measurements made by the inverter and rectifier so that they match the known accurate bypass voltage. Using a configuration as illustrated in  FIG. 6 , a circulating current could then be commanded, and rectifier and inverter current measured and sensor gains adjusted to match bypass current. 
     In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention. Although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined by the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 8