Patent ID: 8412272

Claim:
A method for managing rectifier circuitry that supplies power to radio and telecommunications circuitry at a cell site, wherein the rectifier circuitry includes multiple rectifiers, the method comprising: monitoring a current drawn by the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site, wherein one or more rectifiers in the rectifier circuitry are online, and wherein the online rectifiers rectify an input power source and provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site; and one or more rectifiers in the rectifier circuitry are offline, and wherein the offline rectifiers do not provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site; determining whether the drawn current or a rectifier rotation policy necessitates changing which rectifiers in the rectifier circuitry are online, wherein the determination further comprises determining whether the drawn current or the rectifier rotation policy necessitates bringing one or more rectifiers online; and determining whether the drawn current or the rectifier rotation policy necessitates taking one or more outgoing rectifiers offline; when the drawn current or the rotation policy necessitates bringing one or more rectifiers online, then: selecting, in accordance with the rectifier rotation policy, one or more rectifiers to bring online; bringing the selected rectifiers online so that they rectify the input power source and provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site; determining currents provided by each of the online rectifiers; and comparing the currents of the online rectifiers to test the online rectifiers for failures; and, when the drawn current or the rotation policy necessitates taking one or more rectifiers offline, then: identifying, in accordance with the rectifier rotation policy, one or more outgoing rectifiers to take offline; and taking the identified rectifiers offline so that they do not provide current to the radio and telecommunications circuitry at the cell site.