Base station power consumption reduction and communication power dormancy energy-saving technology

I. Introduction

As the scale of the network continues to expand, the core equipment, power systems, computer rooms, base stations, etc. of the communication network have increased exponentially, requiring a large amount of electricity. In addition, in order to ensure the normal operation of the core equipment, it is necessary to use air conditioners and other equipment to control the indoor temperature, which in turn causes high energy consumption.

At present, the entire communications industry consumes more than 20 billion kWh of electricity. From the perspective of sustainable development, energy conservation and emission reduction have become an important indicator for measuring the future development of enterprises.

Starting from the energy consumption of base stations, this paper analyzes the energy consumption model of base stations and proposes the cascade effect in base station energy consumption. On this basis, the energy saving of communication power equipment is analyzed in detail, the dormant energy saving mode is proposed, and the test results of the laboratory and actual sites are given. The results show that the dormant energy saving mode of communication power can effectively reduce the energy consumption of power supply system and base station.

2. Energy Consumption Model and Cascade Effect of Typical Base Stations

Figure 1 Base station energy consumption model

According to the equipment configuration and actual operation status of the base station, the energy consumption distribution of the base station is shown in Figure 1. According to statistics, the power consumption of the main equipment in the computer room accounts for about 43% of the total power consumption of the computer room, the power consumption of air conditioning accounts for about 46% of the total power consumption of the computer room, the power consumption of communication power accounts for about 8% of the power consumption of the computer room, and the remaining 3% comes from the power distribution and lighting devices in the computer room.

According to the current online equipment status, the typical efficiency of various equipment is shown in Table 1 below:

According to the working conditions of the equipment in the computer room and combined with the typical parameters of the equipment in Table 1, the energy efficiency logic diagram of the computer room can be deduced as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Energy efficiency logic diagram of the computer room

The communication power supply (AC/DC) itself is not a downstream device of the air conditioner, but considering that the air conditioner needs to dissipate heat for all equipment in the computer room (including the air conditioner itself), the air conditioner can be "equivalently" inserted into the front stage of all equipment in the computer room.

From the energy efficiency logic diagram of the computer room in Figure 2, we can see that the power consumption of equipment in the base station has a cascading effect, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment will be amplified step by step. Every watt of power saved by the base station equipment can lead to a 2.68 watt power saving for the entire site. Similarly, the energy consumption of the communication power supply equipment is reduced, which will also reduce the energy consumption of the power distribution and air conditioning in the computer room. Therefore, site energy saving should start from the terminal equipment and gradually move to the front end.

3. Energy saving of communication power supply equipment

The communication power supply is one of the key equipment in the communication bureau. From the energy consumption model of the base station, the communication power supply accounts for about 8% of the total energy consumption of the base station. Considering the cascading effect of energy consumption, the reduction of the power consumption of the base station power supply will also lead to the reduction of the power consumption of the front-end power distribution and air conditioning. Therefore, the energy saving of the communication power supply equipment has certain practical significance for the overall energy saving and consumption reduction of the computer room.

Figure 3 Communication power system efficiency curve

Energy conservation in the communication power supply system should start from improving the overall efficiency of the system. Figure 3 shows the efficiency curve of typical communication power supply equipment at different load rates. From the efficiency curve, it can be seen that the efficiency of communication power supply equipment increases from low load rate to high load rate. Considering the current configuration of communication power supply in the site, the configuration of the rectifier module includes the capacity of battery charging. Under normal circumstances, since the battery charging time is only very short compared to the operation of the entire system. Therefore, most of the time the power supply system operates in a low load rate range below 50%. In the stage of low traffic volume, the load rate of the power supply system will be further reduced. Therefore, the power supply system does not work in the optimal efficiency range most of the time.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that by controlling the power system to make the power system work in the optimal efficiency range, the efficiency of the power system can be improved, thereby achieving the purpose of energy saving.

4. Communication power sleep energy saving technology

The telecom power hibernation energy-saving technology is an effective means proposed by Emerson to reduce the energy consumption of telecom power. The main idea of ​​hibernation energy-saving technology is that the power system selectively turns on or hibernates some modules based on the system load and the working conditions of the current modules of the system through reasonable logical judgment and control, while ensuring the redundancy and safety of the system, so that the system works at the best efficiency point and ensures synchronous aging between modules.

The dormant energy-saving mode is different from the module's cold backup mode. In the dormant energy-saving mode, the module's main circuit stops working completely, the control circuit is still working, and the entire system is in standby mode. Once there is an abnormal situation such as an alarm, the dormant module can immediately enter the working state. This is completely different from the module's cold backup.

The dormancy energy-saving technology is also different from the traditional remote control shutdown technology. The traditional remote control shutdown function only shuts down the output part of the module, and the module input and other auxiliary circuits are still in working state. Therefore, the module still has a certain loss in the remote control shutdown state. In the module dormancy mode, the input and output of the module are completely in a closed state, and the standby loss of the entire module is significantly reduced.

The system works in the dormant energy-saving state. Once the load increases to a certain extent or the system is abnormal, the system will immediately wake up some dormant modules as needed, so that the entire system is always in a safe and reliable working state.

In addition, the system can put the modules into sleep mode in turn according to the set working time, so that the accumulated working time of each module is basically the same, so that all modules age evenly and avoid the phenomenon of excessive aging of individual modules.

After laboratory tests and actual site operation experiments, the communication power supply dormant energy-saving mode can effectively reduce the energy consumption of the communication power supply, and also has a significant effect on reducing the energy consumption of the entire computer room. Table 2 shows the efficiency comparison and energy-saving effect test data of a certain type of communication power supply system running on the Internet after energy-saving transformation, with an actual configuration of 210A system, before and after energy saving under different load rates. From the test results, it can be seen that after adopting the dormant energy-saving technology, the efficiency of the power supply system has been significantly improved and maintained at a relatively stable state under different load rates. Therefore, the dormant energy-saving technology achieves the purpose of reducing energy consumption by allowing the control system to work at the optimal efficiency point under different load conditions.

Table 2: Power system sleep energy saving test results

The power hibernation energy-saving technology has been verified by actual site operation. By comparing the average daily power consumption of the sites, it is shown that power hibernation energy-saving is very effective in reducing the energy consumption of the computer room.

V. Conclusion

Through the analysis of this article, we can draw the following conclusions:

1. The energy consumption of communication station equipment has a cascading effect, and the power consumption of terminal equipment will be amplified step by step upward. Therefore, reducing the energy consumption of terminal equipment in the station will lead to a greater reduction in the energy consumption of the entire equipment room.

2. Due to its configuration and working characteristics, communication power equipment does not work at its optimal efficiency point most of the time.

3. The dormant energy-saving function of the communication power supply is different from the module shutdown and remote control shutdown. The dormant energy-saving technology can ensure that the system works in the optimal efficiency range under the condition of normal operation of the power supply system, and minimize the energy consumption of the equipment.

4. The results of laboratory tests and actual site operations show that the dormant energy-saving technology has a significant effect on reducing equipment energy consumption.