The Power Management Unit is the central node in the power supply system of the OCEANOR oceanographic buoys. The main functions of the unit are:
- Control the charging and discharging of the batteries.
- Supervise the battery voltage and switch to back-up source or disconnect the load if necessary.
- Power ON/ OFF switch.
- Provide power for the various load requirements.
- Provide powersystem status information to the GENI data logger.
In addition, the unit provides auxiliary features like:
- Optional DC/DC conversion
- Externally controlled high-power drivers
- 5-LED status indicator panel
To provide fail-safe operation of the system, the Power Management Unit comprises two boards in a 2:1 redundancy configuration. One is configured as master (nominally active) and the other is configured as slave (nominally passive). An error situation detected in the master will raise a status flag, and the slave will automatically take over operation and inhibit the master.