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US 11,777,311 B2Granted
Grid-tied variable frequency facility
AssigneeNeworld Energy LLC
InventorsPaul W. Donahue, Ryan Paul Donahue, Jeffrey Alan Dankworth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A microgrid comprises an electric vehicle battery storage system that supplies a first DC signal, a bus bar that receives the first DC signal and provides a combined DC signal, a frequency variable and/or voltage variable inverter that receives the combined DC signal, converts, responsive to one or more control signals, the combined DC signal into a first AC signal having variable frequency and/or variable voltage, and provides the first AC signal having the variable frequency and/or voltage to the electrical loads of the facility, and a DC to AC that receives, responsive to the one or more control signals, the combined DC signal from the bus bar, and converts the combined DC signal to a second AC signal.
Claims20
A microgrid comprising:
- an electric vehicle battery storage system associated with an electric vehicle, the electric vehicle battery storage system configured to supply a first DC signal;
- a bus bar configured to receive a plurality of DC signals that are associated with diverse DC energy sources and provide a combined DC signal, the diverse DC energy sources including at least the electric vehicle battery storage system;
- one or more first sensors configured to sense first power characteristics of the combined DC signal, the sensed first power characteristics including one or more of current and voltage of the combined DC signal;
- one or more second sensors configured to sense second power characteristics of a first AC signal being supplied to electrical loads of a facility, the sensed second power characteristics including one or more of current, voltage, frequency and harmonic contents of power of the first AC signal being supplied to the electrical loads of the facility;
- a power controller in communication with the one or more first sensors and the one or more second sensors, the power controller comprising a processor and memory configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to obtain the sensed first and second power characteristics, to calculate the electrical loads of the facility based at least in part on the first and second sensed power characteristics, and to generate one or more control signals based on the calculated electrical loads of the facility;
- DC power electronics in communication with the electric vehicle battery storage system and the bus bar, the DC power electronics configured to receive the first DC signal, to control, based at least in part on the one or more control signals, voltage of the first DC signal, and to provide the voltage-controlled DC signal to the bus bar;
- a frequency variable and/or voltage variable inverter in communication with the processor, the bus bar, and the electrical loads of the facility, wherein the frequency variable and/or voltage variable inverter outputs the first AC signal, the frequency variable and/or voltage variable inverter configured to receive the combined DC signal from the bus bar, to convert the combined DC signal into the first AC signal, to modify frequency and/or voltage of the first AC signal based at least in part on the one or more control signals and voltage of the combined DC signal, and to provide the first AC signal having the modified frequency and/or modified voltage to the electrical loads of the facility, wherein the voltage of the combined DC signal is dependent upon the sensed first power characteristics;
- and
- a DC to AC inverter in communication with the bus bar, the DC to AC inverter configured to receive, responsive to the one or more control signals, the combined DC signal from the bus bar, and convert the combined DC signal to a second AC signal.
6 more elements
A method to power systems of a facility from an electric vehicle that is in communication with variable frequency/variable voltage power electronics, the method comprising:
- providing, from a bus bar that is configured to receive a plurality of DC signals that are associated with diverse DC energy sources, a combined DC signal, the diverse DC energy sources including at least an electric vehicle battery storage system that is associated with the electric vehicle, the electric vehicle battery storage system providing a first DC signal;
- sensing first power characteristics of the combined DC signal, the sensed first power characteristics including one or more of current and voltage of the combined DC signal;
- sensing second power characteristics of a first AC signal being supplied to electrical loads of the facility, the sensed second power characteristics including one or more of current, voltage, frequency and harmonic content of power of the first AC signal being supplied to the electrical loads of the facility;
- calculating the electrical loads of the facility based at least in part on the sensed first and second power characteristics;
- generating one or more control signals based on the calculated electrical loads of the facility;
- with DC power electronics, controlling, based at least in part on the one or more control signals, voltage of the first DC signal, and providing the voltage controlled DC signal to the bus bar;
- with a frequency variable/voltage variable inverter, converting the combined DC signal from the bus bar into the first AC signal, adjusting frequency and/or voltage of the first AC signal based at least in part on the one or more control signals and voltage of the combined DC signal, and providing the first AC signal having the adjusted frequency and/or adjusted voltage to the electrical loads of the facility, wherein the voltage of the combined DC signal is dependent upon the sensed first power characteristics;
- and
- responsive to the one or more control signals, converting, with a DC to AC inverter, the combined DC signal to a second AC signal.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.