Back to results
US 12,119,656 B2Granted
Hydrogen energy storage for power time shifting
AssigneeCaterpillar Inc.
InventorsBrandon Joseph Mabe, Mark David Anderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An energy storage system for power time shifting is described herein. The energy storage system allows for the selection of which energy source to use. The energy storage system further allows for a determination as to whether or not excess energy should be stored, used, or sold. The energy storage system can use historical data to predict energy usage and costs in the future to further refine energy usage, storage, or sale determinations.
Claims20
An energy storage system, the system comprising:
- a microgrid for receiving a first source of energy from a plurality of energy sources;
- a hydrogen generation apparatus operably connected to the plurality of energy sources, the hydrogen generation apparatus configured to use excess energy of the first source of energy from at least one of the plurality of energy sources to create hydrogen;
- a hydrogen gas storage for storing the hydrogen created by the hydrogen generation apparatus;
- a hydrogen combustion genset operably connected to the hydrogen gas storage and natural gas, the hydrogen combustion genset being capable of combusting fuel comprising natural gas, diesel, gasoline, or hydrogen to produce a second source of energy;
- and
- a hydrogen energy storage controller configured to provide an instruction to a load manager managing a plurality of loads to use the first source of energy or the second source of energy to power at least one of the plurality of loads, the hydrogen energy storage controller comprising:
- a cost function analyzer to determine the instruction by:
- receiving, at the hydrogen energy storage controller, first information indicating a first cost to purchase the first source of energy to power the at least one of the plurality of loads using the first source of energy;
- receiving, at the hydrogen energy storage controller, second information indicating a second cost to produce the second source of energy from the excess energy of the first source of energy and to use the second source of energy generated by the hydrogen combustion genset combusting the hydrogen stored in the hydrogen gas storage or by the hydrogen combustion genset combusting the natural gas;
- and
- generating the instruction to the load manager to instruct the at least one of the plurality of loads to use the first source of energy if the first cost is lower than the second cost, generating the instruction to the load manager to use the second source of energy if the second cost is lower than the first cost, or generating the instruction to the load manager to instruct the at least one of the plurality of loads to use the first source of energy if the first source of energy is a renewable source of energy;
- and
- a communication interface to transmit the instruction to the load manager.
10 more elements
A method for hydrogen energy storage for power time shifting, the method comprising:
- loading definitions comprising operational limitations and parameters associated with one or more loads;
- loading inputs comprising weighting variables associated with one or more power sources;
- receiving power supply data comprising an identification of the one or more power sources, an availability of the one or more power sources, an amount of power output available for each of the one or more power sources, and a cost associated with a use of each of the one or more power sources;
- executing a cost function analyzer to determine which of the one or more power sources to use as a selected power source for the one or more loads and how much excess power of the one or more power sources is converted to hydrogen gas and stored for future use;
- and
- transmitting an output to a load manager, the output comprising an identification of the selected power source to be used by the one or more loads.
3 more elements
A hydrogen energy storage controller, comprising:
- a memory storing computer-executable instructions;
- and
- a processor in communication with the memory, the computer-executable instructions causing the processor to perform acts comprising:
- executing a cost function analyzer to determine which of one or more power sources to use as a selected power source for one or more loads, a lowest cost power source being the selected power source, and how much excess power is converted to hydrogen gas and stored for future use, wherein the one or more power sources comprises:
- a solar energy source;
- a wind energy source;
- a power grid source;
- natural gas;
- and
- the hydrogen gas converted from the excess power of the one or more power sources, the hydrogen gas stored in a gas storage;
- and
- transmitting an output to a load manager, the output comprising an identification of the selected power source to be used by the one or more loads.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.