US 8,803,362 B2Granted

Standalone unit of a standalone power grid for communicating energy requests with another standalone unit

Assigneevoltwerk electronics GmbH

InventorArmin U. Schmiegel

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Abstract

The invention relates to a standalone unit for a standalone power grid, to a standalone power grid comprising a standalone unit and to a method for controlling a standalone power grid. In order to permit reduced recourse to an external power grid or public power grid, the standalone unit according to the invention comprises a power generation unit, in particular a photovoltaic unit, for generating power from renewable resources, an energy storage unit for storing energy, a load connection unit for connecting the standalone unit to a load unit for consuming energy, a grid unit, in particular an inverter unit, for connecting the standalone unit to a power grid, for drawing energy from the power grid and for feeding energy into the power grid, and an interface unit for communicating an energy withdrawal request and/or an energy storage request with a second standalone unit.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A standalone unit for a standalone power grid, comprising:

a photovoltaic unit for generating power from renewable resources,
an energy storage unit for storing energy,
a consumer connection unit for connecting the standalone unit to a consumer unit for the consumption of energy,
a grid unit, including an inverter unit, for connecting the standalone unit to a power grid, for drawing energy from the power grid and for feeding energy into the power grid, and
an interface unit for communicating an energy withdrawal request or an energy storage request with a second standalone unit, which is adapted to send to the second standalone unit the energy storage request to store energy in the second standalone unit or an energy withdrawal request to draw energy from the second standalone unit,
wherein energy withdrawal requests and energy storage requests are sent using direct communications from the standalone unit to only one other adjacent standalone unit in the standalone power grid without communicating through a central control unit, and wherein the other standalone unit is adapted to decide autonomously whether to handle the requests or to forward the requests to a next adjacent unit, wherein a specific sequence of standalone units is defined within the standalone power grid for energy balancing among adjacent standalone units.

3 more elements

A method for controlling a standalone power unit for a standalone power grid, comprising:

communicating an energy withdrawal request or energy storage request between the standalone power unit and a second standalone unit;
receiving energy withdrawal requests from the second standalone unit at the standalone unit to draw energy from the standalone unit;
sending energy withdrawal requests from the standalone unit to the second standalone unit to draw energy from the second standalone unit;
receiving energy storage requests from the second standalone unit to the standalone unit to store energy in the standalone unit;
sending energy storage requests from the standalone unit to the second standalone unit to store energy in the second standalone unit;
and
forwarding energy withdrawal requests or energy storage requests from the standalone unit to the second standalone unit, wherein the energy withdrawal requests and energy storage requests are sent using direct communications from the standalone unit to only the second standalone unit in the standalone power grid without communicating with a central control unit, and wherein the second standalone unit is adapted to decide autonomously whether to handle the requests or to forward the requests to a next adjacent unit for energy balancing among adjacent standalone units within the standalone power grid.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/875,945Filed 3 Sep 2010
Priority: DE 10 2009 040 0914 Sep 2009
Published: US 2011/0080044 A17 Apr 2011
Granted: 12 Aug 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H02J 3/381
Arrangements for feeding a single network from two or more generators or sources in parallel; Arrangements for feeding already energised…
H02J 3/388
Arrangements for feeding a single network from two or more generators or sources in parallel; Arrangements for feeding already energised…
H02J 2101/24
Solar energy: photovoltaics
Y02B 10/10
Integration of renewable energy sources in buildings: photovoltaic [PV]