622 results about "Distributed generation" patented technology

A method and system are associated with distributed generation of electric power. Power demand data of at least one electric power consumer is monitored over time. Power supply data of a regional power distribution system is also monitored over time. The power demand data and the power supply data are analyzed to coordinate control of at least one distributed generation system associated with the electric power consumer.

A system and method for lower cost, high efficiency, thermophotovoltaic distributed generation includes: an emitter, a photovoltaic cell, and transient electrical energy storage.

This invention is a server for calculating a value of a power generated by distributed power generation with a small environmental load. The server has a function of receiving power information on a distributed power-generation facility transmitted through a network from an information terminal possessed by at least one of a holder of the distributed generation facility, a power manager of the distributed generation facility, and a trader brokering power related payment of the holder of the distributed generation facility, a function of accumulating the received power information, directly inputted power information, and value information used for determining a value of the power, and an arithmetic function of calculating the value of the power from the power information and value information.In a distributed power generation management system, the value of the power generated by using natural energy is calculated and evaluated so as to expedite introduction of the generation facility using natural energy.

An energy optimization method and control apparatus may be used in a single building or a group of buildings to optimize utility-supplied and renewable sources in order to minimize the total energy cost. Simultaneously, it may also produce and store energy, such as electricity or hydrogen, that can be used to fuel vehicles, provide a means for independent production of household energy needs, or both. Various factors, such as the production of thermal energy and electricity from the renewable sources, the current store of stored energy, the current and expected thermal and electricity requirements of the building (based on a profile), the current and expected electricity loads of the equipment used to process stored energy, the expected thermal and electricity generating capacity of the renewable sources and other factors can be used to determine the mix of renewable-based and utility-based energy that minimizes the total energy cost.

A method for distributed tokenization of sensitive strings of characters, such as social security numbers, credit card numbers and the like, in a local server is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of receiving from a central server at least one, and preferably at least two, static token lookup tables, and receiving a sensitive string of characters. In a first tokenization step, a first substring of characters is substituted with a corresponding first token from the token lookup table(s) to form a first tokenized string of characters, wherein the first substring of characters is a substring of the sensitive string of characters. Thereafter, in a second step of tokenization, a second substring of characters is substituted with a corresponding second token from the token lookup table(s) to form a second tokenized string of characters, wherein the second substring of characters is a substring of the first tokenized string of characters. Optionally, one or more additional tokenization steps is / are used.

A system and method for managing the distributed generation of power from a plurality of vehicles is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes determining location information for the plurality of vehicles, determining that a demand for power in a first portion of the power grid has reached a power threshold, determining that the location information associated with a set of the plurality of vehicles satisfies a similarity threshold with the first portion of the power grid, and transmitting a request to a first group of vehicles in the set of vehicles to discharge power. In addition, the method may include receiving a response from at least some of the electric vehicles to which a request was transmitted, and determining whether to request the discharge of power from additional vehicles in the set of the plurality of vehicles based, at least in part, on the number of responses containing a confirmation of the discharge of power. The portion of the power grid may comprise a medium voltage power line or a substation.

The invention specifically discloses a power distribution network simulation research and analysis system and method based on network-wide data. The system comprises a three-layer structure: a data layer, a platform layer and an application layer. The data layer mainly collects basic and operation data of a distribution network; the platform layer mainly gathers and summarizes various data of the distribution network and provides corresponding services to the application layer; and the application layer mainly, under the support of the platform layer and based on network-wide equipment and operation data, carries out a series of correlated application researches related to the power distribution network on scientific modeling, load flow calculation, fault analysis, closed-loop calculation, network reconstruction and self-healing simulation modules of the power distribution network comprising a lot of distributed generation, so as to realize comprehensive digital simulation of the power distribution network, and to provide decision reference for the construction and operation of the power distribution network.

A system and method for controlling distributed generation equipment based on remotely derived dispatch schemes improves economics and reliability of operation. The system can adapt to variable changing conditions in real-time to provide adaptable, real-time, site-specific load forecasting.

An inverter system for delivering energy from a source of direct current (dc) to an alternating current (ac) utility is provided. The inverter system comprises a dc / dc converter coupled to the source of dc for synthesizing a time-varying current from the dc, an output inductor coupled to the dc / dc converter, and an inverter coupled to the output inductor for supplying the time-varying current to the ac utility in phase with a voltage of the ac utility.

An energy optimization method and control apparatus may be used in a single building or a group of buildings to optimize utility-supplied and renewable sources in order to minimize the total energy cost. Simultaneously, it may also produce and store energy, such as electricity or hydrogen, that can be used to fuel vehicles, provide a means for independent production of household energy needs, or both. Various factors, such as the production of thermal energy and electricity from the renewable sources, the current store of stored energy, the current and expected thermal and electricity requirements of the building (based on a profile), the current and expected electricity loads of the equipment used to process stored energy, the expected thermal and electricity generating capacity of the renewable sources and other factors can be used to determine the mix of renewable-based and utility-based energy that minimizes the total energy cost.

Embodiments relate to a method and system for power demand shaping (PDS) so as to manage power generation and use. Specific embodiments relate to data center power demand shaping to achieve high-performance low-overhead data center operation. Specific embodiments can incorporate standard (utility power) energy sources, renewable energy sources, or a combination of standard (utility power) energy sources and renewable energy sources. Embodiments of the subject PDS techniques can incorporate trimming the data center load power so as to allow DG systems to follow the power demand efficiently and / or incorporate two adaptive load tuning schemes that can boost data center performance and enable near-oracle operation during power demand trimming process. To implement a cross-layer power optimization scheme, embodiments of the subject invention relate to a power management module that can reside between front-end distributed generation and back-end computing facilities to provide a coordinated tuning between the supply and load.

This invention deals with an advanced Real-time Grid Monitoring System (RTGMS) suitable for both single-phase and three-phase electric power systems. This invention provides an essential signal processing block to be used as a part of complex systems either focused on supervising and diagnosing power systems or devoted to control power processors interacting with the grid. This invention is based on a new algorithm very suitable for real-time characterization of the grid variables under distorted and unbalanced grid conditions. The main characteristic of this invention is the usage of a frequency-locked loop, based on detecting the grid frequency, for synchronizing to the grid variables. It results in a very robust system response in relation to existing technique based on the phase-angle detection since grid frequency is much more stable variable than the grid voltage / current phase-angle, mainly during grid faults. Moreover, the algorithm supporting this invention is very efficient and can be implemented in regular industrial microprocessors. These features make the RTGMS object of this invention ideal to be applied in the control of distributed generation systems (DGS), flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS), power quality conditioners (PQC) and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). In all these systems, the fast and precise real time detection of the voltage and / or current sequence components under grid fault conditions is a crucial matter.

A system and method for managing the distributed generation of power from a plurality of vehicles is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes determining location information for the plurality of vehicles, determining that a demand for power in a first portion of the power grid has reached a power threshold, determining that the location information associated with a set of the plurality of vehicles satisfies a similarity threshold with the first portion of the power grid, and transmitting a request to a first group of vehicles in the set of vehicles to discharge power. In addition, the method may include receiving a response from at least some of the electric vehicles to which a request was transmitted, and determining whether to request the discharge of power from additional vehicles in the set of the plurality of vehicles based, at least in part, on the number of responses containing a confirmation of the discharge of power. The portion of the power grid may comprise a medium voltage power line or a substation.

The invention discloses an alternating current and direct current hybrid micro-grid system and a control strategy of the micro-grid system. The micro-grid system comprises multiple generation units, load, a distribution line for connecting the generation units and the loads, and a monitoring protection unit; each generation unit comprises a large power grid, grid-connected AC / DC (alternating current / direct current) of the large power grid, an energy storage system, a DC / DC (direct current / direct current) converter of the energy storage system, a wind power generation system, an AC / DC converter of the wind power generation system, a photovoltaic power generation system, a DC / DC converter of the photovoltaic power generation system, and a diesel generator; said load includes AC non-significant load, AC significant load, AC / DC load, DC significant load and DC non-significant load; the distribution line comprises a DC distribution line and an AC distribution line; the operating status of each energy conversion device can be monitored in real time by the monitoring protection unit, two operating ways such as grid connection and isolation of the system can be realized by different control strategies, the distributive generation unit and the energy storage unit realize coordination and cooperation by controlling energy storage DC / DC, photovoltaic DC / DC, and wind power AC / DC, so that the power supply reliability is improved and the significant load can continuously operate.

A control system (20) for a power converter (22) designed to convert DC power from a source (30) such as a battery, flywheel or fuel cell into AC power. The control system includes an impedance current regulator (106) for providing an impedance current signal to a summing unit (110) where it may be combined with real and reactive current command signals provided from respective sources (62, 64). The resultant current signal provided by the summing unit is provided to a voltage correction unit (112) that uses the resultant current signal in developing a correction voltage signal provided to the power converter. The correction voltage signal contains information used by the power converter in adjusting the real and reactive currents in its output AC power based on the ability of the AC power network to accept changes in current. Multiple power converters having the control system of the present invention may be connected in parallel to a single AC load or multiple AC loads, without the need for a separate control system interconnecting the power converters. The control system may be advantageously incorporated into a distributed generation network and in uninterruptible power systems, whether or not such systems are included in a distributed generation network.

The invention relates to a virtual synchronous generator control method based on self-adapting moment inertia. The output of a grid-connected inverter in distributed generation is connected with an AC bus of a filter capacitor Cf which is in parallel connection with the grid-connected inverter through a filter inductor Lf; sampling is performed to obtain the output power, the voltage and the current of an output interface of an inverter; the output power, the voltage and the current are transmitted to a VSG (virtual synchronous generator) algorithm; the calculated terminal voltage of a VSG stator is sent to be controlled by a voltage external loop; the voltage external loop adopts a PI controller to stably load the voltage; the current of the filter capacitor is sent to be controlled by a voltage internal loop; the voltage internal loop adopts a PI controller to increase the response speed; a control signal is outputted by a voltage-current dual-closed loop to the grid-connected inverter; the moment inertia in the virtual synchronous generator in the control method can be changed in a self-adapted manner according to the change capacity of the system frequency. Through the adoption of the virtual synchronous generator control method disclosed by the invention, the transient state process of the system is reduced; a great deal of harmonic waves in the system is offset; the stability of frequency and the stability of voltage can be improved; the adaptability and the power supply quality of a micro-electrical network are improved; the problem that in a conventional method, the output frequency is reduced, is solved.

Embodiments relate to a method and system for power demand shaping (PDS) so as to manage power generation and use. Specific embodiments relate to data center power demand shaping to achieve high-performance low-overhead data center operation. Specific embodiments can incorporate standard (utility power) energy sources, renewable energy sources, or a combination of standard (utility power) energy sources and renewable energy sources. Embodiments of the subject PDS techniques can incorporate trimming the data center load power so as to allow DG systems to follow the power demand efficiently and / or incorporate two adaptive load tuning schemes that can boost data center performance and enable near-oracle operation during power demand trimming process. To implement a cross-layer power optimization scheme, embodiments of the subject invention relate to a power management module that can reside between front-end distributed generation and back-end computing facilities to provide a coordinated tuning between the supply and load.

A distributed generation system that can suppress a voltage fluctuation caused by a distributed generation by an apparatus of a small power capacity in the distributed generation itself and stabilize the power system voltage without inserting interharmonic voltage or current into the power system and without interference among a plurality of distributed generations. Parameter α(t) varying with time is estimated based on fluctuating component ΔP of the active power P generated by the distributed generation and the voltage fluctuating component ΔV attributable to the distributed generation developed at the point of connection between the distributed generation and power system. The distributed generation produces reactive power Q=−αP or Q=−αΔP, to thereby suppresses only the voltage fluctuation of the power system attributable to the distributed generation.

The invention belongs to the technical field of energy management of distributed generation energy supply systems of electric power systems. The control method comprises the following steps: before running a combined system on every workday, extracting history cooling load data and power load data of a terminal user from a historical data base and obtaining the delay variation curve of the coolingload and the power load of the terminal user during the whole workday by lone-term load predicting; according to load predicting results, working out the optimal generated output plan of the combinedsystem by adopting optimization control mathematical model; during the running of the combined system, carrying out optimization control calculation again by utilizing the terminal user real-time cooling and power load need obtained from the distributed control system, and modifying the generating capacity and the refrigerating capacity of the combined system. The invention utilizes a distributedmonitoring system to monitor the actual cooling and power load need of the terminal user and can modify the load forecasting result in real time and adjusting the respective controlled variable of the combined system.

An interleaved soft switching bridge power converter comprises switching poles operated in an interleaved manner so as to substantially reduce turn-on switching losses and diode reverse-recovery losses in the switching pole elements. Switching poles are arranged into bridge circuits that are operated so as to provide a desired voltage, current and / or power waveform to a load. By reducing switching turn on and diode reverse recovery losses, soft switching power converters of the invention may operate efficiently at higher switching frequencies. Soft switching power converters of the invention are well suited to high power and high voltage applications such as plasma processing, active rectifiers, distributed generation, motor drive inverters and class D power amplifiers.

The invention discloses a control method of a three-phase grid-connected inverter based on a modified proportional resonant regulator. The method comprises the following steps of: firstly, computing according to given active and reactive powers of the inverter and a voltage of a power grid to obtain required d-axis and q-axis currents under a synchronous coordinate system, and performing coordinate transformation by combining with phase information which is measured by a phase locking loop and a measured three-phase voltage signal of the power grid to obtain a current reference signal under a stationary alpha-beta coordinate system; secondly, performing coordinate transformation on an output current signal of the inverter to the alpha-beta coordinate system, controlling and tracking the current reference signal by the modified proportional resonant regulator with a harmonic compensator; and finally, returning to an abc coordinate system by coordinate transformation to generate a pulse-width modulation (PWM) pulse-control three-phase full-bridge inverter output, so as to make a distributed generation system grid-connected for power generation. By the method, a large number of complicated computation processes are eliminated, and a control structure is simplified. The control method of the three-phase grid-connected inverter based on the modified proportional resonant regulator is an accurate and high-efficiency novel inverter control method and has a bright development future.

A utility processing system includes a utility processor which accepts utility metering and pricing data as inputs and outputs consumption decisions and usage and billing information. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the utility processor obtains metering data from utility meters located at remote consumer facilities and obtains utility pricing data from the Internet. The utility processor then uses an optimization algorithm to determine an optimum consumption decision. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the optimum consumption decision can include purchasing electricity from the grid, generating electricity using a Distributed Generation ("DG") system, conserving electricity using a Demand-Side Management ("DSM") system, and switching to alternative fuel sources. In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, the utility processor provides various pricing, billing, and usage data to customers.

The present invention provides a Hybrid GA (HGA) in which local optimization operation is performed to only a few individual with lower fitness selected from each population of widely distributed generations in genetic algorithm (GA). Since this HGA shows very powerful global searching ability even in a vast multi-dimensional parameter space with strong multi-peak feature, the present invention may efficiently determine a number of structural parameters from a little information included in X-ray diffraction circles. As a result, the present invention may determine a complicated material structure from powder specimen even though it is hard to make a single crystal specimen. Thus, the development of new materials would be highly accelerated in the field of medicines or materials, etc.

In a utility power distribution system having at least one primary electric power source and at least one secondary electric power source, each of said primary and secondary sources being connected to the distribution system through respective controllable circuit breakers, the improvement comprising communication signal generating apparatus arranged for introducing a communication signal into the power distribution system from the connection of the primary power source, communication signal receiving apparatus arranged for receiving the communication signal via the power distribution system at the secondary power source, and apparatus responsive to the interruption of receipt of the communication signal at the receiving apparatus for operating the circuit breakers at the secondary power source for disconnecting the secondary power source from the power distribution system.

The invention provides a method for micro-grid system coordinated control based on multi-element composite energy storage. The method includes the steps that a flywheel energy storage unit is additionally arranged so that output fluctuation of voltage can be restrained; when a micro-grid system is in grid-connected operation, a battery energy storage unit and the flywheel energy storage unit restrain output fluctuation of a distributed generation unit; when the micro-grid system is in off-grid operation, the battery energy storage unit and a diesel generator alternately serve as a main power source of the micro-grid system; when grid-connected operation and off-grid operation of the micro-grid system are switched, the flywheel energy storage unit and the diesel generator provide power support. Through the method, the use rate of renewable energy sources is improved, optimal operation of power grids is achieved, instant high-power fluctuation and long time scale fluctuation of photovoltaic output are restrained, each distributed generation device is controlled in a coordinated mode, and timely, accurate and rapid coordination action of the devices can be guaranteed.

The invention discloses an energy optimizing dispatching method of a home hybrid power supply system in a real-time power price environment. The energy optimizing dispatching method comprises the steps of establishing a flexible load working model according to a linear inequality constraint condition, obtaining electric energy matching between DG (distributed generation) and a load by use of a genetic algorithm (GA), performing automatic optimization by use of the information of the DG and the RTP (Real Time Price) and arranging the flexible load to operate at a lowest-price moment, developing a charge / discharge policy of an energy storage device to realize the energy re-planning of the DG, thereby satisfying the balance between supply and demand of the DG and the load, and finally, making up the difference between supply and demand in such a manner of supplying power to a storage battery or the load from a large power grid and reducing the power purchase cost to an utmost extent. The energy optimizing dispatching method of the home hybrid power supply system in the real-time power price environment provides detailed algorithm description for an actual smart home user as a test object; besides, the effectiveness of the developed policy in improving the utilization rate of the electric energy of the DG and the economic benefit of the user is proven through a series of experiments.

A small scale, concentrated solar power generation system includes a solar field of parabolic reflectors that may be located in proximity to load centers such that waste heat from the generation system may be employed in distributed, auxiliary applications.

A distributed generation power system includes a utility meter connectable to an electric utility provider and configured to communicate with a communication device of the utility provider, an inverter configured to convert distributed generation (DG) power generated by a DG power source into AC power, and an intermediate connector configured to connect the meter and inverter to constitute an integrated inverter-meter. The integrated inverter-meter is configured to communicate a measured aggregate amount of the DG power and a measured amount of power consumed on site to the communication device of the utility provider. The inverter is configured to receive at least one operating command from the meter and / or the communication device of the utility provider. The integrated inverter-meter is configured to alter a control parameter of the operating state of the inverter in accordance with the operating command, and to alter an operating state of the DG power source and / or at least one load connectable to the site.

The invention discloses a multi-network-combined home microgrid electric-energy consumption interactive management system and a method thereof. Based on a plurality of network protocols, a communication mode is selected for realizing information interaction between equipment. Intelligent monitoring equipment is used for monitoring. Network communication is performed through a home gateway, the intelligent monitoring equipment and a power grid. A management server acquires and analyzes information of the intelligent monitoring equipment and acquires an optimal electric-energy utilization solution. Particularly, the multi-network-combined home microgrid electric-energy consumption interactive management system comprises a home microgrid electric-energy consumption management terminal, the home gateway, an intelligent socket, a distributed-power-supply accessing integrated device, a temperature and humidity sensor, an infrared sensor and a smart meter. The multi-network-combined home microgrid electric-energy consumption interactive management system realizes multi-network fusion and intercommunication; information interaction among different kinds of equipment; acquisition for information of main home electric-energy consumption equipment, distributed power generating equipment and room environment; network communication between the intelligent monitoring equipment and a power grid information service platform; effective interaction between a user and the power grid; high-efficiency electric-energy management and sufficient utilization for clean renewable energy.