Backup Power Load Shedding for Home Battery Overload Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing home battery backup systems often become overloaded when powering multiple electrical loads simultaneously, leading to overheating or shutdown, resulting in an undesirable user experience and inefficient resource utilization, as they require large and costly systems to prevent worst-case scenarios.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of intelligent load management techniques, including load shedding, time of use arbitration, and load optimization, facilitated by intelligent power control devices that selectively modulate power to loads, allowing for autonomous decision-making based on local electrical measurements to prevent overload without explicit real-time communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the battery system is designed to be large enough to handle worst-case loading conditions, then the system can prevent overload and shutdown, but the cost and resource efficiency decrease significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by proactively shedding non-critical loads before the battery system reaches its maximum capacity. The load management module continuously monitors battery state of charge and power output, and preemptively disconnects lower-priority loads when the battery approaches critical thresholds, preventing overload conditions before they occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments loads into different priority levels (critical, non-critical, and controllable loads). By dividing the total load into segmented categories with different shedding priorities, the system can selectively manage which loads to maintain during battery operation, allowing a smaller battery to adequately support essential functions without needing to size for all possible simultaneous loads.
2Ease of operation
If the battery system operates without intelligent load management, then the system is simpler to implement, but the system becomes overloaded and shuts down, degrading user experience
Solution Approach 1:
The load management module operates autonomously using self-service principles. It continuously monitors battery state of charge, power output, and load conditions, and automatically makes decisions about which loads to shed or maintain based on pre-configured priorities and real-time conditions, without requiring user intervention or complex external control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback control by continuously monitoring battery state of charge and power output, comparing these measurements against threshold values, and automatically adjusting load shedding decisions based on the feedback from these measurements. This closed-loop control ensures reliable operation while maintaining simple implementation.
Data Source
AI summary
Controlling a load includes sensing a characteristic of a circuit. A device loads the circuit. It further includes, based at least in part on the sensed characteristic, determining whether the circuit is in a state in which load shedding should be performed. It further includes controlling a switch to control power from the circuit to the device.