Cloud Grid Management Using Virtualized Regional Control Services
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Solution Overview
Problem
Utilities face limitations in expanding service to distant geographic regions and providing dynamic functionality due to the fixed nature of control software and increased latency with distance from the central control center, hindering their ability to serve new markets and respond to customer needs.
Innovation Solution
A cloud-based management system where a compute device in a cloud data center determines and executes electrical grid management services in virtual machines, receives data from field devices through an encrypted virtual private network, and analyzes it to determine responsive actions, enabling dynamic and scalable management of electrical grids.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If control software is located in a central control center, then service coverage is limited to nearby regions, but moving software closer to field devices increases infrastructure complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses virtualization to create virtual copies of control center functionality that can be deployed in cloud data centers geographically close to field devices. This allows multiple instances of control software to serve different regions without requiring physical replication of entire control centers, thereby expanding service coverage while managing infrastructure complexity through shared underlying hardware resources.
2Adaptability or versatility
If control software is fixed in location, then functionality remains stable, but ability to provide new services and adapt to customer needs is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic service deployment through virtualization, allowing control software to be dynamically allocated, scaled, and reconfigured in cloud data centers based on customer needs. Virtual machines can be created, moved, or modified without physical hardware changes, enabling rapid service adaptation while maintaining system stability through virtualized abstraction layers that isolate software from underlying hardware variations.
3Speed
If control center is located far from field devices, then centralized management is achieved, but message latency increases with distance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by deploying cloud data centers in geographically distributed locations closer to field devices, creating region-specific control environments. This allows message transmission to occur over shorter distances with lower latency, while each local cloud data center maintains the centralized management capabilities needed for coordinated control across the electrical grid.
Data Source
AI summary
Technologies for providing cloud-based management of an electrical grid include a method. The method includes determining, by a compute device of a cloud data center, one or more cloud-based electrical grid management services to provide for a client of the cloud data center. The method also includes executing, by the compute device, each determined service in a virtual machine hosted by the compute device, receiving, by the compute device, data from one or more field devices in the electrical grid through an encrypted virtual private network, and analyzing, by the compute device and with the one or more determined services executed in the virtual machine, the received data to determine a responsive action.