Combined power plant

• US 10,224,720 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2014
• Issued: 03/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Enrichment Technology Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Enrichment Technology Company Limited
• Inventors: vor dem Esche, Rainer, Treppmann, Christoph
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Kenneth M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wynne, David J
• Application Number:
  US14/897,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20160118801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,719 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 21/003 Arrangements for testing or measuring for measuring vibrations G01H
• CPC Class Codes: F01K 13/02 Controlling, e.g. stopping or starting
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 1/16 using dynamo-electric machines coupled to flywheels
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/30 using dynamo-electric machines coupled to flywheels
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/40 Synchronising a generator for connection to a network or to another generator
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/16 Mechanical energy storage, e.g. flywheels or pressurised fluids

Abstract

A combined power plant is disclosed for feeding energy into a non-local power network. The combined power plant includes at least one turbine power plant and at least one energy storage installation with one or more energy storage modules, whereby the turbine power plant is connected to the non-local power network in order to feed in power. A monitoring unit monitors the rotational speed of a turbine on the basis of a rotational speed-specific characteristic quantity, at least while the energy is being fed into the non-local power network. The energy storage installation is connected to the non-local power network separately or via the turbine power plant, whereby the monitoring unit is connected to a control unit of the appertaining energy storage installation in order to transmit a characteristic quantity signal based on the rotational speed-specific characteristic quantity to the control unit via a data connection.

Claims

1. A combined power plant for feeding energy into a non-local power network, comprising:

at least one turbine power plant comprising a turbine and a connection to the non-local power network to feed energy in from the turbine power plant to the non-local power network;

at least one energy storage installation comprising one or more energy storage modules; and

a monitoring unit configured to monitor a rotational speed of the turbine, without any need to measure network parameters in the non-local power network, on the basis of a rotational speed-specific characteristic quantity without having to use the control parameters of a network frequency for this purpose, at least while the energy is being fed into the non-local power network,

wherein the energy storage installation is connected to the non-local power network separately or via the turbine power plant, and

wherein the monitoring unit is connected to a control unit of the appertaining energy storage installation in order to transmit a characteristic quantity signal based on the rotational speed-specific characteristic quantity to the control unit via a data connection, and the control unit of the energy storage installation is configured in such a way that, in response to the characteristic quantity signal, the control unit causes the energy storage installation to feed additional energy into the non-local power network, thereby improving safety against a sudden power failure in the non-local network, based on the rotational speed of the turbines falling, without the energy storage installation having to be connected to a global external network control or to a network agency for the purpose of network-supporting control.

2. The combined power plant of claim 1, wherein the control unit is also configured in such a way that, in response to an appertaining characteristic quantity signal, the control unit causes the energy storage installation to absorb energy from the non-local power network or to absorb some of the energy provided by the turbine power plant for the non-local power network and to subsequently store the absorbed energy, based on the rotational speed of the turbine rising.

3. The combined power plant of claim 2, wherein energy is only additionally fed in under the condition that the rotational speed of the turbine falls below a first threshold value, and/or the absorption and storage of energy only takes place under the condition that the rotational speed of the turbine rises above a second threshold value.

4. The combined power plant of claim 2, wherein the control unit controls the amount of additionally fed-in energy and/or the amount of absorbed energy as a function of a deviation of the rotational speed of the turbine from a target rotational speed.

5. The combined power plant of claim 1, wherein the turbine power plant comprises several turbines and further comprises at least one monitoring unit per turbine that serves to monitor the rotational speed of the respective turbine.

6. The combined power plant of claim 5, having several monitoring units per turbine to achieve a redundancy during the monitoring of the rotational speed.

7. The combined power plant of claim 1, wherein the monitoring unit comprises several measuring units that serve to determine the rotational speed-specific characteristic quantity to achieve a redundancy during the determination of the rotational speed-specific characteristic quantity.

8. The combined power plant of claim 1, wherein the energy storage installation has a modular structure permitting additional energy storage modules to be added to the energy storage installation.

9. The combined power plant of claim 8, wherein the energy storage modules of the energy storage installation are connected inside the energy storage installation to an internal power network of the energy storage installation, and the internal power network is connected via a regulation unit to the non-local power network or to the turbine power plant.

10. The combined power plant of claim 9, wherein each energy storage module has its own connection point to the internal power network of the energy storage installation.

11. The combined power plant of claim 9, wherein the energy storage installation comprises several energy storage modules, each energy storage module comprising a module control unit that serves to control the release of energy into or the absorption of energy from the internal power network, and the control unit of the energy storage installation is configured as a master control unit for the module control units.

12. The combined power plant of claim 1, wherein the energy storage module is configured as a mechanical energy storage module with one or more flywheel energy storage units.

13. The combined power plant of claim 1, wherein the monitoring unit of the turbine power plant is connected to the control unit of the energy storage installation via the data connection configured as a secure data line for purposes of securely transmitting the characteristic quantity signal to the control unit.

14. A method for operating a combined power plant according to claim 1, whereby the combined power plant comprises at least one turbine power plant for feeding energy into a connected non-local power network and also comprises at least one energy storage installation that is connected separately or via the turbine power plant to the non-local power network, the method comprising:

monitoring the rotational speed of the turbine on the basis of a rotational speed-specific characteristic quantity by means of at least one monitoring unit without any need to measure network parameters in the non-local power network and without having to use the control parameters of a network frequency for this purpose, at least while energy is being fed into the non-local power network by the turbine power plant;

transmitting a characteristic quantity signal based on the rotational speed-specific characteristic quantity from the monitoring unit to a control unit of the energy storage installation via a data connection; and

feeding energy into the non-local power network for the purpose of improving safety against a sudden power failure in the non-local network by means of the energy storage installation as initiated by the control unit in response to the characteristic quantity signal, based on the rotational speed of the turbines falling, without the energy storage installation having to be connected to a global external network control or to a network agency for the purpose of network-supporting control.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

the energy storage installation absorbing and storing energy from the non-local power network or some of the energy provided by the turbine power plant for the non-local power network, as initiated by the control unit in response to characteristic quantity signal to this effect, based on the rotational speed of the turbine rising.

16. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

the control unit variably controlling the amount of additionally fed-in energy and/or of the amount of absorbed energy as a function of a deviation of the rotational speed of the turbine from a target rotational speed.